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Many people behave as if
power were the ultimate goal in life. The Godfather eloquently
deals with the issue of power to the point that we may become inspired
to go out and get it ourselves (or if that were already the goal of some
viewers, it may have been reaffirmed). This inspiration arises because
we are urged to identify with the Corleone family and their struggle to
maintain power as one of the most influential mafia families in the United
States. Additionally, the film deals well with the issue of power
either being primarily vested in the people themselves or simply the position
that the person holds. Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), at the point
in the film where he retires from his position as the Godfather, must redirect
several attempts to be dealt with personally in Family business to his
son, Michael (Al Pacino). Thereafter, whatever amount of the power
that was due to Vito's personal charisma and respectability is passed on
by this ultimate referral to Michael.
 The
fact that power was most often passed on and shared with members of
the biological family is significant from an evolutionary point of view.
This nepotism could be attributed to a naturally built-in drive that may
have blossomed into and coupled with a cultural tendency to pass on power
to members of the family. In cases where this doesn't happen in other
cultures, we can argue that the culture itself has suppressed any biological
tendency in favor of nepotism. Could the meaning of life be reduced
to the accumulation of power and/or status in order to insure the survival
and prosperity of offspring and those who share some genes? Evolutionary
theory states that genetic fitness has been a large factor in determining
what forms of life exist in our world today. However, not all forms
of life are associal and culturally aided as we are (and by culture
I mean all that we have and know that is not biologically inherited--computers,
forks, sunglasses, physics,...). So, we may have achieved a status
where passing on genes does not matter so much as passing on useful culture
to make life better for those in our society. We could be reaching
a point where we are all socially connected enough that our purest nature
is to be just as concerned with the well-being of our entire species as
we are concerned about our family (it follows that this concern for our
species should logically extend to a global environmental concern for sustaining
the intricately interconnected ecology of all life).
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In
this sense, the Corleone family's belief in power as an ultimate goal in
life could be seen as manifesting itself as a primal instinct that turns
out to be counterproductive to its own intent when operating in a culture
with highly accurate techniques and tools of death. The Families kill each
other off in the struggle for power, causing much sorrow and draining of
the Family gene pool in the name of "business." Vito actually realizes
that this method of gaining power was flawed enough to attempt to shield
his favorite son from becoming the next Godfather, but a Senator instead.
He wanted to use the means of the mafia as a stepping stone to more legitimate
forms of power. Michael continued his father's quest, only to find
that the bloodstained Family was in a pit impossible to escape. In
fact, Michael discovered that the power he was so fortunate to have and
maintain was actually what began to corrupt his mind and life to the point
that he would lose the woman he loved and even kill his own brother.
While at his position of power, Michael's personal self became melded with
the role he was expected to play. He eventually lost his self to
the position and role he occupied. Power may be a goal for which
we strive if we define it as the meaning of our existence, but in gaining
and desiring it we can lose too much, including our more noble selves.