Scorsese and Raging Bull
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The movie, Raging Bull, is look at the life of famous boxer Jake LaMotta. It is a character study on a man who was very well known on for being aggressive inside and outside of the boxing ring. Robert De Niro played the main character Jake LaMotta. His second wife, Vicki, was played by Cathy Moriarty. She is a fifteen year old vixen that catches the heart of Jake. Joe Pesci plays Joey LaMotta, Jakes brother and manager. He is also the kind of the voice of reason for Jake. This movie was made in 1980, and it was nominated for countless Academy Awards, and it won award for the best actor and editing. This movie was directed by Martin Scorsese. Since Martin Scorsese is an auteur the movies does embody some of the same themes that are in a lot of his movies. But out of all of his themes there are three that really stand out. The first one is women scene as an “other”; the women in this movie are either seen as a whore or a virgin. The second theme is guilt, sin, redemption, and retribution. The last them that is really apparent in this movie is using violence as a way to solve all of his problems. These three themes are the ones that are the most visible and the really are represented in this movie.
The first theme in Raging Bull that was very evident was women were seen as other. As James Berardinelli said in his review of this movie “Vicki becomes Jakes greatest prize
(a wife, in his view, is not a companion, but a possession).” As this quote says Vicki is not even considered a real person. She is more just some ornery object to place on his arm. During the movie there are times when he treats as that, an object. He considers her a possession that is not allowed to have any contact with any other men. When she goes to say hello to the gangsters in the club she leaves for five minutes and then he get upset over absolutely nothing. He is constantly trying to control her. Whenever he suspects her of cheating or anything else he doesnt approve of he abuses her, mentally and physically. When she describes another boxer as good looking he gets mad and starts to yell at her. When he suspects she is cheating on him with his brother, Joey, he beats her brutally. He wants her to conform to his every whim. Jake also sees women as whores or virgin. In the beginning of the movie he sees Vicki and every thing else slows down. She is young, blond, and beautiful. She is the epitome of what is considered pure. She is untouchable. But later on in the movie when she is a mother and has been with him for a while she is a whore. Jake is constantly is accusing her of affair with every one she comes in contact with. The other women he sees as whores are the women in his club after he retires from boxing. These women are there and he treats them like there are whores. One of the women he treats as whores is the girl that gets raped. Jake introduced her to other men. He would have never introduced Vicki to any other men. Jake has very twisted views on women.
The second theme that is noticeable is guilt, sin, redemption, and retribution. Throughout the movie, Jake LaMotta does go through all of these stages. First he sins. When Jake sins that would be when he abuses his wife for absolutely no reason. It would also be
when he beats up his brother with absolutely no evidence at all. The guilt would be when he starts to feel bad about it and tries to make thing better. He tries to talk his wife out of leaving him after that big argument they have. Jake also tries to make it right