“We ran everything”: Violent Echoes in Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993) and Goodfellas (1990)

This essay explores the parallels between Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1993) and his earlier film Goodfellas (1990). It argues that both depict closed societies sustained by codified systems of violence—one criminal, the other socially sanctioned—and examines Scorsese’s enduring interest in how cruelty is normalized beneath veneers of civility. The films’ shared nostalgia for violently ordered worlds underscores Scorsese’s fascination with tribal belonging and punishment, suggesting surprising affinities between the auteur’s aesthetic world view and Wharton’s social vision.