FILM „THE GODFATHER” AS A CRITIQUE OF MULTICULTURAL DYSTOPIA
Keywords:
film, The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola, political philosophy, liberalism, the theory of justice, communitarianism, multiculturalism, communicative action, capitalismAbstract
In this paper the popular film „The Godfather”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is interpreted as an anticipation of political thought after John Rawls, in terms of critique of abstract universalist position. The film follows the cultural turn in social thought. Turning of the main character towards ethnic identity and community is shown as a deviation from the liberal thought in general. Saga of a Sicilian mafia family is usually interpreted as a fantasy of control, so that patriarchy maintains power within the private sphere, and at the same time avoids dealing with the capitalist crisis outside. In addition to the pop-cultural reproduction of gender and ethnic roles, as well as the dynamic illustrations of the development of political philosophy after Rawls, „The Godfather” represents a model of society in which multiculturalism is misused. Drawing on the Jurgen Habermas’ distinction between system and the lifeworld, the paper problematizes the concept of lifeworld, by showing the Sicilian mafia’s multiculturalist logic in all spheres of Habermas' model, whereby the system and the lifeworld take on a different meaning and function. A special role of salon in the family home, which Habermas registers in his work on structural transformation of the public sphere, is reconstructed.
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