languageEnglish
Gender roles in gangster movies are as sacrosanct as the omertà. For all intents and purposes to say the least. Traditionally, the men are out collecting protection money, doing shady deals in nightclubs, and torturing a suspected rat who broke their vaguely defined but inviolable code of honour. Meanwhile, the women they leave behind take care of the household. They are forced to operate like props in the background, slowly becoming one with the wallpaper. The agency they exercise is mostly limited to being a nagging conscience, like Diane Keaton in
The Godfather. Even then, they have little to no impact on the men s decisions or the narrative itself.