It goes without saying that the mafia had
a strong impact on media. With that era, we’ve created some of the
most iconic movies to have touch the earth and characters that are now immortalized due
to their impactful effect on not only the movie, but the world. Don Corleone, better known as The Godfather,
is our prime example. The movie itself had held so much influence
for future movies to come, but Don Corleone’s character is one that we will see almost as
much as the elements recreated from the movie. His character has been referenced in many
forms of media and anime is one of them. In Part 5 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Golden
Wind or Vento Aureo, we have a character meant to embody many of the elements that
make up the Don’s character, and he’s not even the boss. Polpo is not only a character meant to take
place of the typical boss, but his stand Black Sabbath is also a personification of a huge
element in The Godfather. That being the movies cinematography and its
intense use of shadows. But to first put my focus on Polpo being a
take on Corleone. Polpo’s authority is the first thing in
question. While he isn’t the boss and is missing a
rank or two, he’s the first person that Giorno has to answer to in the mafia. He’s also the first step and a man you come
to for involvement. Civilians can come to people like Bruno for
help, but to get involved you have to come to Polpo and take your baby steps before you
get on into the world itself. I also believe that Polpo is Araki’s way
of incorporating a Don Corleone like character because he wouldn’t be able to do so with
the actual boss. The next thing is trust, which is a huge belief
for Corleone and probably the only thing that Polpo truly stands by. Trust to Polpo is the only true defining thing
of a person, talent and intelligence means nothing in comparison. To Corleone it’s what truly defines a relationship
between both people. You can respect someone without trusting them,
which is why he does trust the aspect of respect, because that can go at anytime. Respect comes in many forms and comes with
many reasons as to why its given, be it age, skill, or anything. Trust is a personal tie, an indicator and
a reason as to why you can be fine with the relationship and the person you trust. If that trust was to ever be abused, then
you get the same outcome for both Polpo and Corleone. Betraying what made the relationship is something
that calls for the worst punishment ever. Polpo believes that even God would permit
murder, and Corleone isn’t too far from that either. The final example here is surprisingly not
a focus on character, but more so appearance. One huge thing that the two shares are their
dark eyes. Like I stated previously, the lighting cinematography
is a huge element to the Godfather. It reinforces our idea of what characters
represent and how truly involved they are. The movies approach being a clear approach
on what’s morally right and wrong because those that are reinstated to be evil find
themselves in many shadows, and those good are commonly found in the light. From dark to light it’s a death of character
because they’re being exposed for who they truly are, and from light to dark it’s a
development and we see the fall into darkness as the character progresses forward. Corleone finds himself always in the shadows,
and any development on his character throughout the movie will always show in his darkness. Be it from the purest form of darkness to
a now greyed out version to show that he isn’t nearly as strong as he originally was. There’s a lot to take from here, and when
that’s all adapted into Polpo we can see a clear-cut answer. His eyes are a direct call to Corleone because
he has black eyes. Not extremely black pupils, but instead the
entire eyes are black, and his pupils are red. He can never lose the darkness in his eyes
because those are his eyes, it’s who he is. Same reason why you won’t see Corleone without
any shadow at all. He’s completely engulfed in what represents
evil, it’s a side that he can never leave, but would never truly intend to because it’s
who he is also. Now, I’d like to bring my attention to the
shadows themselves, but not in the Godfather, instead the shadows present in here in Part
5. Remember what I had mentioned about Corleone
being completely engulfed in the shadows. While that can’t full transfer over into
Polpo with actual shadows, Black Sabbath does that job and even more. Black Sabbath, the stand of Polpo, is a stand
that’s power lays in the shadows. The stand itself is found with massive strength
the more that shadows are present. And its activation is the first step of its
symbolism. It’s no coincidence that Black Sabbath activates
when the “light” goes out and that Black Sabbath is destroyed by light also. The lighter being not only a symbol of trust,
but also represents a retainment of character. Giorno is meant to keep his light for the
entire 24 hours and hopefully not fall out of who he truly is. The thing is, Giorno’s character is like
the many characters we see here in Part 5, and from a Joestar and Brando sense, he’s
the embodiment of the best of both sides. The lighter may be a test of his character,
but Giorno answer to the test doesn’t lay in the lighter but instead his actions against
Black Sabbath and Polpo. Now we’re moving on from the activation
to the fight itself. It’s Giorno against Black Sabbath, but Black
Sabbath is not only the stand itself or Polpo, but a representation of the evil in the mafia
world. With evil holding symbolism in the shadows
and Black Sabbath’s power being increased for when it’s among even more shadows, it’s
a statement on the evil growing stronger when it takes over. It’s also insane that goes even further
to have the fight take place at sunset since both sunrise and sunset is a time where both
night and day clash. But the final thing to make note of is on
the outcome of the fight. Giorno found that light was the true weakness
to Black Sabbath. This goes back to what I had mentioned with
the transitions. Light to dark is a development, but dark to
light is exposing the character, and in both examples of the Godfather and Golden Wind,
they both lay in death. With Giorno finding the light to beat the
darkness, a natural light that’s forever present but interchanges with darkness at
times, that being the sun. Giorno’s character holding both the sun
