Friends among strangers: Russians in "The Sopranos" TV series

Osipov Sergey PhD in History Associate professor, Department of History and Culture, Ulyanovsk State Technical University 432000, Russia, g. Ul'yanovsk, ul. Severnyi Venets, 32, of. 317 mail2mee@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The new (or Second) Golden Age of Television, which began in the late 1990s, has significantly changed the landscape of visual media, and unlike the first Golden Age (1950s), the current fundamental changes are not purely North American, but global in nature, initiating global changes in the field of television content in Europe and Asia. Economic, cultural and technical globalization has led to the fact that the breakthrough achievements of HBO or Netflix instantly become available to an audience of millions from different continents, causing controversy not only on the pages of the Washington Post and the New Yorker, but also in The Guardian ^[1], Afisha^[2], The Art of Cinema^[3], on social networks and blogs around the world; as well as influencing the development of media technologies on a global scale.

Back in the early years of the New Golden Age (that is, at the turn of the 1990s/2000s), it was noted that advanced television content did not just set a new standard of quality in the field of visual media, beating the products of Hollywood studios in key parameters (not to mention the products of national terrestrial television (network TV)) In his peak achievements, he assumed the role of the great American novel, drawing wide panoramas of social development, raising topical issues of our time and painful issues of the past, that is, he became (suddenly!) that basic and respectable form of American culture from which the nation learns the ugly truth about itself. Norman Mailer used this expression (the great American novel) in relation to the TV series "The Sopranos," and over the next 10-20 years, this analogy not only settled, but even became a commonplace in a sense. J. K. Oates stated in 2013: "Walter White (protagonist of the series Breaking Bad – S.O.) becomes part of the pantheon of American mythological types: St. John's Wort, Ahab, Huck Finn, The Virginian, Gatsby, Scarlett O'Hara, Willy Loman"^[4]. But much earlier than Walter White, Anthony "Tony" Soprano, the main character of The Sopranos (1999 - 2007), a television series created by David Chase for HBO, broke into this pantheon.

"Created by David Chase" is a mandatory clarification, since the analogy with the novel arose not only because all the major TV series of the New Golden Age (The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Lost, Weeds, etc.) used a horizontal narrative scheme, but also due to the fundamentally changed role of the author in the television industry. Traditional American television produced primarily a commercial entertainment product for its audience, respectively, the "author" of the series was a producer / showrunner who shuffled scriptwriters, directors and actors with the sole purpose of maintaining high ratings. In modern TV series, the title "Created by ...." stands for a completely different meaning; the showrunner is still a producer with imminent financial responsibility, ratings issues are also not removed from the agenda, but the showrunner also becomes the author of the series in the creative sense of the word: he develops the concept, heads the script team, directs key episodes and Aaron Sorkin wrote the scripts for 85 of the first 88 episodes of The West Wing, Matthew Weiner wrote 71 of the 92 episodes of Mad Men, and David Chase wrote 30 of the 86 episodes of The Sopranos. Weiner, Chase and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) also directed key episodes of their series, clearly acting as auteurs, as the figures of the French "new wave" called themselves, causing burning envy among American film directors crushed by the studio system of the 1960s.

Like any postmodern narrative, The Sopranos is layered, and only one of the semantic levels can be attributed to a gangster drama, a kind of adventure genre involving an action-packed entertainment spectacle. But, as numerous researchers have noted ^[5-10], "The Sopranos" is not just a gangster drama (although in this category it is a groundbreaking work that presents life in the mafia not as a chain of vivid conflicts with the inevitable spectacular violence, but as an exhausting daily job); it is also a story about the midlife crisis, about the degradation of American values (including the nuclear family), the decline of masculinity, and – perhaps most of all – American immigration as a series of rolling human waves shaping the nation. In the 25 years since the premiere of the series, researchers have subjected the series to a comprehensive analysis both in the context of the general development of visual media in the late 20th century ^[9-10] and in the context of the genesis of genre (gangster) cinema ^{[8, 10]}. The topics of representation of women, sexual minorities, law enforcement agencies, religion, and the "society of psychotherapy" in the series were considered separately ^{[6, 9]}. The body of Russian texts is much more modest, they focus on the role of the series in the overall development of the media format, compositional innovations, translation problems, reflection of the problems of modern psychotherapy, etc. ^[11-15].

Meanwhile, according to Western researchers, the main themes of the series are immigration/integration (primarily of the Italian ethnic group) and the American family. Just as Tony Soprano's family is dysfunctional (with all the obvious financial well-being), so is the notorious American "melting pot": a hundred years after arriving in the promised land, the Sopranos do not feel like "white people" here. America is not a cauldron, but a ladder on which Jews stand above African Americans, and Anglo–Saxons stand above Italians. Chase's characters are aware not only of this gradation, but also of the impermanence of their place in it: from the very first episodes of the series, the hero's longing for a bygone order of things and rejection of change (including in the field of interethnic relations) becomes a constant motive; the threat to the Italian-American community is represented, among other things, by new waves of immigrants, the largest and The most competitive of which is Eastern European, including Russian. This problem is posed in the very first episode of the first season: the Sopranos have competitors in the criminalized waste disposal business – immigrants from Czechoslovakia, the housekeeper in the Soprano family is Polish, the main character's lover is Russian. In parallel with the Italian-American criminal underworld, the Russian criminal underworld successfully exists, with which productive cooperation has been established.

Russian Russian immigrant community, represented by all Russians with their cultural, historical, and other backgrounds, is the main topic of this research in the series "The Sopranos Clan."

