Scarface and Double Indemnity: The Corporate Loss of American Morality Wesley Andrew Norton College

The 1920’s and 1940’s were economic boom periods in American history; in the 20’s this was due to the rapid growth of investment in consumer economics, in the 40’s it was due to the increased industrial production demanded to fight world war two, both economic booms however, produced similar predictable effects in American culture. In both decades there were plenty of legitimate opportunities to make an honest living but as always the allure of illegally making large sums of money quickly was too much for some to resist. These ill-gotten gains almost always come at the cost of having to dish out brutality to our fellow man sometimes innocent, sometimes not. While the gangster culture sponsors this immoral behavior outright, the corporate culture is no different, nurturing a highly competitive, cut throat culture that encourages taking any steps necessary to get ahead colleague and the competition, both while making as much money as is possible. Both Neff and Tony embody these respective ideals as both, albeit a little more blatantly on Tony’s part, commit violence against men who have done them no wrong in order to produce monetary gain. This is because the American gangster is, in itself, a dark parody of the American...