Fan Culture @ Swarthmore

Fan Artifact: On Fan Pilgrimages and Producerly Control Over Information

Rachel Turner

 Being from New Jersey (and unsurprisingly, proud of it) I could not help but decide to focus this weeks fan artifacts on everyone’s favorite mafia family, The Sopranos.  The series ran for eight years (1999-2007) on HBO, and has recently been picked up on A&E for reruns.  With an already established “On Location Tour” that can be found on the shows official website that has attracted people from all over the world, I felt a little uncreative simply giving you a run-down on the already established tour.  Instead, I “called in some favors” and am happy to present you with à

  The Sopranos: What You Didn’t Hear on the Tour, and the Reason Why.

 Bob, a Kodak employee in the Film Sales Division in New York City was the main contact between Kodak and The Sopranos production.  He worked intimately and frequently with the executive producer and cinematographers on set (just to name a few).   What the cast and crew of The Sopranos did not know was that Bob is also a fan of the show.  Having had a privileged interaction with the inter-workings of The Sopranos, he was able to comment on his behind-the-scenes experience as a fan. 

 I began my phone interview with Bob and explained what I was interested in talking about regarding The Sopranos.   I then asked what he would be willing to share, and he responded, “Nothing I couldn’t be shot for.”  Joking aside, the secrecy that was kept on the set for eight years was intense (and extremely successful) to avoid spoilers getting out to the public.  Bob mentioned that every single person in the studio (which is located in New York, by the way, not New Jersey) regardless of their connection to the show, was very serious about keeping the storylines and threads very hush-hush.  It was nothing to joke about.  (Bob actually enjoyed this aspect of his job as he hated being on set and overhearing a conversation or a scene being filmed that spoiled part of the story for him.  He wanted to be surprised when he watched the show and was always upset when something was “ruined for him.”) 

 This high level of secrecy and security is certainly something that the producers care deeply about.  Spoilers upset fans and also destroy any reason people have to watch the show.  The balance between giving to the viewers and keeping from viewers is a delicate one which the producers like to be in control of. 

For example, one thing that Bob overheard on set is something that the producers would rather not be common knowledge about their star, James Gandolfini.  In a conversation with a fellow cast member, Gandolfini was heard to be heatedly expressing his frustration with his stalled theatrical and motion picture career due to his association with the Tony Soprano identity.  He felt stuck in the type-cast of Tony and was greatly upset by his inability to move on from the show.  His unhappiness in the show could have greatly dented and jaded the fans that followed his life as Tony Soprano.   For this reason, the producers are concerned about controlling the amount and type of information that the public has access too.  Thompson addressed this issue in The Frodo Franchise, stating that “studios might be willing to reveal what sots of screws they use in their sets, but they’re not about to tell fans everything…their need to keep many things confidential clashes with the fans’ desire to know every last detail.” 

And with good reason, too.  In the Couldry chapter in Fandom, he speaks of his own Sopranos tour experience.  When visiting the “Bada Bling” strip club, which is actually a real strip club that was conducting its everyday business while the tour was there, Couldry comments on an uneasy realization of reality in their fantasy fiction tour.  It was almost as if the magic was broken.  Knowing too much can be dangerous ground for maintaining the sustained level of disbelief needed. 

 This control of information readily available to the fans by the producers is very interesting.  There is a need to promote closeness and an intimate connection for the fans to their show, however, the protection around spoilers is taken very seriously and information about unhappy stars is guarded.  Just as they create a fantasy on the show, they try to recreate it in their tours to keep it alive as long as possible.  Now that the show has come to a completion, the drive to keep fans interactive and, more importantly, consuming, they attempt to make the series more tangible. 

1. Reflect on your own fan interests and practices.  What are the areas you wish you knew more about?  Are there areas you would like to stay away from?
2. What are your thoughts on the producer control clash with fans’ desires to gain knowledge? 
3. Should fans be able to learn as much as they want?  Are their dangers in getting everything you want?  (Is an integral part of being a fan is always wanting more?)
4. We’ve spoken a lot in class about the difference between masculine and feminine fandom.  Can these differences be related to a fan’s desire to seek out spoilers or inside information compared to fans that prefer to wait to be surprised by the show and interact more via fan fiction?