Guise Goodfellas and "Tough Guise" Essay

Scorsese cuts to a boring subdivision: Henry Hill exits his boring house in a bathrobe, stoops to get the newspaper "just like anybody" else, and for a moment remembers that he used to be a gangster. Scorsese cuts to a clip of the violent thug Jimmy (played by Joe Pesci) firing rounds point blank at the audience, and then cuts back to Henry who is either smiling or grimacing at the memory of Jimmy's "tough guise."

Of course, there are moments when Henry Hill himself becomes just as violent as the world he inhabits. The ferocious pistol-whipping is one such scene, referenced in Jackson Katz's "Tough Guise" as a perfect illustration of the kind of brute strength admired by men. Scorsese's use of the freeze frame earlier in the film allows the audience to reflect on the horrific scenes of violence as they unfold: whether one admires the "tough guise" or not, it's terrible effect is never blunted. In the pistol-whipping scene, however, Scorsese allows the film to continue -- and the earlier freeze frame style that was used to shock and introduce the audience to this world of "tough guise" is no longer necessary: if the audience is still watching, it has likely become as captivated by the "tough guise" as Karen, who is about to be handed the bloody pistol used to beat her neighbor.

That Karen admits to being attracted to Henry and his "tough guise" is no surprise. As Jackson Katz explains, she is drawn to what she perceives is a "real man." The sad reality is, however, that her "real man" is a real gangster and will lure her into a criminal world of drug-dealing, murder, and cheating.The realness that she thinks she wants is superficial: By the end of the film she loses everything she has "gained." Her fortune, like her name and status, disappear. She no longer is able to see her family, and the "man" she thinks she has fallen in love with has turned out to be just another "shlub."

In conclusion, Scorsese's Goodfellas is a reflection of the "tough guise" in the real world condemned by Jackson Katz as artificial and hurtful to real masculinity, which must be based on virtue and honor rather than on inhuman brute force. This idea may be gleaned from Goodfellas, but the iconic film is also notorious for glamorizing the "tough guise" which it simultaneously condemns. As Ray Liotta himself asserts, "For twenty years no, there's not a day that goes by that I don't hear somebody mention Goodfellas. Unless I stay home all night. it's defined who I am, in a sense" (Penn, 2010). Whether Goodfellas provides an adequate moral may be debated. One thing is certain: It shows the reality of the "tough guise" facade that both attracts and repels and ultimately destroys.

Reference List

Katz, J. (2006). Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity.

YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI

Penn, N. (2010). Getting Made the Scorsese Way. GQ. Retrieved from http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201010/goodfellas-making-of-behind-the-scenes-interview-scorsese-deniro?currentPage=1

Scorsese, M. (1990). Goodfellas. LA: Warner Bros.

Vervis, C. (2007). Way of Life: Goodfellas and Casino. Gangster Film Reader.

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