Abstract
This chapter while referring to (and building upon) the most popular and conventional analyses of Mean Streets—which tend to interpret it mostly through ethnic and religious lenses—discusses Scorsese’s movie in light of its symbolic references and its cinematic storytelling strategies. In so doing, this chapter touches upon this film’s mise-en-scène, its metacinematic quotations, and the variety of cinematic tools employed (ranging from voice-overs to the mixing of different media and the occasional transition from the diegetic to the extradiegetic level). Although the Italian-American ethnic lens is what gave Scorsese the uniqueness of his gaze, and even though religion is one of the most important keys to reading and understanding most of his movies, this study focuses more on the multiplicity of this director’s generic discourses and his cinematic style. The repeated usage of reflective surfaces such as mirrors (and windows)—arguably one of Mean Streets’ most fascinating symbolic acts—is also discussed at length. Moreover, since the film’s protagonist is the only character going through these ‘reflective’ moments, this chapter also compares him with the mirroring archetype represented by the Narcissus myth.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See for example how Federico Pontiggia emphasizes the “ahistorical suffering” (“una sofferenza a-storica,” 15) depicted in Ferrara’s films.
- 2.
More than criticism against Ferrara’s films per se, many examples of hostility for the enthusiastic approach of some scholarship can be found. See for example Jonathan Rosenbaum’s review of Stevens’ Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision at https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2018/04/abel-ferrara-the-moral-vision-book-review/ (accessed November 10, 2020) and David Sterritt’s thorough dismantling of Brenez’s book at https://www.popmatters.com/abel-ferrara-by-nicole-brenez-2496196678.html (accessed November 10, 2020).
- 3.
Data reflecting entries by year are in the U.S. Department of Justice and Naturalization Service, Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1969, 63.
- 4.
“[N]ella realtà è proprio essa a richiedere a tali stranieri servizi di mediazione, e beni più o meno illegali come gli alcolici, il gioco d’azzardo, la prostituzione, la droga.” All translations in quotes are mine.
Works Cited
Allum, Felia. “Doing It for Themselves or Standing in for Their Men? Women in the Neapolitan Camorra (1950-2003).” Giovanni Fiandaca, ed. Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures. New York: Springer, 2007, 9-17.
Berra, John. Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect, 2008.
Brenez, Nicole. Abel Ferrara. Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois P, 2006.
Critchley, David. The Origin of Organized Crime in America. New York and London: Routledge, 2009.
De Stefano, George. An Offer We Can’t Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America. New York: Faber and Faber, 2006.
Di Maria, Franco and Girolamo Lo Verso. “Women in Mafia Organizations.” Giovanni Fiandaca, ed. Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures. New York: Springer, 2007, 87-101.
Elsaesser, Thomas. “Expressionist Cinema—Style and Design in Film History.” Olaf Brill and Gary D. Rhodes, eds. Expressionism in the Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2016, 15-40.
Gallagher, Tag. “Geometry of Force: Abel Ferrara and Simone Weil.” Screening the Past 10 (June 2000). http://www.screeningthepast.com/2014/12/geometry-of-force-abel-ferrara-and-simone-weil/ (accessed November 10, 2020).
Haskell, Molly. “World of ‘The Godfather’: No Place for Women.” New York Times, March 23, 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/23/movies/world-of-the-godfather-no-place-for-women.html (accessed November 10, 2020).
Hawkins, Joan. “’No Worse Than You Were Before’: Theory, Economy and Power in Abel Ferrara’s ‘The Addiction’.” Xavier Mendik and Steven Jay Schneider, eds. Underground U.S.A.: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood Canon. London and New York: Wallflower, 2002, 13-25.
Hirsch, Joshua. Afterimage: Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2004.
Jacobs, James B. Mobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement. New York and London: New York UP, 2006.
Lupo, Salvatore. “Cose nostre: mafia siciliana e mafia americana.” Bevilacqua, Piero, Andreina De Clementi and Emilio Franzina, eds. Storia dell’emigrazione italiana: Arrivi. Rome: Donzelli, 2002, 245-270.
Lupo, Salvatore. History of the Mafia. Trans. by Anthony Shugaar. New York: Columbia UP, 2009.
Mahan, Sue with Katherine O’Neil. Beyond the Mafia: Organized Crime in the Americas. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1998.
Maquerlot, Jean-Pierre. Shakespeare and the Mannerist Tradition: A Reading of Five Problem Plays. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Mooney, Carla. Investigating the Mafia. Detroit: Lucent Books, 2006.
Nelli, Humbert S. “A Brief History of American Syndicate Crime.” Timothy S. Bynum, ed. Organized Crime in America: Concepts and Controversies. Monsey: Criminal Justice Press, 1987, 15-29.
Nicaso, Antonio. “Organized Crime and Italian Americans.” In Connell, William J. and Stanislao G. Pugliese, eds. The Routledge History of Italian Americans. New York and London: Routledge, 2018, 479-492.
Paoli, Letizia. Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2003.
Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1977.
Pontiggia, Federico. Abel Ferrara, il cattivo tenente: Sacra profanaque omnia. Cantalupa: Effatà, 2004.
Renga, Dana. “Introduction: Trauma, Gender, and Recent Italian Mafia Cinema.” Dana Renga, ed. Unfinished Business: Screening the Italian Mafia in the New Millennium. Toronto, Buffalo, Londo: U of Toronto P, 2013, 3-20.
Schlegel, Kip. “Violence in Organized Crime: A Content Analysis of the De Cavalcante and De Carlo Trascripts.” Timothy S. Bynum, ed. Organized Crime in America: Concepts and Controversies. Monsey: Criminal Justice Press, 1987, 55-70.
Stevens, Brad. Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision. London: FAB Press, 2004.
Sypher, Wylie. Four Stages of Renaissance Style. New York: Doubleday, 1955.
Thompson, Craig and Allen Raymond. Gang Rule in New York: The Story of a Lawless Era. New York: Dial Press, 1940.
Films Cited
The Addiction (Abel Ferrara, 1995)
Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
Body Snatchers (Abel Ferrara, 1993)
China Girl (Abel Ferrara, 1987)
The Funeral (Abel Ferrara, 2000)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
The Godfather: Part III (Francis Ford Coppola, 1990)
The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)
King of New York (Abel Ferrara, 1990)
Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara, 1981)
The Petrified Forest (Archie Mayo, 1936)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barattoni, L. (2023). Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral: Taking Aim at the Stereotype. In: Fioretti, D., Orsitto, F. (eds) Italian Americans in Film. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06465-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06465-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-06464-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-06465-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)