The gangster genre finds itself rooted deeply in the urban landscape because it provides a place for the seedy criminality to hide. For a variety of reasons (a desire to show a mobster’s family dynamic), The Sopranos brings in the world of suburbia. The audience is made to be very aware of this suburban setting; during the beginning moments of the show, The Sopranos transplants the viewer from a cityscape to a neighborhood full of trees. Accentuating this change, an outpouring of ambient sound emanates from the suburbs: a lawnmower running, birds chirping, and kids playing. The clash of the urban crime with suburban family turmoil makes up a large part of the show’s fabric. Hints at this clash pop up often. A clean cut gentleman in the club calls Chris a “bridge and tunnel boy.” Jon Favreau, who “grew up in Queens,” finds himself suburbanized and extremely uncomfortable with Chris’s coke-snorting, roughhousing, gun-pointing ways, and yet, he wants to know more. Jon Favreau is intrigued. This intrigue mirrors the reasoning behind the suburban setting to the gangsters who should inhabit a penthouse in Manhattan or a slummy apartment in Hell’s Kitchen; we want to know more. The urban setting casts mystery around the gangsters; but in Gossip Central—Suburbia—the gangsters open up. They tell all to psychiatrists, they show emotion, and they talk about their feelings.

Beyond the thematic, The Sopranos infuses the typical HBO hour long drama with metafilm aspects. While Chris talks with Jon Favreau, they speak of the elements one needed to do to make a good movie. The Sopranos is not a movie, but the fact that it appears on Home Box Office shows that in many ways it shares qualities of a movie. The very things Favreau talked about with Chris on the set are things the director likely utilizes in The Sopranos. Chris asks about the silencers on the guns which “symbolize” the way the lesbians are silenced in society. The director reflects back on the fact that he uses such symbolism in his work. Similarly, they discuss ways to add levels of realism to the story by making the dialogue believable. By adding this level of self-description, The Sopranos promotes itself as "film quality." It goes so far as to suggest that movie directors are out of touch with the real world and need new young blood to infuse their work with ideas in the same way that Chris’s anecdote infused Favreau’s script. The Sopranos sees itself as that young blood, reinventing a genre.

That gangster narrative has been around, and popular, for seventy-plus years, and its form hasn’t changed much since its beginnings. Then, enter The Sopranos. What the creators and writers of this show have been able to do is take a highly successful genre—gangster films—and throw in a completely new element—Tony’s relationship with his family— to create a successful television show.

The typical gangster film consists of following the rise and fall of one criminal from the beginning to the end. We watch them start out as nothing, explore their motivation for turning to a life of crime, watch as they work their way through the criminal hierarchy, and ultimately see them become consumed with power which leads to their downfall.

The Sopranos doesn’t start at the beginning, but drops you into the life of an already successful mob boss, Tony. Instead of just focusing on Tony and his life of crime, we see so much more of his life outside the mob—and it’s not just a plot device for an episode or two, it is a prime focus of the series. Even the show’s tagline makes this clear: “If one family doesn’t kill him…the other one will.” This is completely different from anything else in the gangster genre. The writers of this show are banking on you, the viewer, to be hooked on watching about not just his mob life, but how he handles his family matters.

Typically, life outside of the mob is shown in a very limited capacity, if at all. On the show, we see Tony’s complicated relationships with his mother, wife, children and other relatives. We also see Tony going to a shrink, discussing his weaknesses and insecurities, something completely out of character for a tough mobster, and also something that would probably get him killed if other mob bosses found out about it.

This allows the viewer to see a more human side to this brutal criminal. You see him struggling with his mother, who he absolutely hates. Then, there are his problems at home with his children. We see him struggle to raise two teenagers, a highly intellectual daughter, and a son who is trying to figure out his place in the world. These interactions are slightly awkward, since Tony lacks that certain nurturing instinct of a father. Add to this, the normal drama and strain that comes from a marriage, and we have a complete revision to the gangster style.

The Sopranos has also pushed the boundaries of what is shown on television, not just referring to the extreme violence, foul language or graphic depictions of sex, but the style and quality of the one-hour drama program.

