conventions of gangster films.

Conventions of gangster films include:
As shown above there are many recurring themes and conventions in the gangster genre in relation to story and mise en scene. The conventions of the gangster genre can also be seen in the movie posters of films of the genre, these most frequently include a black and white image of one of the main characters, often wearing a suit and holding a gun (both conventions of the genre), examples of this include the posters for Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and Brian DePalma's "Scarface".

In many gangster films the central characters are of a particular origin, the most common tend to be Italian Americans (see Godfather, Goodfellas etc.) and people from the East End Of London (see Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch etc.), this is likely due to stereotypical views of these types of people. There also tends to be a consistent format to the characters personalities and role within the gang, the typically include the leader (or Don depending on whether it is a mafia movie), the sensitive one (often the good guy at heart), the psychopath and the unintelligent one.

The stories are normally based around a mishap in the system of organised crime, whether it be a drug deal, bank robbery or anything that organised crime deals with. A good example of this would be Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" in which the robbery of a jewellers goes wrong and leaves the remaining members of the heist left to determine who the rat is.

Because of their visual conventions, classic gangster films such as scarface were accused of glamourising violence and thus presenting the criminal as the hero. Although on the face of it this appears to be the case as i said before the main protagonist always tends to be the good guy at heart even if their actions do not reflect it.