Russians in the World of the Sopranos

In a sense, The Sopranos also holds the honor of the founder of the trend (in an adequate and reliable representation of Russian characters in the serial media).: these are not just characters with Slavic surnames and a corresponding accent, they are characters whose behavior and actions are determined by the Soviet / Russian past; they are not just present in the plot space, but their actions (and worldview) influence the fate of the main characters, and significantly (one of the main events of the fourth season is Tony Soprano's departure from the family – is the result of the development of relations with Svetlana Kirilenko and Irina Peltsina, one of the most popular/debated episodes of the series is "Pine Barrens" (3.11, hereafter the first digit means the serial number of the season, the digit after the dot is the serial number of the episode), which centers on the conflict between Christopher Moltisanti and Paulie Galtieri with the Russian bandit Valery. Later, the introduction of a recurring Russian character into the series plot would become a steady trend (Weeds, Sex and The City, Orange is The New Black, etc.), and The Americans (2013-2018) brought this trend to a kind of peak: probably for the first time in the history of American television, the main characters the drama series (and successful both with critics and the public) was not just Russian/Soviet citizens, but illegal Soviet intelligence officers.

Russian Russian actors who moved to the United States at various times, and therefore passed on their personal life experiences to the characters (Oksana Babiy-Lada, Alla Klyuka-Schaeffer), are also distinguished by the Sopranos' desire for an authentic representation of reality, including the Russian immigrant environment that interests us. It is noteworthy that all significant roles of Russian characters were played by Russian-speaking actors who moved to the United States at various times., Vitaly Baganov, and others). The appearance of Soviet film star Elena Solovey in the series (albeit in the minor role of a Polish nurse) also creates a plausible background in the eyes of the viewer of the post-Soviet space.

The series takes place at the turn of the millennium, in the late 1990s/ early 2000s; according to M.K. Booker ^[6], this period is characterized by a general sense of "ending/ finale" as a key element of the American nation's worldview in the late 1990s. One era ends and another begins, still unclear – this mood is not alien to the heroes of the Sopranos, and the change of epochs for gangsters from New Jersey has very specific forms.: Russian Russians are among the most significant Eastern European characters in the series, and Tony and his "family" are clearly aware that he must share his territory with Russian gangsters.^{[6, p.329]}.

Russians (gangsters and others) are present in the Soprano world on two levels. At the macro level, Tony Soprano and his family exist in a multi-ethnic environment: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states with significant Italian, Jewish, Irish, African-American, etc. communities. The specifics of the Soprano criminal business assign a certain functionality to each ethnic group: the Anglo–Saxons represent power in its various manifestations, Jews are lawyers and show business, African Americans are drug trafficking, etc. Russian organized crime is somewhere akin to Italian (there is also a "power wing" there, prostitution is also covered, etc.), but the Russian specifics are smuggling, international relations, crimes in the financial sphere (for example, money laundering), etc.

Soprano and his people are forced to interact with different ethnic groups in one way or another, despite the fact that Tony himself and many of his colleagues are characterized by xenophobia/outright racism (especially manifested against African-Americans). Thus, Russians are one of the elements of the daily life of the characters in the series, they are mentioned in the conversations of the characters and quite obviously form an important part of the world around the Sopranos, even if they do not appear directly in the frame.

At the micro level, the viewer becomes a witness to the long-term and developing relationships of the Italian-American characters of the series with specific characters, immigrants from Russia. We see three long-running story arcs: Tony Soprano and Irina Peltsina (begins in the first season and ends in the fourth), Tony Soprano and Svetlana Kirilenko (seasons three to four), the Italian-American mafia and Russian organized crime represented by Slava, Valery and others (present as a given (mentioned by the characters) reality on the throughout the series, the third season becomes an important part of the plot).

Russians are like other people

Interaction with other cultures begins with their identification, but the everyday racism of the Soprano's environment manifests itself, among other things, in the lack of interest in foreign cultures, which is why, in the view of Paulie, Silvio or Christopher, all Eastern European peoples are mixed into one indistinct crowd of immigrants – whether Poles or Czechs, what's the difference! Christopher mockingly clarifies at the very beginning of the first season: "Czechoslovaks are such a kind of Poles, aren't they?" The Pole Stasius complains to his wife (Soprano's housekeeper) that the English teacher completely mistakes him for a Pakistani. Similarly, all immigrants from the former USSR are automatically classified as "Russians" – that accountant Agron, that Igor Parnasky from the Odessa Lemon company.

In episode 3.04, Tony Soprano and his sister Janice have a remarkable dialogue.:

- When did you change the locks on the doors?!

- The minute that dyed Ukrainian woman ran out of the house.

"Janice, don't mess with these Russians!

The participants in the dialogue are not at all embarrassed by the fact that the same person (Svetlana Kirilenko) is attributed to different ethnic groups by them. Janice probably assumes that Ukrainians are a kind of Russians, or even considers the ethnic identification of a person lower on the social ladder to be unnecessary labor. It is noteworthy that Western researchers who note the everyday racism of Tony and his entourage sometimes step on the same rake themselves: M. K. Booker defines Irina as a Russian beauty, and in the paragraph below her cousin is called a Ukrainian ^{[6, p.329]}. M. Saitz calls the same Irina a "Kazakh cutie" ^{[16, p.24]}, becoming even more confused about the peoples of the former USSR. The inattention of the American authors is all the more striking because Irina's biography is spelled out in sufficient detail in the series itself (she was born in Petrozavodsk, lost her parents early and was forced to move to Kazakhstan to live with her uncle, and emigrated to the United States from there) and there is no Ukrainian trace in her biography, as well as the sisters themselves throughout the series identify themselves as Russians. This curiously confirms the prevalence of cultural blindness as a side effect of the American exceptionalism complex – and not only among gangsters from New Jersey.

