A2 Media Studies Blog

Scarface

Our group is looking at doing a trailer about a film which involves the role of drugs so as part of my research i have watched a few films to give me some inspiration and ideas as to what to include in the trailer.

Scarface is a 1983 crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana. Based on Howard Hawks' original 1932 film Scarface, the film tells the story of a fictional Cuban refugee who comes to Florida in 1980 to try and make a better life in America. Tony Montana becomes a gangster against the backdrop of the 1980s cocaine boom. The film shows his rise to the top of Miami's criminal underworld and subsequent downfall. I think this film shows many forms of addiction such as power, violence and drugs.

In the film you see Tony Montana rise to power, doing this the film shows a life of luxury that is achieved through violence, drug dealing, and drug taking. I think this glorifies the image of drugs as it shows that power can be achieved through drugs etc. The film also shows his subsequant fall from power that ends up [Spoiler Alert...] in his death.  This image shows Tony Montana sitting alone in his mansion after pushing away his friends and family, in pile of "Yayo", [Cocaine]. This image represents his what drugs can do to a person it can cause them to push away there family and friends, showing a typical image that is shown throughout media productions for example, 'Requiem for a dream' in which drugs cause people to lose sight of whats more important. Another way in which this image shows drugs in a negative way is that Tony Montana had power, money, nice home, nice cars etc, this shows that although drugs can give people a good life, they can also take it away from them just as easily.

Here is a link to view the scarface tailer on youtube that i have uploaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9S5YoNj1vE