Bill O'Reilly On Gandolfini Worship

Anyone see this last night? Not that it's hard for me to disagree with Bill, basically anything that comes out of his with I disagree with but IMO this is ridiculous. There's just no way I could ever see Tony Soprano as sympathetic. He wasn't a good guy using any definition of the phrase and there was nothing, except for the fact that I wanted more episodes, to make me root for him.

The only way I could see worshiping him is that he was fighting the government, which is way worse than he was but I could never agree with his methods. Both are evil just one is worse than the other was.

I can't see the clip as I'm at work and I have no idea what bill said but I know gandolfini was a big time Democrat.

Slightly silly thread, imo, and with respect.

Whilst there is little to sympathise with in a criminal such a Tony Soprano, it's also true to say that The Sopranos is less about gangsterism, and more about the character study. In some ways, Tony being part of the mob is just a coincidental thing. Few shows and actors peel the layers away quite as potently as Gandolfini and The Sopranos.

If you read it that way, you see that Gandolfini played a real blinder. The sad eyes, the mental disfunction - it highlighted something about an unpleasant character that you could relate to. It's great writing and great acting working together to first rate affect.

RIP James Gandolfini - it's rare that an actor reaches Brando/Olivier territory. It's just a shame he became a little typecast.

reply to post by damwel


I didn't know that. Makes sense as the right has to hate the left in any way, shape and form. Glad I don't buy into that left or right junk but makes it hard sometimes as I don't think that way so I miss political machinations sometimes.

I have to admit...my respect and sympathy for this guy dropped a notch or two when someone published his "last meal" contents before he died. Now that alone was in pretty poor taste (no pun intended) and low class, I'd agree. It's out there though.

Fois Gras was one of a small hill of things he had. Call it my empathy for the torture of any living thing....but I have a hard time mustering much for good feeling toward anyone who eats it. Perhaps before it became widely known HOW that is produced? Now though, anyone ordering it surely knows how they make it and there just are some things that tend to color perceptions.

reply to post by KingIcarus


Maybe it's just me but I was never able to relate to Tony Soprano. He was an awful person was all I saw. Your mileage obviously varies.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I have to admit...my respect and sympathy for this guy dropped a notch or two when someone published his "last meal" contents before he died. Now that alone was in pretty poor taste (no pun intended) and low class, I'd agree. It's out there though.

Fois Gras was one of a small hill of things he had. Call it my empathy for the torture of any living thing....but I have a hard time mustering much for good feeling toward anyone who eats it. Perhaps before it became widely known HOW that is produced? Now though, anyone ordering it surely knows how they make it and there just are some things that tend to color perceptions.

I think that was a hoax.

Billy seems to be losing it...He's an actor. He also told Beckel there are no drones over the US.

Interesting the Bill hints at the public being too weak minded to separate a TV show character from the Real thing.
Then, he goes and does just exactly that, by blending Gandolfini and Soprano as if they were the same person.

Frankly, the fact that Gandolfini made Soprano a somewhat sympathetic character, goes a long way in showing his acting abilities.

It wasn't that long ago that O'Reilly blended two other characters into one called Saddama Bin Hussein, remember that guy?

Perfect example of someone talking out of their ass.

Originally posted by TheSpanishArcher
reply to post by KingIcarus

 

Maybe it's just me but I was never able to relate to Tony Soprano. He was an awful person was all I saw. Your mileage obviously varies.

Indeed, your mileage varies. Tony Soprano is a #bag, and he deserves what (probably) comes to him in the end. There's little discussion to be had over whether Tony is a good guy - he's a full on crook and murderer.

However, I think it's important to seperate Gandolfini from Tony. Whatever you think of the character, the actor did a fine job of illustrating how successful criminality has mortal consequences - and not just at the moment when a rival pulls out a pistol. Gangsterism is a terrible burden in many respects, I think that shone through a lot in the show.

Would you want to be Tony?

reply to post by spacedoubt


Classic projection. Bill has always been afraid of the darkness he sees in himself. If I had to guess, he is probably just a very cruddy person.

reply to post by whyamIhere


You may well be right on that report of food being bogus. I don't recall which media outlet was carrying it among the many I check when I get up each day. I suppose it's why I didn't say more or feel stronger about it. I didn't know this man of course and hadn't even gotten much into the show he's so famous for, so nothing personal either way. I guess the tragedy lay more in someone dying on a vacation of all things. A time to be happy and relax becomes the last.

