Identity and Immigration in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather II and Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside the Law
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Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud MAMMERI University of Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation presents a comparative analysis between the Godfather II released in
1974 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and Outside the Law released in 2010 and
directed by Rachid Bouchareb. It addresses two themes, identity and immigration
through two perspectives: a new historicist and a post colonial. The aim of a
comparative study between the Godfather II (1974) and Outside the Law (2010) is to provide
the historical and immediate context in which the two films could be discussed and compared
with a focus on the representation of the history of immigration and its impact on the
immigrants’ sense of identity and belonging in the United States and France. This dissertation
discovers that Rachid Bouchareb’s stylization of the Godfather II is based on the similarities
between the two migrations and the emergence ethnic minority group cinemas against the
mainstream culture in a context of ethnic revival in the Godfather II and the debate upon
national identity in the case of Outside the Law. Through highlighting the tragic stories of two
immigrant families pursuing two similar exile trajectories from their displacement and
separation from their homeland countries, their settlement in foreign countries to the
emergence of conflicts through the process of violent rebellion or organized crime. However
the two films stand for two completely separated identities and the appropriation of the
gangster characters in Outside the Law is only meant for dramatic purposes.
Description
151p.; 30cm.; + (CD-Rom)
Keywords
Comparative analysis, Identity, Immigration
Citation
Cultural Studies