Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese

The lowly, blue-collar side of New York's Italian mafia is explored in this crime biopic of wiseguy Henry Hill. As he makes his way from strapping young petty criminal, to big-time thief, to middle-aged cocaine addict and dealer, the film explores in detail the rules and traditions of organized crime. Watching the rise and fall of Hill and his two counterparts, the slick jack-of-all-trades criminal Jimmy Conway and the brutish, intimidating Tommy DeVito, this true story realistically explores the core, blue-collar part of the mob.

The first time I watched Goodfellas the parts which stood out to me was the violence. The film is very graphic and there are countless beatings and killings. When I watched it and focused on how each gender is represented I found that the role of women in the film is quite complex.
Karen, who becomes Henry Hill's wife is first seen as a gentle character. When Hill stands her up on what was meant to be their second date she breaks into tears. She seems fragile and emotional, and is very soft-spoken at the start of the film. On their third date Henry takes her to a club popular with the mobsters and Karen is extremely taken with the rich lifestyle Henry leads. She struck me as very naive. "There was nothing like it. I didn't think there was anything strange in any of this. You know, a twenty-one-year-old kid with such connections. He was an exciting guy. He was really nice. He introduced me to everybody. Everybody wanted to be nice to him. And he knew how to handle it".
A while into their relationship Karen begins to change. She covers up for Henry and hides a gun he used to pistol-whip someone. "After awhile, it got to be all normal. None of it seemed like crime. It was more like Henry was enterprising, and that he and the guys were making a few bucks hustling, while all the other guys were sitting on their asses, waiting for handouts. Our husbands weren't brain surgeons, they were blue-collar guys. The only way they could make extra money, real extra money, was to go out and cut a few corners". She was still more gentle-natured that the other mobsters wives but has at this point fallen into the life of crime. She begins to toughen up further when Henry and Karen have children, and is seen making demands and sticking up for herself.
Towards the end of the film Karen is frustrated, swears frequently and threatens Henry with a gun. There is a reason, though, as Henry is having an affair with a drug addict named Janice Rossi. "This is Karen Hill, I want to talk to you. Hello? Don't hang up on me. I want to talk to you. You keep the fuck away from my husband, you understand me? Hello? ANSWER ME. I'm going to tell everybody that walks in this building that in 2R, Rossi, you're nothing but a whore. Is this the superintendent?... Yes, sir, I would like you to know that you have a whore living in 2R. Rossi, Janice Rossi... He's MY husband. Get your own goddamn man." She says this in front of her children after discovering the name and whereabouts of the woman Henry is having an affair with.

Karen is a complex character. She is likeable, and I pity her because of the hardships she gets put through, but she is blinded by love and a character who started out as sweet and innocent becomes violent and harsh.
When Henry was making money, life was sweet, but when his scams weren’t paying off, they had to scrounge like paupers. When Henry went away to prison, Karen was left alone to fend for herself and raise the kids. Worst of all, Henry’s cocaine dealing led to addiction, and Karen was sucked into that seductive whirl as well.

There is a hostess party between all the gangsters wives at the start of the film, which shows the characters gossiping excitedly about the violence commited by their family, or violence they've commited against their children, as if they were discussing beauty tips. They are portrayed as crude, worn down and angry. Karen makes the following comments on them: 'They had bad skin and wore too much makeup. They didn't look very good. They looked beat-up' 'They talked about their rotten kids...and about beating them with broom handles and belts'.
The wives act like Karen does at the end of the film, and when Karen sees how they behave she is shocked and seems completely oblivious to the fact that this is how they need to behave to survive when their husbands are gangsters. Examples of how the wives act are:
"Keep your fucking handsoff me or I'll cut them off."
"What about Jeannie's kid? He was in an argument. A dollar card game. He pulls out a gun. The gun goes off. Some kid gets killed.When the grandmother hears... ...she has a heart attackand drops dead. Now Jeannie has a husband and son in jail and a mother in the funeral parlor."
This is how the wives of gangsters live and Karen doesn't ever think she will get sucked into that world, which is why it is sad that she does.

The women in the films are their to support their husbands, keep their houses clean, raise the children, and cover up their men's crimes. The husbands are out all day long planning their next scam, they come home for dinner and then usually stay out all night (at other women's houses). The wives seem to be fine with this lifestyle which is a very negative view of women. They don't question their husbands and are very submissive. Men definately have the power in the film. They can walk into a restaurant and get tables brought out specially for them, and they never have to queue anywhere. People will lay down for them and attend to their every need. The women are only shown this respect when they are with their husbands and they are still not treated equally. The men meet and greet each other and then nriefly introduce their wives but the women are not included in the conversations. They're allowed to listen but not contribute. Overall there is a negative view of women here and although I did enjoy the film I expected it to be they way it was.