the sopranos
TRANSCRIPT
COMM1073 TV Cultures Abby McCarthy Ashton Debono Christopher Corneschi Stephen McCambridge
Genre
Gangster and family melodrama
“This transforma.on challenged the myth of the gangster hero as an essen.ally posi.ve cultural figure and ini.ated a demythologiza.on of the gangster hero icon reflected in films.” Patricia Keeton 2009
Gangster Myth
Gangster Genre Characteristics
● Masculinity ● IdenBty ● Violence ● Power ● Gangster-‐hero ● Patriarch
Family Melodrama Characteristics
● Feminised ● EmoBonal ● Deals with domesBc issues
● Relates to viewer and society
● American family
HBO
Began as a premium movie and sports channel, grew into a media empire by the 1990s. (LeverePe et al, 2008)
It’s Not TV, It’s HBO
Used from October 1996 – April 2009.
The Old and the New
HBO differenBated themselves from the tradiBonal “Big 3” networks in the US. (Alba & Kasinitz, 2006) (Jaramillo, 2002)
Original Programming on HBO
Influenced by HBO?
“[It] felt like film… I thought at some point ABC was probably going to say, “Let’s try and release this at the cinema and turn it into a feature film”. It was that grand in its scale and that ambiBous.” -‐ Lost star Dominic Monaghan
HBO’s Audiences and Fans
Audience, Seriality & Scheduling, fandom
What is the Audience?
An intangible construct IdenBfiable and imaginable Elusive and unpredictable
Ratings: The Audience is important
The Active Audience
Tony Soprano: The Urban Cowboy
Seriality & Scheduling
Fandom
The Sopranos Shot Analysis
• “Mafia-‐as-‐a-‐soap-‐opera narraBve” (Larke-‐Walsh 2010, p. 21)
• Italian-‐Catholic nuclear family • Sefng: big American home in suburban New Jersey
• CinemaBc qualiBes of HBO’s programming • Fewer regulaBons for premium cable TV
“The series, like many postclassical gangster films, is focused heavily on nostalgia.” (Larke-‐Walsh 2010, p. 22) “The Sopranos was a drama series about a New Jersey mob leader, Tony Soprano, and his relaBonship with his two families: his blood family and his mobster family.” (AbboP 2010, p. 149)
Nuclear Family
The Sopranos – a nuclear family: “A well-‐meaning but self-‐serving slob of a husband, a valiantly frustrated housewife, a
delinquent son and an overachieving daughter.” (Johnson 2007)
Tony Soprano: The “suburban gangster with a mid-‐life crisis”, “frustrated by the constant need to
express his feelings” (Larke-‐Walsh 2010, p. 21)
Crane shot of the Soprano’s backyard
← Crane shot
“Exploring the complexiBes and contradicBons of its characters’ moral landscape, and never allowing its audience to take an easy posiBon in relaBon to the storylines and characters.” (AbboP 2010, p. 49)
References
AbboP, S 2010 ‘Case Study: HBO and The Sopranos’ in The Cult TV Book, I.B. Tauris, London, p. 148, 149
Alba, Richard; Kasinitz, Philip (2006), “SophisBcated Television, SophisBcated Stereotypes: The Sopranos (HBO), created by David Chase” Contexts 2006 5: 74
Biskind, P, 2007, ‘An American Family’, Vanity Fair, April 2007
Bury, Rhiannon (2008), “Praise you like I should: Cyberfans and Six Feet Under” in LeverePe, Marc et al It's Not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-‐Television Era, arBcle, Routledge.
Creeber, Glen (2011), “It's not TV, it's online drama: The return of the inBmate screen” Interna.onal Journal of Cultural Studies 2011 14: 591
Edgerton G, Jones J 2008, The Essen.al HBO Reader, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, chapter 3 pg. 61-‐70
Gendron G, 2009, ‘The Sopranos and Middle Class America: Discussing Social Class, PoliBcs and Family in HBO’s TV series (pg. 1-‐8).
References Hills, M, 2007, ‘Fan Cultures’, Routledge, (pg. 1-‐237)
Holden, S, 2002, ‘The new York Bmes on “The Sopranos”’ (New York, Ibook,), IntroducBon, 23
Holmes S & Jermyn D, 2006, ‘The audience is dead; Long live the audience!: InteracBvity, ‘telephilia’ and the contemporary television audience’. CriBcal ideas in Television Studies, 1 (pg. 49-‐57)
Jaramillo, Deborah L. (2002), “The Family Racket: AOL Time Warner, HBO, The Sopranos, and the ConstrucBon of a Quality Brand” Journal of Communica.on Inquiry 2002 26: 59
Johnson, Brian D. "The last nuclear family in town: with 'The Sopranos' gone, Homer is lew to carry the torch for dumb decency, loyalty and love." Maclean's 30 July 2007: 54. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Sept. 2013. Nuclear family – “one of the most iconic families in the annals of television”
Keeton, P 2009, The Sopranos and genre transforma.on: Idealogical nego.a.on in the gangster film. New Jersey Journal of CommunicaBon, 10:2, pg. 131 -‐ 148
Larke-‐Walsh, George S 2010 ‘Screening the Mafia: masculinity, ethnicity and mobsters from The Godfather to The Sopranos’, McFarland & Company Inc, Jefferson, NC.
References LeverePe, Marc; OP, Brian L.; Louise Buckley, Cara (2008), It's Not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-‐Television Era, e-‐book, accessed 9 September 2013, <hPp://rmit.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=425228>.
McCabe, Janet; Akass, Jim (2008), “It’s not TV, it’s HBO’s original programming: Producing quality TV” in LeverePe, Marc et al It's Not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-‐Television Era, arBcle, Routledge.
Nochimson, M 2003, Whaddaya Lookin’ At? Re-‐reading the Gangster Genre through “The Sopranos,” Film Quarterly, 56.2, Winter 2003, pg. 2 -‐ 13
Ruth, D, 1996, ‘InvenBng the public enemy: The gangster in American culture’, 1918-‐1934 (Chicago &London: The University of Chicago Press, chapter 1 , (pg. 29-‐35)
Tait, R 2010, The HBO-‐ifica.on of Genre, Cinephile, The University of BriBsh Columbia’s Film Journal, date sourced 1 September 2013, sourced at: hPp://cinephile.ca/archives/volume-‐4-‐post-‐genre/the-‐hbo-‐ificaBon-‐of-‐genre/
Weidinger, B, 2013, ‘The Sopranos Experience’ University of South Florida, scholar Commons (pg. 35-‐110)