When The Sopranos was first premiered on HBO in 1999, it caught the attention of the public, and fast. Six seasons and eighty-six episode later, The Sopranos had become all the rage. The television series went on to win some awards and ranked as a great series of all time. The Sopranos was written by David Chase. The series revolves around the life of a great Italian mafia who tries to have a balance between his personal life and criminal life ( Holdzkom, 2013). He attends some therapy sessions that reveals the challenges he is facing. The series features all of Tony Soprano’s family and the mafia gang. However, the most important characters besides himself are his protégé, Christopher, and wife Carmella. Due to the fame it achieved, the series has been subject to controversy, analysis and criticism as will be discussed in this paper.
Tony Soprano is the main character in The Sopranos . In the first season, he seems to be managing his dual life, until he is not. He starts seeing the shrink after experiencing a few panic attacks. Dr. Melfi, the shrink, treats Tony to the best of her capability, constantly getting intrigued by the dangerous life Tony lives. Tony is also a womanizer and tries to woo Dr. Melfi but to no avail. Due to his infidelity, Tony is always in conflict with his wife, Carmela. Although she is elevated to a higher status in the society, Carmela still finds it hard to come to terms that her husband is involved in illegal business. The same case applies to their two sons, Meadow who is an intelligent boy and Antony Jr. who is an underachiever ( Holdzkom, 2013) .
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Tony’s extended family is also full of drama. Still, in the first season, his mother Olivia, going by the name Livia, plots to kill her son with Uncle Junior, Tony’s uncle. Uncle Junior is jealous of the fact that Tony takes the head position in the Mafia after the death of his father. Uncle Junior feels like that position should have been his. On the side of the Mafia, Tony Blundetto is released from prison after fifteen years. The imprisonment follows a failed mission by Tony Soprano. However, in season five, Tony B pulls a wrong move that makes Tony Soprano execute him and try and iron things out between himself and Jonny Sack. Jonny Sack also appears to be a kingpin in the mafia world, and that is why Tony has no interest in being at loggerheads with him. Fortunately, the power that Tony soprano possess is enough to maintain peace within the mafia family. However, in his homestead, Carmela gets tired of infidelity, makes a tony move out and then back in towards the end of the seasons ( Holdzkom, 2013) .
The Sopranos drama takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. At some point, the writer gets the storyline of the series lost but manages to finally get back to the plot ( Harris, 2012). This can be attributed to the fact that the series ran from 1999 to 2007. Additionally, Harris (2012) points out that it can only be noticed that the show went astray by watching all seasons at a go. The entire story of The Sopranos is depressing. The writer tries to normalize some vices such as murder and violence. Note that people grow to like Tony’s character despite the fact that he is a skilled murderer. The series is filled with more of sad scenes that happy ones. Tony’s mother and uncle try to kill him, and he is in constant disagreements with his wife.
One theme that the viewer can get from the Sopranos is on women and freedom ( Waters, 2011). Instances, when women are undermined, include the rape of Dr. Melfi, how Tony constantly cheats on Carmella and also when Tony seduces and dumps Gloria, the saleswoman. Carmela tries to her best to escape the grip of her womanizing husband. In season four, her attempts bear fruit. However, she feels sorrow for him in season five and lets him come back home. Despite this, she is constantly trying to legalize their divorce too. Carmella's attempts are directed to showing how women seek a voice in the agency. The agency here represents patriarchy that dehumanizes and uses women to its pleasure and tosses them away like garbage. Carmella's idea of freedom can fend for herself. She wants to amass wealth and a constant flow of capital. In other words, she seeks to live the American dream of her own, away from the thirsty clutches of a womanizer ( Waters, 2011) .
Finally, after straying from the storyline a couple of times, the series comes to an unambiguous end. When Tony loses his consciousness forever, the theme of nihilism is extended. In the end, the viewer sees some of the moral failures in the Sopranos family. Eventually, the entire family lacked enlightenment that led to their downfall. Critics have claimed that the ending was a clever way to end the depression that looms over the entire series. Also, one cannot ignore the fame that the series brought to HBO ( Harris, 2012). After the Sopranos, HBO has aired other great series such as The Wire, Deadwood, and Mad Men.
References
Harris, G. (2012). A return to form? Post masculinist television drama and tragic heroes in the wake of The Sopranos. New Review of Film and Television Studies , 10 (4), 443-463.
Holdzkom, M. (2013). Hollywood's Italian American Filmmakers: Capra, Scorsese, Savoca, Coppola, and Tarantino by Jonathan J. Cavallero. Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal , 43 (1), 39-41.
Waters, M. (2011). Women on Screen . Palgrave Macmillan.
