If I were going to do a phd in pop culture or American Studies I would write about the Sopranos. On a personal level, no other show gets it so right about Italian working class culture in the suburban north east. It might as well not be about the mob at all, but then would we have all the secrecy and humiliation that comes with this specific familial culture? It (the mafioso) works, especially, to demonstate the ways that life choices are constricted by religion, ethnicity and class.
Many of you may say that this show is misogynist but I LOVE the women characters. The way that they bare the burdens of religion and culture, the way they get fed up with men is so perfect. I feel like I knew so many of these women and that I, myself, have this tendency toward recouping control when I feel powerless.
Plus, there are so many mis-ideas about the life of the upper classes produced within the family itself. College, movies, literature…every character is just filled with wrong ideas, but, yet, wants so desperatly to get it right. That is why we have Chris, the would be screen writer, with his 20,000 dollar lexus and Tony pretending that he is not interested in joining the local golf club.
I guess that is what I like about the show so much, it is critical of both working class and upper class culture. It leaves nothing to romance, except, maybe a few wacks and wise guys.
