How 9/11 Changed The Sopranos

The Sopranos is more than just a mob show. It’s a show about life in America, and there are few events which affected America more than 9/11. On the morning of September 11th, 2001, members of Al-Qaeda hijacked multiple planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. In the wake of 9/11, America would not only mourn the lives lost in the attack, but also enter into a War on Terror itself, both abroad and at home.

The attacks affected almost every aspect of American life, from politics, to the economy, and even the media and entertainment. Many shows or films would face cancellation or censorship. The 2002 Spider Man film for example originally had a trailer which featured the Twin Towers prominently. After the attacks, the trailer was pulled, and pretty much any representation of the towers was pulled from shows and movies.

The Sopranos was no different. The title sequence for the first 3 seasons has the twin towers visible on Tony’s drive home. However, starting in season 4, the towers were removed from the opening, reflecting the new reality that people were living in.

But unlike most shows that existed before 9/11, the Sopranos actually integrated the attacks into the show itself. Not with storylines that directly dealt with the event, but more so showing the consequences of what happened and how it affected the people on the show, including the writers themselves.

The Sopranos cast and crew were primarily from the New York and New Jersey areas, and as such were deeply affected by 9/11. They discussed this during one of the episodes of Talking Sopranos, saying how James Gandolfini sheltered many people from the show in his apartment after the attacks. And in the aftermath with the Patriot Act and America invading Afghanistan, it’s only natural that the new dark reality that the writers were living in would manifest itself in the show.

Now real quick before we get into things, I want to make it clear that 9/11 was a very real event in which a great many people lost their lives, and in no way is anything in this video meant to diminish that profound loss. I think the connections between this serious event and the show are worth exploring for the lessons they teach us, and I hope you take this video in the spirit that it was intended.

As I mentioned in my review of “For All Debts Public and Private”, the first episode of season 4 and the first to be produced after the attacks, the tone of the series really starts to shift during the fourth season. Characters become even more suspicious and distrustful then they already were. Before this, characters were more lax and joking when it came to America's safety. In Season One, Christopher calls in a bomb scare at Jimmy Altieri's wake.

“Altieri’s wake is tonight.”

“I phoned in a bomb scare.”

- Paulie & Christopher

However in Season Four, he takes offense at Patsy’s joke about spores in the mail, a reference to anthrax being distributed through the mail, a reference to when anthrax spores were distributed via mail in the weeks following 9/11.

“Did you remember to put the spores in there?”

“That’s not funny.”

- Patsy & Christopher

Though Patsy himself makes these jokes, he later shows some patriotic fervor in the episode “Christopher”

"Some fuckin balls badmouthing America. Especially now."

- Patsy

Bobby also says that even his elderly mother’s mental health was affected by the attacks.

“Mom really went downhill after the World Trade Center.”

- Bobby

The characters are not the only ones affected by this change. In real life 9/11 and the subsequent response damaged the economy and caused a global recession, and we can see this reflected on the show as well. In season 3, Junior says the economy is good for business.

“This economy is so robust you get credit for shit you had nothing to do with.”

- Junior

However in the very next season when Tony confronts his capos, they blame their lack of growth on the economic downturn.

“I don’t want to hear about the fucking economy either!”

- Tony

However nowhere is this change more reflected than in Tony himself. Throughout the series, we see Tony struggle with depression. This often takes the form of fixation on negative things in his life. However after 9/11, Tony’s depression becomes increasingly focused on terrorism and the state of the world.

In the episode “Cold Cuts”, Tony sees a news report about a possible terrorist attack at the ports. Tony becomes obsessed with the idea, constantly bringing it up and demanding people think about the possibility of death. It’s very similar to what he does after he kills Christopher, constantly reminding people of Caitlin’s hypothetical death when they are trying to mourn and move on.

When Georgie dares to utter something positive in response to Tony’s negativity, he does what he always does and beats him like a dog.

And Tony is not the only one affected by 9/11. As I talked about in the Defense of AJ video, AJ goes through much of the same struggles as his dad in the show. And he also suffers from depression and a fixation on terrorism and the state of America

This pushes AJ to want to join the military in order to do something about it. In particular, he becomes focused on learning Arabic and eventually joining a government agency like the CIA, showing how much recruiting support the War had drummed up.

Speaking of the government, the start of the War on Terror also has an interesting effect on the relationship between the mafia and the FBI. Throughout the first 3 seasons, the FBI are a constant enemy of the DiMeo family. They engage in a long and sustained investigation into Tony and his crew in order to bring them down. The character we see at the heart of this is Agent Dwight Harris, who despite maintaining pleasantries with Tony, still sees him as an enemy.

“Trust me, he was the biggest sneak out of all of them. It’s all part of his little act.”

- Tony

However things begin to change in their relationship after the fourth season. Harris is moved from the organized crime division of the FBI to counter terrorism, as America becomes more concerned with terroism than the mob. This was a real life trend as well, and other shows like The Wire also showed money being moved away from investigations and into counter terrorism.

“We just don’t have the manpower to stay on anything big. Not since those towers fell.”

“What, we don’t have enough love in our hearts for two wars?”

- Fitz & McNulty (The Wire)

With this change in focus, Harris starts to become an ally of Tony, helping him with tips about rivals in the crime world in exchange for tips about possible terrorist activity. Harris likens this to the relationship between the US government and the mafia in WW2.

“You know World War 2, your outfit protected the Brooklyn Navy Yard.”

- Harris

A common enemy has united these former adversaries in mutual defense. However, it’s not clear how much of a credible threat the Arabs that Tony rats on really are. They are seen at the Bada Bing, and seem to be on good terms with the mob. Tony thinks that he maybe sees them with other Muslims, but it's clear that Tony is stretching any justification he can find for his own benefit. When you think about it, it’s an interesting statement about America’s involvement in the Middle East.

All this to say, what exactly was the point of this video? As I stated at the beginning of this video, The Sopranos is a show about America. And just like America, the show was changed by 9/11 in a profound way. In a way that was not immediately apparent, and only grows clear by looking back. I think those changes are worth drawing attention to. That’s what the purpose of fiction is: to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. The Sopranos makes us ask tough questions about ourselves, and from those questions, hopefully we can learn some valuable lessons about how we respond to tragedy.

“Let me tell you something, or you can watch the fucking news. Everything comes to an end.'“

- Carmela