“ It’s All a Big Nothing” The Nihilistic Vision of The Sopranos

1. “It’s All a Big Nothing”The Nihilistic Vision of The Sopranos Karla Toledo

2. Nihilism and Noir • The Sopranos is influenced by the moral vision of nihilism. • Nihilism is an existential attitude or orientation according to which the activities of self-creation and the search for self-knowledge either are forsaken or undertaken against a backdrop of rejected values and decaying institutions. • Nihilism means “nothing in particular”, “nothing matters”, “nothing makes a difference”. • The show also portrays the style and the content of those classic movies labeled as “film noir” and “neo noir”. • Friederich Nietzsche was one of the first thinkers to point out nihilism as a cultural, oral, and historical phenomenon. • Nietzsche states that nihilism means- That the highest values devaluate themselves. • According to Nietzsche : - Passive nihilism, or negative “incomplete” is a rejection of seemingly fixed values and institutions without the spiritedness that allows one to become an individualistic self creator. - Active or positive nihilism “complete” is the process of becoming a creative individual while rising above the mere resentment and life-negation, thereby acquiring the principle of life-affirmation in the face of existential and spiritual crisis.

3. The Sopranos acts in a “passive” or pathological” form, it’s style and content is rooted in films noir. • Tony Soprano is shown enjoying noir classics such as “White Heat”. • His mafia colleagues ( Paulie Walnuts and Big Pussy) are always comparing their experiences with the “Godfather” trilogy. • Film noir as Nietzsche defines it reveals passive nihilism, hinting at missed opportunities for the cultivation of creative individuality. • Most classis noir film underlie devolution or dehumanization of the main character. • The lives of the main Characters in most noir and neo-noir films, such as Tony Soprano are characterized by alienation, disorientation and indifference. • These anti-heroes lack clear moral values, their own and their family’s.

4. “Gary Cooper Is Dead and Gone” • Major theme of the series: Tony Soprano believes he inhabits a world of collapsing values. • He tells his therapist mob members have no values and that he is plagued by feeling of decline and loss. • Tony laments the loss of the stoic hero of yestyear.: “Whatever happened to Gary Copper- the strong silent type? That was an American. He was in touch with his own feelings-he just did what he had to do.” • Tony thinks he has virtues that vary between criminal and conventional life, like loyalty, respect and honor but then recognizes thus virtues are declining in his everyday life. • Nihilism signals a collapse of values and the loss of personal unity or wholeness. • A relativist believes that all knowledge and experience result from personal perspectives. • Anthony Jr . suffers from rejection of absolute truths and inhristic values. • He is influenced by his new high school English teacher. He starts annulling his parents with nihilist opinions he learned from Nietzsche. • H e states “ There is No God”. • He has no fear for death, in the other hand Tony has a sense of fear for the meaningless and nothingness which he associates with his fear of death.

5. “Back to the Rathole” • Tony controversies his moral character appears sometimes as passive nihilist, while at other times as life-negative. • According to Nietzsche the passive nihilist is one who refuses to rise above his negative life. The active nihilist or “master” results in acts of self-overcoming. • Later on the series Tony wants to overcome his own moral weakness and inner emptiness becomes more intense. • H e is not successful overcoming his own defects. • Tony characterizes a noir anti-hero. • At the end of the day he stays as a passive or “pathological”: nihilist. • He uses his therapy to weave together the fragments of his disjointed and seemingly purposeless existence. • At the end tony senses a felling of accomplishment just by managing to survive in a broken world.