There's a huge problem with "The Sopranos," and as we swiftly approach the very end, it's looking increasingly like this problem will not get solved. It's very unfortunate.
That problem is the show's marketing, a problem which is really not that unusual. Has anybody seen the billboard ads for the rumored-to-be-cancelled "Veronica Mars"? Though the show concerns the adventures of a brilliant, jaded, wisecracking young woman, the ads feature the attractive lead Kristen Bell looking pouty with her index finger in her mouth. The intent appears to be to draw viewers who want The CW to feature more nighttime HBO-like programming - though it apparently hasn't worked, as "Veronica Mars" seems poised to be this season's "Arrested Development."
The way "The Sopranos" is advertised buys into the whole cult of "Scarface" (1983). "Scarface" has become an icon used to justify a certain type of behavior, a type that is completely contrary to the film's purpose. Quick note: Scarface dies in the end. He gets gunned down as he spirals out of control with his cocaine addiction, after his sister finally realizes that Tony Montana has wanted to sleep with her all along. Sorry for the spoiler.
The point is, though, that the guy is completely pathetic. He gets high on his own supply and pushes away everyone who loves him. And yet he's become iconic for the badass lifestyle. You know who's a badass who dies young but never seems pathetic? Sonny Corleone. Let's start putting him on T-shirts.
The same problem exists for "The Sopranos." The advertisements would have you think that the show is all about the rise to power of a tough mob leader who steps on all those who get in his way. While that is partially true, it is about a million miles from the actual structure of the show, which is very clearly about a man who can't quite get his act together.
He sleeps around quite a bit, and he doesn't get away with it. When he has affairs, he and his wife have huge arguments and they both end up miserable. He's concerned that his daughter is getting smarter than he is. His son is a lazy bum, and he doesn't know whether or not to introduce him into a life of crime. His mother was a cruel, manipulative woman who still controls his life through the psychological damage she did to him when he was a child.
Almost nothing about Tony Soprano is cool. What makes the show worth watching is that it is a completely brilliant story of a family. James Gandolfini is a terrific actor who manages brilliantly to convey Soprano's uncertainty at almost everything he does and his confusion about the way people around him are acting. This is not the world his father lived in, and that confuses him.
Edie Falco is heartbreaking as Carmela - she is almost constantly ambivalent about what to think of living with a sociopathic monster. While Tony's grandfather would have been able to argue that there was nothing else that his family could have done, "The Wire"'s Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) should serve as an example to many organized criminals: If you get your act together and break with Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), it should be possible to go completely straight and make even more money than you would in crime.
The show is still brilliantly written, and continues to experiment with methods of television storytelling (the mid-season premiere took place almost entirely at a beach house, with the main story involving Tony and his sister Janice [Aida Turturro] dealing with their mixed feelings about their late father) and maintain the benchmark for how to draw out drama through the medium.
Though the show is ending soon, it will certainly live on in the shows it has influenced. And maybe David Chase will do us a favor and make us another show, something more accurately advertised.
