ADSactly Entertainment - Lessons From Movies #20
The Godfather
If you know me, or you checked out some of my other posts from this series then, you might know that I like movies about the mafia, and that is for one particular reason, their characters. When I pick a movie to write about, I don’t look at the story mainly most of the times but, at the characters because those are the ones that will give out the most lessons.
And, The Godfather is no different because it has plenty of strong characters that are dropping lessons all along the entire movie. All three films from the series are spectacular but, I picked up the first one since I think that it is highly essential to the whole story and my overall favorite.
I felt like writing about a movie that’s a bit special for the 20th post from this series, it is not necessarily a big milestone but, it’s still a nice, round number that celebrates 20 amazing movies watched together with you.
Disclaimer: I have to note that these are my opinions, that I took from the movie, but I advise you to watch it yourself, maybe you will feel differently or pick up on something I missed.
Greed
If you watch the movie closely, greed is what made many strong men, and families from the story to crumble down in flames. But, also, the lack of greed is what allowed the Corleone Family to be so successful, and so long-lasting.
Greed might be helpful sometimes because it can motivate you to achieve a lot of material things but, it is always destructive in the long run. The issue with greed is that it takes away your long-term thinking, it doesn’t allow you to visualize into the future, and it keeps you trapped, worrying about the short-term.
That is highly destructive because you might put into motion, due to greed, actions that reward you tremendously, shortly but, the same actions might result in you failing completely, and “going out of business,” in the future; as it happened many times in the movie.
And, that greed is mostly thanks to the society we grew up in because, everywhere is promoted the fact that we’re incomplete, and that we need more things in order to have a happy life. Everywhere you look, people are, knowingly or unknowingly trying to push materialistic values upon you, at all times.
To some extent, that desire of getting more is hardwired into our brains because people have lived in unstable circumstances for ages, and, in those times if you had “savings,” resources, it meant that you were able to survive when the tribe was not able to go hunting, or when the time was not right for farming.
But, nowadays, you don’t need as much as you think you do; there is no need for greed. The best way of killing that greed is to realize that even if you might feel incomplete, that even if you might have specific gaps, material things will never be able to fill them, they will never be able to substitute people, and real, authentic values.
Turn your life around
If you watch the beginning of the movie, you can easily realize that the Corleone Family is a crime organization but, by the end of the film, you can see that Michael, the new Godfather, has clear intentions of going legal with the business. Now, “The Godfather” is a series of movies, and, you can only notice Michael’s wish of changing in the first movie but, you would have to watch all three to see the end result. But, as a quick spoiler, I will say that he manages to take his business into the legal world only to some extent.
But, he wants to change because he doesn’t like the road he’s on, he doesn’t like where life is taking him but, how did he get there in the first place?
You see, there’s a big debate when we’re talking about a person’s destiny and future since there is a war between Nature, and Nurture. Many people say that their life’s love is a particular industry, they say that they got born to perform a specific activity but, they were influenced since their first day to take that path since their parents are on the same path.
When you think about nature, and nurture it starts to become unclear what it is that influenced you to become the person you are today, and you will never be able to acquire a straightforward answer. But, nurture undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on who you are today, and what your passions are. Your circumstances might have pushed you on a certain road, and you’re not even aware of it but, you can still change your destiny.
Most people got on a specific path due to nurture, due to the environment they got raised in, and decades after they started, they are still in the same place, hating themselves. It is almost never too late to decide to change what you’re doing, deciding to change the way your future will look like.
Michael Corleone might not have accomplished precisely what he wanted but, what’s important is that he initiated that change, and so you can.
Lessons Learned
There are a dozen more lessons that can be picked out of this movie since its characters are simply brilliant but, I decided to only talk about the two that I find to be highly essential, and relevant to this day, 46 years later.
After I started working on this post, I watched the whole Godfather series once again, and I highly encourage you to do the same, even if the three movies combined are around nine hours, they are worth it for sure!
Both nature and nurture influence our lives significantly but, you can always change your path if you feel it’s not the right one if you feel somebody pushed you on this road since it’s almost never too late to change. If you’re doing so and picking a path that resonates with you deeply while staying focused on the long-term, and on the things that matter, you will surely have a life of happiness; and these are the lessons I have learned from this movie.
I would love to read your feedback and movie recommendations in the comment section below.
Authored by @guyfawkes4-20
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Become a great reference almost indisputable nowadays, this "Godfather" has indeed quite obvious qualities in which it is very difficult not to be moved. I think what is undeniably the strength of this film is the epic dimension that the great master Coppola manages to give to his fresco mafia. The ambiguity of values, the relationship to roots and self-determination, all plunged into this world of the underworld. There is no need to say: it fascinates. In this respect, Coppola is at the top of its game and, I concede, for me too this "Godfather" is still a sacred monument.
Overall, I like Your posts and this post is no exception...
The lessons You learned from The Godfather series mentioned are perhaps some of the most important lessons in LIFE.
There is comment I'd like to add however... Michael did not escape the
"Karmic cycle of Life"...from his actions for killing his opponents + his older brother, after their Mother died.
