A Missed Education. Avoiding the Ordinary in The Sopranos

Abstract

The aim of this article is to comment on an episode of The Sopranos in which we are shown two simultaneous failed attempts at education. Tony Soprano’s son and “nephew” seek their own path, their own education, and both end up returning to the world of the two families: the Soprano family and the Mafia family. On this road, they meet people who could lead them out of these worlds, but their affiliation with the family will not be scratched: the two families have too many attractions to be abandoned. The missed education of the two young men mirrors the fall of Tony Soprano, whose tragic fate this episode anticipates.

Keywords

• philosophy of television series
• Cavell (Stanley)
• emersonian perfectionism