Generation Gaps

Generation gaps can be seen clearly in Scorsese’s and Lee’s early films such as Joe Bedstuys Barbershop and Mean Streets. Both directors come from a racially different background then the “average” white American, one is black and the other Italian. Scorsese is a third generation Italian whose people came from Italy around the years of 1870 to the mid 20th century. Lee is a second generation northern urban African American whose people migrated from the southern states to the northern states in the early and mid 20th century in order to esc ape racist laws such Jim Crow laws that made it hard for blacks to do much of anything. Both directors use their own personal experience as a member of a third or second generation class to give their stories and main characters a life of there own.
One of Martin Scorsese’s first films and one that truly represents the generation gap of third generation Italians from their second and first generation family members is Mean Streets a movie about a protagonist named Charlie who is a third generation Italian man working in the mafia with his assumable second generation uncle Giovanni. The film has a basic plot; Charlie is trying to move up the ranks of the mafia, but is held back due to his inability to disassociate himself of an immature friend named Johnny Boy. After learning of Scorsese”s life we can see right away that Charlie is a representation in some way of Scorsese, which is a clear sign that the directors up bringing influences how his character will behave and react to certain situations presented to him during the film. With Scorsese being a third generation Italian American his movie characters will face the same troubles he had with issues like trying to assimilate themselves into the “normal” way of life and trying to live his life the way hey see fit not the way tradition or family sees fit. One of the many examples found in Mean Streets of a generation gap is the conversation Giovanni and Charlie have about Teresa and her “situation”. Giovanni is discussing with Charlie and another man probably another gangster about how Teresa is going to her parents about wanting her own place and they don’t like the idea of her having her own place so they come to Giovanni for advice. Giovanni goes on telling the two that he doesn’t know what to do and for Charlie to keep on eye on the girl that he refers to as “sick” in the head. As Charlie then attempts to tell his uncle that she’s not sick in the head, but has a disease called Epilepsy, Giovanni reiterates that’s what he meant “sick” in the head. This small and seemingly unimportant scene in the movie truly portrays the generation gap between Charlie and his uncle. By his uncle not recognizing the disease Teresa has and just referring to it as being sick in the head shows his ignorance toward the issues of the day and not being educated on certain things as Charlie seems to be. That example portrays the way Charlie and his second generation uncle see things on a very different scale, but Charlie has several inner conflicts about what he does and if it’s the “right” thing to do. A prime example of this inner conflict Charlie has is when he sets up a date with the black dancer Diane at his friends bar. Charlie from the start of the film is attracted to the women and finds her appealing in many sexual ways. Midway through the movie he gets the courage to ask her out and they agree on getting Chinese food together. We see the Diane waiting for Charlie as his cab drives near the Chinese restaurant we see Charlie in it he tells the driver to keep going and not stop. Thus Charlie begins to contemplate what he is doing and beings to say things such as be cannot be seen in public with a black woman what will people say. He is torn between his desire to be with her and his upbringing by a second generation family. He decides to not meet her and head back for home, thus caving in to what the second generation group has taught him. Scorsese does a great job of portraying third generation life in Mean Streets from Charlie’s small talks with his uncle to his inner conflicts it is all rich with a confrontation of the traditional ways and the new “normal” way of living.
Lee’s generation gap is represented in his movies in a different way. He doesn’t take two different age groups and match them against each other and has them portray their differences. Instead Lee takes two people of the same generation the second generation African Americans, but adds a twist one is always a northerner urban raised person while the other one seems to come from somewhere in the south. The greatest example of this is in Joe Bed-Stuys Barbershop and the two characters in this confrontation are Zack the protagonist and his wife Ruth. Zack is a second generation urban raised man while Ruth is second generation and rises from the south. Early on in the movie Ruth and Zack argue about the barbershop that Zack has inherited due to an accident to its owner Joe. Ruth wants him to sell the shop so they can move to Georgia where she has a house, but Zack doesn’t want to sell he wants to succeed in this town. Ruth’s obvious southern up bringing forces her to desire a better life, while Zack’s urban heritage makes him only want to conquer his current life style and succeed in it. Throughout the rest of the film the two argue about what to do with the shop from selling it to starting to offer curls in hair, which Zack doesn’t agree to either. Both these attempts by Ruth and denials by Zack are perfect examples of how geography does play a role in the way two people interact with one another. You have the southerner wanting a better life and simpler times, while the man from the urban background wants to stay and beat the system with hard work and determination. Lee’s first film is one that portrays this issue of how even being the same generation can still cause two people to be different as long as there from two different parts of America.
Both directors are of the generation they try and represent in films and both do it in unique ways. Lee does it depending on geography while Scorsese represents how families begin to change due to this gap. Mean Streets portrayed the way families influence one another with Charlie afraid to be seen with a black woman, while Lee’s film represented how geography plays a huge role in the way two people see things by having Ruth and Zack argue over living arrangements in a “ghetto” like town. These issues that these characters went through in the movies represented the same issues Lee and Scorsese could have gone through when they tried to assimilate them selves into “normal” life or try and succeed finically in our capitalist life style. Looking back at both films one must agree that they are a perfect representation of how one views generation gaps and geographical differences.