Hugs...

11
Fly,
I agree that organized crime probably doesn't draw as many homosexuals as other professions.
Also, you have mentioned that you read various interesting posts on other forums. Could you please post the best one/ones? Thanks!

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It's not gay at all...

12
Maybe it's Italian & Italian American men, but theres nothing wrong with hugging a friend or relative. Just for example today, me, my father, and two very good friends of his went out to breakfast. Afterward, hugs were exchanged. They hadn't seen each other in about a month tops, but they've been through alot throughout their lives. Samething at wakes, funerals, birthdays, weddings, confirmations, and get togethers. Most of the men in my family hug and sometimes a quick peck on the cheek. Its just a sign of love and respect, nothing more.

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Re: It's not gay at all...

14
AutoPrince, I guess I should clarify that I am not in any way suggesting that men hugging each other, in and of itself, and most especially within certain European and derivative cultures, indicates or suggests homosexuality. I only noticed that there was more hugging in the last ep than usual, even for the hug-happy Sopranos males, and I found this fact interesting in light of the other things folks observed about the possibility that a gay subtext for Tony Blundetto is being developed. And as I pondered the possibility, my mind immediately jumped to the news story I reproduced above from last year, which is all the more striking because the family involved was the same New Jersey Mafia family upon whom the Sopranos is loosely modeled and because of the particularly heavy influence of real-life headlines in this season's storylines.

If Tony B's sexuality were to be judged here and now, there's no way I would think him gay. But I think a lot of fans, myself included, are constantly driven to speculation about what is coming, and the speculation in this regard I thought worthy of discussion on this board. Rather than create a new thread, however, I modified and posted here, under the existing "hugs" thread, because the original poster was obliquely alluding to the same issue and because I didn't really want to clog the board with yet another original topic.

I hope that clarifies that I certainly find nothing "wrong" with men hugging. I think it's long past time that they were able to do so without self-consciousness or image concerns.

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Re: Tony S or Tony B gay?

16
Nick, I would lose respect if Tony Soprano wound up being gay, because 4 seasons and about 54 hours of exposition has shown him to be definitively, quintessentially heterosexual. Any reversal of that now would be character annihilation of the greatest magnitude . . . which is, of course, why it will never happen. Sure Tony has the usual dose of "homophobia", but it's not because he in any way doubts his own sexuality.

On the other hand, Tony B is a new character about whom we know very little. We know he was married and has children, but in the milieu he was born and raised in, with its extreme socializing pressures to be heterosexual, that alone doesn't foreclose that he has gay leanings. It would not at all make me lose respect for the show if he turned out to be gay. As a matter of fact, it is a scenario with a heck of a lot of dramatic potential and not without precedent (read above) in real Mafia history.


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Tony

17
I thought FlyOnMelfisWall's comment about Tony taking immediate exception to the massage session was interesting. That scene shows how consistant the character is in the show. Remember from episode one when Tony makes the comment about the animal guy being "light in the loafers" and Carmela shooting back that its "always a gay thing" with Tony. I didn't pick up that Tony probably felt really uncomfortable watching his cousin massaging a man.

I know they already established AJ as heterosexual, but wouldn't it be interesting to see how Tony were to react if AJ were to tell him one day that he was homosexual?

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Hugs Redux...

18
After having watched "Rat Pack" for the fourth time, I stand behind my sense that the hugs portend a sinister element emerging. I am in no way alluding to a homosexual element. Nor am I oblivious to the display of male affection which is elemental in I and IA culture. Rather I am picking up on the following: Ade assertively hugs Tina; later rats her out. Tony S. deceptively hugs Jack while patting him down for wire and ultimately organizing his demise. Then, at least twice the two Tonys embrace after confrontations concerning issues of "respect" and possibly power. In a more characterological deconstruction, I am finding these hugs more to be acts of reaction formation as opposed to "gayness" or the innocence of Italian guys sharing a cheerful bear hug. Something's brewing...

Fly...good points...good posts.

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Re: Hugs Redux...

20
OE, yours are very interesting observations. I'll have to watch again, but in the case of the two Tony's, they really only had the one confrontation outside after the massage thing and they didn't hug after that, did they? Were you thinking of the scene in the diner when he declined Tony's offer of mob work?

I hadn't thought about the Tina and Maserone angles. Good catch.

(later) Okay, I just rewatched and forgot about the "you fat" remark. But what was the second confrontation where they hugged after?

BTW, I just thought of two more, probably meaningless oblique or subtextual elements: Uncle Junior remarks that Tony B is a "f------ wierdo if you ask me". And the ring on the cell phone Tony S gave Tony B plays the tune "We Are the Champions" . . . by, of course, Queen.:-)

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub132.ezboard.com/bsopranolandf ... fisWall</A> at: 3/17/04 2:23 am
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