Keywords

Femininty - Feminsim fight for their rights and are against male dominance and the patriarchal society. The film of my text follows the theme of femininty.

Censorship – the practise exercised by elite groups in authority, of monitoring and controlling the media content by removing, suppressing or classifying elements deemed offensive or subversive for moral, political, religious or in this case social. As in this case The Sopranos has some censored scenes however the show depicts horrific scenes, acts of sexual assaults and death is portrayed.

Post-Feminism - Part of the postmodern perspective that takes the achievements of feminism for granted and views it as ineffective due to current condition of women and identity choices they face.

Biopic – a film/TV show based on the life story or the biography of a real person, this links to The Sopranos as the show is based on real gangsters in New Jersey.

Counter Culture – a subculture that rejects the mainstream values of a society and offers a parallel, alternative way of life. This can be seen in The Sopranos as the gangster families are seen as subculture society that makes its own values and beliefs, gangsters being “Made”.

Elite – a small select group in a society which claims leadership privileges as a result of expertise, in terms of knowledge or skill, in a particular field. This relates to the text of my study as the Sopranos crime family are considered or portrayed as the elite in their society as they are feared and empowering.

Folk devil – a descriptive term used by sociologist Stan Cohen to describe groups in society which are targeted or demonised by the media as presenting a moral threat and are therefore the focus of moral panic. The whole idea of gangsters as folk devil in America has been introduced for many a years, The Soprano family are portrayed as folk devil in their community as they enforce death and other criminal activities enforcing fear.

Gangster - gangster movies represent the myth of America, where the conflict between good and evil is played out in the slums of big cities. The aspirational dreams of gangsters relate to lives of poor.

- Concerns about the positive representation of gangsters as ‘folk’ or ‘tragic heroes’ troubled the Hays office, after 1934 studios were forced to insert moral pronouncements condemning the behaviour of gangsters featured in films. However, gangsters remain ‘folk heroes’, particularly within the family saga tradition, e.g. the ‘supportive’ Italian/US extended family of the ‘Goodfather’ trilogy.