the gangs of new york2002-film

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The Gangs of New York 2002-Film
The movie is historically accurate to some extent. Various things have been described in this movie that took place in the history of America. The gangs mentioned in the movie like the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys, the Slaughter houses, the Plug Uglies as well as the Short Tails existed in the Five Points neighborhood in Manhattan during the 1850s to 1860s. History agrees with this movie in that according to the movie is that many of the five pointers group had no formal employment, and therefore they relied on informal jobs such as shoe making, cigar making, and dealers of liquor. Some of them were laborers, tailors, grocers or even masons. Most of these five pointers were trying to earn and save money so that they could improve their living conditions and therefore be in a position to bring their families over from Europe.
Additionally, there are many instances in the movie where stereotypes are portrayed in the movie. According to history is that these stereotypes existed. The natives like the William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting and his gang were not welcoming to the immigrants who include the Priest Vallon and his Dead Rabbits gang (Asbury 13). History suggests that immigrants regardless of their race were not welcomed in America and therefore they faced discrimination, rejection, cruelty and other forms of violence that were meant to show them that they were not supposed to migrate to the United States.

Racism was a common phenomenon that was real during these times as natives did not like the idea of having immigrants coming to occupy America. According to history is that natives considered these immigrants as though they had come to get the opportunities that were present in United stated and therefore the natives would be limited in regards to the available resources due to the increase in the population (Lombardo 20).
Ethnicity was very deep rooted in the 19th century. New Yorkers often referred to people as Protestant or Catholic, native or Irish and so on. The city was therefore divided greatly. The New York City was, therefore, an extremely riotous place. During election days, it was common for newspapers to report about the killing of some people. Stealing elections as mentioned in the movie is true since Five Points became known for casting more ballots than the number of qualified voters. Sometimes the ballots that were cast were twice or thrice the number of eligible voters, and therefore history agrees with this fact. Further, it is true that most of the nativists were Protestants in the 19th century and therefore they did not want any other religion coming in they viewed it as a threat to Protestantism (Lombardo 21).
There are various examples of historical inaccuracy in this film. The names that have been used in this film did not exist according to historians. Vallon the priest, Bill the Butcher are names used in the film, but there were no people that had such names during the 19th century in New York. Most of the gangs that are mentioned in this film are complete fiction that was adopted from a Herbert Asbury essay that has the same name as this film. Most of the things described in this movie are imaginations. The level of public violence was not as severe as described in the movie (Asbury 12). The film mentions that there were skulls rolling everywhere due to the killing of people which is quite an exaggeration. The killing of people did not occur every time and sometimes a year, or two would pass before these riots occurred.
The perception of five points in regards to public drunkenness and prostitution is exaggerated. According to statistics is that the level of crime was the same as other parts of New York City. The movie says that the gangs like the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys were formed to fight each other because the nativists were opposing the immigrants from coming to occupy America. Actually, according to history, these gangs were political clubs that met at night and even weekends to endorse their particular candidates. Sometimes these gangs would contest at the polls and therefore fight their opponents. The fight was supposed to ensure that a gangs chosen candidate won to be in public office (Lombardo 23).
The movie also tends to emphasize more on conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. On the contrary, according to history is that most fighting occurred among the gangs of the Irish who were Catholics. Further, the conflicts were not as bloody or deadly as the movie is trying to suggest.
The movie portrays the rich as the rulers who lived comfortably and therefore had many servants. The poor are governed by the rich, and there is a great disparity between the rich and the poor. According to this movie is that politicians are morally corrupt. The rich are the ones that are top and therefore they can kill people so that they can maintain their positions. Women are viewed as people who are weak and therefore need protection from men. Women considered being sex objects (Asbury 15). Blacks are people that are treated with prejudice by the nativists. This movie, therefore, tends to explain the suffering of black Americans. The statement that the butcher makes before he is killed is that “At least I will die a true American” indicates that the nativist is willing even to die while fighting immigrants.

Works Cited
Asbury, Herbert. Gangs of New York. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2016. Internet resource.
Lombardo, Patrizia. “”Living in Manhattan in the 19th Century”.” Memory and Imagination in Film (2014): 15-60.