Watching an episode of The Sopranos is like watching an hour-long movie; it is shot at various locations around Jersey and New York, not some cardboard set in a studio or back lot somewhere in Los Angeles. The dialogue is intense, sometimes brutal and a much higher quality than you would get from one of your fifteen Law and Orders. The people making the show take extra steps to go above and beyond the quality of typical one-hour dramas; albeit, the show is aired on HBO, which allows them a larger budget to make the show and places fewer restrictions on what they can show or say.

When one thinks of the gangster genre of films and television, some very specific things come to mind. Namely, a man driving a large and powerful luxury vehicle, wearing an extremely expensive suit and engaging in a variety of criminal activities such as murder, gambling rings, prostitution rings, drug rings, and perhaps even a war between gangs. Anyone who expects to overtly see this sort of typical gangster behavior in the hit show The Sopranos is in for a big surprise. There were really only a few moments in the show when the characters of The Sopranos conduct themselves in a manner that we all have come to expect from gangsters. One such moment occurred in a bar when Chris was being annoyed by some of the other patrons. He whispered something in one of their ears and the person who he spoke to then insisted that they (his own group) leave right away. While the viewer isn’t allowed to hear what was spoken, I certainly imagine that it must have been very ‘gangster-like.’ Another gangster moment occurred when Chris did some cocaine with a movie executive.

The only other obvious gangster-like element of the show is that of ‘the rat’. While the Soprano family does have a rat in their midst, even this was done in a very different manner than it is typically done in gangster genre films. The rat, Big Pussy, is shown as emotionally struggling with the fact that he is working with the feds. In a typical gangster film, the rat would be either bent on revenge or on simply saving his own skin. In The Sopranos, the rat is shown facing an enormous emotional battle over what he is doing. A typical rat might begin to cry only if cornered and discovered. Big Pussy is shown crying all alone when no one even knows that he is a rat. Clearly he genuinely cares about the family and does not want to rat them out. Big Pussy really seemed as though he might decide that saving his own skin was not worth ratting out his friends. That is very definitely not typical gangster behavior. This sort of emotional display is such a departure from typical gangster behavior that I am not aware of any other gangster film that shows anything even close to this.

Rather than being out running his criminal empire, Tony Soprano is shown mainly at home. At home, Tony deals with the sort of everyday problems that you might expect to see if you were watching a situation comedy. When his rebellious teenage son takes his wife’s car out for a spin, he talks with his son, as you would expect any father to do. In this scene, the big bad gangster is shown as a typical frustrated father trying to make his child understand some common sense. Even the car itself seemed to be very unusual. Carmela Soprano, a big time gangster's wife, drives a very non-descript station wagon that you might see any ordinary middle class housewife drive. While all of the elements of the gangster genre are present in The Sopranos, they are kept mainly in the background while the main focus of the show seems to be about the day-to-day life of the family. The Sopranos really seems to be a show about a more or less normal family… who just happen to be gangsters.

The Sopranos is based in the gangster genre, though it revises many of the premises and characteristics of the genre. One aspect of this revision is the family element. The “family” has long been a staple of the genre: They are the closest allies of the gangster, those who’s interests he is protecting, and those who will succeed him in the organization. The Sopranos is no exception, but the familial element is played up tremendously and becomes more than a secondary characteristic of the show. It is at the center of the series. Tony Soprano is, first and foremost, a husband and a father. In episode twenty, “D-Girl,” the family element comes into play in the initial scene as A.J. Soprano (Tony’s son) side-swipes a lawn truck. Like any child who damages their parents' car, there will surely be hell to pay. Given that the father is also a mob boss, the viewer must wonder about the boy’s safety. Moments later, as Tony and Carmela confront their son, it becomes clear that they are both annoyed and agitated with the stupidity of their child’s actions, but in no way is he in danger of being “whacked.” The scene plays out much like it would if any kid damaged their parent’s car. But one can’t help but wonder what would have happened to the driver had he not been related to Tony and had been a simple minion. Another aspect of the family element is the idea that the same boy who is being lectured about the car mishap could quite possibly become the man who ends up running the business one day. As further scenes between Tony and his siblings play out, and the family notion is emphasized and accentuated, the viewer realizes that Tony himself probably received a similar lecture at some point in his childhood.

