Abstract

In the study of genre, the importance of iconography has traditionally been understood as the ability for particular motifs to carry emotional weight beyond their filmic context (Alloway, 1971, Sobchack, 1977). In contemporary academic discourses, the recognition that iconography has a constantly evolving life and significance is clear, but many discussions of cinematic genre still tend to focus on national rather than transnational cinema. Cross-cultural patterns of genre discourse are crucial to understanding how iconography operates as motifs.

While it is universally understood that one film cannot define a genre, it is safe to say the iconography of The Godfather is globally recognized and understood as a signifier of the gangster. Kentucky Fried Chicken has used dialogue in their marketing to make chicken ‘you can’t refuse’, multiple film texts and TV series have recognizable scenarios and dialogue that refer to the film and in ‘real-life’ a Roman mafia boss recently had the theme music played at his funeral (BBC news, August 23rd 2015). The dialogue, music, scenarios and visual motifs associated with The Godfather appear across multiple media and marketing platforms that pay homage, parody or develop the character and themes of the original film.

This paper is part of a larger project that explores instances of Godfather iconography in global cinema. This presentation will focus on the cinematic transposition of visual motifs and themes into the Hindi film, Sarkar (dir. Ram Gopal Varma, 2005). The intention is to explore the iconographic discourse as evidenced in the film’s structure, marketing and reception.