Tony Soprano

I can identify with Tony Soprano of the long running Mafia soap 'The Sopranos'. This isn't really all that surprising, since he has been written so that a sizable chunk of the media-consuming public can identify with him, hence the popularity and longevity of the programme.

I relate to Tony partly because The Sopranos is such a post-modern text. Before you yawn, let me explain what I mean by this:

Modernist texts contain clear fault lines, for example between good and evil. Even when a 'good guy' does something 'bad', this is rationalised or excused. John Wayne movies are, to an extent, classic examples of such modern texts - goodies and baddies on the big screen. In terms of TV drama, the smaltz-fest 'Band of Brothers' is an outstanding example of an updated version of modernist text - yeah there is more gore, but the Americans are the good guys and the Germans the baddies.

Postmodernism is about recognising that such simplistic ways of looking at the world are not only inadequate, they are childlike, tiresome and even dangerous. Postmodernism is Western society in its twilight years; mature but cynical and tired.

So, the Sopranos is postmodern because it contains likeable characters who have some fine qualities but are also very bad people, living in a world where there is some meaning, some love, but is also systemically cruel and injust.

If Tony and his crew caren't be written off as 'bad', then can anyone in the programme be characterised as 'good'? Well, there is no shortage of victims in the Sopranos, but you would be hard pressed to see the FBI as being 'good'. Agent Harris is pretty likeable, but this is despite his being an FBI agent rather than because of it; he has a stoic humanism about him in that he works to take Tony Soprano down but at the same time likes him and behaves in a decent way that some of the other cold, faceless, FBI agents don't.

So, why do I relate to Tony? Firstly, the show is about Tony Soprano, so we know him better than any of the other characters; we literally get inside his head. Secondly, I think that many of us can relate to being in a relatively comfortable position in life but being both insecure and disatisfied. More personally, I can intimately relate to Tony's eruptions of otherwise contained rage, and perhaps his ability to recognise and feel ambivilant about that rage on reflection; I can see myself in Tony as he rages about the world to Dr. Melfi.

As someone who recognises himself as at least a partly failed person, and who works to try to mitigate this reality while accepting that it will always be the case, I suppose I like Tony because I see something of myself in extremisis in this volatile, flawed man. Perhaps its also because he has a soft spot for ducks and animals in general!

You can now buy the complete box-set of all 6 seasons of The Sopranos here at Amazon.co.uk