Another manner in which The Sopranos revises the gangster genre is it’s self-reflexivity regarding the criminal underworld. Midway through the episode, Christopher, nephew to Tony and underling of the business, sits in a pizza parlor with Jon Favreau and his assistant discussing the area’s mafia history. Favreau's insistence on making an authentic mafia picture indicates his awareness of the genre and the narrative history of gangsters. His solution? Get Christopher as a consultant. But in the world of The Sopranos, classic gangster narratives exist, and while the Soprano family may not base themselves upon those stories, they have impacted their speech and mannerisms. Thus Favreau’s attempts to make an “authentic” picture will undoubtedly be tainted by cultural influences that have in some small way shaped Christopher and the other members of the mafia.

The Sopranos revises the gangster genre through its display of family bonds, both normal and dysfunctional as they may be, as well as being based in a world where the notion of the “gangster” is a part of life and has influence on the mafia itself. These dialectical revisions make for an interesting innovative twist of a classic genre.

The Sopranos has been one of the many hit series to come from HBO.  HBO’s commercial free, hour-long mix of film and television style is just one of the many aspects that makes the show the draw it is.  The Sopranos takes all the best aspects of what makes gangster movies good, and combines them with what makes prime time on Network TV so great, and melds them together to create a show that’s arguably a delight for anyone to watch who is not turned off by foul language.
 
The “gangster” image is one that has been around for decades. From the early gangster shows that were mostly based on real criminals, to later movies such as The Godfather, it has been a contestant theme.  The audience has expectations when they see a gangster presented to them; it’s a formula that can’t be messed with too much. If one small part of the formula is off, it can break all believability. For example, a gangster must nearly always be Italian, from the upper east coast with the classic thick gangster accent. Often they are heavyset, intimidating characters, dressed in suits, surrounded by others, all following a strict social hierarchy, with attractive women around every corner bringing their various sexual escapades. Catholicism is a constant recurring theme. They may whack people, but they will damn sure be sitting in church on Sunday morning, as if it somehow that makes them good people.

The final main aspects that make gangsters appear to be real is their use of language.  Funny insults like “he can go shit in his hat”, as well as the favorite curse word of all gangsters—“fuck”—are used (with all its colorful modifiers), along with many other putdowns and insults that would make this paragraph more of an excuse to type profanity than actual arguments. All of these aspects, paired with the fact that any of the characters may be packing a gun that they would not hesitate much in using, creates the gangster image we all have in our heads.  If you leave out these aspects, one might struggle coming out with the gangster character they want.

HBO strictly follows the rules in constructing their lead characters for The Sopranos, but they take it a step further and humanize the mobsters in a way that has never been done before.  They pull this off because they do not reinvent the gangster for the show and the audience; they reinvent the way that the audience sees the gangster lifestyle.  They take the mob family and stretch it to include actual parenting, teens rebelling, and upset grandmothers.  For the first time we see these big tough gangsters brought to their knees by the kids, their philosophical arguments, and resulting spats and insults that would put almost any other man stuck with a gun to the face.  It humanizes them in a way rarely seen before that really lets viewers connect, and more importantly laugh, at situations that any parents of teenagers have probably been placed in before. This comedic real life family aspect is the same style that network primetime uses, and has worked so well. Injecting these aspects into gangster life is instrumental in creating the new approach that The Sopranos utilizes so well.  They are still the gangsters you would fear, but they have the same problems as everyone else, sometimes stopping them in their tracks.

The Sopranos humanistic, comedic approach to the classical gangster narrative is without question brilliant.  It takes the stuffy, clichéd barrier of gangster life and knocks it into something a little more real and believable.  Rather than just men threatening men and attractive women always in the shadows, it puts their family and their problems in the spotlight for everyone to see.  You see that Tony might be the scary gangster that everyone fears, but he has a son and daughter at home that give him no more respect than any other parent’s kids.  This approach is what makes The Sopranos a fresh new show, not just another gangster movie, while still being heavily based, and not straying far from, the classic gangster narrative.

>  >  >  >   m  a  n  o  n  '  s     c  o  u  r  s  e     p  a  g  e  s 


Page layout and design ©2004 by Hugh S. Manon for the Oklahoma State University Film Program. Some images on this page are the property of a third party and are used with permission. The marks of Oklahoma State University are controlled under a licensing program administered by The Collegiate Licensing Company.

Last update: 1/22/2005