"THE SOPRANOS."   Term Paper ID:28286 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Appeal of HBO-TV show, style, critical success. Media depictions of organ ized crime.... More...

7 Pages / 1575 Words 8 sources, 16 Citations, MLA Format $28.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Appeal of HBO-TV show, style, critical success. Media depictions of organ ized crime. Paper Introduction: Americans at times seem to be consumed by crime, showing at one and the same time a fear of crime and a fascination with it. Crime is a topic in the daily newspaper, often crowding other news off the front pages. Crime and fear of crime are important subjects in political campaigns. Crime is a staple on entertainment programs on television and in books and movies which detail both real and fictional crimes from a wide variety of points of view. Organized crime is only one aspect of the crime problem in America. In the past, organized crime was a more potent and feared force, especially in the cities of the Northeast, but then and now organized crime has an effect on society in terms of added costs to goods and services, increased costs for law enforcement, and an effect on the administration of justice and on the degree to which Americans place their trust in Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. It has beendescribed as "darkly, subtly comic" (Viner 8), but it is also a realisticportrayal praised for "its firm grounding in time and place" (Von Doviak).This is another reason for the educational element--the fact that theproducer and his writing staff are obsessive about authenticity and seekstory lines about real situations. In the past, organized crime was a more potent and feared force,especially in the cities of the Northeast, but then and now organized crimehas an effect on society in terms of added costs to goods and services,increased costs for law enforcement, and an effect on the administration ofjustice and on the degree to which Americans place their trust in their lawenforcement and judicial systems. The show is about low-level gangsters, notably one Tony Soprano, whowould like to be a mob boss but who is faced at the same time with theurban angst facing many in the middle class today: An overbearing mother, a boss you'd like to kill, bugs eating your garden, bugs on your telephone--life at the turn of the millennium has become one giant pain for everyone. Organized crime differs from other types of crime inthe goods and services provided and in the relationship between thecriminal enterprise and its customers: Organized crime supplies goods or services wanted by a large number of people--desperately needed cash, narcotics, prostitution, the chance to gamble. There is thus a familiarity about the family situationthat makes the viewer see aspects of hi or her own situation in theproblems facing Tony: At heart, the series isn't really about the mob at all, but about families and their woes, and about the way societal and technological change can knock one's equilibrium all to hell. Organized crime is something over which Americans have longargued, with some believing there is no such thing while others areconvinced that there is. The showbecame popular quickly, though its popularity is a relative thing giventhat cable does not reach as many homes as broadcast television and so hasnumbers that seem much smaller but that are still significant. Wherever they get them, the "Sopranos" team is doing something right. He thusswallows his male pride and goes to see a psychiatrist, who turns out to bea female psychiatrist. This is true even of the most peculiarof the stories told, such as the episode about the Hasidic Jew who hiredthe Mafia to "convince" his son-in-law to divorce his daughter: The writers get their ideas from news stories as well as "dribs and drabs from people we know who have been connected," says [producer] Chase. They are consensual crimes for the most part, desired by the consuming public. The appeal of the show is in part the "appeal" of organized crimeitself. ProducerChase says that this aspect of the show reflects his own experiences intherapy and his ambivalence about it: "It helped me when I was depressed, screwed up, didn't understand my own impulses," he says. It has alsobeen a critical success: "Within weeks, critics were enthralled and viewerswere hooked by Soprano and his not-so-merry band of dreamers, schemers anddirty dealers" (Gregory and Miller 58). The educational aspect refersnot just to the way it depicts the home and professional lives of current-day gangsters but in the way it analyzes American life in general, issuesfaced in our society today, and deeper aspects of human behavior and humancharacter. The way this show is different was evident from the first episode inwhich Tony reveals he is having some sort of emotional crisis and issubject to collapsing without notice no matter where he might be. In tapes played at a federal hearing in Manhattan last month, two reputed mobsters gushed over how they thought they saw themselves depicted in the show (Peyser and Chang 68).At the same time, Chase says he would never "reproduce" anyone livingbecause that would invite problems. Another part of the appeal of the show is the fact that thecharacters are heightened by their criminal role so that their emotions areoften at peak, their reactions over the top, their responses violent: "People can be angry at someone who betrayed them or the next- door neighbor who cut down their tree, and they'd like to react the way Tony Soprano does," says Gerald Shargel, the New York attorney who has represented alleged Gambino bosses John Gotti and John Gotti Jr. Works CitedClark, R. There are also those who are critical of the show and its success,such as the National Italian American Foundation, which claims that theshow recycles ugly stereotypes about Italians, as noted by media directorDona DeSanctis: If you took away Tony Soprano's respect for his elders, his loyalty to his mother, the way he cares about children, the values he places on friendship, he would be just another murderous thug (Peyser and Chang 68).It is arguable whether this sort of criticism should be heeded, for afterall, every villain has some kind of ethnic background, and that does notmean their behavior should be extrapolated by the audience to all membersof that group. "In the case of the mob, it has action, it has business, it has families. The entertainment aspect is easier to comprehend given that theprogram offers a number of different