Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Okay Sopranos fans…

I’ve been an avid fan of the Sopranos for quite a long time. On the whole, it’s an excellent program.

What’s interesting to me now is less about the show itself and more about the media storm reflecting what’s going on in the show. I’ve seen quite a few articles commenting about the newly discovered gay character Vito. Here’s an example of one of the stories.

Why do you think that the media is picking up on this story more than other instances of the show? I mean, for those who have seen the show, there are plenty of other events in the show that are worth discussing. (I won’t name any of those here because of spoilers, even for previous seasons. I can’t stand it when people talk about shows that I haven’t seen yet!) Is homosexuality a subject that the television world wouldn’t expect to see in the Sopranos world? Murder, theft, and adultery…those ideas are old hat. Is homosexuality the “in” topic for television?

Also, if anyone has any thoughts about the episodes or otherwise, feel free to post!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi this is Gina again... I am a huge Sopranos fan! I noticed that though my husband is very open minded the homosexual theme is the one that seems to stand out alot to him - he is just SO weirded out by it. I think it's because as it is discussed in the show - this is not acceptable behavior in the italian mafia. You can cheat on your wife, murder people, steal, lie and commit many other sins - but become a 'fag' and you are a disgrace! It seems ridiculous and hypocritical to someone outside that world. The machismo concept in the italian mafia is huge. Cross that line and you are threatening the entire concept of italian organized crime families. This is also discussed by the members of the Soprano family on the show.

Our culture has idolized the italian/american ( sicilian in particular) mafia. The story of the poor immigrant coming to the US in search of the american dream only to get spat on. Then he rises up against it all and creates a world of power, sex, money and intrigue. To even think of introducing the concept of 'fags' or 'gays' is blasphemous.

As for the media - I think that everything gay is in right now. It's cool and controversial and everyone seems to be awestruck by homosexuality. I'm not convinced that this is why the Sopranos show included this storyline however. This season seems to be all about the men discovering their vulnerability. Tony sees life in a new way and even hesitates about cheating on Carmela - a definite first. Christopher starts to see the value of security and family life - Pauly is confronted with difficult truths about his family and learns to deal with them - and lastly Vito finally is forced to confront his homosexuality as an itlaian mobster after he is outed by an associate.

As I said I think that gay is definitely in with the media and that the producers of Sopranos are no dummies - but I don't think that this is meant to be the main focus of the show. This last season is about self - realization and making peace with one's life. Homosexuality happens to be one of the issues.

8:36 PM, May 07, 2006  

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