"In the deeper layers of the modern consciousness, all means are unlawful, every attempt to succeed is an act of aggression, leaving one alone and guilty and defenseless among enemies: one is punished for success." Robert Warshow This is a quote from the famous essay "The Gangster as Tragic Hero", a "classic example of film criticism and cultural analysis". The essay was published for the first time in 1962 in Robert Warshow's book "The Immediate Experience". …showed first 75 words of 1568 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1568 total…we failed but if we are happy. And here's the point that Robert Warshow makes, which is still valid today. That "America, as a social and political organization, is committed to a cheerful view of life." And the opposition to this view, to "Americanism itself" that gangster movies represented was reversed to serve it now. "But every product of mass culture is a public act and must conform with accepted notions of the public good."