Gandolfini’s death prompts rampant fat-shaming

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:30:00 +0000

After James Gandolfini's death was reported yesterday, celebrities and fans took to Twitter to express their condolences. Surprisingly, given Twitter's reputation as a bastion of clear-eyed reason and empathy, some people took to Twitter to behave like obnoxious, condescending buttheads.

Some people used Gandolfini's passing as an opportunity to try out fledgling stand-up material, cracking wise about the infamous "Sopranos" finale, in which Tony Soprano orders a side of onion rings before the screen fades to black:

RIP James Gandolfini cause of heart attack maybe onion rings for the table wasn't best choice

— Jim Stevenson (@jimanardo) June 20, 2013

Who knew the biggest threat to James Gandolfini in the Sopranos finale was the onion rings? http://t.co/XGtaopxbPD #rip #jamesgandolfini — Proper Bitch (@aproperbitch) June 20, 2013

James Gandolfini, gone too soon

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:58:00 +0000

‘The Sopranos” changed television forever, alerting everyone with eyes to what the medium, so often thought of as the movies' cheeseball little brother, could do. But if David Chase was the mastermind, James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack tonight at 51, was the executor, the guy who took the challenging idea of making a show about a morally corrupt character, and made it seem like common sense. Since his performance, creating a show around a character sort of like Tony Soprano has been the ambition of nearly every person trying to make serious television.

There have been great performances on TV since Gandolfini’s mafioso king Tony, but none have been as powerful or as original: It's a performance so good it’s almost impossible to exaggerate its greatness. Gandolfini created from scratch an entire, now bedrock-seeming archetype, the character who, through the skill of his portrayer, is simultaneously charismatic and menacing, threatening and charming, winning and terrifying. His Tony was scary and pained, hulking and sometimes shockingly lithe, so brutal but so funny. Playing him, Gandolfini masterfully manipulated audiences' sympathy, held their attention, and kept their interest, sometimes against their better judgment and even, toward the end of the series, against their will. He was like a pickpocket so good you ended up just handing him your wallet, abdicating before his insane skill.

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Gandolfini’s death prompts rampant fat-shaming

James Gandolfini, gone too soon