ipl-logo

Italian Immigrants In The Film The Godfather Part II

1302 Words6 Pages

In the film, “The Godfather Part II”, the viewer can see Vito Andolini leave Corleone, Sicily at the age of nine to settle in the United States in 1901. However, these types of journeys were not uncommon. According to Alexandra Molnar, “between 1900 and 1915, 3 million Italians immigrated to America, which was the largest nationality of new immigrants” (Molnar). The journey to America consisted of travel that could take weeks with hundreds to even thousands of people abroad. Vito Andolini made his journey to America in 1901, which would mean that he would have been one of the millions of people coming to the United States. In the early 1900s, many immigrants were in desperate need to leave Italy due to poverty, violence and social disorder. …show more content…

The eleven Italians were murdered due to the stereotypes that all Italians are mobsters. Even though in the film Vito Andolini becomes the head of the mafia years later, many Italian immigrants were met with discrimination and negative stereotypes. The negative prejudice associated with Italians alike “viewed them as having dangerous social tendencies, especially criminality” (Alba 67). All of these stereotypes made its presence in the Film “The Godfather Part II,” through violence and lack of respect for human life. Through historical events, such as the death of President McKinley by an anarchist in 1901, many immigrants were met with prejudice. Many people feared that immigrants entering the United States would want to overthrow the government. “The hostility that greeted the Italian Americans grew out of a rising anxiety about large-scale immigration” (Rapczynski). Italian xenophobia arose when two anarchists, Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were tried for killing two people. Through the prejudice that Italian Americans endured within arrival, many Italians found it difficult to

Show More
Related
1416 Words | 6 Pages

In the late 1800s, people in many parts of the world decided to leave their homes and immigrate to the United States. With hope for a brighter future, nearly 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. Immigrants entered the United States through several ports. Those from Europe generally came through East Coast facilities and West Coast centers. Immigrants living in America have to endure the close scrutiny, remarks and questions raised by the native-born Americans.

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

Lastly, unlike the period of 1840s-50s in the period of 1910s-20s Americans were afraid immigrants were bringing ideas of communism into the country and threatening the safety of democracy. The red scare in 1919-20 resulted in a nationwide crusade against left-wingers whose Americanism was suspicious. Numerous states joined in the outcry against radicals. The case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the court may have discriminated against them because they were

Read More
255 Words | 2 Pages

The opening scene of the film The Godfather starts with a man talking to the godfather he says, “I believe in America, America has made my fortune.” Immigrants of the United States can relate to such statement because America has a reputation of having great opportunities for prosperity. Consequently, immigrants from other countries come to America looking for a better experience than in their own countries. As a result the United States has served as the place for opportunities for various distinctive ethnic groups, immigrants, like the Godfather and his family who are Italian immigrants have settled down in United States but yet they have kept their culture intact. The godfather is the head of his family, and he is a powerful and well-rounded

Read More
318 Words | 2 Pages

Just like several other ethnic groups in the 1800s, poverty drove many Greeks to emigrate to America. In their home country, agriculture paid inadequately and was long, arduous work. And those already paltry conditions turned destitute for citizens when blight struck their crops. This caused a mass migration from Greece that began in the 1890s and lasted through the 1920s (Iliou, 2007). During that time, many people from Greece sailed to Ellis Island, in hopes of a better future.

Read More
323 Words | 2 Pages

World War 1 was led many embrace strong anti-immigrant sympathies. The government had started raiding headquarters and started arresting suspects. Attorney had warned the nation that the justice had undercover plots. Throughout 1920’s and 1930’s Vanzetti and Sacco was both feared and despised communism. They both had spent 7 years in prison.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

These terrible intimidating men were a part of the mafia. The mafia, caused by dark times in America and corrupt police force, was a very influential group to America and lead to many deaths and a hurt America. The Mafia was a group of “families” that ran most of the big cities in the 1920’s. These men came from Italy and migrated over to America.

Read More
308 Words | 2 Pages

The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families.

