Letters to the Editor
-
unified traits
Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" contains a discuss of a study done on honesty in children. Essentially, the children were tempted to cheat on tests, then observed. What the researchers found is that there were no honest children, and no dishonest children. There were children who cheated by using the dictionary by not by using crib notes. Children who cheated on time but never by looking up answers. Each child followed a consistent code, but none were truly honest all the time, and none were truly dishonest all the time. Honesty, the researchers concluded, is not a unified trait.
We like unified traits. It's easier to say, "If Clinton would lie about having sex with an intern, he'd lie about things critical to the welfare of the country," than to admit we know nothing, nothing at all, about anyone, until we see that person in a specific set of circumstances.
This article was about Tony, but my favorite morally ambiguous character was Vito. I have a dear friend whose quest to wed his boyfriend was playing out at the same time these episodes aired, which made me that much more sympathetic to Vito. (They are married now, having flown to another country for the ceremony.) Vito was a dear, sweet man, a brave man, a loving father and a guy with a good eye for antiques; and also a lazy fucker who couldn't survive if he had to hold a regular job, someone who would murder a man over a traffic accident. The show refused to take sides, to say that he was one thing or the other. He was all these things, which made him real.
-
Are you kidding with this?
If this is representative of the quality of writing on Salon, then I want my subscription money back.
-
Good job
Since this is representative of the quality of writing on Salon, then we're all better for it.
I wish all TV was worthy of this kind of insightful writing. Nice work, Gary.
-
We? Not all, I think
See, back when it was first starting up and I heard how great the show was, I thought I'd give it a try. But, to me, once you've callously murdered somebody, that's pretty much it. You've earned my contempt, and I'm not much interested in whatever problems you claim to have. Why would I want to watch you kill more people week after week? So it's a commentary of some kind? I don't know; I don't care. There are better things to do with my time.
So it was with the Sopranos for me. The show is wrapping up, and I have no idea why I should care who makes it through to the end. Keep it simple: If the character was a cold-blooded killer, then the world will get along just fine and dandy without them, even if they did have a way of popping up a few minutes later as their old crinkly-eyed self.
-
WhoTF are 'we?'
If I had the emotional energy, I'd despise Tony Soprano as much as I despise George Bush and for the same reasons.
-
I'll take my Sopranos with a supersize side of that other HBO show, please.
I appreciate the point of view in this article. I'm attracted to existential perspectives myself. However, I'm glad I live in a world where we can recognize some essential meaninglessness in even our noblest endeavors, and also strive for ideals, however chimerical, however fractious and fragmented, however often we learn in retrospect that we were on the wrong track. Meaninglessness is ... well, meaningless if taken absolutely. Where we go wrong is not in having or striving for ideals, but in deluding ourselves that any of them are ultimate, unchangeable or, in a word, transcendent.
That's why I only love The Sopranos in a world where there's The Wire, too.
-
That's the end of Godfather II
not the original.
I'm just saying.
-
Tony is scary
During this last season I have come to hate Tony. He learned nothing. He has no insight. None. Nada. Zip. I mean, just a little remorse here and there. I am not asking for sainthood only a touch more sophistication in his character. It is as if nothing in the 20th and 21st centuries rubbed off on the guy.
-
You love Tony but you hate Paris?
Bush is exactly the right man to lead this stupid country.
-
Vats of Acid
Gary Kamiya hit it on the head when he writes "Its shtick is that it is a show about an American family just like ours -- who are also a bunch of coldblooded murderers whom according to even the laxest moral standards we should loathe. And the king of these monsters is, of course, our dear old Tony."
The big parallel to the Sopranos is the show 24, where the hero, Jack Bauer, is also an evil guy. But since he is the hero, he is given (by the writers) a warm human side to make the viewers like him.
The big justification is that these types of shows are reflections of the "real world", and that watching such shows help people to understand the "real world".
But we now know that 24 was not only a reflection of the world but also had very real effects on people's attitudes towards (and enthusiasm for) torture in the "real world". (See The New Yorker article "Whatever It Takes")
There is no such smoking gun with the Sopranos, but here is a story which is, I believe, instructive. I was listening to NPR, and they were interviewing a writer who had written a book about a big time Sicilian mobster. The writer was talking about how in Sicily there was an attitude of grudging
admiration for these mobsters. Because of this public attitude there was not enough political will to really go after them. All that changed when a whole family was murdered by mobsters, the bodies (mom, dad, and child) were found in vats of acid. After this incident the public woke up, and there was the political will to put many of these thugs out of business.
Shows like the Sopranos that act as PR and product placement for evil, are doing evil. The continued huge popularity of the Sopranos and 24 helps explain the huge level of apathy towards the huge level of evil that is being done in our name. It's hard to get too incensed over bribery and corruption when we've got a soft spot for a murderous thug.
Note the Sopranos is also like the Hells' Angels toy runs. And Al Capone gave out food to the poor, kind of like the Supranos giving out entertainment to the masses.