“He'd been in prison. He was away when I was a little kid. They told me he was in Montana, being a cowboy.”
“What fucking kind of human being am I, if my own mother wants me dead?”
Tony Soprano
Since the Soprano’s aired on HBO in 1999, this mob/dysfunctional family themed television show has captivated millions of viewers, and has seemingly ushered in a literal renaissance of the visual arts. For example: critics have called the show disturbingly realistic, dickenesque (for it is an extended serialized narrative), a profound examination of the field of psychology (the Tony Soprano, Dr Melfi segment of the story), and even Felliniesque (the dream sequences posses a mastery of the visual aesthetic). While I am not going to expand on this last comment: the question of why this show is so captivating for its viewers, for this question merits its own investigation; I will, however, do a brief examination of certain mythological elements. For when we think of things from a mythological perspective (even pop culture) it is easy to see that some myths remain, yet they are in fact camouflaged. What I mean by this last statement is that it seems certain myths are stories we have already herd—stories about why, and what we are—yet we always like to hear them again. Certain myths, I believe, will be always in the foreground of contemporary life.
To give this blog weight, I consulted some research. So, from time to time there will be a bit of paraphrasing.
Like the popular heroic figures’ Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter, I would like to present the character of Tony Soprano from the television show The Sopranos, as another sketch of the mythic hero—more precisely, an American mythic hero.
The Question begs to be asked then, how has Tony Soprano become a mythological hero? What makes his image appealing to a contemporary audience, and what is it about our society values that makes him—a self-proclaimed “crook from North Jersey”, who routinely beats and murders people, a man who is consistently un-faithful to his wife—appealing?
Paraphrasing Jon McCarty, author of Bullets Over Hollywood, the author claims that the origin of the appeal for the American gangster narrative (a deeply mythological narrative) is partially rooted in the image of outlaw gangs, during the depression, robbing banks. Keep in mind that “these banks” were foreclosing business during the time. So, from an economic investigation of 20th century episteme, this anti-hero is thus turned into a hero against the foreground of harsh times. Still, this seems to be only one piece of the puzzle.
To further his argument, later in his book, this author states that perhaps another underlying factor of why this anti-hero is still admirable today, is that as the institutions of our Post-Modern world become ever more restrictive, the gangster provides an imaginative vehicle in which the viewer can transport themselves into a reality of virtually unlimited power. Again, to further this claim of why his show has received so much popularity, David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, had this to say:
“People want to think that they could be powerful enough and demand enough respect and fear that they could get whatever they want. That’s a fantasy. I walk into a restaurant; they’ll kick the guy out of the table he is sitting at so I can sit down…[Also], our lives have become so enmeshed with bureaucracy and nations and large things, that the tribal nature of human life is becoming erased. We are, at base, a tribal species. And we like stories about tribal conflict, tribal loyalty, and along with that is…the notion that people who betray really pay.”
It is also my belief—concerning the subject matter of this quote—that not only are we attracted to the fantasy of having power, and traditions which are similar to Tony Soprano’s, we are also attracted to how this power reacts when coming into contact with the contemporary world. This is why the viewers appeal for Tony Soprano, our hero, is so great. Tony, who is just like us regular people, visits a shrink, shops at malls, is overweight, drives an SUV, and is even a good farther from time to time, yet he maintains this lifestyle through a slew of violence—a power that we wish we could have.
Ok, now that I have covered some of the reasons for this character’s current popularity, I will now shift this discussion to what is in fact being camouflaged.
You know it is too bad though. I wish had more than a semester to dedicate to the study of myth—because: in deconstructing the qualities that are the essence of Tony Soprano, for this portion of the blog, I will be consulting Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces—yet I have never read the work. So keep in mind that I am relying on Wiki.
