Sicilian Culture: The News & Views: Tony Soprano A Good or Bad Person?

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Tony Soprano A Good or Bad Person? Creator Chase Explains?
"HOW DID A ( BLEEPING! ) CABLE SHOW ABOUT A (BLEEPING !) SHOW
ABOUT A (BLEEPING!) SUBURBAN MOBSTER IN
THERAPY IN THERAPY CAPTURE SO MUCH (BLEEPING!) ATTENTION?"
by Pete Alfano in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
March 4, 2001 - - (1) "When I was in film school [at Stanford] in the '70s and introduced to European film, I was attracted to stories where good and evil were never as clearly delineated as they are in American film," Chase said in a recent interview. "Tony's not a good person, but is he a bad person? That's the tension of the show. I don't know the answer."
DeCesare , then you don't know nuttin!
(2)Various Italian -American groups have lodged the predictable protests, saying the series propagates a stereotype. Josephine Gallo, for example, who works for the Italian - American Civil Rights League in Brooklyn, says she is a fan, but is offended when people think all Italian - Americans are "connected." "We get calls from people who want us to send out a hit man because they're having trouble with a landlord or someone," she says. "They think that's what we do."
Ms. Gallo, expresses legitimate concerns, YET she is a "fan". She doesn't have a clue as to how she is shooting herself and the IA Community in the foot. Bliss thy name is ignorance.
(3)"The Sopranos gives us a much more complex look at human beings," says Carol Thompson, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at Texas Christian University. "We've seen these idealized people portrayed in movies and TV for so long that this is refreshing. It resonates with people.
"Tony Soprano," she adds, "is a 'new male,' living in the decaying role of mob boss. He's squeezed between a rock and a hard place. His behavior, when deviant, shocks me, because he's trying to be normal. But he has anxiety attacks because he's not normal."
This prospective Socioligist in Criminalogy is going to be "solving" crime problems. God help us!!!

