Disability, Gender and Difference on The Sopranos

Abstract

This essay examines the treatment of difference from bodily norms for women on The Sopranos. The author reviews key issues in the representation of people with disabilities, provides an overview of gender and disability issues on the program, and focuses in case-study fashion on how the framing of two female Sopranos characters—one fat woman and one amputee—is consistent with, yet deviates from, conventional strategies for representing bodily difference.

Keywords:

• disability
• gender
• obesity
• amputeeism
• representation of women
• The Sopranos