Another stereotype prescribed by the authors of the series is the burden of long–standing grievances and mutual claims against each other, exported by Eastern Europeans to America. Irina, having been admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt (2.12), ignores the local therapist because he is Romanian (allegedly there is a centuries-old enmity between Romanians and Russians, but since we hear this explanation in Tony's retelling, it is possible that he simply did not understand (and did not try to understand) some Eastern European realities mentioned by Irina) In the same episode, Irina, intoxicated, calls Tony at home, the Soprano housekeeper picks up the phone, and an emotional altercation quickly ensues between two unknown women with mutual references to nationality ("Russian whore!", "Moustachioed Polish peasant woman!"). The authors do not explain this multi-vector ethnic strife in any way, simply suggesting that they take it for granted.

Alcohol consumption (namely vodka) is inherent in all Russian characters: it is in the company of a bottle of vodka that Irina makes reckless phone calls to the Sopranos' house, it is after drinking alcohol together that Svetlana and Tony have spontaneous sex on the couch; in both of his appearances in the series (3.10-3.11) Valery is already drunk in the middle of the day of the day. The rootedness of this drink in the daily life of Russians is emphasized: Svetlana has a bottle of Stolichnaya in her bedroom on her bedside table; when Tony and his wife, Carmela, stand shocked by the sudden death of Tony's mother, Livia, a bottle of vodka and three glasses very naturally appear in Svetlana's hands, followed by a heartfelt "Goodbye, Livushka!" (the phrase that became the title of the 3.2 series).

Svetlana smokes cigarettes incessantly (which looks like an extremely old-fashioned way to calm her nerves in America in the late 1990s), and in general, the wellness practices of the modern United States do not inspire confidence in Russians: Tony, for all his conservatism, is forced to go to a psychoanalyst, while Irina has a panic attack at the prospect of seeing a therapist (the motives for the panic are somewhat unclear: where did The girls, born around 1975-76, have painful memories of punitive Soviet psychiatry, and what the emphatically pronounced "Political rehabilitation!" should explain about this remains unclear neither to Tony nor to the Russian audience). Svetlana, in turn, explains the problems of the so-called "society of psychotherapy" to Tony in a more motivated way: "And that's the problem with you Americans. You don't even think that something bad could happen to you.… You have everything, and you're still complaining about life, lying on the couch and whining to your therapists. You think too much about yourself." (4.10). Tony does not particularly object and even retells Svetlana's diagnosis to her therapist, who is also ready to agree, probably reflecting the critical point of view of the authors of the series on the American "society of psychotherapy".

A more interesting trait attributed to the Russian characters by the authors of the series is a predilection for print and books; while for most Italian–American characters in the series, the main media are TV and movies. Meadow, the first female university student in the Soprano family, is only interested in books, and even more so because of her studies. In a remarkable dinner scene between the Soprano family and Meadow's classmates (4.12), we are talking about Melville's novel "Billy Budd", for which the younger Soprano, Anthony, received a C. During the conversation, it turns out that Anthony has not read the book, Carmela once saw the movie of the same name, and Tony does not even try to pretend that he understands what is being discussed. Later, Carmela, on the advice of her lover, tries to read Flaubert's Madame Bovary and complains that nothing is happening in the book and that it is too difficult for her. Meanwhile, Svetlana is seen surrounded by books while working on creating a website; before going to bed, she opens the Russian edition of Daniela Steele's novel, her cousin Irina picks up the book (for which she is ridiculed by Tony Soprano), we see the book in the hands of Slavin's daughter Ilana. Russian Russian gangster Valery's apartment is filled with books, and even Branca (a Polish woman in the story, played by Elena Solovey) is enthusiastically reading the Russian newspaper In the New World (4.11). The saturation of the space around the Russian characters with books is a deliberate move by the authors of the series ^[17], who bought the entire range of Russian–language equipment for the decorations of Valery's apartment. the Liberty publishing house, that is, more than a hundred books. Thus, a specific atmosphere is created around the character, suggesting a conflict between the landlord of the apartment, Valery, and his guests, Paulie and Christopher; the conflict at first glance is absolutely meaningless, but if we recall Paulie's repeatedly declared domestic racism/ impulsivity / irresponsibility, then this intercultural interaction could hardly have ended any other way.

In general, the emphasized bookishness of Russian characters, as opposed to the television/ entertainment and sports preferences of Americans, can, in our opinion, be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, for immigrants who find themselves in an alien cultural and linguistic environment, text is a way to keep in touch with their national culture, in this case, Russian. This is quite consistent with the worldview of Tony Soprano himself, whose desire to preserve Italian identity sometimes reaches outright racism (while he does not read Italian, his cultural connection with his historical homeland is much thinner than that of Russians). Secondly, the archaism of printed text in the era of electronic media and the Internet makes Russians somewhat archaic people in the middle of America at the end of the second millennium. But then again, Tony Soprano himself persistently chooses the past between the present and the past, nostalgic for bygone times with their simple rules. Russian Russian gangsters and, to a certain extent, Russian women are likely to be helped by these circumstances to establish generally mutually respectful relationships with them. Tony does not want to melt his Italian identity into the pan–American cauldron and respects the similar position of the Russians; at the other end of the spectrum is a tragicomic Polish couple, Soprano housekeeper and her husband, who are rapidly preparing for the exam for obtaining American citizenship. Repeating the answers to the exam questions, Stasius joylessly pronounces expressions and names that mean absolutely nothing to him. Some time later, his patience breaks down, and he remembers aloud that he was a research engineer in Lodz who received government grants. But no one listens to Stasius.

