MarcAnthony P. Solli
Concept/Topic: The notion of “Americanism” as it is represented in David Chase’s
The Sopranos
, specifically the final episode of the series, entitled “Made in America”.
General Goals
: Students will come to appreciate the complexity of the final episode of the HBO television drama
The Sopranos
as a commentary on the shift, not only in organized crime in the United States since the periods depicted in The Godfather, but most especially as an analysis of the redefining of American values for fictional organized crime figures, the anti-hero genre, and the rest of us in general.
Specific Objectives
: Students will be able to perform close readings of selected visual passages which serve as reminiscences, foreshadows, and harbingers of doom for the Soprano family and which are based on re-interpretations of particular moments of literary and filmic climaxes depicted in Puzo’s
The Godfather
.
By watching the entire episode “Made in America” and by performing a shot by shot analysis of the final scene and of specific earlier scenes which are suggestive of “Godfather” motifs, students will ascertain the enlightenment which can only be derived from critical, close readings of texts that inform one another, especially when juxtaposed in the correct context.
Ultimately, students will be asked to write an original ending to this pivotal episode which is an ending that is consistent to earlier themes, foreshadows, ironies, characterizations, and discussions of “Americanism” from earlier classes.
Required Materials
:
DVD copy of “Made in America”, DVD player with LCD projector, remote control for close reading of visual text, and articles of interviews given by creator David Chase regarding his mercurial thoughts on the episode and its interpretation.
Anticipatory Set
:
The guiding questions “How is Tony Soprano different from Michael Corleone, Jay Gatsby, or other fictional, ethnic mob representations we have studied?” and “Is Tony Soprano more American than the others or not?” will be addressed prior to viewing the episode “Made in America”. Students will be asked to be mindful of images or moments which remind them of previous texts or films as we watch.
Procedures
:
Students will take notes, scribbling any moment in the episode which they believe can enlighten us as to Tony Soprano’s “Americanism” or his connection to
Godfather
storylines, motifs, symbolisms, ironies, or cinematography.
When the episode is over, students will use their notes to answer a question and compose a response to the issues of Tony’s redefinition of Americanism as a gangster/anti-hero, and his possible demise.
Independent Practice
:
Students will individually locate at least five (5) moments in the filmic text where suggestions or hints are made at Tony Soprano’s potential demise.
Such moments will serve as springboards for a creative composition where students either analyze or conjecture what the next scene of the defunct series would be, or where they compose, script, or storyboard what the next scenes might look like.
In performing these didactic tasks, students will be relying on visual cues and close readings to construct interpretations, and will be connecting their thoughts to previous works studied and more general questions related to analysis and evaluation.
Closure
:
Students’ inferences and analyses or scripts/storyboards will be collected for further work and discussion, and will also serve as the springboard for later culminating presentations regarding each student’s assessment of the significance of the episode’s title, the role and redefinition of American identity in the storyline, the role of women in the text, and the conjecture related to the ambiguous ending of an extraordinarily popular piece of fiction.
Students with exceptionalities may be given specific homework related to cross-curricular connections (i.e., researching the New Jersey mafia, comparing and contrasting Tony Soprano with Michael Corleone or other fictional anti-heroes, locating other
Godfather
references in other
Sopranos
texts and episodes to shed light upon our discussion of the anti-hero/American identity, etc.)
Students with learning disabilities will either have the length and depth of their reflective
journals, textual citations, and scripts, or storyboards mitigated, while allowing them other venues by which to assess Tony’s American antiheroicism (for example, through drawing, storyboarding, poetry, song or other less conventional journaling variations).
