How The Sopranos Subverts The 'Gangster' Genre

Mafia Background Anthony 'Tony' Soprano

Key Themes Purpose/ Existence Guilt Female Empowerment

Wrap-Up

Looking at figures such as Vito and Michael Corleone (The Godfather 1-3), Nicky Santoro (Casino), or David “Noodles” Aaronson (Once Upon A Time In America) to name a few of many, movie fans will witness gangsters who rarely display their emotions in a constructive way, and any implication of deeper feelings are usually hidden behind a facade of severe violence and anger. 

Mafia Background

The world of Organised Crime and the Mafia has been represented in entertainment media throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, with a zeitgeist of hugely popular characters and movies for viewers to indulge in, experiencing the shady underworld that somehow exists amongst all the normality of life.

Looking at figures such as Vito and Michael Corleone (The Godfather 1-3), Nicky Santoro (Casino), or David “Noodles” Aaronson (Once Upon A Time In America) to name a few of many, movie fans will witness gangsters who rarely display their emotions in a constructive way, and any implication of deeper feelings are usually hidden behind a facade of severe violence and anger. 

This is not the case in The Sopranos, a show arguably beloved by anyone who watches it, and over 6 seasons, writer David Chase created characters who engage in the typical activities of a gangster, whilst also showing them wrestling with various problems and events that ‘normal’ everyday people deal with. Without ruining the show for those who haven’t read it, but with some minor spoilers, I’ll discuss how the show dives deeper into the human side of the Mob, and what Chase may have been trying to say about this world and those who inhabit it.

Anthony ‘Tony’ Soprano

Anthony ‘Tony’ Soprano is the centrepiece of the show, played masterfully by James Gandolfini, with everything revolving primarily around his family (both literal and the inherited criminal side of the family). 

We come to see that Tony is a womaniser and serial-cheater, with an array of “goomahs” (or mistresses/girlfriends) introduced at various points, and he is also given to angry outbursts at Tony follows in the footsteps of the iconic Michael Corleone’s cunning ways in The Godfather movies; unlike Corleone, Tony is not officially the boss due to voting his Uncle Cortado “Junior” Soprano into taking control, but it becomes clear that Tony is a very strategic and cunning thinker, allowing this so that he can pull the strings in the background. In his own words, “truth is, every decision is made by me”.

Tony has his hands on the wheel of the illegal business in New Jersey, commanding the majority of the crew technically under Junior, but without the level of scrutiny that an acting head of a family would be under. 

So far, Tony displays the usual unsympathetic stereotype that may be expected from a gangster. 

However, it’s clear from the very first episode that there are deep feelings running under the surface; rather than being thrown straight into action, his introduction comes in the form of visiting a therapist, a woman named Dr Melfi, after suffering a panic attack.

It’s revealed that he is filled with dread at the thought of losing his family, which is realised after a family of ducks playing in his pool, which Tony became fond of, fly away from his backyard. Throughout his therapy sessions, Dr Melfi helps him dive into the reasons for his emotions, leading viewers to witness Tony’s childhood and negative experiences with his own parents.

While his journey in therapy throughout the show is far from smooth, it becomes a useful outlet for Tony to relieve his various sources of stress throughout the show in a confidential environment, disguising his “business” under falsehoods.

Even though the value he places on human life isn’t as high as your average man, through various circumstances, viewers see even more of his kinship and love of animals at various points (outside of the ducks). Without spoiling certain parts of the show, there are moments where animals suffer and die, inciting genuine pain in Tony, leaving a question as to how Tony can be so flippant with human lives, yet have such an affection for animals.

Part of the reason is that Tony lost his pet dog as a child, but I think that just as Tony has a concept of “bad”, he also has a recognition and appreciation of innocence, purity, and “good” life existing in the world, lives which do no harm to others, and therefore, he hates seeing them harmed.

Perhaps Tony also wishes for the simple life that animals naturally possess, or maybe he just feels a lack of judgment or expectations from animals, giving him a sense of peace, unlike the many pressures he has to deal with from his wife, children, and wider “family” obligations.  

Key Themes

Purpose/ Existence

Writer David Chase has a focus on male emotions and their internal struggles with identity and purpose, which would not typically be present in the gangster genre. This comes into play multiple times, one being through Tony’s son, AJ, who seems to question existence after his grandmother puts the idea in his head of life being “a big nothing”. Telling his parents that “life is absurd” and “there is no god” when they confront him for his bad behaviour in school, his flippant responses almost parallel his father’s attitude towards life, acting as if God doesn’t exist, giving him an excuse to do as he pleases.

Tony himself exclaims in one of his therapy sessions, “You go to Italy, you lift some weights, you watch a movie. It’s all a series of distractions till you die”. This is after watching the movie Seven, where, midway through, he wonders why he should care who the killer is, it'll make no difference to him. From this, it sounds like Tony’s only preoccupation is with things that will further his life in some way; watching a movie doesn’t gain him anything tangible, it’s purely entertainment. The only way for him to push these feelings aside is to do what he knows best: being a gangster.

He is eventually pointed to another truth by his wife, Carmella, who states in reference to his crew, “you’re the boss, they’re scared of you”, laughing at his jokes not because they’re funny, but out of fear.

Although he acts like he doesn’t care because he’s 'running a business, not a popularity contest', this leads to Tony putting on a display of unnecessary violence in front of his crew, clearly insecure in his place in his friends’ minds and wanting to prove that he is worthy of the fear that they should have for him.

Tony’s nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, questions his own purpose too, and his love of gangster movies and the movie industry itself informs him to the point of asking “what’s my arc?” when it comes to his own life development.