Irina Peltsina as complex goomar

The three aforementioned story arcs reflect the cross–cutting themes of the entire series - Tony and women, Tony and longing for the lost values of the past. Irina Peltsina plays the role of Tony's mistress in the first two seasons, she is a spectacular young woman who depends on Tony not only emotionally, but also financially (the situation of an immigrant, the girl works as a sales consultant in a shopping mall). It is quite clear that this is not the first and not the last lover of Tony, the presence of such a woman in a man of his position is even provided for in some way, there is a special term: "goomar". Having broken up with Irina without much regret at the end of the second season and rejected her once again at the beginning of the third, Tony experiences a sudden attack of jealousy in the middle of the fourth season after seeing Irina as his business partner Zellman's lover, and beats the latter in Irina's presence; a plot twist that speaks not only about Tony's suddenly awakened feelings (literally about the romantic ballad I heard on the radio in the car), but also about the instinct of ownership, which cannot see its own, even if unnecessary, thing in the hands of another.

In general, the relationship between Svetlana and Tony in the first and second seasons resembles an emotional swing, regularly reaching violent quarrels and insults; but this is again an argument in favor of a common thesis that develops throughout the series: emotionally unstable Tony repeatedly starts relationships with equally unstable women, and the devastating consequences for the participants of these relationships are laid at the very beginning. So, Irina tries to commit suicide, later Tony's novels with Gloria Trillo and Valentina La Paz end no less dramatically.

Svetlana's Russian origin in the general outline of this character does not seem to matter in principle: we see Tony's penchant for certain exoticism in non-matrimonial relationships, that is, Irina could be any attractive and emotionally unstable non-Italian woman; however, when Tony meets Irina again in the fourth season and sees – not without surprise – that after the breakup of the relationship, she did not disappear, but on the contrary, enrolled in a community college, improved her English and continues to climb the social ladder (including becoming the mistress of a city councilman Zellman), she experiences mixed feelings of jealousy and annoyance, which she takes out on Zellman (4.7). Irina is completely confused by this turn of events and does not know whether to rejoice at the demonstration of her former lover's feelings or comfort the humiliated current one. Leaving, Tony, who cannot bear to see his former lover in a happy relationship with another man, throws Zellman a bitter and not entirely sincere rebuke: "Of all the chicks in all of New Jersey, you decided to fuck this one!". This outburst of Tony Soprano's anger will have far–reaching (and completely unintended by the hero) consequences: the relationship between Zellman and Irina is spoiled, but some time later she implements quite proportional revenge, destroying the relationship between Tony and Carmela.

In this particular case, Irina refuses to be a victim, although in general she implements the standard behavior model of a young woman without education and means, climbing the social ladder with the help of lovers / sponsors and rushing to use the time allowed by nature. Booker cites Irina's image as an example of a clear step forward made by The Sopranos in the representation of women in gangster cinema ^{[6, p.280]}: with her generally subordinate role of "goomar," Irina is much more difficult to be dominated by men than the traditional female companions of the mafia in genre cinema/TV, she regularly confronts Tony (including promoting her goal of getting a divorce from Carmela); having been "retired" by Tony, she does not accept defeat and repeatedly tries to return it in the third season. In the fourth, she makes the aforementioned social advancement, but when this success is offset by Tony's escapade, Irina takes revenge and deals an almost fatal blow to Tony and Carmela's marriage.

Svetlana Kirilenko as an uncomfortable strong silent type

Her cousin Svetlana Kirilenko adheres to a completely different life strategy, whose disability (the loss of a leg in childhood) significantly reduced the sexual/matrimonial attractiveness of a young woman, but eventually formed fighting qualities and the ability to achieve goals without becoming dependent on patrons / lovers. Svetlana becomes a regular character at the beginning of the third season and continues to play an important role in the Sopranos' life until the end of the fourth. In general, we can say that this is one of the most original and striking female characters in the series; this is realized both by Tony himself and by the viewer, who witnesses Tony's completely unusual attachment to a Russian one-legged immigrant. It is from communication with Svetlana that Tony draws some generalizing conclusions about the Russian national character, moreover, Svetlana's observations about the American national character offend Tony so much that he repeats them to his psychoanalyst. Svetlana is a bright and original character, it is noteworthy that M. K. Booker in his voluminous work does not devote a single line to her in the chapter "Sopranos and women". This is probably due to the classification proposed by the American author ^{[6, p. 280]}; women in the Tony Soprano world are divided into three categories: the highest (wives), the middle (mistresses) and the lowest (dancers, prostitutes, etc.). Svetlana does not belong to any of the three listed categories and falls out of Booker's research, but according to the storyline, she and Tony Soprano have a pretty interesting and developing relationship.

In the first season, Svetlana exists on the far periphery of the plot, Irina mentions her: unsuccessfully trying to lead Tony to the idea of a divorce from Carmela, she sets him an example of Svetlana's fiance Bill, who is clearly going to formalize a relationship, despite the young woman's disability. Actually, Svetlana appears in the flesh at the end of the second season (2.11), it is she who discovers Irina after a suicide attempt, takes care of her sister in the hospital and, with her usual practicality, recommends taking the money offered by Tony and thereby ending a painful and hopeless relationship.

Later, when the Soprano family has a problem looking after Tony's elderly mother, Livia, the evil antiheroine of the first seasons, who gradually falls into dementia, it is Svetlana who becomes her patient and sympathetic nurse (3.2). She finds a common language with an elderly woman, it is Svetlana who calls the Soprano house with a message about her mother's death, which is reflected even in the title of the series ("Goodbye, Livushka!"). Shocked, Tony and Carmela drink vodka in Russian fashion, without clinking glasses, to commemorate the soul of the deceased, and it is obvious that Svetlana has impressed both Tony and Carmela with her ability to empathize with even strangers, including Livia, whose death Tony welcomes with obvious relief.

Livia's death becomes the catalyst for a conflict between Svetlana and Tony's sister, Janice, who intends to move into the vacated house and take over the entire inheritance of Libya. Svetlana insists that the collection of old vinyl records was bequeathed to her. Janice quickly crosses all boundaries of decency: she puts sleeping pills in Svetlana's mouth and steals an expensive prosthetic leg from her room at night in order to force Svetlana to give up the collection (3.3). Here, for the first and last time, we see Svetlana lose her temper, she turns into a Russian mat in a rage, but only alone with herself. In the presence of other people, she restrains herself and even calms down her American fiance, who is outraged by Janice's escapade.

