Critically analyse media representations of organised crime, with specific reference to their change over time

Perhaps the most influential information we get with regards to how society perceives organised crime is through their coverage within the media. Whether this is through the use of films that are seen at the cinema, stories that are relayed to us via the print or radio press or through dramas, news stories and documentaries that are shown on television. Most people have an idea of how they see organised crime, whilst others are merely obsessed about it. With specific reference to the organised crime genre within cinema it will be possible to critically analyse the media representations of crime and be able to see how they have changed if at all over the decades since the film genre was introduced. One of the main reasons for letting the film aspect of the media be the focal point of the study is because it is one of the longest running forms of media and has been influencing people long before television was introduced. This very reason will give us a longer timescale on judging the differences over time. To help us discuss the subject matter at hand we will also delve in to the works of certain key thinkers who have contributed greatly to this field of media representation of organised crime. By relating the matter to such literature and research we will be able to relate the subject to a wider sociological and criminological framework. Using their work where possible to provide back up and empirical evidence towards key points made during the course of the text there will be some progress made to making a substantial analysis of the subject.
Organised crime for many of us has a split personality; some see it as a moral victory over certain aspects of the law whilst other aspects of it are really quite brutal and inhumane.
‘A concept used to describe the activities of groups which make their living from breaking the law. It is usually associated with extortion, drug dealing and prostitution and the other groups are run through the use of violence and are often in conflict with other organised criminals” Lawson, T & Garrod, J.( p199,2000)
What a lot of representations forget to show is that many organised crime rackets no matter what locality oversee many heinous acts. Some of the ones that are either misrepresented or underrepresented will be discussed later on.
For many people including myself, the prospect of watching an engaging film about the mob is very exhilarating. The combination of style, morality, earning plenty of money and getting one over on the law is a very alluring prospect for most people. However the popularity of such films can be seen in many cases as a result of sympathising with certain characters within the film. Most films that came out around the time of the early mobsters of the 1920’s and 1930’s were accounts of Italian/Sicilian immigrants arriving in America and achieving the riches that first appeared to be so barren to many of their own people. This attainment of wealth and pursuit of the American dream the ‘quick’ way usually hailed many of the main characters to be heroes. Something that people of similar neighbourhoods economic background and ethnic descent could relate to as they struggled to find their way in the tough mid war depression era.
Munby, J (1999) speaks of how many Hollywood gangster films reflect upon ethnic groups such as the Italian Americans and how they overcome their less privileged economic backgrounds. A prime example of this is in Goodfellas (1990) where the lead character Henry Hill states in an opening line ‘as far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster’. Although a fairly recent film it touches on the old style sentiment of earning a crust the wrong way as a way out of relative poverty. You could say for many films like this the representation of organised crime was supposed to be one of admiration. The fact the gangsters portrayed in these films made lots of money from illegal trading and extortion, bribing police and threatening restaurant owners did not matter. The philosophy of these mobsters was such that if you were the person to work the nine to five job for an average wage then that person was a fool for doing so when there were easier, quicker ways to make money regardless of who or what gets in your way.
There have however been some quite significant films made that do not glorify the actions of organised crime. A good example of this can especially be seen in some 1930’s films such as Scarface (1932) (eventually being released with the subtitle ‘The Shame of a Nation’). In films such as this organised crime was depicted as a social ill that needed to be weeded out of society, in many cases it was a reaction against the government and highlighted the effects of theirs and that of the law enforcement agencies of being unable to act appropriately to these crimes.
