Is Michael on his way to becoming the next Don Corleone?
When the film began, Michael was firm on the idea that he was not like the rest of the Corleones. Coppola set the first scenes up such that the readers would agree with Michaels' thought. Michael stands out the moment he shows up at the wedding -- he arrives clothed as a war hero and with an American woman while the rest of the guests wear dark suits.
As the film progresses, we see Michael step into each stage of the Hero's Journey: he begins in the first stage -- his normal life, intentionally avoiding his family's involvement in the Mafia. The presence of the Mafia itself is Michael's call to adventure, which he refuses to answer as he believes the Mafia is "[his] family ... not [him]" (Coppola).
Following his father's shooting and hospitilization, Michael slowly shifts into his position in the Corleone family. In the hospital, when Michael realizes Vito Corleone is to be ambushed, he quickly takes action, moving his father to another room. In the hospital, Coppola employs filmic devices, characterization, and double entendres to imply to the reader that Michael may soon become the new Don Corleone. When Michael enters the Don's room, the camera settles on the doorframe that displays a number 2 for more than 16 seconds -- more than twice as long as the standard 7 shot rule. Considering the motif of doors, this could be an implication that Michael is transitioning into number 2 in the Corleone family: the next Don.
Coppola has intentionally placed Michael in the hospital alone, and not Sonny or Fredo -- the older Corleone sons. He has characterized the brothers such that neither are fit for the job: Sonny is too impulsive, as we see in the scene in which he speaks out of turn during the discussion with Sollozzo Fredo is not fit for the fast-life of the Mafia, as we see when he fails to defend Vito Corleone during the shooting. On the other hand, Michael is characterized quite differently: Coppola chooses to place him in the hospital alone to defend his father, and Michael automatically knows what to do, dealing with the situation in a calm manner.
After Michael moves Don Corleone to the new room, he tells the Don that "[he's] with [him] now" (Coppola). This is interesting because Coppola has chosen to have a double entendre at this exact part in the script -- a part one could describe as Michael's turning point or first trial. Coppola could either be saying, quite literally, that Michael was physically with the Don; it is more likely that this is the point in the film in which Michael leaves his old life and joins the Corleones in a life of organized crime. He no longer claims that he is not like the Corleones as he did at the wedding; he now considers himself part of the Mafia.
In the next scene we are going to watch, Michael is to shoot Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey -- A New York police chief. This is a task nobody has ever done before. Although the other Corleones laughed when Michael suggested he be the one to do it, Michael was completely serious. The transition Michael has made from normal life to Mafia life is clear -- is appears as if Michael's brain is wired for a life of organized crime.
Coppola has intentionally put Michael in these ordeals rather than Sonny and Fredo. Could Coppola be implying that Michael is to become the next Don Corleone?
Hey Sarah! Annie was having troubles with posting her comment to your blog and the site wasn't letting her so she asked me to post it for her.
ReplyDeleteI also talked about almost the same things you did; about how Michael is changing throughout the story. During the wedding he was not into the mafia business at all however that changes when he learns that his father has been shot and hurries home. He thinks it over and finally decided to be in the mafia business.
I liked how you described the hospital scene that Coppola placed Michael in the hospital alone and why the scene would not have been the same if Sonny or Fredo was there instead. For me I also thought that when Michael was in the hospital and told Don “I’m with you now," was trigger to his relation to the mafia business. If Michael did not know about that event he never would have came home and got involved in the business later on. I am not sure if everyone saw this, but when he was given the gun by Clamenza he did not pull the trigger right away he froze for a bit before he pressed it. I thought that could have meant he still was not that use to the mafia business just yet. But it looks like he got over that quickly when he took another shot after the first one.
-Annie