Analysis film Gangs of New York, Summer School NYU (original) (raw)
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Although Martin Scorsese's interest in matters of immigration is well-explored, especially in regard to larger European communities like the Italian and Irish Americans, there is still a lack of scholarly attention to Scorsese's cinematic treatment of African Americans. A close reading of both "Gangs of New York" and "Taxi Driver" will serve as a starting point to tease out how depictions of African Americans in these movies fit into Scorsese's larger American narrative.
Borderlines: Boundaries and Transgression in the City Films of Martin Scorsese
A Companion to Martin Scorsese, 2015
This chapter begins with a discussion of the influence of Little Italy's history on Scorsese's work, before turning to establish the theoretical foundation for considering his relationship to and representation of urban space. From there, the author consider four of the director's films such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, After Hours, and Gangs of New York. Chronologically, these films represent a diverse cross section of the director's career, but thematically all are linked in a shared engagement with the city spaces of New York. In offering close readings of the roles of boundary and transgression in these films, the author aims to highlight the important ways in which Scorsese's films focus attention on cinema's engagement with the urban, and helps to think about the ways in which the cinema, as a storytelling medium, helps to produce new understandings of urban space.