The Sopranos - The portrayal of Blacks

[Tim2520]

I remember that scene with the two cardboard cut out stereotypical black dudes that were gonna carry out a hit for Chris and when they got in the car one of them was like "don't tell my girl Kiyeesha (
) about this or I'mma have to start paying child support" or something like that. It's like they just had to throw that one in there.

This is literally the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread. I remember watching it and thinking that they were on some real stereotypical bullshyt

 

[dtownreppin214]

i forgot how ridiculous that massive genius character was...

 

[Truetalk]

Forget it breh, this show went over a lot of heads in terms of black people. Take Meadows black boyfriend, in the end he was a better person than an italian Jackie who Tony preferred and he let his racism cloud the fact that Jackie was a worthless piece of shyt. Also this scene

Look at the comments, they just don't get it. Tony and the government official are literally conspiring to destroy this poor neighborhood and yet they are being hypocrites by saying that they should "pull themselves up like his family did". Or how when you break it down they are criminals pretending they are better or something.

Truth the episode with Charles s Dutton playing a cop he was an honorable good cop and it showed that tony was corrupt and entitled op forgot about that episode

 

[MartyMcFly]

No one should be surprised that a show about terrible people shows them being terrible. Doesn't mean it's not a great show but you kinda gotta accept that the people you're watching are pieces of shyt in every way imaginable. They're murderers, liars, thieves, racists, philanderers, bigots, sexists, etc etc etc I mean the list goes on and on. So yeah

 

[JahBuhLun]

I doubt Black Panther will be about literally black royalty and have negative portrayals of black people but then again people's of what's acceptable or unacceptable are different. I'd say This Is US but I don't watch the show and I know the majority of the cast isn't black.

But I say the Coli double speaks because on one hand there will be threads and posts about how a "real nikka" you have to have experienced certain things growing up, usually things rooted in struggle or negativity that the hood breeds. Cats talking about what city is harder than the others. Brehs bragging on being a hood knockout artist or running through women on the strength of a dubsack and wings. Deeming folks "new Blacks".

Yet seem to have chagrin that there aren't a slew of shows about upper middle class Black people...who somehow still manage to "keep it real/hood". I don't know if ts the 6 figures 6 certs shyt rearing it's head but it's like this board expects all black characters to come from nothing to 6 figures or come from old black money, all while having a 6-7 man cast of supporting roles who are similar. There was a thread in which some posters were fussing on Power and Empire portraying dysfunctional Black people that opened my eyes to this...a crime drama and night time soap opera aren't going to feature modern interpretations of the Huxtable and Banks families.

I'm trying to develop a series that some Brehs on here wouldn't like because
1) The lead protagonist is mixed
2) His other family is fairly accepting, at least the immediate other family
3) His woman isn't chocolate or even Black
4) Criminality is abundant

But I'm hoping that the period it's set in, the city it's set in finally having their hidden black/brown populace revealed to the country, the hero's security and insecurity in his identity, and the intelligence the characters show offset some of those things. I want to make a true realistic show but I may be too optimistic in people being realistic about what a show will bring.

You also have to understand that most of the people on here who speak on Black issues or realness, are not even close to being Black, so you can take what's said on here with a grain of salt.

 

[Truetalk]

Watching the show tony soprano was a miserable angry hateful person who bullied his guys in mafia family like when tony had patsy brother killed and Tony told him to put it behind him

 

[JahBuhLun]

No one should be surprised that a show about terrible people shows them being terrible. Doesn't mean it's not a great show but you kinda gotta accept that the people you're watching are pieces of shyt in every way imaginable. They're murderers, liars, thieves, racists, philanderers, bigots, sexists, etc etc etc I mean the list goes on and on. So yeah

The issue is that none of characteristics carry over to italians in real life. Not in a negative way at least. Negative Black portrayals in tv and movies are applied to Black people as a whole. So it's like Bad Italians are just the mobsters, but bad Black people are most Black people in general and good Black people are an exception.

