Throughout the HBO television series The Sopranos, the characters continuously discuss and emulate The Godfather series of films. Tony and his crew revere these movies and feely deeply emotionally connected to them. For the characters, the movies are a way for them to connect with each other and attempt to justify and explain their lifestyle choice. This use of The Godfather by the characters represents the classic media paradigm of audience uses and gratifications.
Perhaps some of the preeminent scholars in this realm of research are Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch. Their article “Utilization of Mass Communication by the Individual” summarizes much of the field of research into this approach. At the core of this paradigm is the notion that audience members choose and use certain media texts or outlets to fulfill needs or gratifications they may have such as personal reference. There are three key sources of gratification from the media: the content, the exposure, and social context of exposure.
Based on these ideas, it is easy to see why the characters of The Sopranos are drawn to The Godfather. The movies romanticizes the gritty, dark, and violent world in which they have chosen to operate. The movies serve as a way for the characters to rationalize what they do and as a way for them to base their behavior. Often times in the show, it feels like the characters complain when their world is not like The Godfather. However, based on flashbacks in the series, the viewer can surmise that the world of The Sopranos was never like The Godfather. The scenes of the 50s and 60s in The Sopranos do not seem any where as glamorized as in The Godfather movies. In fact, the world looks much more like the modern day one of the show. It is reasonable to believe the movies have created a false belief of how the past was for the characters. This alternate reality goes into cultivation theory, but I will not go into more detail on it in this paper because it still also works within the paradigm of uses and gratifications. The characters use these texts to reinforce their beliefs of how the mafia should exist.
Within the series, we see moments of how the characters use The Godfather. One of the key examples is how the characters use the movies to relate with each other. In the second season episode “Commendatori,” Tony and the gang attempt to watch The Godfather Part II, but Tony complains about watching the movie again and having the same discussion about the movie. From this exchange, the view is able to conclude that the movies have been viewed multiple times by the gang as an almost group ritual. Clearly, the movies demonstrate a way for them to satisfy some level of camaraderie. It is a clear example of gratification coming from the social context of the movie.: viewing a movie with friends In other scenes in the series, the character of Silvio does an impression of Al Pachino from The Godfather Part III that makes the other characters usually laugh demonstrating another way the movies connect the characters and aid in creating emotional connections.
During multiple parts of the series, characters attempt to emulate scenes from the movies. In the first episode of The Sopranos, Christopher “whacks” a rival gang member in an attempt to send a message similar to the quote from The Godfather, “Luco Brasi sleeps with the fishes." He is then informed by another character that it does not work like that in the mafia; in fact, it would be disastrous. Christopher has based his assumptions and personal reference of the mafia on his use of The Godfather.
Later in the series after Tony is shot by his uncle, Tony’s son, A.J, vows revenge. In the episode “Johnny Cakes," he plans to murder Uncle Junior based on Tony’s love of the classic scene from The Godfather where Michael avenges the failed hit on his father in the Italian restaurant. Although touched, Tony informs his son that it is just a movie! It should not be used as an instruction guide how to handle personal and family problems.
Perhaps it is in this last scene why HBO would have allowed the executive producer and creator of The Sopranos, David Chase, to flirt so clearly with this apparent critique and representation of audience uses and gratifications. HBO, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), makes its revenue by airing nonstop entertainment on its channels. Often its content, including The Sopranos, creates controversy due to its graphic depictions of topics such as sex and violence. The cable channel may have possibly approved of these scenes as a way to counter-criticize attacks against the channel and people’s belief it corrupts youth and/or our society. Realizing the uses and gratifications paradigm, HBO is trying to remind people that what they do is used for entertainment purposes. Although the creative team behind The Sopranos may agree with this statement to some extent, they also show a slightly darker side of the argument through their other uses of the characters love of The Godfather.
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