Gangster archetypes: the gangster, the best friend, the canarian, the moll, the mother are some of the key factors that a gangster movie is made out of. This is, according to Hughes, something that any gangster film has to have in order to be a gangster film (215). All these archetypes are carefully defined and are not prone to significant changes which could be regarded as being in sync with the changes in the society. Still, some of thearchetypes did get some alterations, and most visably did the archetype of „the moll“ and the archetype of a gangster, most visably with the introduction of The Godfather (1972) which, alongside other movies such as On the Waterfront (1954) did change some things regarding the before-known archetypes. Changes
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There are many examples that could prove that: Scarface, The Public Enemy, Quick Millions (1931) etc. (236). But there is a twist to that archetype after World War 2, when molls become femme fatales and with the resurrection of the gangster genre, they receive more depth since they have become a combination of all the previous variations of female characters. Shadoian said that these manipulative women of the noir period seem to be cursed by their beauty and could only use it in a destructive way. According to him, these women are symbols rather than characters that can be connected to reality (94). We could interpret the character of of Diane Keaton in The Godfather in that way (Hughes 237). In that context, female characters in Scorsese‘s films would seem very complex, but far from the reality. Teresa from Mean Streets is a girl who represents everything Charlie wants to be, a rebel and yet a very moral person. She is very similar to the role of Kay Adams from The Godfather in the way she represents Charlie‘s conscience. Karen from Goodfellas is a character that went through significant changes throughout the film. She was primarily a supportive woman who never betrayed her husband regardless of the numerous times he deceived her in every way possible. When she enters the society of gangsters‘ women on Mickey‘s hostess party, Karen says that it was the first time she noticed how different she was from other women; she expresses dissatisfaction with their appearance and behaviour, but eventually becomes just as tacky as them, even though she never fully connects with other women. At the beginning of the film she represents a strong woman who does not allow anybody to humiliate her, and by the end of the film she is humiliated by her husband in every way possible and turned into a miserable person
There are many examples that could prove that: Scarface, The Public Enemy, Quick Millions (1931) etc. (236). But there is a twist to that archetype after World War 2, when molls become femme fatales and with the resurrection of the gangster genre, they receive more depth since they have become a combination of all the previous variations of female characters. Shadoian said that these manipulative women of the noir period seem to be cursed by their beauty and could only use it in a destructive way. According to him, these women are symbols rather than characters that can be connected to reality (94). We could interpret the character of of Diane Keaton in The Godfather in that way (Hughes 237). In that context, female characters in Scorsese‘s films would seem very complex, but far from the reality. Teresa from Mean Streets is a girl who represents everything Charlie wants to be, a rebel and yet a very moral person. She is very similar to the role of Kay Adams from The Godfather in the way she represents Charlie‘s conscience. Karen from Goodfellas is a character that went through significant changes throughout the film. She was primarily a supportive woman who never betrayed her husband regardless of the numerous times he deceived her in every way possible. When she enters the society of gangsters‘ women on Mickey‘s hostess party, Karen says that it was the first time she noticed how different she was from other women; she expresses dissatisfaction with their appearance and behaviour, but eventually becomes just as tacky as them, even though she never fully connects with other women. At the beginning of the film she represents a strong woman who does not allow anybody to humiliate her, and by the end of the film she is humiliated by her husband in every way possible and turned into a miserable person