 

[Bleed The Freak]

No one should be surprised that a show about terrible people shows them being terrible. Doesn't mean it's not a great show but you kinda gotta accept that the people you're watching are pieces of shyt in every way imaginable. They're murderers, liars, thieves, racists, philanderers, bigots, sexists, etc etc etc I mean the list goes on and on. So yeah

Exactly. Expect great race portrayals in a tv show about a criminal brehs.

If there was a black/spanish/etc equivalent of Sopranos tv series I would want the same raw portrayal. Sexist, racist, abusive whole 9.

This show wasn't meant to make you feel good. Dudes make money off people and races they hate everyday.

 

[Shadow King]

You also have to understand that most of the people on here who speak on Black issues or realness, are not even close to being Black, so you can what's said on here with a grain of salt.

I think the Coli does have a good deal of non-black but non-white posters but I still believe most of the posters with a consistent presence are Black.

 

[MartyMcFly]

The issue is that none of characteristics carry over to italians in real life. Not in a negative way at least. Negative Black portrayals in tv and movies are applied to Black people as a whole. So it's like Bad Italians are just the mobsters, but bad Black people are most Black people in general and good Black people are an exception.

And I can understand that but I don't take issue with a show about a$$holes being a$$holes. And if you really don't think Italians are outraged when something like this or Goodfellas or The Godfather hits, do the knowledge. The Italian defamation league hit Goodfellas hard in 1990 and raked the movie and Scorsese over the coals for it. And they also had a run in with David Chase about The Sopranos.

The point I'm making is, I'm not looking to a movie or Tv show about Italian mobsters for sterling portrayals of black people. I've got other avenues for that in the media. Should there be more? Hell yes. But this isn't the place to look for it. We've got Cosby Show, Martin, Fresh Prince, Black ish, a different world, the barbershop movies, and I'm sure other things I'm not listing that show we all aren't thugs or hoods. That we have dreams and ideals and can start our own businesses, be great parents, put our kids through college, and retire happily. Again, we should have a lot more and it should be normal, but The Sopranos is not the place to find that breh. Just like if I'm an Italian cat, I'm not looking to the sopranos or The Godfather or goodfellas for positive portrayals of my people. That would be asinine of me. So it stands to reason its asinine for me as a black man to look for that from a movie about racists pricks who are also sociopaths and a lot worse

 

[Skip b]

fukk the sopranos the only time they got it right was bokeem woodbines black crime boss that couldn't stand tony's fat ass...

A fake gangsta that ain't want no static...

But tony soprano seemed to be cool with that preacher black dude and his father he gave the turkeys to

Tony was cool with black people when business was involved just as a black man would work for the white guy then shyt on them later, Tony wasn't racist he just did what everyone else did in regards to treating blacks, when the guys were around he'd wear that racist face..fainting at seeing uncle Ben after Meadows incident randomly makes me giggle to this day

 

[General Mills]

im glad they show this along with scorsese movies. It show how they view us. It lets you know just how hated we are. I cant stand shows that show white people as this caring pilgrim type.

THIS.

This is how most white people see us.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Tony's daughter got her virginity taken by a Moulie tho

 

[pickles]

As someone who grew up in Essex and Hudson county where the show was based, I have to say this is a pretty accurate take on how racist Italians (and Irish) feel around here.

Exactly. This is an accurate description. Tony was an a$$hole. He was fukken deplorable.
Did you expect him to treat black folk in a different manner?

I never liked the Sopranos anyway.

 

[boskey]

Cmon. Y’all are coming up with the same weak excuses that always get brought up when we talk about racism in gangster movies. It’s not about “bad guys being depicted as bad guys” it’s about black characters being depicted as stereotypical caricatures.

Every other character on this show, even the minor one offs like Bobby Baccala’s father is a “bad guy” but they are written with nuance and humor and given real personalities and their existence is usually related to the larger theme of the show...why can’t the exact same writers put that effort towards a black character?

I loved the show but I see no reason to defend an obvious flaw...