entertainment values at the same time--it is funny, frightening, violent, poignant, and well done. "'The Sopranos:' Making a Mob Hit." Newsweek (17 Jan 2 ), 68.Poniewozik, James. The Italian segment of organized crime, variouslyknown as the Mafia or La Cosa Nostra, prevailed for decades but has fallenon hard times because of a changed environment and improved lawenforcement. Media depictions have fueled interest in the subject. (28 Feb 1999), E5. Crime is a topicin the daily newspaper, often crowding other news off the front pages.Crime and fear of crime are important subjects in political campaigns.Crime is a staple on entertainment programs on television and in books andmovies which detail both real and fictional crimes from a wide variety ofpoints of view. Even a murderous thug like Tony has to go to a shrink and pop Prozac. "But Tony has put his finger on some of the weaknesses of psychiatry. Crime in America. Ironies abound, friends become enemies, loyalties looms (Shales C1). Americans at times seem to be consumed by crime, showing at one andthe same time a fear of crime and a fascination with it. "They Pull You Back In." Time (17 Jan 2 ), 86.Shales, Tom. 'I killed 15 people today.' 'Well, how could it be otherwise, considering the mother you have?'" (Poniewozik 86).The role of the psychiatrist is especially interesting in this show. J. Shales sums up the style when he notes, The specifics of The Sopranos are less important than the universalities in the drama and the relationships. shales further indicates that HBO is following theBritish television model by producing fewer shows (13 per season) withbetter quality. "The Sopranos." http://www.culturevulture.net/Television/Sopranos.htm.Walker, Dave. The fact that the viewer also learns much about crimeand the criminal enterprise is an added bonus, as is the fact that the showalso helps us all learn more about ourselves. "Television: The Old Trails Are the Best." Independent on Sunday (18 July 1999), 8.Von Doviak, Scott. Everything's relative. The show also hasan appeal because it is a type of forbidden fruit, taking the viewer intothe criminal world that he or she would never enter in reality but canenter in fiction. New York: Simon and Schuster, 197 .Gregory, Sophfronia Scott and Sue Miller. What Coppola says also raises the additional issue of the broadermeaning of family. Organized crime has also served as asort of reverse royalty in American society and has been immortalized inbooks and films through most of this century. No wonder people are obsessed with this show: The Sopranos is the first modern, middle-class mob drama (Peyser and Chang 68).Tom Shales describes the show as "a tragicomic epic about a northern NewJersey mobster named Tony Soprano and the two worlds crumbling around him:his real family, who have the usual family woes as well as the added burdenof a gangster for a patriarch, and his mob family, where youthful unrest,elderly unrest and changes in modern life are proving disruptive andmaddening" (Shales C1). "HBO's Welcome Refrain: 'The Sopranos'." The Washington Post (9 June 1999), C1.Viner, Brian. Dr.Melfi acts as a surrogate narrator, and her sessions clarify the story andmuddle it at the same time because of Tony's alternating breakthroughs andself-deceptions. He is faced again and again with the reality of his twofamilies clashing, notably in the plot in which his mother "is conspiringwith a skanky hood who happens to be his rotten old godfatherly uncle tohave him eliminated" (Shales C1). This fact distinguishes the main activities of organized crime from most other crime (Clark 68).The public creates the demand for the activities of organized crime, andthis also means that law enforcement is working against the strong desiresof a significant sector of the public (Clark 69-7 ). Critic James Poniewozik notes, "Perhaps the series' greatestachievement is marrying art and psychiatry in a culture addicted to puttingitself and its public figures on the couch" (Poniewozik 86). These are its principle sources of income. The Sopranos is a cable program now in its second season on Home BoxOffice (HBO), and like all good drama, it can be seen as both educationaland entertaining at one and the same time. In The Sopranos, two of the FBI agents seeking to overturnthe mob are Italian-Americans, but this does not mean all Italians are FBIagents, either. Critics have been favorably inclined toward the show, many notingthat while the premise of the show does not sound innovative, the deliveryis. Livia, Tony's mother, is the onlycharacter based on a real person, and Chase modeled her on his own mother,now deceased. She is also a surrogate for the audience because she isan outsider torn between sympathy and disgust for Tony. "Creating A Racket!" People (13 Sept 1999), 58.Peyser, Mark and Yahlin Chang. Edgar Hoover long denied the existence oforganized crime until the 196 s when he was forced to admit that there wassuch an enterprise. Organized crime is only one aspect of the crime problem inAmerica. So, it has some of the principal things that people are interested in" (Walker E5). These are the emotions the audience feels as well. Tony also goes on Prozac to help alleviate hisanxiety attacks, and though this does seem to alleviate his depression, hisworries increase. "Even Wise Guys Get the Blues." The Arizona Republic. You don't take a stand. The style of the show has much to do with its success. Each of the immigrant groupsthat came to America brought with them a negative element in the from ofcriminal gangs that would prey on other immigrants and then on Americansociety as a whole. It's about moral choices made on a landscape of moral desolation, about the inevitability of corruption at all levels, about the will to survive and the insistence on finding hope where, according to the laws of logic, none should exist (Shales C1).This moral dimension also points to an important educational element in theshow, for it raises ethical issues and grapples with the possible answersin ways that can make the viewer think about the same matters. "They're not bold enough, and they're not criminals, but they like to watch it" (Peyser and Chang 68).The director of another mob-themed work, The Godfather, agrees that suchstories have an appeal for several reasons: "People are always interested in outlaws," said the godfather himself, Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, in a recent interview with Memphis TV critic Tom Walter. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.