Organized Crime
Popular culture portrayals of organized crime are sordidly romantic. Like medieval royalty, mob families appear tyrannical and noble at the same time. The kingpins are usually kind if ruthless. They love their families and protect them at any cost. Like kings, mob bosses reign over a specific territory and usually respect their competitors and their boundaries. Like medieval nobility, organized crime has hereditary lineage, and sons inherit a title from their fathers as in the Corleones of The Godfather. Stories of organized crime include titillating themes of betrayal, backstabbing, murder, and intrigue. Organized crime also depicts the triumph of the underdog: the would-be poor immigrant growing rich in spite of being hounded by the big bad cops. These themes are especially appealing to Americans, who have consistently been fascinated with underdog winners and anti-establishment ethos.
Movies like Goodfellas and television shows like The Sopranos are perfect examples of how organized crime is romanticized in pop culture. The bad guys don't seem so bad because they have families, friends, and a code of ethics. Even if their code of ethics is warped, audiences root for the gangsters because they earned our trust and sympathy. Based on pop culture definitions alone, I could define organized crime as a collective response to political, social, and economic injustice. Most television and film mob families...
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