Inside Look @ The Sopranos

by

Mike & Amy Nappa

FAST LOOK:

The Sopranos is an award-winning drama series created by HBO that follows the experiences of a New Jersey mafia boss and his family and friends.

INSIDE SCOOP:

HBO calls their gritty mobster hit, The Sopranos, “the most-watched cable series ever.” Judging from the numbers (an average of 10 million viewers per episode) and the accolades (from the Emmy Awards, Golden Globe awards, and more), that catch phrase isn’t just hype.

The Sopranos is a continuing drama that follows the life of Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini), the middle-aged head of a New Jersey crime family. Tony is both a devoted father who attends his kids’ extracurricular events and a cold-blooded killer who will murder or maim as the occasion arises. The constant power struggles and crises in both the mobster’s “families” have driven him to panic attacks and a secret relationship with a psychiatrist—weaknesses that could ruin his tough-guy reputation if word got out.

Alternately praised for its artistic merit and condemned for its envelope-pushing content, The Sopranos seems just as much an enigma as its leading man.

Critics of the show tend to object primarily to the fact that The Sopranos cable channel, HBO, has no censorship standards whatsoever. The result is a TV show that uses constant profanity and regularly features graphic violence and sexual situations. Also, they say, it has influenced network television to seek more extreme portrayals of violence, profanity, and sex in its shows as a way of competing with the cable networks.

Fans of the series admit that The Sopranos is more graphic than usual TV fare. They call attention instead to the high dramatic standards that are obvious in the show, particularly in Gandolfini’s portrayal of the conflicted crime boss and in the complex, gripping storyline. And the show’s opponents concede that point as well.

Perhaps the more dangerous charge critics level, however, isn’t about the show’s titillating aspects. The Sopranos, they say, presents a lifestyle in which truly evil acts are simply shrugged off as “business,” and where a murderous criminal like Tony Soprano is considered sensitive, powerful, and a sympathetic hero. The bigger problem, they add, is not that we might watch the violence and sex of Tony’s life, but that we might come to admire it and subtly live out the attitudes of a mafia don without even knowing that we’re doing it.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE SOPRANOS:

“The Sopranos is not some fun mobster romp—the impression you might get from some of those cutesy magazine covers out there. This is a profane, sexually explicit, often shockingly violent drama.”

—Robert Bianco, TV critic

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“I don’t come to praise or bury The Sopranos. It is a quality production. What bothers me is my sense that in addition to the show’s artistic excellence, non-artistic factors – namely, copious obscenities and violence – put it on top in [a critics’ award] survey.”

—L. Brent Bozell, TV critic

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 “The Sopranos is a repulsive peep show that celebrates the behavior of self-destructive people who live devoid of conscience and bereft of morality or human decency.”

—Steven Isaac, Christian TV critic

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“People don't talk more excitedly about The Sopranos on Monday morning…simply because their basest instincts are tickled. They—we—are turned on by the rare complexity of 'The Sopranos drama, by the fact that, for the all too few weeks it's on, we can watch an entertainment that's every bit as good as any film we'd pay to see in a theater, right in our own living room.”

—Ken Tucker, TV critic

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“'[I want to] get away from the violence a little bit, because it is starting to bother me personally.”

—James Gandolfini, star of The Sopranos on why he may not stay with the show for a long term

LOOKING INSIDE…:      

Use these questions to spark family discussion about The Sopranos:

---Do you think most people watch The Sopranos because of its no-holds-barred content or in spite of it? Explain your answer.

---Artistic quality is a large part of The Sopranos appeal. What do you think it would take to achieve that kind of artistic quality in a Christian drama?

---Do you think cable shows like The Sopranos are to blame for the loosening censorship standards on network TV? Explain.

---Are profanity, violence, or sexual situations ever acceptable viewing for Christians? Why or why not?

[SIDEBAR]

If members of your family like The Sopranos then you may want to check out:

---Gilmore Girls (WB Network)

Here’s a TV family drama from the WB network that deals with many of the same issues as The Sopranos—parent-child relationships, career stress, difficult choices, and so on—without the mafia backdrop and sans strippers and mob killings. This show has become a critic’s darling, and centers around a single mother, Lorelai (played by Lauren Graham) and her teenage daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel) as they struggle to keep their lives together. Full of positive themes and responsible role models, it’s the rare TV series that’s both artistically praiseworthy and one that parents don’t have to be embarrassed to watch with their kids.

---Pax TV.

This cable channel is dedicated to showing only family-friendly fare and includes several family dramas like Promised Land and the classic western series, Bonanza, in its lineup. Check www.paxtv.com for complete listings and show summaries.

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[BIO LINE] Mike & Amy Nappa are renowned cultural commentators, best-selling and award-winning authors, and creators of the Internet magazine for families, www.FamilyFans.com