It is characteristic that Svetlana does not seek help from Tony (this puts her on a par with another strong woman of a different social and professional status, psychotherapist Dr. Jennifer Malfi). Tony learns about the incident from Irina, whom Svetlana asked to deliver to her an old prosthesis, brought back from Russia at the time. Embroiled in this conflict, Tony is forced to compare two women – his own sister and an unfamiliar Russian – and their claims to each other; if Janice insincerely appeals to the sentimental value of the plates, then Svetlana bluntly announces the cost of the missing prosthesis, which sounds much clearer to Tony, a businessman. Tony warns his sister: "Don't mess with these Russians, Janice!", but she is under the complete illusion of her own rightness and impunity. Svetlana doesn't waste words, and some time later two Russians (we don't know their relationship with Svetlana) break into Janice's house and threaten to force her to give up the prosthesis (3.4). Shocked and beaten, Janice ends up in the hospital (exaggerating the extent of her injuries), where she is visited by an enraged Tony, who now we need to react to the beating of our sister somehow and at the same time not provoke a conflict with the Russian mafia. Starting to search for his sister's abuser, Tony emphasizes that this should not concern Svetlana; thus, he indirectly recognizes her rightness in this conflict.

In the fourth season, Svetlana already acts as a businesswoman ("delightfully confident and straightforward" ^{[10, p.322]}, she has her own company providing home-based services for nurses, nurses, etc. The planned marriage with Bill in the first seasons is postponed, but Svetlana is not particularly worried about this, she is used to relying only on herself. Tony, who needs a nurse for his uncle, Corrado Soprano, turns to Svetlana's services as a businesswoman who provides services.

Nine episodes later (4.10, "The Strong, Taciturn Type"), Tony and Svetlana's relationship moves to a new level: once again disappointed with his family and colleagues (Christopher's extremely hectic sending to a rehabilitation center addicted to heroin), Tony watches Svetlana with increasing sympathy. This young Russian woman is taciturn, competent, and she doesn't complain about life (unlike many of Tony's relatives), although there would seem to be enough reasons. Tony respectfully observes how Svetlana, surrounded by books, makes her company's website, while demonstrating indisputable business logic: "Well, I can't pay someone 35 dollars an hour for this job." Tony tries to compliment Svetlana: "You Russians are jack-of-all-trades. You come here and plow in, be healthy." Svetlana doesn't see anything special in this: "People are people." Tony elaborates on his praises: "Well, you have every reason not to let go of the bottle." "There are worse things," comes the reply. After the clumsy compliments made earlier, Tony now tries to clumsily sympathize with the hostess, but the result is unchanged: Svetlana does not need sympathy and reacts very sarcastically to Tony's verbal balancing act.

"You don't like to talk much, do you?" I wish I knew your secret: I lost my leg, but I started making websites.…

- The whole point of life for people like me is to inspire people like you.

Soon, Svetlana's sarcasm is transferred from a particular man to all Americans, and Tony – which rarely happens to him – listens meekly to the harsh criticism in his eyes.

- That's the trouble with you Americans, you don't expect anything bad from life when the rest of the world is just waiting for the bad. And life never disappoints them.… You have everything, and you keep complaining... lying on the couch and whining to your psychiatrists. You think too much about yourself.

Tony would have objected to what he heard if it had been said by anyone else: his wife, a psychiatrist, etc. But Tony is completely fascinated by Svetlana, he's found the very strong silent type in her, and he's not arguing.:

"He looks just like me."

For his part, Tony compares Svetlana with Greta Garbo, this is an understandable association from the world of cinema: a mysteriously smiling, taciturn foreigner, moreover, Garbo successfully played a Soviet woman who found personal happiness in America ("Ninochka", 1939). Svetlana continues to surprise Tony further: after intimacy, Tony assumes, as a matter of course, that this relationship will continue (while seeing a clear misalliance in the relationship, where he is the superior party in all respects). However, Svetlana shows no interest in continuing.:

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"...are you kidding me?!"

Tony, who is seething, is forced to fall silent at the sudden appearance of nurse Branca, but his rage is absolutely sincere: "being rejected by a woman is a completely new sensation for him, and it is an unpleasant sensation" ^{[10, p. 301]}. He tries to fix the situation with proven methods and sends Svetlana a diamond brooch, but this does not change anything. Tony's ego has been dealt a crushing blow, and he is trying – in his own way - to deal with the unusual emotional state of a rejected lover. At the next appointment with a psychiatrist (4.11), he imagines the opposite: as if he himself had abandoned Svetlana ("Broke a woman's heart. I said I couldn't see her anymore. It's sad, but nothing good came of it"), but his overwhelming emotions are too strong, simple pretense (nothing happened) is not enough, you need to find the culprit, and Tony decides to make Malfi's therapist guilty, because she couldn't solve Tony's psychological problems, and now Svetlana has abandoned him because of this. "And this is a woman who hobbles half the day on crutches!"

Svetlana can't get out of Tony's head, he remembers her words about Americans and retells them to Melfi, and then decides to stop psychotherapy altogether. For several years, despite the variety of problems in his difficult life, Tony kept hoping that these sessions made sense. Breaking up with Svetlana kills this hope in him, he does not believe in the ability of psychotherapists to make him a better person worthy of Svetlana. The irrational (from Tony's point of view) development of events in the relationship between these two people turns Svetlana into some kind of natural force, which Tony runs into, having no idea about the properties of this force and the possible consequences of this collision. And the consequences are not over yet.

