What Women Don’t Get About ‘The Godfather’
The Godfather is a virtual manual of manliness Tweet
Highlights
“‘The Godfather’ is the I Ching. ‘The Godfather’ is the sum of all wisdom.”
“The Godfather” offers timeless lessons on friendship, loyalty and the inescapable fact that actions have consequences. It is a manual for manhood.
Coppola shows manliness is a complex mix of toughness in the face of adversity and responsibility to others.
“What is it with men and The Godfather?” a perplexed Meg Ryan asked Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail.
Hanks can scarcely believe it even needs to said. “The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question. What should I pack for my summer vacation? Leave the gun; take the cannoli.”
Exactly. As all of us who know to stop and stare every time we spot it, surfing the dial—never mind that it’s for the 728th time—The Godfather offers timeless lessons on friendship, loyalty and most pointedly, the inescapable fact that actions have consequences. It is a manual for manliness.
While the film’s moments that come most readily to mind are usually the ones involving payback—re: “Today, I settle all family business…”—Coppola established in the very first scene that manliness is a complex mix of toughness in the face of adversity and responsibility to others.
The beneficiary of this lesson? His godson, Johnny Fontane, the onetime-street-tough guy who Hollywood transformed into a quivering mass of egotistical jelly. In his unique and special way, Don Corleone sets him straight—then arranges for the studio head, who’s been giving Johnny trouble out West, to also learn an invaluable lesson.