‘To deflect charges that they were sympathetic to criminals, the big three gangster films of the 1930’s tried to fashion an anticrime image. Scarface begins with a text announcing “This picture is an indictment of gang rule in America and of the callous indifference of the government to this constantly increasing menace to our safety and our liberty…” Rafter, N (2000:20)
This is a valid reference to the representations of organised crime at that particular time. In contradiction to films such as Goodfellas (1990) where the members of the criminal gangs are seen as some kind of charismatic anti heroes early films depicted them as the scourge of the neighbourhood. Maybe this wasn’t a true reflection on the society that they lived in but perhaps this was partly to do with restrictions and constraints enforced upon the actual movie makers of that time where films had to be seen as having a moral to the story? After all, the subtitle to Scarface (1932) ‘The Shame of a Nation’ had to be added and the release date was put back as it may have been seen to glorify certain aspects of organised crime. One of the most ‘noble’ and perhaps moral tales of organised crime is that of the Godfather Part 2 (1974). One of the sub plots running through the film follows a young Robert De Niro struggling to make a living on the streets of New York. In order to better his own position in the neighbourhood he has to tackle the ‘Black Hand’ Don Fanucci who is intimidating every business in the area and making them give him money for their protection. However his bullyboy tactics lead him to an early death as Robert De Niro seeks his own justice. This on screen depiction was a brutal but honest portrayal of a young Sicilian immigrant living in America after escaping being murdered in his home country and trying to provide the best for his family in an unjust world. Although everything that is depicted in the Godfather is not legitimate and it is the very essence of organised crime it does show how the media has represented organised crime and the members involved with it as being charismatic people with values and morals. In fact later in the trilogy it shows the current head of the family Al Pacino as wanting to take the family in to legitimate business dealings to leave the mobster lifestyle behind.
Perhaps one of the most popular depictions of organised crime within the media is that it actually serves the public. There have been many instances where gangsters or mobsters are people to look up to no matter what locality. A very obvious and quintessential English example is the story of the Kray brothers, whose increasing dramatisation over the years makes them out to be champions of the people. They were seen as enforcers when the police were not available and dealt with a wider range of ‘issues’ so to speak. Although this was always mainly through the use of extreme violence and intimidation to get what they want there has been a long standing public perception from the 1960’s to the present day that they kept the unruly at bay and the neighbourhood in order.
Levi (1998) understands how organised crime not only differentiates according to time but also locality. For example where crimes are shown to be of a certain nature within the media is not necessarily the case in reality. You can see this with regards to the recent tragic events in Britain. There has been a huge surge in people trafficking for the sex trade and other industries. One chain of organised people trafficking led to the death of a group of people in Morecambe who were smuggled into the country illegally to work in a job where they were undoubtedly being paid a pittance. A Marxist would argue that organised crime such as this is a result of capitalism and the yearning to possess capital and wealth where they previously had not owned anything. However to be critical of this view point you could say that perhaps one of the former socialist states such as Russia was one of the biggest hot spots of organised crime in the world. In fact there has never been a totally crime free socialist state. There is however some kind of power structure in organised crime. The ringleaders of this cockle picking disaster exploited their labour and vulnerability and promised them opportunity in their new trade. This is the very reality of organised crime today for people living in Britain and most media coverage especially within films dedicates very little if any of its time to these kinds of organised crimes. So why has there never been a major feature film made around the issue? Perhaps a pre-requisite for a certain organised crime to be transferred to the big screen is glamour? Another reason for there not being a vast array of organised crimes being represented in the media maybe down to documentary makers finding it hard to obtain access and information on the countries, militia and gangs involved. There has been small reports on a couple of British television channels with regards to the Yaba drug in various regions of the far east, but with organised crime being as it is and people of authority being involved and corrupt politics then journalists and producers are unlikely to deliver substantial information to relay back to the public. This kind of activity should be remembered when trying to understand media representations of organised crime and how it changes over time.
There has been some coverage with regards to sex trafficking on British television within documentaries and dramas but nothing of any quality or stature to really merit reflecting the issue or to provoke any kind of debates. In fact apart from the spate of lame gangster Brit flicks in the late 1990’s there has been little to suggest that there is any kind of organised crime going on at all. The cheeky cockney gangsters typical of Guy Ritchie’s Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) belong more to a comedy than a true reflection on organised crime. Perhaps it is even symptomatic of film makers in the modern era where substance is lost and style and fast editing are the more prevalent subject matters. Maybe we shouldn’t see every film that covers an aspect of organised crime as a homogenous mass. There is a valid case in saying that in a lot of these films the directors and scriptwriters have in mind other issues that are more integral to their project than how they portray organised crime. Important structural issues like the inter relationships of various characters, emotion, cinematography and sentiment all weigh heavy on a film makers mind and it would be a mistake to see them solely as socio-political statements or mirrors to our society. Sometimes we forget that good or bad these are pieces of art and it is therefore possible that the true significance of the story or the representations within it can be misinterpreted.
