Family Viewing: Sopranos

Family Viewing: Sopranos

They can not be ignored, they are on everyone's lips, and the countdown is on for their return. Almost as big as Don Corleone, bigger than Scarface, and the equal of any of the other thugs or made guys that have graced the big or little screen, Tony's back. And he's bringing the family with him. Sure he has his problems, but this is a New World and Tony does what he can to fit into it. Watch the show and it becomes apparent that it's more than another gangster story. It like the Godfather Series is the story not only of violent men but also of family within family. Tony lives in the suburbs and drives into work each day and wants a better life for his children. He faces the same doubts and insecurities as other working stiffs throughout America. The big difference is his chosen profession and over business practices. In Tony's world when it calls for a downsizing and cuts need to be made retirement is a lasting thing.

The Sopranos is a comic tale of the children and grandchildren of immigrants trying to make it in the American Dream. Tony and his pals hustle to make it in the mob as if it were a legitimate business, complete with politicking, internal feuds over promotions and sudden layoffs and retirements many of which end with the deposit of a large, canvas-wrapped package somewhere near the Meadowlands. While Tony's friends are thugs and killers, they worry about their kids, their future, rising cost of living, backyard barbecues, driving the right car, keeping up with the Corleones and getting their kids into the right college. Tony even took the time to check out one of the schools his daughter was interested in. True he used the visit as an opportunity to take care of some unfinished business but he displayed a real caring about his daughter.

Tony is forced to face the realization the realization, as middle age approaches, that as time speeds up he will not be able to obtain all of his American Dreams. His feelings are not much different than those faced by men in their 40s who begin to realize their own mortality. Of course in Tony's line of work mortality is an issue that he deals with on a day by day basis. He fought to become the leader of his family not realizing that obtaining that goal would also extract the price of constant fear that he could loose it all. Both families could be gone with the blink of an eye. Does he have the strength that it will take to hold his families together? No matter what his position he is faced with the realization that he can't control everything and that thought causes doubts about controlling anything. Tony is an example of the late 20th Century Man facing a new millennium that may be full of dangers not yet imagined but certainly full of change that could hold more terrors than anything he could imagine.

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