Gary Shteyman, Period 8, 5/25/22

Gary Shteyman 

5/25/22

 Why The Sopranos should be taught in Modern Mythology.

The Sopranos was a drama that aired on HBO from 1999-2007. In the show, the titular Tony Soprano balances his life as the head of the New Jersey Italian mafia, with his life as a father and husband. Prior to watching the show, I had actually known very little about it; my first exposure to The Sopranos was when my band teacher told the class that he would have a cameo in the prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, released in 2021 (having now seen the movie, it is with great dismay that I report that he does not, in fact, have a cameo, and it got cut from the final film). At its core, the show is about one man, Tony Soprano, and how his internal beliefs and traumas interact with his external world. The show is not afraid to shy away from Tony's malicious and sociopathic tendencies, as well as his more heroic qualities, which is why I believe this show is a foundational piece of visual storytelling for the 21st century.

One of the first scenes of The Sopranos, and the scene that hooked me onto the show, shows Tony Soprano having a conversation with his therapist. This is not a one-time-occurence, either; the majority of the episodes in the show show at least one conversation between these two characters. Through the show, we get several glimpses into how Tony's relationships and childhood affect his present-day actions, a vast departure from the stone-faced, resolute mob bosses we see in other pieces of media (Godfather, Scarface, etc.). We get to see how Tony takes the lessons he learned in childhood, from a ruthlessly cold mother and absent mafioso father, and translates them into his own selfishness and cruelty. For example, Tony Soprano is famous for his brutal temper, as well as his frequent infidelity. His father also exhibited both of these traits; one of Tony's foundational memories is watching his father chop a man's finger off, and Tony had to cover for his father's mistresses on several occasions. While his behavior is not excused by this Freudian interpretation, the fact that the show spends so much time analyzing the main character, making Tony more of an antihero than a likable protagonist, is what makes it so special.

One of the main staples of modern stories and pop culture, our modern "mythology", is the idea of the anti hero. In the modern era, society has essentially rejected the concept of a perfect superhero. Long gone is the Cold-War era hope that a man from space will come down and save all of us, that one person can stand for all that is good and hopeful in the world. For a wide variety of reasons, including political and social unrest, easily accessible information about what's wrong with the world, and growing distrust between communities, the antihero has become the protagonist that society has become attracted to. In Tony Soprano, we see ourselves. We can imagine living his life, growing up in the streets of Newark before moving to suburban New Jersey, having to combat depression, anxiety, and paranoia. We judge him for his faults and feel disgust and rage at his actions, but in the back of our minds, we realize that what is on screen is a perfect reflection of humanity. We are not perfectly rational beings, we feel anger and the desire to inflict pain, just as Tony Soprano does. His actions helped inspire us to seek out more of these reflections, in the forms of Walter White, Bojack Horseman, Daenerys Targaryen, or even modern Superman. Because of Tony Soprano going to see his therapist every week for years, the American population was shown the power of the antihero, establishing a craze that lasts to this day.