METAPHORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME HEGEMONY IN AMERICA AND ITS DEFEAT IN THE FILM CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. A current film that appears to allude to Hollywood’s current Italian mafia besieged mind-set, albeit obliquely, is the recently released Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks. Ostensibly a story about Somali pirates taking over an American cargo ship, this film surreptitiously reflects the current Hollywood siege mentality in regards to the current Italian mafia domination of its industry and furthermore addresses what Hollywood foresees as what will eventually happen in order to rectify this domination. First of all, the choice of location for this film, off the coast of Somalia, gives us a good indication that Captain Phillips is a film which will surreptitiously address the Italian mafia’s destructive ambitions for America. After all, Somalia was targeted in the 1920s by Italian fascists in order to realize their imperialistic ambitions just as America and the western democracies are being targeted now for Italian mafia imperialistic ambitions. The Italian occupation of Somalia ended embarrassingly with the Italian army being defeated by stone-and-spear wielding Somali natives driving the Italian invaders off their territory. Thus, the location of the film, Captain Phillips, serves as a sly reminder to the Italian mafia not only that military undertakings and imperialistic savvy are not the greatest strengths of the Italian character but also that military strength ultimately decides questions of a nation’s sovereignty not covert cells of deranged organized criminals. Thus, the setting of Captain Phillips is a potent forewarning of what is likely to transpire in the future if the Italian mafia continues on its quest for organized crime imperialism and hegemony in the United States. The basic plot-line of Captain Phillips --that of a small group of thugs taking over an American container ship-- is a metaphor for the Italian mafia’s increasing dominance and control in Hollywood. Furthermore, Hollywood asserts that they are currently completely defenseless in combatting this takeover. The large ship with a large crew in the film is, likewise, defenseless to prevent a group of four armed Somali thugs from boarding the ship and holding it, and its crew, for ransom. The crew haplessly fire water cannons at the small Somali boat to prevent the pirates from boarding which appears to be a metaphor for how Hollywood must cleanse itself of the Italian mafia if it is to prevent this important industry from being co-opted further into doing the bidding of organized crime. As a result, the only foreseeable solution to this current dilemma --both for Captain Phillips’ ship and for Hollywood-- is a military one. The American Navy assisted by a psuedo-CIA task force is brought in to rescue Captain Phillips when he is taken hostage and the pirates try to take him back to Somalia. Likewise, it appears Hollywood believes that the only solution at this point in time to Italian mafia domination of its industry, and its hegemony in America, is through military intervention. Later on in the film Captain Phillips --portrayed by Tom Hanks in one of his many film roles in which he represents and tipifies the ordinary American dealing with extraordinary circumstances-- is taken hostage by the pirates and is put on a boat bound for the Somali mainland. These scenes are an obvious metaphor for how ordinary Americans are being held --similar to hostages-- in the grips of Italian organized crime. In the film the character Captain Phillips and the Navy rescuers both exhibit great anxiety about hostages being taken to an extremely poverty-ridden, corrupt, dangerous and anarchic country and these scenes in the film seems to reflect the anxiety of thoughtful individuals in the United States about the direction which America will take if it continues to allow deranged criminal thugs to control important industries such as Hollywood film. America will, like Somalia, fall into chaos and devolve. Civilization will go into decline as an anarchic existence in the United States will undoubtably become more and more commonplace due to organized crime corruption. Furthermore, similarly wary of what will happen to him if he is held hostage in Somalia, Captain Phillips makes ominous protestations to the pirates such as: “The Navy will never let you do that.” as they try to take Phillips back to their desperate ravaged country. Likewise, these protestations on a metaphorical level suggest that the American armed forces will never let their country be turned into an uncivilized, corrupt mafia satellite state. Captain Phillips warning to the Somali pirates that: “The Navy will never let you do that.” is also a metaphorical warning to the Italian mafia and its operatives that a military coup is not an unthinkable reaction to their current dangerous corruption of the USA If corrupt politicians continue to facilitate Italian mafia hegemony. The film ends with the death and/or imprisonment of the pirates at the hands of the American military. This end to the film foreshadows how it will likewise end for the mafia and some of its operatives when the inevitable day of reckoning arrives for them: with military justice. A courts martial will be quickly set up to dispense fast military justice to those who subvert America for organized criminals just as the military quickly dispensed with the Somali pirates in the film. One final foreshadowing of how this terrible corruption of the United States will end is evident in the film Captain Phillips. The Somali pirate leader goes on board the American Navy ship duped into thinking that he is going to discuss matters with his Somali tribal elders. He is quickly whisked off to prison while his pirate co-horts are shot dead. Metaphorically, this end to the film, insinuates that only Italian mafia operatives who come over to the side of the defenders of America will survive the forthcoming organized crime covert insurgency crackdown while those who do not talk will be dealt with swiftly under the aegis of military, not civilian law. Overall, Captain Phillips convincingly drives the point home that might can trump democracy and civilization just as it initially defeated the Captain Phillips character in the film but that, in turn, the awesome military might of the modern democratic nation can also trump those who would try to use terror and crime to subjugate the American people. Thus, Captain Phillips provides a potent warning to those establishing criminal hegemonies in the USA --such as the Chinese and the Italian mafia-- that opposition to their hegemonies will quickly metamorphosize from being decent, defenseless ordinary citizens to a technologically sophisticated and very effective military force which will eventually have whatever power is necessary to eradicate what amounts to being a serious cancer that threatens not only to destroy American democracy and to enslave Americans to organized crime but which will also relegate the American nation to being bled dry economically through organized crime imperialism. The film Captain Phillips is a potent warning indeed, one which it would behoove both China and the Italian mafia to take notice of and to act on accordingly if they have any intention whatsoever of surrendering their diabolical plans for criminal hegemony in the west.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 13:35:51 +0000
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