How did a (bleeping!) cable show about a (bleeping!) suburban mobster in therapy capture so much (bleeping!) attention?
Pete Alfano
March 4, 2001 - - (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram FINAL, Page 1, Copyright 2001)
That's him in the bathrobe, picking up the morning newspaper in the driveway of his New Jersey home. He's an average-looking guy, maybe in his early 40s, balding and overweight. Seeing Tony Soprano, scruffy and world-weary even though the day is just beginning, brings to mind life in the suburbs, a man giving his wife and kids a ritual goodbye kiss in the morning and steeling himself for the dreaded daily commute. Tony has sympathy for the working stiff: "We're just like any other family," he's fond of saying of his own brood.
And Pavarotti is just another singer.
Tony, his wife, Carmela, and the kids - Anthony Jr. and Meadow - in some ways seem like your typical next-door neighbors, but with one significant difference: When Tony uses the word "family," he's not always talking about his blood relatives.
That's because he's a New Jersey crime boss - capo, as they say in the old country - the central character in one of television's most controversial and highly acclaimed series, The Sopranos, which begins its third season tonight at 8 on HBO with two back-to-back one-hour episodes.
Why has the show become such a phenomenon? Precisely because The Sopranos, along with being engrossing entertainment, is not another cliched depiction of the Mafia .
This isn't six degrees of The Godfather, featuring a well-heeled don living in a secluded fortress guarded by his trusted soldiers. And it is not Analyze This or Mickey Blue Eyes either, the Mafia as F- Troop.
Writer-producer David Chase has created in Tony Soprano a fascinating and complicated character who lives in a dangerous world where the line between good and evil, right and wrong, is often blurred past recognition. "When I was in film school [at Stanford] in the '70s and introduced to European film, I was attracted to stories where good and evil were never as clearly delineated as they are in American film," Chase said in a recent interview. "Tony's not a good person, but is he a bad person? That's the tension of the show. I don't know the answer."
This unconventional view of the Mafia has fueled the show's success and made it a cottage industry. There are several books, including The Sopranos, by Allen Rucker; the show's soundtrack features music from artists as diverse as British band A3, whose song Woke Up This Morning is the show's theme, and Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.
HBO hyped the new season with a sweepstakes - the winner will receive a trip for four to Italy. Instead of Ed McMahon knocking at the door, maybe it will be Paulie Walnuts, one of Tony's crew, played by Tony Sirico (who in real life, served five years in prison during his youth).
There are similarities to previous film and TV portrayals of the Mafia , of course; life is cheap on The Sopranos, where people get "whacked" fairly regularly. Even the lighter moments elicit nervous laughter. But how often do we see a lead character who is so vulnerable and ruthless at the same time?
"The Sopranos gives us a much more complex look at human beings," says Carol Thompson, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at Texas Christian University. "We've seen these idealized people portrayed in movies and TV for so long that this is refreshing. It resonates with people. "Tony Soprano," she adds, "is a 'new male,' living in the decaying role of mob boss. He's squeezed between a rock and a hard place. His behavior, when deviant, shocks me, because he's trying to be normal. But he has anxiety attacks because he's not normal."
Chase says the credit for Tony's Everyman appeal should go to James Gandolfini, the burly 39-year-old character actor and star of the series. "Without Jim, the show's not on the air," Chase says. "He brings such relatable humanity to the show; people feel they know this guy or they are this guy. Tony is lost and struggling to understand his place in the universe."
Maybe that's why he often looks so burdened. Tony's not insulated from life's everyday problems and petty distractions. Carmela isn't what you'd call a trophy wife; she's a caring stay-at-home mom who is willing to overlook her husband's foibles, and the fact that he has a goomah (Italian slang for "mistress").
But Carmela's no saint either. She tried to seduce a handyman, a friend of a friend she hired to hang some wallpaper. (The guy was interested in both jobs until he found out who she was married to.) And when her offer of a ricotta pie wasn't persuasive enough, Carmela threatened her next-door neighbor's sister into writing Meadow a letter of recommendation to Georgetown. Maybe Tony and Carmela are perfect for each other.
He is, first and foremost, a good provider. For appearances' sake, Tony Soprano is in the waste-management business - Barone Sanitation. But the family business is more about bookmaking, fencing, bootlegging, gambling, stock manipulation, numbers running and other scams. Tony's in charge primarily because his Uncle Junior has some unresolved issues with the Feds.
But Tony's reputation suffers because he has anxiety attacks and sees a shrink. (That would be Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who is alternately frightened to death of Tony and turned on by him.) And then there's Livia, Tony's mom. In the first season, she and Uncle Junior didn't believe Tony had the right stuff to run the family business; they questioned his unstable behavior and decision- making ability.
But there is no board meeting. This is the Mafia , not General Motors, so Livia, played by the late Nancy Marchand, gave Uncle Junior the OK to whack her son.
And you wonder why Tony needs counseling? Tony and Livia provided some of the show's most intense and disturbing moments in the first two years. Marchand, who died of cancer last June, will be missed, Chase says, but Livia's relationship with Tony was essentially "fractured" after that first season anyway. How could he ever forgive her for wanting him killed? In fact, whenever his mother was mentioned last season, Tony would invariably say, "She's dead to me." Livia will pass away early this season, and we'll all attend the funeral.
But her memory will no doubt linger on. The mother-son relationship touched a nerve with the audience. "Mothers aren't perfect, they get blamed for a lot of adult issues," says TCU's Thompson. "It's a theme we all deal with, the relationships between mothers and sons and mothers and daughters, the feelings of guilt." That is what makes watching The Sopranos so uncomfortable at times. Viewers sympathize with Tony Soprano; they like him, even though he is a cold-blooded killer. In one episode, Tony takes Meadow on a tour of colleges in Maine, but interrupts the bonding to kill (by strangulation) a former gangster who turned informant and started a new life as a travel agent.
So why are we rooting for Tony? Chase says it's not his question to answer. "This is highfalutin', but I look at this show as artwork in a museum," he says. "The function of art is to pose questions and let people come up with the answers."
Thompson talks about the different layers of The Sopranos, how faculty members in the sociology and psychology departments at TCU enjoy discussing the show on Monday morning. Chase says he had no idea The Sopranos would become like a Beatles song, the lyrics deciphered for hidden meanings. (Has anyone played an episode backward yet?)
"I can't say whether people are reading too much into it," he says. "I never had one inkling that anyone would even watch the show." But it hasn't all been guns and roses for The Sopranos. Various Italian - American groups have lodged the predictable protests, saying the series propagates a stereotype. Josephine Gallo, for example, who works for the Italian - American Civil Rights League in Brooklyn, says she is a fan, but is offended when people think all Italian - Americans are "connected." "We get calls from people who want us to send out a hit man because they're having trouble with a landlord or someone," she says. "They think that's what we do."
Chase, who is Italian - American , says he's made overtures to these groups, but has given up. "If you look at organized crime in the Northeast - in construction, union infiltration, sports betting - it's Italian - Americans involved," he says. "We're not making it up.
"I tried. On two occasions I met with representatives of these groups. But when The Sopranos was honored at the Museum of Modern Art and a guy says to me that the show is financed by the Mafia , then that's it."
The only person who can stop The Sopranos may be Chase, who has already given the go-ahead for a fourth season, but says it will be the last. This season will focus on Tony and Carmela as parents, he says, but as for next year and Tony's future - incarceration, death, repudiating the Mafia - Chase says that question will answer itself.
"Will Tony straighten up?" says TCU's Thompson. "Viewers may be hoping for a way that Tony can kill less and maintain his life [by] deriving revenues from victimless crime.
"It's not wrong to hope that Tony can reconcile his life," she says. "That's what's going to keep you coming back." Who's next?
You may be wondering who'll be sleepin' with the fishes before the third season of The Sopranos is over. Let's set some odds and call our favorite bookie: Tony Soprano, 1,000,000-to-1: Fuhgedaboutit! The Sopranos creator David Chase says the show will be back for a fourth season, and he isn't talking spinoff. Tony's safe - at least for now.
Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Tony's psychiatrist, 100-to-1: Only way she goes is if she's caught in the crossfire during an attempt on Tony's life during one of their sessions.
Christopher Moltisanti, 75-to-1: Already had one near-death experience, so Tony's nephew knows how to duck. But he is going to become a made man this season, making him more of a target.
Paulie Walnuts, Silvio Dante, 25-to-1: Not beyond the realm of possibility that Tony loses one of his trusted soldiers.
Janice Soprano, 15-to-1: Tony's sister did him a favor, whacking her fiance Richie Aprile. But she still gets on her brother's nerves. Uncle Junior, 10-to-1: Tony hasn't forgotten how his mom and Uncle Junior put a hit on him. Junior's gonna need eyes in the back of his head.
Pete Alfano, (817) 390-7985 palfano@star-telegram.com

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