What's with the ubiquity of Scarface posters?
December 29, 2004 8:30 AM Subscribe
Why does every home featured on MTV Cribs have a poster from the movie Scarface?
fishfucker, you win.
i've always wondered about that. apparently it's really gangsta to be so full of yourself that you fuck up your massive success.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:42 AM on December 29, 2004
i've always wondered about that. apparently it's really gangsta to be so full of yourself that you fuck up your massive success.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:42 AM on December 29, 2004
Because Pacino's character in the film rose from the streets to ostentatious wealth thanks to drug-dealing, money-laundering and murder. Having Tony Montana as your role model is a great way to demonstrate that despite all of your wealth, you're still "in touch with your roots," if you want to suggest that your roots are in fact on those streets. Makes you look tough. Of course, as fishfucker points out, it also makes you look sort of dumb (or at least short of attention span).
posted by Sinner at 8:52 AM on December 29, 2004
posted by Sinner at 8:52 AM on December 29, 2004
Tony Montana has been the only minority role, that I can think of, to rise to the top and achieve "success". We whities are fed stories of Carnegie and all the other titans of industry who rose from nothing (or well, nothing compared to what they became) to achieve just gobs of wealth. They were just as bad, if not worse in terms of social impact, then Tony Montana. But Tony Montana achieved his wealth using the system, dealing with shadow markets.
Since the movie itself is not that great, I'm convinced it is because Tony Montana is the only minority role model available. What other movie takes you through every step of his progress? It's almost like a how-to guide to getting rich -- except we all know that it would never work anymore the way it is presented. It is however, a very good guide to see how someone reacts with unprecedented and quick wealth. I would poster that Tony Montana fits the American dream perfectly.
posted by geoff. at 9:00 AM on December 29, 2004
Since the movie itself is not that great, I'm convinced it is because Tony Montana is the only minority role model available. What other movie takes you through every step of his progress? It's almost like a how-to guide to getting rich -- except we all know that it would never work anymore the way it is presented. It is however, a very good guide to see how someone reacts with unprecedented and quick wealth. I would poster that Tony Montana fits the American dream perfectly.
posted by geoff. at 9:00 AM on December 29, 2004
If that's true, Geoff, how come they don't have posters of George Jefferson?
posted by bondcliff at 9:02 AM on December 29, 2004
posted by bondcliff at 9:02 AM on December 29, 2004
there's a documentary about scarface in hip hop culture.
here's an article i found on the documentary.
now, if you saw a poster in willie nelson's house, then i guess you've got me stumped.
posted by sachinag at 9:06 AM on December 29, 2004 [1 favorite]
here's an article i found on the documentary.
now, if you saw a poster in willie nelson's house, then i guess you've got me stumped.
posted by sachinag at 9:06 AM on December 29, 2004 [1 favorite]
Tony Montana is also one cold, heartless mofo. He's always at maximum testosterone inability to back down. Gangsta types slurp that shit up, even if they ignore how the movie demonstrates the distinct liability of that kind of attitude in the long run.
posted by telstar at 9:10 AM on December 29, 2004
posted by telstar at 9:10 AM on December 29, 2004
There's a guy in the local mall who sells pastel portraits of John Gotti.
So, while I don't know why, it could be worse.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:17 AM on December 29, 2004
So, while I don't know why, it could be worse.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:17 AM on December 29, 2004
You gotta guess that it's some kind of joke at some point, a little meta-thuggery.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2004
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2004
The box set for Scarface released last year included that documentary sachinag mentioned, or one like it.
I don't think it was worth the extra $40, but the set also included a gold-plated money clip with Tony Montana's personal insignia.
posted by maledictory at 11:15 AM on December 29, 2004
I don't think it was worth the extra $40, but the set also included a gold-plated money clip with Tony Montana's personal insignia.
posted by maledictory at 11:15 AM on December 29, 2004
I vote for prop. (PS: If you haven't noticed by my handle I'm a cold hearted motha-fucka in my own right sucka!!!)
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 12:05 PM on December 29, 2004
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 12:05 PM on December 29, 2004
Why did it get removed. I could probably paraphrase it but I can't see how it could have been offensive enough to bring that much ire.
posted by RustyBrooks at 1:37 PM on December 29, 2004
posted by RustyBrooks at 1:37 PM on December 29, 2004
When comments are deleted wouldn't it make sense just to replace them with a [comment deleted due to offensiveness] rather than delete it altogether and get all these questions? Oh yeah, this is a MeTa issue :-)
posted by wackybrit at 1:55 PM on December 29, 2004
posted by wackybrit at 1:55 PM on December 29, 2004
They're all just imitating me.
posted by adampsyche at 2:04 PM on December 29, 2004
posted by adampsyche at 2:04 PM on December 29, 2004
wow. yeah. i didn't particularly see it as offensive. maybe a little flip. it was basically shorthand for what i was going to say in this thread anyhow, although I didn't have the time to craft a more reasonable response.
what i said previously was "because they fell asleep before the end of the movie" -- what i meant by that was that most of the episodes of cribs I've seen that feature folks who endlessly tell the camera how AWESOME scarface is seem to be enamored by the idea of a man rising to the top "ON HIS OWN TERMS" -- in a manner external and antagonistic to the conventional system. What always strikes me as funny is that they fail to acknowledge scarface as a tragedy. It's like they only watched the first half of the (IMO, poor) film.
i would've typed all that out, but i was reading mefi on the pooper (SHOCKER) and i had to take a shower and go to work. i thought most folks familar with the film would be able to expand on what i was saying.
although yeah, it was a little "first post"y. and maybe not particularly helpful.
posted by fishfucker at 2:26 PM on December 29, 2004 [1 favorite]
what i said previously was "because they fell asleep before the end of the movie" -- what i meant by that was that most of the episodes of cribs I've seen that feature folks who endlessly tell the camera how AWESOME scarface is seem to be enamored by the idea of a man rising to the top "ON HIS OWN TERMS" -- in a manner external and antagonistic to the conventional system. What always strikes me as funny is that they fail to acknowledge scarface as a tragedy. It's like they only watched the first half of the (IMO, poor) film.
i would've typed all that out, but i was reading mefi on the pooper (SHOCKER) and i had to take a shower and go to work. i thought most folks familar with the film would be able to expand on what i was saying.
although yeah, it was a little "first post"y. and maybe not particularly helpful.
posted by fishfucker at 2:26 PM on December 29, 2004 [1 favorite]
Damn, someone's getting ridiculous with the deletions.
posted by xmutex at 8:40 AM on December 30, 2004
posted by xmutex at 8:40 AM on December 30, 2004
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posted by Gnatcho at 8:37 AM on December 29, 2004