Another aspect that we should consider especially with the change in cinematic styles over time is that of the cross genre film. Leitch, T (2002:p6) raises a similar question as what should be made of a film that ”combines elements of the gangster film and the who dunnit; how is it to be classified? What to make of police films that are also studies of criminals?” A good example of this is the films of Quentin Tarrantino whose crime caper Pulp Fiction (1994) was a totally unique take on organised crime. This was really a case of style being the substance, although unrealistic in reflecting the true world of organised crime its narrative, structure and visual style was very post modern. The downside to this was that it spawned plenty of imitators that far from lived up to it and for a while there was a departure from concentrating on the hard hitting realities of organised crime. In fact there has been quite a lack of coverage of organised crime within cinema as the fantasy genre has its little revival. There have been accusations that Hollywood glorify certain issues and make organised crime glamorous. However it recently brought to light the pit falls of the diamond trade in Africa in the film Blood Diamond (2006). This shows how issues from around the world have been brought to light through the media, perhaps something that may not have happened in the past.
A more valid representation of African organised crime might have been a film that wasn’t made by a Hollywood production company. In a worldwide context there is relatively little comparisons between depictions of organised crime. Japanese Yakuza films are released very regularly whilst films around the Chechen mafia are relatively rare to come by. The same can be said of North Korea; in fact political regimes such as those that exist in Northern Korea have been likened to being run in similar ways to organised gangs. If we are to see certain regimes such as those under Adolf Hitler as being similar to that of organised crime then the documentation of such activities throughout history has been consistently high. There is also an argument to suggest that depending on who is in charge of the broadcasting or production company then only certain issues get relayed to the public. It is quite popular these days for certain American news broadcasters to sensationalise a specific crime at the expense of organised or corporate crime because that is the more interesting story whether it is in the public interest or more likely to effect people or not. In opposition to many mob films Glassner (1999) talks of American journalists doing a disservice to minority neighbourhoods by inaccurately and disproportionately giving white victims of crime more coverage than black victims of crime. With this kind of reporting being endemic to many broadcasting networks of North America real organised crime becomes lost in sensationalism and demonising ethnic groups.
To briefly some up the points discussed in the body of the analysis we will hopefully conclude how media representations have shown organised crime and how it has changed over time. It is safe to say that the most influential with regards to how the public perceives organised crime is within cinema. From the early mobster films to modern day parodies and postmodern gangster coms the biggest impression left with individuals comes via other peoples portrayals on the big screen. Although we have briefly touched upon news reporting the one downfall of examining this area is that you would need a vast longitudinal study to compare news stories around the world over a long period of time. What we have definitely found however is that the mafia have pretty much always been seen as the charismatic public good that defy the law. With a few exceptions to the case there is a prevalent portrayal of organised crime and in particular the type of organised crime that most media representations concentrate on. In fact you could also say that media representations of organised crime do not actually tackle any real issues. Most depictions are not studies but rather organised crime is used as a side tool to make the characters have a setting and a background, most of the time organised crime is just a backdrop to other media goals. There is a possibility that because filmmakers aren’t the moral intermediaries we expect them to be and due to this we should not expect an accurate reflection on organised crime any time soon. On the other hand if any other depiction of organised crime apart from news reporting for any other cause is produced then it may be seen as propaganda. It is safe to say that charting the changes of media representations over time is a difficult one because it is a hard subject to quantify and I’m sure that until we get to the ultimate big brother state with a camera on every street, object and concealed on every person then we may never really get an honest picture of what is going on in the world with regards to organised crime. With current terrorist issues maybe we should think of organised crime in terms of new definitions as this can commonly be seen and portrayed as the new evil.