← Back to Directory
Goodfellas
Movie

Goodfellas

1990 • Biography, Crime, Drama

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

Henry Hill might be a small time gangster, who may have taken part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who might have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners could kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to think about climbing up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, might be badly affected by his partners' success, but will he consider stooping low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?

Overall Series Review

Goodfellas is a hyper-masculine, kinetic portrait of American-Italian organized crime, following the rise and paranoid fall of Henry Hill. The story is a raw, unflinching immersion into a specific subculture, focusing on the seductive allure and catastrophic consequence of a life built on violence, casual sex, and greed. The narrative is driven entirely by the flawed ambitions and brutal psychology of its male protagonists. The film is a damning critique of the specific, self-serving ‘honor code’ of the mob, contrasting the initial glamour of the criminal life with its ultimate, chaotic reality. It presents a world where morality is a matter of immediate self-interest and power, leading to a profound spiritual vacuum. The primary female character, Karen Hill, is a reactionary force whose involvement with the mob is defined by her attraction to the power and wealth of the male world, not by any 'Girl Boss' aspiration. The film is antithetical to modern progressive tropes, depicting a wholly traditional, albeit toxic, gender and social structure that crumbles due to the characters' own moral nihilism and lack of self-control.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

Characters are judged by their capability for violence, loyalty, and discretion, establishing a criminal meritocracy. The central conflict is an authentic depiction of the Mafia’s strict ethnic hierarchy, where Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway are perpetually subordinate due to being part-Irish, a pre-existing social rule of the depicted organization, not a modern lecture on privilege. Casting is historically and culturally specific.

Oikophobia3/10

The film focuses its critique on a very specific anti-social criminal organization, the Mafia, rather than Western civilization or American heritage broadly. The narrative exposes the internal rot and chaos of the mob as a self-destructive institution. Traditional family life and community elements are shown as existing alongside and being corrupted by the crime, but the film does not frame the home culture itself as fundamentally racist or corrupt.

Feminism1/10

The gender dynamics are aggressively traditional and patriarchal, reflecting the mob environment. Female characters are primarily wives, mothers, or mistresses, reacting to the actions of the male-dominated world. There are no 'Mary Sue' or 'Girl Boss' archetypes. The narrative depicts men as controlling and violent, and women as struggling within this framework, which is the direct opposite of the high-score criteria.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative is centered entirely on traditional, heterosexual relationships, marriage, and infidelity within a strict male-centric criminal society. Alternative sexualities or gender ideology are not present, addressed, or centered in the film's world or themes. The nuclear family, though corrupted by crime, is the unchallenged normative structure.

Anti-Theism7/10

The characters operate with a complete disregard for any form of transcendent or objective moral law; all morality is subjective and tied to the power dynamics of the mob hierarchy. The film depicts a spiritual vacuum where casual violence and murder are normalized, and any religious faith from the traditional Italian-American milieu is absent from the core moral calculus of the protagonists.