Branca, who found Svetlana and Tony, shares the news with Irina; Irina's relationship with Zellman was upset after the events of episode 4.7 (Tony beat Zellman in a fit of jealousy), she once again loses a man who had certain matrimonial hopes, and takes revenge on Tony Soprano for everything at once: she calls Carmela and informs about Tony's affair and Svetlana. If Tony's breakup with Svetlana is the last straw and a reason to break up with prolonged psychotherapy, then Carmela is no longer able to bear Tony's infidelity and demands his departure from home. Throughout the years of marriage, Carmela was aware of his numerous "goomars" and other extramarital affairs, but Svetlana becomes the last straw. Carmela probably feels not just like a deceived wife (she is used to this feeling), but also a devoted trusted person (Svetlana).: Livia's death, her funeral, established a relationship of trust with Svetlana, now all this is broken, and if, as it turned out, you can't even trust Svetlana, then you can't trust anyone.

Tony is still unable to get rid of his love obsession in this whole dramatic situation and is looking for emotional support from Svetlana, but she is more willing to sympathize with his children ("Divorce is always hard for children. They don't trust anyone afterwards. I'm a child of divorce myself.") Tony does not hear what is being explained to him (it's about him, it's about a lack of faith in people formed since childhood), he is offended – he was not invited into the house, they are talking to him on the porch. "Do you have ice in your veins?!" Svetlana squeezes his hand in hers, and this parting squeeze is the maximum sympathy Tony will receive from her. "The most expensive sex I've ever had," he jokes sadly, but when Carmela later asks directly, "What does she have that I don't?!", Tony is no longer joking, he awkwardly and emotionally defends Carmela and Svetlana, and his choice (4.13):

- I can talk to her because she has something to say!

"I'm standing here in front of you!" I have something to say too!

- Something besides "Move the chairs" and "Did you sign the insurance"?! She was an adult woman and had seen a lot, and she had no one to rely on, and she had to fight, fight!

In episode 3.11, Melfi's therapist points out to Tony an alarming symptom – all his mistresses fall under a common profile (depressive personality, emotional instability, inability to enjoy life), but Svetlana does not match this profile at all, she is rational, self-sufficient, restrained, she does not whine or pester Tony with requests (like Carmela, Janice, or Meadow). This uniqueness naturally attracts Tony, but exactly the same self-sufficiency and rationality make Svetlana push Tony away.

Valery as an indestructible natural force

Finally, the third Russian character in the series: Russian organized crime, which Tony and his other Italian-American colleagues have to interact with. In the first two seasons, the Russian mafia exists on the far periphery of the plot as one of the many elements surrounding the Sopranos reality. Russian Russian bandits are used by Corrado, Russian prostitutes are used by Christopher, and Tony mentions a scheme to transport stolen premium cars to St. Petersburg. It is obvious that there are well-established business relations between the two ethnic communities (and there is not even a hint of something similar in relation to the African-American, Latin American, or even Irish criminal milieu in the series).

Russian Russian organized crime begins in episode 3.4, when two Russians break into Janice's house and force her to hand over Svetlana's prosthetic leg. Tony now needs to react to his sister's beating somehow and at the same time not provoke a conflict with the Russians. He regularly puts off this delicate matter for later and decides to act before Christmas, seeing how his injured hand prevents his sister from managing in the kitchen. Russians Russian Janice" is on his list of pre-Christmas things to do (as a planned gift), but perhaps more important is the need to pay a business visit to one of the Russian gangsters, Slava Malevsky. Just like Tony's office is located in the back room of the Bada Bing club, Slava's office is located in the back room of the establishment with the Russian sign "Cabaret". Tony gives Slava a quarter of a million dollars in cash, and Slava promises that they will go to Russia in laptop boxes and then be legalized in Tony's offshore account. Judging by Slava's remark ("Galina liked escalante"), there is even more than just business cooperation between the two gangsters, although there is no question of family friendship. Tony asks for help in finding Janice's abusers, and Slava enthusiastically agrees, even volunteering to deal with these people himself, but Tony asks to leave the punishment to him. Glory lives up to Tony's expectations, taxi driver Igor is found and sent to the hospital with fractures, which Tony counts in his notebook as a Christmas gift to his sister.

When Tony brings the money to the Cabaret, he passes by Valery, a Russian gangster who has already drunk a lot (despite the time of day). It is not entirely clear what role Valery plays in Cabaret, but he is clearly below Fame on the hierarchical ladder. In the next episode (3.11), Valery will become the central character, and the episode with his participation will be one of the most popular and discussed in the history of the series. The innovation of the episode's authors lies, among other things, in the gradual genre transformation of the gangster drama into a comedy of the absurd (which caused comparisons of Pine Barrens with Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" and even with Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" ^{[6, p.167-168]}.

Tony Soprano instructs one of the gangsters, Paulie Galtieri, to visit Valery and collect a debt from him; Paulie, with obvious reluctance, goes to fulfill his assignment, taking with him Tony's nephew, a young gangster Christopher, for whom Paulie tries to act as an omniscient mentor. As already noted, the Sopranos' environment is subject to a variety of racial stereotypes and prejudices, and Paulie in this episode acts as an offhand Russophobe (although it's not about Russians themselves, but about Paulie's general attitude towards immigrants). Already at the stage of a phone conversation with Tony, Paulie asks a completely xenophobic question:

- I do not even know why we are dealing with these people at all?!

The more pragmatic Tony, who recently laundered a quarter of a million through the Russians and is not going to stop there, knows the answer to the question and sends Paulie to do business. Paulie probably continued to make Russophobic remarks along the way, because we witness an ongoing conversation between Christopher and Paulie, in which Christopher reasonably objects.:

- Russians… Well, not all of them are bad.

