Abstract  American movie “The Godfather” is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of  the world. To many  audiences,  “The Godfather”  is  not only  a movie, but also a microcosm of American Mafia culture. This paper uses this movie as a medium to explore American Mafia culture in the 20th century. First of all, the paper makes a brief introduction of the movie “The Godfather”. Then, the paper makes a detailed analysis of some  important plots of  the movie on  the basis of historical backgrounds. After that, the paper centers on exploring the reasons for the rapid development of American Mafia in the 20th century, such as economic, political,  judicial,  and  social  reasons.  At  last,  the  paper  summarizes  the economic, political, cultural, and social influences of American Mafia culture on American society.  59444  
Key words: “The Godfather”; American Mafia culture; reasons; influences   
摘要  美国电影《教父》一直以来都被誉为是世界最伟大的电影之一。对很多观众而言，《教父》不仅仅是一部电影而已，它更是美国黑帮文化的缩影。本文以该电影为媒介探讨二十世纪美国的黑手党文化。首先，对电影进行了简介；其次，在历史背景的基础上分析影片中的一些重要情节；紧接着从经济、政治、司法以及社会等角度探讨导致二十世纪美国黑手党迅猛发展的原因；最后总结黑手党文化对美国经济、政治、文化以及社会的影响。 
毕业论文关键词： 《教父》；美国黑手党文化；原因；影响  

Contents 

 1. Introduction 1 

2. Literature Review. 1 

3. Synopsis of “The Godfather” 2 

4. Plot Analysis: from the Movie to the Real World . 3 

4.1 Political Relations of American Mafia  3 

4.2 Judicial Connections of American Mafia  4 

4.3 Economic Activities of American Mafia . 4 

5. Reasons for the Development of American Mafia  5 

5.1 Economic Reasons . 5 

5.2 Political Reasons  7 

5.3 Judicial Reasons . 8 

5.4 Social Reasons . 8 

6. Influences of American Mafia Culture on American Society. 9 

6.1 Economic Influences  10 

6.2 Political Influences . 10 

6.3 Cultural Influences . 11 

6.4 Social Influences  12 

7. Conclusion  12 

Works Cited 14 
1. Introduction   “Culture  is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors,  institutions and communication patterns  that are shared,  learned and passed down  through  the generations  in an identifiable group of people.” (Davis, 2001: 41) There are many ways for people to spread culture, among which the film plays a significant role in culture expression.   The film is an audio-visual art, which can reflect different national spirits and social culture.  Through the artistic image, emotions and thoughts,  films can directly reflect the culture of a nation.  “The Godfather”  is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the world,  which is based  on  Mario  Puzo’s  best-selling  novel  of  the  same  name.  To  many audiences  “The Godfather”  is  not  only  a movie,  but  also  a microcosm  of American Mafia culture  of  the  20th  century.  Through  it,  we  can  get  a  glimpse  of  the  real  American Mafia groups and their culture.  2. Literature Review Over  the  years,  a  great  many  of  well-known  Chinese  scholars  have  made  lots  of researches on  the movie and  the  novel  以电影《教父》探讨美国黑手党文化:http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_64671.html