The Sopranos
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BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER AN ANALYSIS OF FAMILY, FAMIGLIA AND ITALIAN IDENTITY IN THE SOPRANOS Aantal woorden: 23.505 Han Vandepoele Studentennummer: 01506075 Promotor(en): Prof. dr. Gert Buelens Masterproef voorgelegd voor het behalen van de graad master in de Taal- en Letterkunde Engels-Zweeds Academiejaar: 2018 – 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a master thesis is no easy feat, and could certainly not have been done without the help of some wonderful individuals. First of alI I would like to take this opportunity to thank prof. dr. Gert Buelens for his guidance and patience, but most of all for giving me the freedom to discover this topic on my own pace. Furthermore I would like to thank my parents for handing me the opportunity to study, my friends for providing me with distractions when necessary, and my sister for helping me clean up that pesky table of contents. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 PART I: FAMILY ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Livia Soprano .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Carmela Soprano ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Meadow Soprano ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: A.J. Soprano ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 5: Janice Soprano .......................................................................................................................................... 34 PART II: FAMIGLIA ................................................................................................................................................ 40 Chapter 6: Christopher Moltisanti .............................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 7: Eugene Pontecorvo ............................................................................................................................. 54 PART III: THE SOPRANOS AND ITALIAN IDENTITY .................................................................................................. 57 Chapter 8: Italian pride .............................................................................................................................................. 58 Chapter 9: Italian ethnicity and organized crime ....................................................................................................... 61 9.1 Language as a tool of ethnic manipulation ................................................................................................. 63 9.2 Apparel as a tool of ethnic manipulation .................................................................................................... 65 9.3 Ethnic manipulation? .................................................................................................................................. 65 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 71 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 73 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1. Bernard, Ron. “Sopranos Autopsy.” Sopranos Autopsy, https://sopranosautopsy.com/. Fig. 2. Bernard, Ron. “Sopranos Autopsy.” Sopranos Autopsy, https://sopranosautopsy.com/. Fig. 3. “Made in America.” The Sopranos. The Complete Series, written by David Chase, Terrence Winter, Robin Green et al, directed by Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter et al. HBO, 2014. Fig. 4. “Whoever Did This.” The Sopranos. The Complete Series, written by David Chase, Terrence Winter, Robin Green et al, directed by Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter et al. HBO, 2014. Fig. 5. “Long Term Parking.” The Sopranos. The Complete Series, written by David Chase, Terrence Winter, Robin Green et al, directed by Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter et al. HBO, 2014. Fig. 6. “Stage 5.” The Sopranos. The Complete Series, written by David Chase, Terrence Winter, Robin Green et al, directed by Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter et al. HBO, 2014. Fig. 7. “Commendatori.” The Sopranos. The Complete Series, written by David Chase, Terrence Winter, Robin Green et al, directed by Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter et al. HBO, 2014. INTRODUCTION On January 10th, 1999, American premium cable network HBO released the first episode of the series The Sopranos (1999-2007), an American crime drama created by showrunner David Chase. As is often the case, the beginning was rocky. Jamie Lynn-Singer, the actress portraying Meadow, thought the show was about opera singers (Martin 92). Chase failed to attract the attention of traditional TV networks with his script, with all of the networks declining to finance a pilot episode (Martin 65). This rejection drove Chase into the arms of HBO, where president Chris Albrecht agreed to financing a pilot episode, and eventually a complete first season. By the time Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” abruptly ended the show in 2007, all doubts were long gone. As Murray writes, “By the time the writer and producer David Chase brought “The Sopranos” to a close on June 10, 2007, he had helped establish HBO as a cultural force and make literary symbolism, cinematic style, long-form storytelling and complicated antiheroes the norm for high-end TV dramas.” (Murray). The Sopranos is often cited as one of the best TV shows ever made (Sheffield), with critics applauding the show for its unique exploration of crime and family life, often gushing over the late James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano. More relevant than critical and personal opinion, it is important to acknowledge the influence The Sopranos has had on TV. Sheffield describes it as “the crime saga that cut the history of TV in two, kicking off a golden age when suddenly anything seemed possible” (Sheffield). The notion that The Sopranos marked the beginning of a golden age is also supported in Brett Martin’s “Difficult Men”, in which he explores the ins and outs of how the greatest TV shows of the new millennium came to be. Martin posits that the third golden age of television consists of a string of shows centered around male antiheroes who are “all trying to preserve a sense of masculine virtue in a declining America that values them less and less.” (Marche). Indeed, Tony Soprano is a deeply flawed character, opening up to Dr. Melfi in the pilot by saying that he’s “getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.” (1:1)1. For difficult men such as himself, though, it was only the beginning. Over the years after The Sopranos’ debut, other difficult men such as Don Draper (Mad Men, 2007 – 2015), Walter White (Breaking Bad, 2008 - 2013) and Nucky Thompson (Boardwalk Empire, 2010 - 2014) would walk down the path that Tony Soprano paved. The Sopranos is not your everyday mobster drama. It is just as much a show about mobsters, prostitutes and car jackings as it is one about husbands, housewives and backyard barbecues. In his excellent web series “Sopranos Autopsy”, Ron Bernard argues that “The Sopranos must be characterized as an American story first and foremost, and only secondarily as a mob saga. (…) Over the course of six seasons, The Sopranos investigates the strange, hilarious and messy ways in which people of different cultures—different ethnicities, incomes, education levels, and regional histories—come together in the mosaic we call America. The Sopranos explores what it means to be American.” (Bernard). In this dissertation, I will explore what the concept family means in The Sopranos. Tony has two families: his own family, and his famiglia. Being at the head of both for the vast majority of the series, Tony surely has his hands full. In part one, I will take a close look at Tony’s immediate family. Chapters 1 to 5 respectively examine Livia Soprano, Carmela Soprano, Meadow Soprano, A.J. Soprano and Janice Soprano. Who are these characters? What is their opinion on the Mafia? Where do their lives intersect with the Mafia? In part two, I will shift my focus towards the famiglia. Through an analysis of two characters, Christopher Moltisanti and Eugene Pontecorvo, I will look at the devastating consequences the famiglia can have on one’s other family. In the final part, I zoom in on Italian-American ethnicity which is so prominently present throughout the whole series,