However, Paulie won't let up.:

- What about the Caribbean crisis?! Those bastards brought nuclear-tipped missiles to Cuba and aimed them right at us!

It is noteworthy that this is almost the only reference to the realities of the Cold War in the Russian context of the series. The memory of the Cold War plays a completely different role in The Simpsons series, a kind of unprecedented study of American mass consciousness in terms of duration and breadth: "... the Cold War (and the attitude it formed towards the USSR/Russia) It became a fundamental stone in the worldview of the elder Simpsons; anti-Communism and anti-Sovietism, transferred in subsequent years (contrary to all logic) to the new Russia, turned out to be akin to a drug that had been taken for forty years and was not excreted from the body" ^[18]. One can also recall Tony's hasty "communist creature" addressed to Irina (where "communist" is synonymous with the word "Russian", because Irina, of course, has nothing to do with communist ideology). This synonymy is also characteristic of the characters in The Simpsons: "An ineradicable vestige of the Cold War is the association of Russia with communism, despite the fact that this era ended in the late 1980s" ^[18]). However, for Paulie, these are not momentary emotions, but a firmly memorized position, and this distinguishes him from the rest of the characters in the series, for example, from Christopher Moltisanti, who reacts extremely amusingly to memories of 1962. :

"So it was real?" I saw a movie about it, but I thought it was just fiction.…

A little later, we will find out where Paulie got such a firm prejudice against Russians: his four-year military service is mentioned, where the corresponding ideological pumping, of course, took place and was not in vain. With this attitude, Paulie knocks on Valeria's door and then voices all the Russophobic and anti-immigrant offensive stereotypes that are possible.

"Who's there?" Valery asks.

"The KGB! Open it," follows the reply. Then Paulie assumes that 30 more people live with Valery in the apartment, that he is trying to repay the debt in rubles, and that Valery did not know toilet paper before coming to the States. However, this verbal aggression runs into Valery's indifferent calmness, and the presence of expensive television and radio equipment in the apartment (which Paulie obviously does not have), racks of CDs, and expensive and varied alcohol further irritate Paulie. We have already noted the intercultural conflict embedded by the authors in the decorations of Valery's apartment: books on the shelves, framed posters on the walls, newspapers and magazines on the side table: Valery may be a drunk, but he is a well-read drunk who seriously spends not only on vodka, but on books, reproducing equipment, music and video discs, that is He is interested in art. In this sense, he is much closer in spirit to Christopher than the narcissistic and narrow-minded Paulie, who claims to be a teacher of life. However, Christopher doesn't have time to think about it.

Instead of just taking the money prepared by Valery and leaving, Paulie provokes Valery and starts a fight in which he strangles the Russian with a floor lamp stand. After declaring Valery dead, Paulie unconvincingly tries to justify his actions by Valery's aggressiveness, but Christopher clearly does not agree with this interpretation of events. After wrapping the body in a carpet removed from the wall, the gangsters take it in the trunk of a car to a pine forest to bury it. In the forest, it is discovered that Valery is alive and even partially freed from the tightening tape. However, things have already gone too far, and Paulie and Christopher lead Valery into the depths of the forest at gunpoint, where they hand him a shovel and order him to dig his grave. All this time, Paulie continues to mock the Russian ("The ground is hard here, but you use your Siberian enthusiasm") and claim that Valery is to blame for what happened because he does not know how to keep his mouth shut. At some point, Valery, working with a shovel, switches to Russian.: "I'm going to kill you all here!.... The fucking Americans!" Paulie and Christopher, of course, don't understand him.:

"What's he saying?"

"Who cares?

This intercultural lack of communication turns out to be fatal: Valery hits Christopher with a shovel, then Paulie, and then runs deep into the snow-covered forest. The gangsters give chase, only to realize some time later that they are lost. Valery disappeared into the forest, they can't find their way back to the car, their clothes don't leave them a chance to survive a night in the snowy forest. Bloodied and chilled, they find an old van in the woods with the wheels removed, climb inside and wait out the night, suffering from cold, hunger and a complete lack of understanding how this could happen to them. Two gangsters are wrapped in scraps of a car rug and fiercely arguing over the last mints, gradually losing their human appearance.

Tony, upon learning about what happened, becomes furious: his financial transactions through Fame may now suffer; he takes another batch of cash to the Cabaret and tries to carefully find out if information about Valery's alleged death has leaked to the Russians. Slava does not suspect anything, but on the wall there is a photo of Slava and Valery in military uniform, they are both veterans of the first Chechen war, they are connected by a fighting brotherhood. "I'll do anything for him," Slava says, feeling emotional, and Tony realizes that he may have big problems thanks to Paulie.

Nevertheless, worried not so much for Paulie as for his nephew, Tony comes to the forest in search of an unlucky couple. It turns out that Paulie's car is missing (along with the money taken from Valery), so Paulie and Christopher turned out to be absolute losers. Valery's fate remained unknown: he ran away in his pajamas deep into the forest, and Paulie still wounded him with one shot. However, the body was not found, minor traces of blood in the snow were interrupted, as if the fugitive had disappeared into thin air (or climbed a tree); the disappearance of Paulie's car also speaks in favor of saving Valery, but the formal point in the plot was never put, which gave rise to numerous and long-term speculations among viewers, journalists, etc. D. Chase refused to discuss this topic on principle, pointing out that the series reflects life, and not all life plots are logically and explicitly resolved. The series' authors also neglected the opportunity to enhance the drama of the series by pitting the Russian and Italian mafia in a war following the events at Pine Barrens. More valuable to the authors were the character development of the main characters of the series (Paulie's incompetence, the decline of his authority in Christopher's eyes, Tony's inability to maintain effective management of his people, as well as balancing between work, home and another lover). The main victim of the episode, of course, is Paulie – he not only shamefully failed the boss's assignment, but with his xenophobic behavior he launched a series of events that deprived him of all respect from Christopher, who, inspired by gangster films, is looking for something similar in his environment, but does not find it; more precisely, he did not find it until a peculiar acquaintance with Valery. Valery and the Russian mafia disappear from the series with him, leaving behind a vast field for discussion.