Read More
221 Words | 1 Pages

Out of the 7.6 million Europeans that arrived between 1900 and 1909, 72% came from Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy. Ellis Island in New York was the major port for immigrants crossing the Atlantic Ocean during 1892, and Angel Island in California for those arriving through the Pacific Ocean. Americans began to worry about the rapid expansion of immigrants, whose customs seemed strange to most of the native population. As a result, anti-immigrant movements and the uprising of nativism arose. Immigration reached its peak from 1900 to 1915 when nearly 15 million people entered the U.S; that is as many as in the previous forty years.

Read More
971 Words | 4 Pages

There are many similarities and differences when it comes to immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries versus modern day immigrants. Even though there is a myth that immigrants are overrunning the United States, “immigrants make up approximately 13% of the U.S. population today and between 1900 to 1930, it was a similar number of about 12-15% of the population” (adl.org). No matter which era, “immigrants mostly came to America for the same reason- to find greater economic opportunities for themselves and their families”(history.com). From the 1880s to 1920, most immigrants, among the 20 million who immigrated during that period, came from Eastern, Southern, and Central Europe. After 1920, The Immigration Act was put in place which

Read More
1707 Words | 7 Pages

In the early 19th century, millions of immigrants from Europe had traveled to the United States to escape difficulties faced in their native lands such as poverty and religious persecution. Italian, German, Irish, and many other eastern European immigrants sought the prosperous and wealthy lifestyle advertised in the land of opportunity, the United States. However, after settling down they often faced the difficulties they had fled from as well as sentiments of prejudice and mistrust from the American people. Most immigrants were discriminated against due to their religious beliefs as well as their language barriers which fostered the beliefs that they were intellectually inferior to Americans.

Read More
1377 Words | 6 Pages

Migration DBQ The United States of America has, and will always be, a country where immigrants and refugees can migrate to, internally and internationally, to vastly improve their lives. During the late 19th century in the US, there was a massive influx of immigrants from all over the world, as well as movement of people already living in the US to different areas. These people were primarily seeking better job opportunities due to numerous economic issues in foreign countries and social tensions in the post-Reconstruction US.

Read More
868 Words | 4 Pages

Opening in 1892, Ellis Island quickly became the most active immigration station (and largest in America) for Immigrants entering the U.S.; mainly from Europe. For these Immigrants, Ellis Island was the entrance point to "the land of opportunity" and they had worked hard and spent a lot of hard earned money to get there. The immigrants that came to the America were coming partially because of the prospect and promises of prosperity and happiness and that America was “the land of opportunity”, but mainly because of drought, famine, war, and religious persecution in their home countries. From 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island processed over 12 million immigrants. For most people, Ellis Island was a wonderful place that would be the entry point beginning of their new life, but for some others it was a miserable experience.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

The Godfather (1972) is said to be one of the greatest films ever made. When this movie was released in 1972, it was nominated for Ten Academy Awards and it won three: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was adapted from the book with the same name written by award winning author of mafia fiction, Mario Puzo. This film takes place in a span of ten years following the life of Don Corleone, the head of the Corleone Crime Family. It was a film that changed the history of cinema, introducing a very talented filmmaker and several acting legends in the telling of a story of a Sicilian Crime Family.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

98 years ago, in June 17, 1917, “The Immigrant” is a silent romantic comedy short film, which was written, directed by Charlie Chaplin, was released in America. It is a story of an immigrants encounter on the journey to America and his love story with a young woman he met on the boat. Charlie Chaplin’s the immigrant tended to show the society the view of life from an immigrant who has experienced many adversity and scenarios in order to look for understanding and sympathy from people to the immigrants as himself. Immigration is a very social issue in America at the time of 1917.

Read More
1202 Words | 5 Pages

Although few Italians came to the United States before 1870, after 1900, Ellis Island inspectors were processing thousands per day. At the time, Italy was one of the most overcrowded countries in Europe. From 1890 to 1900 alone, 655,858 Italians, of whom two-thirds were males, left their rural communities for the United States. Between 1900 and 1920, total immigration from Europe exceeded the population of all states west of the Mississippi River except California, Missouri and Texas. More Italians immigrated than were found in Genoa, Florence, Milan, Palermo and Rome.

Read More

More about Italian Immigrants In The Film The Godfather Part II

Related Topics

Open Document