In Campbell’s work, according to wiki, he explores the theory of Monomyth, also referred to as The Hero’s Journey, which is apparently “a basic pattern found in many narratives from around the world”. There are 17 stages Campbell discusses—not all myths contain 17—and I shall do my best to discuss Tony in the context of most of them. 1. The Call to Adventure: in the first episode, Tony ventures away from the mundane rituals of his everyday life as a mobster and family man to deal with an Anxiety disorder. For some hero’s, this adventure is to an unknown land. For Tony it is in the deep wells of his consciousness, and memory. 2: Refusal to Call: in therapy, Tony constantly adverts discussing the truth behind how obtains his finances with his psychiatrist out of the fear that she will talk to law enforcement. 3: Supernatural Aid: once Tony has decided that therapy can be somewhat of a cathartic experience, and that he can trust Dr. Melfi, he decides that he can begin relying on his psychiatrist as an aid, or even a possible sexual partner. 4: The crossing of The First Threshold: the first trip, in this show, into the complete unknown happens when Tony discusses an early memory, and how it might have caused his current panic disorder. 5: Belly of the Whale: when Jackie Aprile, the former boss of the Soprano family dies, a rivalry between Junior Soprano (Tony’s uncle) and Tony erupts. They are both contenders for the head seat, and tension between the ranks develops. Tony, still somewhat unwilling to be the boss gives it to Junior. After several undermining business transactions, Junior losses his prestige and puts a hit out on Tony. After surviving the hit Tony assumes the position of Street boss and gradually takes over as the head of the Soprano family. 6: The Road of Trials: falls under the above mentioned. The Meeting With The Goddess: The most important relationship he has in the show is with his wife—throughout the infidelities they always remain together, except for a very brief period. 7: Woman as Temptress: In Tony’s journey, it is not only women that tempt him, but it is also the quest for more power, and material accumulation. 8: Attonement With The Father: in the first few seasons, the atonement in the narrative exists between Tony and his mother. Not only did she bring Tony into the world, but she also ordered a hit on him via his Uncle Junior. (Refer to the quote at the beginning of the blog.) Tony, because he is in therapy, realizes that she has always been a Narcissist and attempts to kill her in her nursing home, gives up during the attempt, and eventually lets his mother go home with his sister Janice. After surviving the attempted assassination—mentioned earlier—he gains full power of the crime family, and worries little about his “crazy old bat of a mother”. 9: Apotheosis: I can’t fully define this stage in the context of The Sopranos. The dead do frequently return in Tony’s subconscious though. 10: The Ultimate Boon: I think, when watching the Soprano’s, we have to take into account the failed epiphanies that occur during the last season: Particularly Tony’s failed new age spiritualism. At the beginning of the last season, Tony is in a coma where enters a Feliniesque dreamscape. Upon awakening he discovers this message above his hospital bed: “Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me away.” After reading this Ojibwa all his goals and ambitions are centered around this tidbit of wisdom, yet as he returns to his life, this epiphany falls into the void of realized potential, and never manifests. The Soprano’s writers seem to be very self-aware of this stage. 11: Refusal to Return: the above comments fulfill this stage. 12:The Magic Flight stage is not really present. 13: Rescue from Without: in the 6th season of the Soprano’s, on awaking from his coma, tony befriends a physicist who is in the same hospital ward as him, who comments, during a boxing match, that the two boxers on the screen are not separate entities—there is only an allusion that they are. Tony takes this to heart, giving the viewer the impression that Tony, during this last season might actually reform his ways. 14: The Crossing Of the return threshold: Shortly after Tony returns to being a gangster, after his coma, his Boon is tested in various ways. For example: he learns that one of his Cappos (one of his top guys) is gay. Because of his new spiritual insight, he does not want to make the traditional tribal decision of having his “top earner wacked”. The gay character, unfortunately, after returning from exile, is beat to death by the New York syndicate. 15: Master of Two world: this is the stage that absolutely makes The Soprano’s genius. The viewer, who has grown accustom to seeing Tony as striking a balance between crime and morality, suddenly witnesses the vile Tony Soprano. He murders his nephew, starts cheating on his wife again, terrorizes his son, and even starts gambling compsuvely. Our hero, transforms into the hero we first started watching—yet now we want the scumbag dead. 16: In the last episode of The Soprano’s, Tony’s popularity has sunk so low that we do not mind what his outcome is—as long he is dead or in prison. Neither happens though. His RICCO trials are not for several months, the war with New York is over, and the film real stops right before the audience has a chance to see him shot to death in the last scene of the show. The audience is only left with a blank moment before the credits role. Does our hero wind up dead, or alive?
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