Although this is off-cinema in T.V. land, I've become fascinated with the depiction of Tony Soprano, the most "zeitgeist" evil hero of our time. He's the protagonist of the series and we are clearly meant to identify with some of his more typical suburban problems and malaise, as well as his groping for greater self-knowledge through psychotherapy. He can also be very clever, not just devious but even witty. However, he is a villain, as is his wife and his organization, and everything they touch they eventually destroy. (Certainly if The Sopranos were on regular network television, Tony would be smoothed out, and not just in language.) His actions are brutal, his treatment of other people is generally horrendous, he destroys other families to enrich his own, and his monstrosity is represented by his own grotesquely overweight body. What I wonder is if this view of him as a villain is shared by the viewing public. Is watch The Sopranos like watching Dr. Mabuse or Scarface (Hawks) where we ultimately don't really mourn for the protagonist, or is it more like A Clockwork Orange, where the audience seems to identify with the evil protagonist, due to the fact that Alec is so much more interesting and alive than anyone else in his world? Mark Netter [log in to unmask] ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu