While Salieri is telling his story, Father Vogler takes him seriously. You can even see him getting emotional at points. In a strange sense, Salieri got what he wanted in the end: someone who understood his viewpoints and possibly viewed him as being better than Mozart.
At first glance, the contrast between Mozart's operas and their parodies appears to be a subtle depiction of the Comedy Ghetto: the former is attended by proper people in wigs and fine outfits, while the latter is attended by boisterous people in drab clothing; the implication here is that "true art" is reserved for the nobility, while anything too cheerful (and thus basal) belongs to the lower class. However, what's equally important is how their respective audiences respond to the works they've come to see. As mentioned under At the Opera Tonight on the main page, the audiences for Mozart's operas aren't fully invested in the action onstage, and are even disruptive at points. Meanwhile, the audiences attending the parodies are fully engrossed in the work, laughing, singing along, applauding, and overall expressing pure joy in response to the action onstage; note how many times they point to the stage, urging their fellow audience members to notice what's on stage. With the behavioral differences between audiences, this turns out to actually be a deconstruction of the Comedy Ghetto, demonstrating that the bias against comedies is strictly cultural stigma, and a work of any genre is only worth how much audiences are willing to invest in it.
Mozart is clearly delighted by the parody of ''Don Giovanni''. It calls to mind Stephen Hawking, another unquestioned God-given genius, and his legendary sense of humor and well-known enjoyment of similar affectionate parodies of himself.
The surface impression of the film is that Salieri is the humble craftsman toiling to produce his music while Mozart is the brilliant savant effortlessly tossing out works of genius. It's this view that causes Salieri's breakdown and descend into villainy. But in fact Salieri is subtly shown to be wrong - remember that at least two people (Mozart's wife and the servant sent to spy on Mozart) confirm how hard he is always working and Mozart tells his father he doesn't take pupils so as to have more time to spend on composing. THAT's the real difference between the two men, Mozart is willing to work damn hard at his compositions to produce genius despite the financial penalties while Salieri isn't.
Somebody already pointed this out in YouTube comment section but early in the movie Salieri promises to dedicate his "chastity, industry and humility" to God. The first to he managed well (if he take his word for granted). Industry through teaching, chastity through staying out of women but subtly we se that he lacks humility ("Everybody liked me. I liked myself.") And what better way to test humility than meeting your hero your icon and finding that he's a brat who mocks you by his every step?
The movie's aesop calls this into question. How many talented people have worked their whole lives to become good at what they do, only for someone naturally gifted (or at the very least undeserving of fame) to come along and completely overshadow them? Bullets over Broadway explores this further with Cheech.
