"In its original run on HBO, "The Sopranos" mattered, and it
matters still," Dana Polan asserts early in this analysis of the
hit show, in which he sets out to clarify the impact and importance
of the series in both its cultural and media-industry contexts. A
renowned film and TV scholar, Polan combines a close and extended
reading of the show itself--and of select episodes and scenes--with
broader attention to the social landscape with which it is in
dialogue. For Polan, "The Sopranos" is a work of playful irony that
complicates simplistic attempts to grasp its meanings and values.
The show seductively beckons the viewer into an amoral universe,
hinting at ways to make sense of its ethically complicated
situations, only to challenge the viewer's complacent grasp of
things. It deftly exploits the interplay between art culture and
popular culture by mixing elements of art cinema--meandering plots,
narrative breaks, and an uncertain progression--with the allure of
a soap opera, delving into its characters' sex lives, mob
rivalries, and parent-child conflicts.
A show about corrupt figures who parasitically try to squeeze
illicit profit from the system, "The Sopranos" itself seems a
target of attempts to glom on to its fame as a successful TV
series: attempts by media executives, marketers, critics and
writers, and even presidential candidates. "Everyone wants a piece
of "Sopranos "action," says Polan, and he traces the marketing of
the series across both official and unauthorized media platforms,
including cookbooks, games, DVDs, and the kitschy "Sopranos "bus
tour. Critiquing previous books on "The Sopranos," Polan suggests
that in their quest to find deep meaning, many of the authors
missed the show's ironic and comedic side.
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