and the moon. His natural light being his determination
and resolve, but his darkness is the extent that he goes to carry out these beliefs. Which is why Giorno defeating Black Sabbath
with light is an example of his power over evil, but the defeat of Black Sabbath is his
development on becoming a true gangster. Because not only is he defeating Black Sabbath,
he’s defeating Polpo, and it’s shown that he’s all the darker for it. I’ll be making this a point when talking
about trust, but I need to talk about Polpo once again before doing so. Bringing back the idea of Polpo playing boss
or just a strong authority in general. A big indicator of this is how Polpo constantly
puts himself over Giorno. Now obviously, he’s bigger than Giorno,
but meeting Giorno at eye-level isn’t something of interest because he sees himself above
Giorno. Not only because of position, but more so
that he just sees himself higher than him in general. Speaking to him on what trust truly is, but
it’s clear that it’s not what Polpo is looking for. Polpo is looking for an unwavering respect
without looking to match the energy given. Because Polpo isn’t a trustworthy man, nor
does he believe in equality. If you’re a higher rank, people answer to
you. You’re the one who can lead people, and
he does exactly that with Black Sabbath. He gives everyone two paths, dictating whether
someone follows a path of life or death due to the lighter. So Polpo is basically sending out an angel
of judgement to everyone that plans to join the mafia. Lighter lit for 24 hours or not, doesn’t
matter to him. The potential member could’ve died, does
that matter to him? No. He’s unbothered because subordinates are
expendable. Oh, this is a post script note. But let’s count this as a point between
Boss and trust, this on the actual reasoning why Black Sabbath is an automatic stand. Black Sabbath being bound to the lighter and
blindly following the instructions of Polpo connects over to Corleone and the Godfather
logo. The Godfather’s level of control on their
world was something like a puppeteer. Makes sense on why Polpo and an Italian word
specific to Sicily where the Godfather originates from Puparo are reasonably similar, with Puparo
meaning Puppeteer or Puppet Master. And that’s what Polpo is and believes he
is. Playing with recruits like puppets and believing
he’s one allowed to do so. At this point, the dots connecting are doing
it themselves. So while Polpo directly conforms to the naming
with Italian food, Polpo through this symbolism comes out with an addition to his name. Also thank you tales for helping me out on
where Puparo comes from in Sicilian dialect. And the last thing to touch up on, is trust. Respect is impersonal in both worlds, and
honestly can even apply to our world depending on the person. Respect is a thing given to position, skill,
thing along that line, but trust is a completely different area. Trust correlates to your own perspective,
your own judgement and connects to your beliefs. You can respect someone around the same position
as you or higher, but you don’t have to trust them at all. This is something we see be a huge theme when
it comes to both the first Godfather and Godfather 2. This was also something we had seen here in
Part 5, but there was a problem. Giorno had got his respect and trust mixed
up when it came to Polpo. With Polpo’s position he trusted that Polpo
knew the ropes and would have it in his best interest to be one to guide Giorno and also
not do anything that he did through Black Sabbath. Giorno saw it as, “If I don’t take care
of this lighter, I don’t get into the gang”, but letting that lighter go out is a betrayal
of trust, which to Polpo is punishable by death. Though the only thing that Giorno had to gauge
originally is that Polpo said that trust is massively important, off what had happened
with Black Sabbath hurting an innocent bystander, his reaction shows that couldn’t believe
that this is what Polpo meant. While it is Polpo’s doing, Giorno takes
responsibility for what he does and how his involvement with the mafia got an innocent
person killed. He’s a man that wants to be someone that
the people trust, but he’s betrayed that because of Polpo, so then that trickles down
into Giorno’s dive into the darkness of the mafia. But before I diverge from the topic of trust,
I want to say that the Godfather 2’s take on trust is one that isn’t as closely tied
into Part 5, but is still interesting. Part 5 never have a case on true betrayal
when it comes to the immediate group, some cases are like what happened between Giorno
and Polpo but with different characters in higher positions, and case or two is one that
connects back into an event of betrayal in the past. But now onto Giorno’s descent. What we had seen with Black Sabbath and Polpo
now matches on Giorno and he begins to start turning into this true gangstar. The increased presence of shadows now starts
taking over Giorno to show this duality on his core beliefs now carrying both the light
and darkness of the mafia. And that front that we had originally seen
with Giorno isn’t a front anymore because of how much malintent he holds for Polpo. It doesn’t help that Polpo begins enabling
Giorno unintentionally by telling him that even God would permit murder because of betrayal
of trust. Because not only is he giving Giorno initiative
because of what he did, this means that either Polpo believes that he’s allowed to play
God or he believes he’s one to carry out God’s actions, I’m leaning more towards
the first one obviously because I wouldn’t expect Polpo to be one of religion nor moral
correctness. So now, Giorno plays Polpo’s card, a man
that leads your paths towards either life or death, and Polpo took the darker one. This fight being over with the positions we
last see the two in this with the same perspective on position, light, and darkness we had earlier. Polpo is now the one exposed laying flat,
lower than Giorno, while now Giorno lives as this standing contradiction, shining with
this newfound darkness. Thank you all for watching! I love doing videos like this, but the time
it takes is reasonably large for how it’s all made up so I don’t know about how often
I can do this. I’ll try to do this more when I think about
it later. I’ll also be sure to do a Halloween special
soon. Hopefully, I’ll see you all in the next
one. Until then, peace out, and god speed.