One of the topics for such discussions may be the coincidence/discrepancy of the meanings and associations that the authors put into their media message with what the audience then extracts from the message. The authors of the script explained the snow-covered forest as a place of action with childhood impressions, and the adversities of two gangsters were stylistically linked to the classic American comedies of the 1930s and 1950s. Three Stooges ^[16]. However, in its completed form, the episode evoked more diverse and complex interpretations, we have already mentioned, for example, associations with the plays of Stoppard and Beckett. The indestructible character of Valery, in turn, gave rise to an association so unambiguous that it was put into the words of Paulie, not the most intelligent character in the series. "Some kind of Rasputin," he mutters, hobbling through the snow in one boot. The Russian viewer can easily generate more complex historical associations: strangers invade a Russian's home and seem to defeat him, but this is a kind of false retreat, luring the enemy to a more convenient ground for retaliatory strike. As a result, humiliated and defeated opponents retreat in disgrace, wrapped in tatters of a floor mat: what are not the remnants of Napoleon's army in the winter of 1812 or the Germans near Moscow in the winter of 1941? Tony Soprano, as a fan of World War II TV shows, would have appreciated this parallel if he hadn't been so concerned about possible Fame and money laundering problems.

N. Braccia writes with undisguised delight about "this Russian", starting with the statement – "a very impressive character" – and continuing further: "Christopher is unable to understand that this tall, frozen type, a hellish mixture of wrong decisions and learned survival techniques, is the icon of coolness that he (Christopher – S.O.) always dreamed of becoming. He kills more efficiently, he sticks out better, and he probably has a killer DVD collection.… You get the feeling that the Russians are playing by completely different rules when Tony suggests sending Valery to a rehabilitation clinic, and Slava, immaculately polite, gives him a look as if he suggested Valery dress up in fancy pink and pick up a huge chupa-chups. The recurring themes of the series – American decline and cultural upheavals in the era of globalization – take on a new height when Valery appears in the winter wastelands of South Jersey in front of two mafiosi who suddenly feel like they are in an uninhabited Arctic hell" ^{[7, pp.368-369]}.

Actually, other Russian rules are the very true male laws that Tony Soprano regularly nostalgizes for, when a man is responsible for his own actions, rather than lying down on the couch with a psychoanalyst to eventually find excuses for childhood psychological trauma. Tony sighs about the lost "strong silent type", but when he meets him in the person of Svetlana, he does not like the consequences at all. Christopher is looking for the ideal of a gangster, but when he finds it, he gets hit in the head with a shovel. In the process of searching for an ideal, it may turn out that you do not match this ideal at all; painful disappointment follows and the continuation of the movement in the same vicious circle.

About the sum of stereotypes

So, the presence of Russian characters in the series about the life of an Italian-American family with specific sources of income is due to the authors' desire for a realistic representation of American life at the turn of the millennium; accordingly, the ethnic (as well as religious, gender, etc.) diversity of New Jersey is reflected here. As emphasized by both the creators of the series and its interpreters, "The Sopranos" is a series about immigrants, the difference between whom lies in the degree of assimilation and the length of stay on the North American continent. The issue of preserving national identity is one of the key issues in the series, Tony Soprano's drama is about resisting the inevitable and unwilling to accept it. Exactly the same fate awaits a new wave of immigrants – Russians.

Despite all the innovations (thematic, narrative, cinematic, etc.) of the Sopranos, the authors of the series describe the complex interactions of different ethnic groups using stereotypes, which is again due to the desire for realism: if stereotypes are inherent in real life, then the characters of the series should operate on them. "A stereotype is both the shortest way to understand character and the confirmation of widespread opinions about certain (ethnic) groups" ^{[8, p.191]}. That is, by appealing to a stereotype, the authors save on explanations, textual or plot, simply naming the character's ethnicity and expecting the viewer to independently figure out the motivation for certain actions. "The audience is encouraged to understand their (characters') role and their strengths through ethnic identification" ^{[8, p.190]}. For example, an Italian kills an opponent in a conflict situation, because it is traditionally believed that Italians are hyperemotional and lack self-control. As for Russians, leaving aside superficial stereotypes (vodka, cigarettes, sauna), we come to the conclusion that Russianness Russian Russian characters in The Sopranos are characterized by a traumatic background (the collapse of the USSR, the Chechen War), which has hardened them so much that their opponents inevitably suffer defeat in clashes with Russian immigrants on American soil, no matter how vulnerable the Russian characters may seem at first glance. Paulie and Christopher almost die in their self-initiated confrontation with Valery, Svetlana defends the record collection in front of Janice and does not become Tony's next lover, Irina almost destroys Tony and Carmela's family. Russians surrounded by Sopranos are not just people from another country, they are from another culture and another time; they are, in fact, the "strong, taciturn type" that Tony dreams of and which he finds no resemblance to either in his family or among fellow gangsters. As Braccia noted, only xenophobia and his own stupidity prevent Christopher Moltisanti from considering Valeria as an ideal gangster. Male chauvinism and wounded self–esteem prevent Tony from thinking about the idea that Svetlana Kirilenko is doing exactly the same thing that Tony Soprano, his revered grandfather, did, that is, a representative of the first generation of immigrants - reinventing himself in a foreign land, laying the foundation for the success of the next generations, regardless of gender or disability, not for the traumatic background left in the past, whatever it was. Linguistic and cultural differences and imposed stereotypes condemn one group of immigrants to see another group of immigrants as a collective alien, rather than themselves at an earlier stage of integration.