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What inspires an artist to pursue his craft? Somewhere from the depths of his subconscious stirs inspiration. In the case of Mario Puzo, author of the book The Godfather, this passion was ostensibly financial. As related by Peter Bart, a then-vice president for Paramount Pictures who worked with Puzo to make the book a movie, Puzo at age forty-five was in debt and at the end of his financial rope, having published several books that had not achieved the significance he felt they deserved. In the concept of The Godfather, which at the time was only one hundred pages completed, Puzo saw a theme and story that he believed held market potential, enough to hopefully earn him a decent income. Bart recounts Puzo asserting, \"I\'m writing this book to make money. This isn\'t War and Peace,\" (Bart 445).
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This focus on money as a creative force may sound contrary to what most perceive to be an artist\'s authentic inspiration: the pursuit of human truth and meaning. However, money talks. Specifically, it speaks the language of efficacy; money follows what works. What worked in late 1960\'s and early 1970\'s cinema was a new model for heroism. Gangster movies of the 1930\'s had focused on the gangster as a criminal without redeeming qualities. The heroes in these films were police and detectives who brought gangsters to justice. The Western movies and romantic musicals that were popular before the 1960\'s lost their appeal during a decade of counter-culture movements.
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In the next scene, we observe from wide-angle views an outdoor wedding, that of the Don\'s daughter Connie. We see a great many people gathered in a large garden-like estate filled with plants, sunlight, and decorations. Old-world Italian music plays and people seem free of tensions and full of revelry. The warmth of the occasion is notable and carefully crafted into the details of the unfolding scene. We watch Connie dance with abandon. A small girl dances with her white Mary Jane-styled shoes upon those of a grandfatherly figure. Old women and men get up on stage and contribute their voices to the Italian songs played by musicians. These details imbedded in a film are what give depth and authenticity to the story. They resonate with the viewer and tap into the audience\'s desires for family and belonging. Details that evoke feeling through their realism and connection to everyday life are the product of the director\'s mastery of craft and subject matter. The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, who worked carefully with Puzo on the movie and screenplay, is himself Italian-American. The combined experiences of these men and their fondness for their heritage are keenly and freely expressed throughout the movie. It is most notable in the Wedding Scene and other scenes in the movie that display familial and community bonds.
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For a generation rebelling from their parents and forming their own revolutionary peer group communities, a feeling of belonging in a mainstream traditional sense might be off-putting; however, in this case, the community in focus is that of an immigrant group and, in addition, one that obeys rules outside of mainstream society.
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