Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong

Dying to Belong offers a unique look at the complex and fascinating genre of the gangster movie. Across the world, gangster films are often mistakenly viewed as an inferior and immoral – ­even dangerous – ­type of entertainment. By examining a broad range of films spanning several decades, Martha Nochimson deftly illustrates the darker, more substantial themes of dislocation and disorientation which define true gangster films.

From Little Caesar and The Godfather to The Sopranos, the gangster’s tale is that of an immigrant outsider looking in. The shock the gangster film delivers is not just in its physical violence, but in its perspective on the confusing and illusory promises of upward social mobility given to newcomers in Hollywood and Hong Kong. Here, classic screen traditions are explored using a new definition of the gangster genre. Offering no excuses for gangster behavior, Dying to Belong nevertheless highlights the disturbing resemblances of these “wild, bad men” to the straight citizens of two immigrant nations, in what is sure to be a controversial analysis of films that have historically been dismissed as part of a frivolous action genre.

Acknowledgments.

List of Illustrations.

1. Immigrant Movie Gangsters: The Outside Story.

2. A Frankensteinian Frenzy: Gangster Identity, Hollywood.

3. Gangster Identity, Hong Kong: A Taoist Code Warrior.

4. Hollywood: The Void of Material Success.

5. Dark Laughter at The Materialist Illusion: Hong Kong.

6. East Meets West: The Sopranos, Gangs of New York, Infernal Affairs.

Afterword. The Lesson: From Here to Modernity.

Appendix. Interview with David Chase (Excerpts From the Transcript).

Notes.

Bibliography.

Filmography.

Index

Martha P. Nochimson is Associate Editor of Cineaste Magazine , and the author of No End to Her: Soap Opera and the Female Subject (1993), The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood (1997), and Screen Couple Chemistry: the Power of 2 (2002).

?There is much to admire about this book, particularly in its formal and thematic film analyses.? ( Film Criticism , Winter 2008) "The cultural crossings, borrowings, and thefts between Hollywood and the Asian film industries have been much commented upon in recent years; Martha P. Nochimson′s book is therefore timely and necessary. Offering new perspectives on the debate, this original work brings fresh insights to the cultural meanings of the ′rise and fall′ gangster narrative and updates a generic form which continues to address the concerns of contemporary audiences. Dying to Belong will provide an admirable lead in the field of which all subsequent work will have to take into account." Esther Sonnet and Peter Stanfield, editors of Mob Culture: Hidden Histories of the American Gangster Film "An original and much–needed intersectional study of American and Hong Kong gangster films, Dying to Belong challenges our most basic truisms about this genre. Nochimson compels us to rethink the best known and most popular gangster texts, from Scarface and The Public Enemy through The Godfather and The Sopranos . But she also introduces and provides cultural contexts for the Hong Kong films, making the latter more accessible and more likely to appear on syllabi and in cultural studies of modernism and violence." Linda Mizejewski, Ohio State University ?Successfully adds to the scholarship of cinema with critical insights and historical perspectives?Nochimson should be commended for what is perhaps her finest book to date.? RogueCinema.com ?Presents an interesting take on the subject ? offers a unique look at the complex genre ? an absorbing study into the history and movement of the genre. Recommended.? Digg.com