Letters to the Editor
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Thanks for letting everyone know the 'depth' of your emotions.
"The Sopranos" and the Harry Potter books don't even belong in the same sentence. But still, you chose the term "intimate companions" to describe a series of books and a TV show. So, here's hoping maybe soon you'll get a life.
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The End of the Affair
Great article. Maybe the previous poster should try to be less cynical and try to have an emotion once in a while.
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Snape is good?
wait, how do you know? Is this a spoiler?
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Arwasio
My intimate companions are people. They get the full range of my emotions. I enjoy books and TV, I just don't mistake them for "intimate companions."
Good luck with your emotions and your intimate companions, though. I hope you don't get a paper cut.
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JennyCox
Snape is Judas: the guy who had to do what he did to allow the prophecy to happen as written. He's not happy about his role in history, but knows his place in the big picture.
HP is just one more take on the Jesus story. Good v. evil, god v. satan. HP will die but be 'reborn' just like JC. Please don't say you didn't see any of this coming...or second coming, as the case may be. ;-)
There, I just saved you 700+ pages.
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Dear "He who must not be named",
It's like my grandma used to tell me, "Everybody loves a wiseass."
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Salon Bends the Time-Space Continuum!!
Here I am in my office, at my desk on a Friday evening, and yet....it's actually SATURDAY!!
What mighty, mighty powers Salon wields, hopefully for all that is good.
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For those who want the ride to never end...
The concept that there has to be an end to everything is depressing, especially to Americans. Many TV series that were good were run to death in an effort to prevent an end - or maybe recover the joy of discovering how good they were. The smart shows like Mary Tyler Moore and The Prisoner knew when to call it quits.
That said, I don't think it can be the end for these characters who have become mythic. I can't speak for Tony Soprano; since the Reagan administration I have never warmed to vindictive criminals. But even if Rowling ends up burying Harry Potter in an unmarked grave in the Hogsmeade cemetary, he will continue. He will be the template for many imitators, and the starting point for a few authors that will take characters very similar to Potter in new directions.
And that is the point of the end times. For a myth to live, it has to reach a conclusion. Without that, it's just another run-on sentence.
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Nice Article
Thanks Rebecca.
I enjoyed this article.
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Good stuff..but com'n...
Both the Sopranos and Harry Potter are very good, or excellent given the current state of TV and pop literature/feature films but I also have to question the big, mushy good bye.
If anything HP and TS stuck around too long and probably for commerce more then anything else. Nothing wrong with that and if people enjoy either, great...but if you want to talk love, art, legacy and all that crap, sometimes it's better to leave sooner then later.
Sometimes the best things in life are fleeting, transitional, temporary...like art, a meal, relationships but perhaps not in the on-demand/instant message/all-you-can eat gluttony of American life where we want it all, now and forever. Or is that the point. Oh well.
I don't know who said, "always leave them wanting more" but they had a point. Both HP and TS should have done 3 or 4 iterations and be done with it. Want proof on this theory? Looks at Star Wars...'nuff said.
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An Unmade Man
I for one can't wait for THE SOPRANOS to end. David Chase did such a great job of creating these utterly loathesome characters, I just want them out of my life forever. As an existential comedy THE SOPRANOS can't be beat, but no matter what happens, I won't shed a tear. Now THE WIRE, that's a different story.
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Shared Experience
"But still, how often will we turn our televisions on at the same moment (let alone crack the spines of millions of copies of the same book at midnight) for any reason except to watch tragedies of 9/11 proportions unfold? We long for this kind of shared experience, the being a part of something."
Reading this article was one long “Aha!” moment for me. I’ve always felt a little abashed by my appetite for disaster news, a` la` Katrina and 911. And Star Wars and Harry Potter have always drawn me in. I never put that attraction together with that notion of “shared experience”—that I could strike up or follow conversations with friends and strangers and follow stories in the media as part of a group experiencing something in “real time.” Following that same line of thought, I start to understand the attraction of celebrity news and TV sports—it’s a bond; it’s a current narrative that large groups of people can share in an increasingly splintered world. Thank you, Rebecca Traister!
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I have trouble watching that show
When I was in college I worked briefly in this cheesy bar. One day the boss screamed at someone on the other end of the phone, called him every synonym for moron, then slammed the receiver down and turned to his staff.
"Now you guys, I want you all to know -- if you ever shoot someone in the head, shoot him six or seven times. You're not going to get any extra time for those extra bullets."
The next day it was all over the news that some guy was found locked in the trunk of an abandoned car with a bullet in his head. He lived and my bosses friends all went to prison.
It's really astounding that people like this exist but it's not as entertaining as you'd imagine when you meet them in real life.
I watch The Sopranos now and again but it's hard to keep pretending it's all pretend.
I'm kind of glad to see it go. I hope Tony gets what he deserves.
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Rebecca Traister writes about "gender politics?"
Just read John Friedman's Media Web article, "How Traister Works the Gender Beat."
Hmm...I guess "gender politics" don't apply to one's "intimate companions" - strange that these 2 dominant storylines both center on male characters and involve "bad guys" - Harry Potter fights bad guy Voldemort et al. and Tony Soprano - well, he IS the bad guy.
Are the Sopranos "just like us?" - no, they're not "just like us" - they're just like the families of the people who dream up $35 "overdraft protection" fees for debit card users, allowing debit card users to rack up one fee after another - yes, commentators have observed that the banks (and credit card companies) get "better rates than the Sopranos!"
The Sopranos are just like the families of the people who think charging ER visits at a higher rate to the uninsured is a good business practice - rather than having less expensive clinics staffed by nurse practicioners available 24 hours a day. And what about all those families of people who thought Biggie Fries and Biggie drinks were a good idea, or advertising junk food to children? All those people have families, and probably pretty nice homes and cars.
But, I digress - back to Traister's "gender obliviousness" when it comes to "IC" (Intimate Companions) Potter and Soprano. I read some great commentary by bell hooks on Harry Potter - wow, a critique of Potter from the point of view of gender and race AND class! Wow!
I have enjoyed both the Sopranos and Harry Potter. But critically...as a writer myself...with my main characters women...I have to wonder, if deep down inside, if there aren't a whole lot of women walking around with the deep seated belief that women are just LESS INTERESTING than men - I mean, groups of women, like you have a group of mafia men in Sopranos or a group of boys (with a girl here or there) in Potter. Or like the writers at Salon...not just a Carmela here and there.
I hope that very soon a story centered on a group of women NOT solely interested in fashion and getting a man (or men) as in Sex and the City...that oh-so-dated Marlo Thomas "That Girl" story updated and rehashed for a whole new generation of the feministically challenged...will be as culturally resonant as Potter and the Sopranos...a new heavy metal calypso punk string quartet soap opera: The Potter Sopranos.
I will end my rambling comments with the observation: It's possible to combine analysis and appreciation in a single article. But maybe that would be too "male" for the female writers at Salon?????
I wonder if I can find an article exploring the gender dynamics at Salon.com on the Net - just seems like something very weird here at salon...anybody know of such articles?