To some of us HBO's "hit" Sopranos was a clear example of what is wrong with American today. The fact that a mobster could be viewed with compassion and sympathy because he was only a human being caught in a bad web is a liberal's dream. That show helped in America's decline, the common use of extremely foul language and all. The restaurant scene should have happened in the first episode.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Had to google Foie Gras...... yech.

Never been big on eating guts, but yeah, I can understand why the heart attack.

I think Bill O'Reilly just wish he had some worship coming his way.

the Sopranos all but surpassed the Godfather and Godfather II in the amercain minds, it's the outlaw mentality, hell if you go back into the 1800's on, you see where the american mind set leans towards the outlaw. Jesse James, Billy The kid, John Wesly Harding, just to mention a few. then in the 20's and 30's people like, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and so on

that's the draw for Gandolfini, just like Brando, Pacino, or even Pesci and Liottia. even though their characters may have been done for purely entertainment,( except for Liottia and Pesci,their characters where based on the life of Herny Hill )
people see them as the outlaws they played. not for who they were.

My 1st thought was, doesn't the guy portray an arrogant and selfish devil of a person? Sort of the same sentiment as the op.

The way I perceive the mafia is reductive, the one who is willing to sink to the lowest moral level is successful or "good"(?).

Great model, a society where every monkey who can pull a trigger should get their own way.

I actually had a mafia moment, they flinched. Just like all bullies, they never want to be called-out.

It reminds me of this loser mechanic scumbag who went out of his way to ride up to me on a loud motorcycle, stop to threaten me, and then try to ride away. Apparently, my sleeve got caught on his handlebar, and he dumped the bike into a chain link fence. A lot of yelling, but he didn't ever come near me again.

Next best thing is when someone calls you out from a great distance....but won't come within 50 ft. That makes me lol.

Sorry to go OT, but I have an anti-bully complex.

Originally posted by Aliensun
To some of us HBO's "hit" Sopranos was a clear example of what is wrong with American today. The fact that a mobster could be viewed with compassion and sympathy because he was only a human being caught in a bad web is a liberal's dream. That show helped in America's decline, the common use of extremely foul language and all. The restaurant scene should have happened in the first episode.

This is hilarious on many levels. Too ignorant of a post to say anything more.

CJ

This is really a great snapshot of the big problem with how our society views entertainment now.


People cant separate a person from a character, and the art of telling a story from glorification anymore.

I thought the real success of the 'Soprano's' was to show the dysfunction and how living outside accepted social norms is ultimately both practically( physically) and emotionally unsustainable? I still have to watch the large majority of the show( watched season 1-2 i think) so perhaps it got much 'worse' in the gratuitous sense but for me it's a nicely done allegory of going to 'war', or in this case the war at home , and coming back a different man who then does his best to try to fit in and play at the role of being ordinary. It also shows how the father's decisions changes the entire family and how what you spend your time doing largely determines what sort of person you end up being...

The problem is also often with their just being too many seasons with tv networks trying to cash in and thus either diluting the message ( "you can choose to live this way, people become criminals mostly of their own volition!") or changing it so much that the original social criticism gets utterly lost in cable network translation. The facts are obviously entirely different as the large majority of people who CHOOSE to be criminals are well educated and make their living defrauding us through various corporate and state mechanisms. The extend of the damage done to society is also greatly skewed towards those who don't often go to jail; basically i think "the west wing", "mad men" and such shows are much much much more dangerous viewing pleasures as they largely paint a world were 'great' men change the lives of hundreds of millions or billions in negative ways without any personal consequence. This at least is rarely if ever attempted by shows about Gangsters and the supposed 'underworld'.

Thank you for reading this,

Stellar

What an idiotic and disrespectful thing to say now. So Gandolfini dies and O'reilly wants to talk about how the character he portrayed years ago might "hurt the country." It's not worship, it is praise for starring in one of the greatest shows of all time.

It's called an anti-hero and literature and film throughout history have plenty of them. Tony Soprano didn't always look good, and was called a sociopath, but no one would watch a show about his life if they hated him.

It's one of the greatest shows of all time and James Gandolfini was apparently a really great guy. O'reilly is an idiot, and I hope people remind others of that fact when he's gone.