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I am a half-blooded Italian who is a lifelong Southerner. My father's parents were Italian immigrants to Mississippi. I have been somewhat sensitive about that part of my heritage, with all the negative portrayals of Italian Americans in the media over the years. Recently "The Sopranos" came and went and was considered the greatest thing since sliced bread, according to a lot of TV critics. I have only watched a few minutes of it, but the violence and profanity were too much for me. For those of you leaving in north Jersey and/or are Italian American, how ethnically "real" did you find this show? I'm not accusing anyone of being a mobster or knowing anyone who is.
heh - it's funny because in The Sopranos they actually had a minor set of scenes that dealt exactly with this issue.
Trying to remember way back, but I believe it was someone who Dr. Melfi was dating would get up in arms about her dealings with Tony, how their actions marginalized him, her and the rest of the legitimate italian-american crowd
Stereotypes are just that and quite frankly if I were to get offended, I would be more offended by the people on Jersey Shore than I would be by the Sopranos (mainly because i've spent more time around those type of people than those that are on the Sopranos) ...... however, both are simply caricatures ..... a very small portion of a demographic that is then exagerated for effect
According to David Chase, Tony was modeled after Ruggiero "Richie the Boot" Boiardo. The Boiardo family lived on a large estate in my hometown of Livingston, NJ. As kids, we used to play in the woods behind the estate, and scare each other into thinking guys with guns were going to come after us. LOL. Ironically, his grandson is an orthopedic surgeon who I occasionally work with. Also, ironically (or not), the other large estate in town was owned by the Kean family who was the governor of the State. Chris Christie is from Livingston as well.
If you google Ruggiero Boiardo and David Chase, I'm sure you can find the interview.
I wasn't asking if "The Sopranos" was based on real people. I was asking if the characters were, aside from the criminal element, realistic representations of people in the north New Jersey area. I hope this eliminates any confusion.
I wasn't asking if "The Sopranos" was based on real people. I was asking if the characters were, aside from the criminal element, realistic representations of people in the north New Jersey area. I hope this eliminates any confusion.
In that case, there are almost 9 million people in NJ. The Sopranos is a "realistic representation" of a small minority of those 9 million people. I'm sure everyone up here either knows or has run into people like that, but again, they are a minority.
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