Without his father in the picture (who was murdered), Tony takes him under his wing, but he chooses to live his life with a lack of self-discipline, indulging in drinking and hardcore drugs, whilst also cheating on his long-term girlfriend Adriana, implying an emptiness that he can never fill.

He is constantly undermined by characters such as Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri, whose unsympathetic manner comes out multiple times with Christopher, and even Tony and his cousin Tony Blundetto mock him, leaving Christopher with battered self-esteem, that of a young boy who just wants to be seen and approved.

Rarely are gangsters shown questioning their place in the world, dealing with existential crises that people experience, yet here we see multiple men attempting to cope with their feelings, but ultimately in the wrong ways.

Guilt

When it comes to the guilt Tony feels, his constant reminders of a particular character’s death (no spoilers here) manifest through strange dreams and items/memories that pop up occasionally. Paulie also potentially experiences some form of guilt when he visits a clairvoyant and unwillingly makes contact with the very first person he killed, at which point he angrily rejects the experience as “satanic black magic”, but eventually experiences a nightmare after the encounter. He’s shaken by this, even questioning Christopher about what he’d seen after his own near-death experience, but it doesn’t linger for too long, and as with Tony, he is back to his ‘ignorance is bliss’ life.

Even near-death experiences for characters such as Christopher and Tony imply the potential of a change of heart for the business they are in. There’s a call to a new lease of life, one that isn’t sinful; Carmella pleads with Christopher to ask for forgiveness from Jesus due to the second chance he’s been given, and Tony recognises that life is a gift after his own experience, but the inevitability of being sucked back into crime is too great, and as Silvio quotes numerous times from The Godfather Part 3 in a jokey manner, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

Again, these moments of self-reflection are rarely explored within the gangster genre; typically, a death is calculated, premeditated, and for a precise reason, which validates their death in the eyes of the killer, usually due to betrayal or the potential for this person to become a problem to the family. Due to this, characters will typically be seen moving on without a sense of guilt, but this series gave room for characters to face the consequences of their actions and choose what to do with their feelings.

Female Empowerment

Usually, female figures in gangster movies are fairly passive, with little control over their lives and destiny. Tony’s wife, Carmella, fights against the typical gangster’s wife caricature. She has no issue with voicing her opinions to her husband, calling out his adulterous ways, lashing out with violence at times in her anger, and even attempting to end their marriage at one point. For some time, she also shares a close relationship with Phil Intintola, the Catholic priest, with a clear chemistry between them, which she hides from her husband, and tries to absolve the guilt she feels for enjoying the life she lives (earned through Tony’s blood money).

There is hypocrisy between Carmella and Tony; when she asks him to have a vasectomy, Tony argues that “whatever’s down here is God’s creation. Isn’t it a sin to undo the good work He’s done?”, at which Carmella replies “well, you should know, you’ve made a living of it” leaving Tony speechless for seconds. 

While Tony’s hypocrisy is clear as day, Carmella’s is more subtle, in that she chastises her husband for making a living out of killing (ironic), while enjoying all the benefits of it, including her large house.

Although Carmella is not able to fully take agency over her life, she stands out in her ability to take action against her husband and by having a voice that is actually taken notice of.

Dr Melfi also becomes one of the most important women in Tony’s life, and it feels deliberate that Chase wrote Tony’s therapist as a woman rather than a man, putting Tony into the only situation in his life where he is at the mercy of a female who has the power to change his life positively, and where he doesn’t hold the cards. She becomes his way of healing, but likewise they have a codependency on each other, in the sense that she grows in her affection for Tony.

She experiences conflict in her treatment of Tony, sympathising with him at times, and during private sessions with her own therapist, she tries to justify her treatment of Tony. This becomes the case with viewers, who come to love Tony for his positive qualities, such as his sense of humour and charisma.

She acts not just as the therapist but as the audience’s surrogate too, and our presence in the therapy room in most episodes allows us to witness Tony’s justifications for his actions, along with his occasional outbursts at her which she is sometimes able to control/contain, while other times she has to passively allow Tony to vent and occasionally storm out of the room.

An important moment in season 3 of the show, without going into detail, is when Dr Melfi faces a hugely traumatic experience which she is helpless against, opening up a conflict not only in her, but in the audience who witness this; should she call upon Tony to help her?

Perhaps in a traditional gangster film, this crime would be punished by the unofficial hand of justice, the Mafia, however this is another sign of the subversion that this show takes - there is no true justice for Dr Melfi, and while there is a clear internal battle when Tony notices there’s something she wants to say, the audience’s desperatation for her to receive help is futile, as she decides to stick with her morals and stay quiet.

As disappointing as this is, it exposes something interesting; it would be safe to say that the audience are craving Dr Melfi to give in and allow criminals to avenge her for the wrong done against her, but the same audience also likely believe that the Mafia and their activities are indeed wrong, which highlights the human conflict between upholding/following the law, or taking the law into our own hands.

Dr Melfi ultimately represents the rational, law-abiding citizens’ actions and mentality, with a clear contrast between herself and Tony, who viewers recognise as ultimately a bad man.

Wrap-Up

It’s fair to say that what David Chase created in The Sopranos is nothing short of a masterpiece in television, and his ability to hold his audience’s attention with compelling characters and stories will always be held highly.

He fleshed out his gangsters with emotion and internal conflict, and made them, somehow, relatable. While other classics of the genre will always hold their well-earned status in pop culture, The Sopranos also stands high for bringing a fresh take on the gangster genre.