Photo by Daniel Guerra on Unsplash

By: Curtis Liang

This year marks the major anniversary milestones of many of cinema’s most influential pieces, such as The Godfather Part II, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Sopranos, which is now 25 years. First aired on HBO in January of 1999, The Sopranos introduced audiences across the world to the Jersey DiMeo crime family and its dark comedic nature. The show follows sociopath and esteemed mob boss, Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini), who is dealing with the depression that comes from suburban boredom and other factors rooted from his line of work. He visits Dr. Jennifer Melfi (portrayed by Lorraine Bracco) on a regular basis, as an attempt to cure his intergenerational panic attacks passed down to him through genetics. The fascinating tale of an innocent, more than willing psychiatrist, who is burdened with treating the inherent scum and evil of a local gangster is what differentiated this show from being just another mob story.

Aside from the main premise, audiences also remember the show for its rich and brilliantly-crafted set of supporting characters, such as Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), Adrianna La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand), and Paulie Gaultieri (Tony Sirico). Given the large ensemble of actors in this show, it’s impressive that all of these characters were expanded upon with so much depth, which only goes to show the care and effort that creator David Chase had for his story. Without such a strong set of supporting characters, it would have been near impossible for the audience to connect with such a large community. Take Breaking Bad, a story-driven show for instance, primarily focused on its main characters. However, many side characters such as the Salamancas or Gale Boetticher are very surface level with a very one-sided image. The Sopranos avoids this problem, while giving every character enough time to grow.

Much like many other depictions of the Italian mafia, the Sopranos focuses heavily on the theme of family. One of the most apparent examples of this is Tony’s mentorship to Christopher. Although they’re only distantly related, Tony mentors Christopher and shows him more affection than his own biological son, showing the audience how the mafia itself can be more of a family to these characters than their own biological one. This is further backed up by the oath that they’re forced to swear before being “made” (a term for promotion in the mafia), in which they’re forced to say “I will burn in hell if I ever betray my friends.” Overall, the Sopranos has been an influential piece for many in past and future generations!