The Sopranos was campy: That's why it's so appealing to LGBTQ viewers

Mel Magazine

"The Sopranos is an incredible work of turn-of-the-century Americana, but part of its queer appeal is how camp it is," says Chingy Nea. "A sincere theatricality and absurd excess that manifests itself in both fashion and sensibility, camp has always been close to queerness, and The Sopranos serves it hard. Yes, the show gained attention for its portrayal of grim mob violence, but this was often the bait with which series creator David Chase lured viewers into observing the petty dramatics and farcical dilemmas of the people living this outdated way of life. Camp is on full display in the famous episode where Tony heckles his Uncle Junior for 'going south of the border,' and the old man, furious at his lover Bobbi for revealing he likes to eat pussy, slams a banana cream pie into her face. Or in the emotional climax of The Sopranos’ second season when Tony gets food poisoning that inspires a series of bizarre dreams — intermittently punctuated by explosive diarrhea — through which he realizes one of his closest friends is a snitch that must be dealt with." Nea adds: "Though it stopped airing in 2007, the New Jersey slice-of-life crime saga has steadily garnered more fans over the years, including an increasingly noticeable contingency of queer and trans viewers (the likes of which I — a gender non-conforming dyke as well as a longtime fan who watched it five times during the pandemic — could have never expected). And while some of these Gays of Gabagool have been fans since the beginning, it seems many of them have only discovered it recently, via word of mouth."