Even so, Your message regarding the lessons You learned... Nurture + Nature are extremely important...
Thank You @Adsactly for Your Post...
Cheers !!
PS--Actually watched the Godfather series about a month ago for many of the reasons You stated.
A movie You may not of heard of or watched called "Hobson's Choice" 1954 has many "lessons" also...it's rated 7.7 on imdb See link below:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047094/
Godfather is considered the best movie of all time, @guyfawkes4-20. And I agree! I think we all got the famous scene where Vito Corleone, Don Vito, the Don of New York's most powerful family, talks with his son Michael about the future and control of The Family. Family is family, even if it's mafioso, we think. In this scene there is a great message: not only the idea of hoping for the best for our children but also knowing that out there there are a lot of powerful people who are going to try to manipulate you and you must do something or else you will be dragged. I think that's also one of the lessons we can highlight. As always, excellent post and very pertinent reflection. Greetings
The most striking thing for me in the movie "The Godfather" was the intuition that the main characters have.
The word "intuition" comes from the Latin word "intueor", which means "look intently." It is the ability to comprehend the truth by its direct discretion. Man draws conclusions in a speculative way, without using logical reasoning, only on the basis of what he sees before himself. You can say that the intuition is made up of the ability to observe and listen. Not everyone has a sufficiently developed intuition, because just not everyone can know and listen. How do most of us listen to our interlocutors? Hardly having caught the word that does not agree with its opinion, we immediately rush to interrupt, speak out, insist on our own. As a result, we are missing information that could be obtained from the interlocutor, if we listened attentively. But to us the main thing is to assert itself, and other people's information in general is not important.
This is not the custom of the Corleone family (like all Mafioso in general). For them, the main thing in the conversation is to get as much information as possible. Moreover, to assert itself - why? They are already very self-assured. You will not see in the film that one character interrupted the other. Only once did Sunny allow himself to interfere with the conversation in a timely manner - and immediately received a reprimand from his father for discovering his thoughts with an outsider. "I diluted them," Vito Corleone says of the children. "They talk when you need to listen." Mafioso talk to listen, not to chat. Their goal is to get as much information about the interlocutor as possible. Even the one that the interlocutor does not want to talk about. Moreover, for this, everything is studied in the most careful way, up to glances, pauses, the slightest nuances of speech. Most of us, with our overwhelming desire to "talk", hear only what they want to hear, and sees only what they want to see, and reads "between the lines," tying out from the text only what is beneficial, necessary, interesting and etc. The rest, the very essence of what the other person says or writes, remains unknown to us. In a manner to talk and listen to the interlocutor of the heroes of the Godfather, everything is completely different. In their principles of communication, first of all, there is the ability to watch and listen. This is the ability to see and hear, notice every gesture and put off every word of the interlocutor in your head. It is this ability to see and hear helps the film's heroes draw conclusions, guess who is a friend and who is a traitor.
Italians, Sicilians are very expansive people. However, despite all their emotionality, they always listen to the person to the end. Moreover, do not just wait for him to finish talking, so that he can enter into the conversation himself. They listen to every word. They analyze every word. Moreover, that's why they are good psychologists and that's why they have a well-developed intuition. They do not allow themselves to think up the phrases of the interlocutor, until everything has sounded to the end. And so nothing escapes them.
I am a film lover, the film was a refuge in the years of youth when the communist society in which I lived stopped my access to many things that now seem trivial.
My interest in films is mostly artistic, I was most interested in the director, picture, actors and less in the story, the script.
So, what you notice from Godfather is very interesting and I didn't think about it (learn something from the characters). I agree that greed and the desire to have the power have led these mafia families (valid today and probably always and not only for mafia).
I'm not talking much about the movie because I've seen it many years ago but I remember the book of Mario Puzo, the director Copola and the actors, some of the biggest in Hollywood.
It seemed to me that their problems(the mafia family) were so far from my problems that I didn't think of learning for myself.
After reading this post, I understand more and I understand that I lost something in this movie, looking at it with some superficiality.
I don't know if the Blow-ups have been featured here by @guyfawkes4-20. It was my favorite movie and I think it is worth analyzing.
Ahh 'The Godfather' one of the best movie around. Though i saw it long ago...and need to refresh up with all the story around. But thanks to @guyfawkes4-20 for sharing the snippets from the movie.
Greed upto a limit is good, but when greed is taking over your head...is the worst. It is the begining of your journey to dooms...so better be careful to have limitation on your greed. It is very dangerous. Many family , relation get spoiled only because of greed for property or money.
The point of realisation of your mistake is the best move to get yourself corrected. If you are on wrong path and did not find them fruitfall or is not something that make you happy ..it is better to walk away immediatelly....the best to lead a simple and happy life.
So many things to take awsy from the brilliant movie. Thanks for sharing the you tube link..would love to visit them once again....to refresh the movie..worth watching👍
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Excellent reflection, similar situations can be observed in classics such as Casino or Goodfellas!!
Always think before doing something.
Excellent reflection, similar situations can be observed in classics such as Casino or Goodfellas!!
tremendous movie