Friday, June 08, 2007

Brown of Sun Times Addiction Trumps Sopranos Negative Italian Stereotyping

The ANNOTICO Report

Mark Brown attributes a lot of "The Sopranos" immense popularity due to our fascination with the Mafia, of course, he is mindful that because of that fascination, "Sopranos" has contributed to a continuation of a certain stereotyping of Italian-Americans. I've never known what to do about that.

Mark, it's really easy, you could have used the power of your pen to castigate and eliminate "The Sopranos" instead of idolizing them.

 

Very much like you would have done if a series called the "Shylocks" or the "Niggers" aired.  

 

Mark, I will give you credit for at least acknowledging the damage it does, rather than using the general lame excuse, "It's just TV"

 

 

It'll be Sad when Sopranos get Whacked

 

It's the last show left my wife and I can agree to watch together

 

Chicago Sun Times

By Mark Brown 

Sun-Times Columnist

June 5, 2007

 

There wouldn't seem to be many options left for Tony Soprano. Either he gets whacked, arrested or spirited off into witness protection during next week's final episode, right?

I suppose it could be Phil who gets arrested, while Tony staggers on into an uncertain future, but that would feel like a copout. Maybe the only question is: who kills Tony?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, sorry. It's been a while since I was up to speed on the Big Final Episode of a television program that was a cultural phenomenon, and even if this is nothing but mindless chatter, I don't plan to be left out of the discussion about the end of "The Sopranos."

When "Seinfeld" and "Friends" came to an end, I had nothing to contribute, never having developed into a faithful fan of either program. Nothing against those shows, but they didn't fit my viewing schedule when they started, and after that, it always seemed like it was too late to catch up.

While it is categorically untrue that "The Fugitive" and "M*A*S*H" were the last Big Final Episodes that I have seen, I'm not sure I've caught one since "Cheers."

As a cable program that requires a premium subscription, "The Sopranos" doesn't reach the same size audience as those network shows did, which means many of you have never seen it and therefore don't care about its demise.

Your loss.

I'm going to miss Tony Soprano and his family, I don't mind saying, and not just because it's the last television show that my wife and I can agree to watch together.

In its early years, "Sopranos" was the smartest, freshest, most entertaining program I had seen.

As the storytelling became more sophisticated and ambitious over time, some of that raw quality was arguably lost. But it was still worth blocking out the 8 o'clock hour every Sunday night.

If it weren't for "Sopranos," I'm sure many of you would have never subscribed to HBO. It wasn't until we'd caught the first season or two on video that we broke down and signed up.

As it is, there are now at least two HBO shows -- "Deadwood" and "The Wire" -- that I've probably enjoyed even more than the last few seasons of "Sopranos." But neither is destined to catch on the same way.

That's partly due to our fascination with the Mafia, of course, and I am mindful that because of that fascination, "Sopranos" has contributed to a continuation of a certain stereotyping of Italian-Americans. I've never known what to do about that.

What always made the show so arresting was that we could see bits and pieces of our own families in Tony's often dysfunctional family. The real genius was in showing that professional criminals are people, too, who go home at night (when they don't have a date with a goomar) and wrestle with life's everyday challenges.

In between the violence, "Sopranos" explored the nature of kids growing up and parents growing old.

I never saw it as a realistic portrayal of Italian-Americans so much as insightful portrayal of life in the mob and life in general -- with about 400 percent more killing than in the real world to boost ratings.

Now all that's left is wrapping it up.

The consensus seems to be that Tony has to die, but with some sort of twist that would live up to the show's reputation.

My friend, the Jersey Kid, who gets goose bumps just watching the intro, suggests this scenario: Paulie sees the writing on the wall, cuts his own deal with New York and in return whacks Tony when he least expects it.

Okay, that's good, but they seem to have foreshadowed Paulie's disloyalty, so it's probably a red herring.

A few weeks ago I thought maybe Vito's goth son might come back from the deprogramming camp out West in time to pull the trigger, but that was delusional. Suicide maybe?

You could do better, I'm sure, and I invite you to try. I'll print the best in Sunday's column. But you'll have trouble topping this treatment from South Side Tommy.

Tommy sees Tony surviving, and in the final scene we watch him following his morning routine of walking out to get the newspaper, but then the camera pulls back and we see he's not in New Jersey any more but in some cheesy little house in a two-bit subdivision in the Arizona desert.

I could see it. Tony spilling his guts in witness protection. His instincts for survival winning out over his sense of honor.

Carmela never letting him hear the end of it.

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at

 

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net