Sunday,
June 10, 2007
The Sopranos - Stereotyping is NOT Genius,
it is Schlock- NJ Star Ledger- Mark Di Ionno
The
ANNOTICO Report
Mark
Di Ionno does such a superb job of dissecting
"The Sopranos" , any comments on my part
would only cast a shadow on a masterpiece. Read it in it's entirety. The sad saga of the Sopranos Negative
effect on the Italian Community is clearly addressed.
But
consider, if as Chase says, he modeled Livia after
his mother and whining AJ after himself, we have an insight into the twisted
mind of a person who would heap such dreck on his heritage.
Thanks
to Bert Vorsheimer and Walter Santi
N.J.
Star Ledger
Mark
Di Ionno
Columnist
Sunday,
June 10, 2007
In the end,
"The Sopranos" turned out to be just another gangster show, a
seven-year, blood-and-guts "Goodfellas"
soap opera.
Psychologically
dark and complex, yes, but nothing we didn't see in "One, or Two,"
(which is how Tony's crew labeled, with reverence, "The Godfather.")
Funny,
too, in a Joe Pesci kind of way.
But
also predictable.
Because it
constantly fell back on, rather than challenged, stereotypes, as TV almost
always does. Let us count the ways: Italian men mostly as angry, semi-educated, gabagool-shoveling
slobs.
In "The
Sopranos," the Scorsese-variety lowbrow mobsters like Paulie
Walnuts were not much more
than cartoon characters,
unless they were a stab at the old- school Coppola-brand stand-up guys like
Phil Leotardo, another stereotype. Vito was gay, so
he had to be shown dancing in Brando- biker leathers, like one of the Village
People.
This passes for
groundbreaking genius?
Sorry. Galileo
was a groundbreaking genius. David Chase is a TV writer. A
very good one, but one who, like many, succumbs to the pressure of stereotyping
his own kind to ensure commercial success.
The early promise
of Chase's show was it would be a metaphor for third- and fourth-generation
assimilation into modern suburban life. The Great Wave
Immigrants at 100.
The
kids, once the silent junior partners in the family, are now overindulged and
the center of all family life. The father, once unquestioned, no longer gets
respect for free, if at all. The mother, once a head-down homemaker, wants
more, but of what? American consumerism and pop culture have crushed
traditional values. The old ways are a wistful memory, replaced by a mishmashed family structure and the disappointment of
failing to achieve a Hallmark- card home life. Life in
"The
Sopranos" seemed poised to tackle the themes of our Prozac nation.
That Chase, who
grew up DeCesare, chose a gangster and his family as
the vehicle was unfortunate. But predictable.
Stereotypes always are more palatable to entertainment executives (those great underestimaters of public intelligence) than complex characters.
From Amos'n' Andy to Archie Bunker to Tony
Soprano, stereotyping remains the staple of our pop culture, especially
television.
This isn't to say
David Chase didn't try to write a very honest, personal show on many levels.
And he succeeded on many levels. He has said the
manipulative-bordering-on-psychotic Livia was modeled
after his own mother, and Chase himself wrestled with elements of A.J.'s whining depression while in college.
Still, the
ambitious assimilation themes all but dissipated by mid- run. The scenes of
Tony S. squirming as he tried to schmooze with neighbor-golfers at a backyard
barbecue or rushing into his daughter's choral recital still sweat ing from "work" were gone, replaced by more
conventional mob stuff.
"The
Sopranos" sold out.
This is not
written lightly. This is written with some degree of pain. Because unlike the
days of Amos'n' Andy and early ethnic and racial
stereotypes, the chief purveyors of these negative and in some cases destructive
images come from within. In Italian-American circles, it has been done by the
most talented directors, writers and actors. Coppola, Scorsese, DeNiro, Pacino. Pesci. Now DeCesare and Gandolfini.
Sacrilege? No,
truth.
They have solidified the image of Italian-Americans
as goons. Over-emotional, anti-intellectual, hot-headed,
stupid goons.
I was friends
with Jim Gandol fini in
college and, as a Star-Ledger features editor, was invited to visit the set of
"The Sopranos" before the first show ever aired. The scene being
filmed was the backyard barbecue where Tony was clumsily trying to blend in
with a WASP stockbroker and a doctor, who was also of Italian descent but more
re fined and softer than Tony. It was a great, nuanced scene. The WASP broker
was oblivious to the way he was dismissing Tony. The doctor was at once trying
to protect Tony and be a goomba, but not enough to
alienate the WASP. And Tony was trying to be civil in the face of being looked
down on, keeping a smoldering lid on his desire (and ability) to stuff the guy
in the trunk of a car.
I sent Gandolfini a note later, congratulating him on the success
of the show. I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but there was a line
about "making Italians proud." But that was before the show took a
severe stereotype downturn, and his character be came just another gangster.
Now I regret that line, because "The
Sopranos" makes many Italians embarrassed, and is damaging to their image.
Worse,
it gives some impressionable Italian-American young men -- stu-nods,
as we say in the culture -- a role model for acting like wannabe goons. Don't believe it? Cruise
the bars at Seaside this summer and watch the boys from Staten Island, North
Jersey and South Philly act it out, especially near closing time.
This is the power
of the me dium -- monkey
see, monkey do -- and those who create and cash in on stereotypical characters
to the intellectual detriment of their ethnicity know that, and should be
ashamed of themselves.
It's time we call
it what it is. Fraudulent. Cheap entertain ment
without regard for greater social impact.
For those who
don't believe that, consider this story. [Mark Di Ionno
here goes on to tell the REAL story of Tracy Morrow, who is now known as Ice
-T, whose both parents died when he was barely a teenager, but had
concerned adults in his life, who gave him direction and purpose, and is far
more interesting than his fabricated and made up personna
]....
Just as the real
story of American immigrant assimilation -- Jewish, Italian, Hungarian, Indian,
Mexican -- is much more interesting and nuanced and complicated and deserves
better than being illuminated in a gangster show.
But criminal
stereotypes pay in American pop culture.
And there is no shortage of writers and actors
who will ex ploit that no matter how it hurts the
overall image of their people or sets them back in the greater public's mind.
Even if it means kids might beat each other or shoot each other in the streets
to mimic glorified criminal behavior.
Ralphie from "The
Sopranos" had a word for it. "Whoo-ores."
Mark
Di Ionno is a Star-Ledger columnist.
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