Letters to the Editor
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Vats of Acid
Gary Kamiya hit it on the head when he writes "Its shtick is that it is a show about an American family just like ours -- who are also a bunch of coldblooded murderers whom according to even the laxest moral standards we should loathe. And the king of these monsters is, of course, our dear old Tony."
The big parallel to the Sopranos is the show 24, where the hero, Jack Bauer, is also an evil guy. But since he is the hero, he is given (by the writers) a warm human side to make the viewers like him.
The big justification is that these types of shows are reflections of the "real world", and that watching such shows help people to understand the "real world".
But we now know that 24 was not only a reflection of the world but also had very real effects on people's attitudes towards (and enthusiasm for) torture in the "real world". (See The New Yorker article "Whatever It Takes")
There is no such smoking gun with the Sopranos, but here is a story which is, I believe, instructive. I was listening to NPR, and they were interviewing a writer who had written a book about a big time Sicilian mobster. The writer was talking about how in Sicily there was an attitude of grudging
admiration for these mobsters. Because of this public attitude there was not enough political will to really go after them. All that changed when a whole family was murdered by mobsters, the bodies (mom, dad, and child) were found in vats of acid. After this incident the public woke up, and there was the political will to put many of these thugs out of business.
Shows like the Sopranos that act as PR and product placement for evil, are doing evil. The continued huge popularity of the Sopranos and 24 helps explain the huge level of apathy towards the huge level of evil that is being done in our name. It's hard to get too incensed over bribery and corruption when we've got a soft spot for a murderous thug.
Note the Sopranos is also like the Hells' Angels toy runs. And Al Capone gave out food to the poor, kind of like the Supranos giving out entertainment to the masses.