Letters to the Editor
-
Casuistry
"I'll miss Carm's shrewd emotional casuistry..."
Yeah, that's what I'd miss, too, if I knew what the hell it means. I'll come back and finish your brilliant article after I go look up the word. Or not. Thanks for the interruption.
-
Gary is sad it's not a show about the Israeli mob
That could give him maybe 2 years of screeching columns about the world wide conspiracy.
Hey I'd be the first one to sign up for a Scarface Cable Network. And here's some of the content it would show
Scarface
Carlito's Way
Donnie Brasco
Narc
Goodfellas
Heat
Casino
The Departed
New Jack City
City of God
Blow
But no one ever thinks that any of these fun guys are sympathetic characters. They're entertaining in their direct in your face admission that they're bad guys. This show, which admittedly I've only seen in very small snippets makes them out to be ok people who just happen to work in a field that's a little bit distasteful, like union organizers, white collar criminals and such. But basically nice people with the same problems as you. That would make it comedy, wouldn't it?
-
I think Gary got it exactly backward
We don't love Tony in spite of what he does. (By 'we', of course, I mean 'me' -- Gary, never assume you speak for anyone except yourself.)
We hate him for what he does. Just when you start feeling empathy for Tony, just at the point where you're saying -- "he ain't such a bad guy after all" -- Tony goes off and does something so vile and evil that you're reminded Tony ISN'T like everyone else. He is, in fact, a sociopath who's the head of an amoral criminal organization which exists solely to take advantage of other peoples’ weaknesses. Tony will betray any trust, abuse any relationship no matter how close, if it allows him to satisfy even the most insignificant and momentary appetite.
I've thought one of Chase's greatest triumphs with this series was to totally demystify the Mob and all the myths of Mafia 'honor' -- that whole "we're just businessmen that society's forced into this role" trope that even Coppolla began to believe by GF II.
Instead, Tony and his crew are revealed as emotional and moral cripples, people who couldn't succeed in business or life without resorting to force and deceit. Just because they're entertaining, and at times even charming and vulnerable, doesn't mean they're not monsters.
That's why I believe Tony will end up going state's evidence in the last episode. The man who started the series bemoaning how the mob had lost its traditional values will, end the end, violate the most sacred mob value of all. And why will hedo it? To make things easy on himself -- for exactly the same reason why he lived his life the way he did.
-
Soprano Murders = Fashionable Irony; Hip Hop's Ho's=Dangerous Infecting Sexism, Go Figure!
Let's see, murder a la Sopranos, is, well ironic. A guilty pleasure. How cool. But we are just so outraged when hapless hip hoppers infect society with that awful sexist language like ho's and bitches. But the seductive ease of a Sopranos murder, no problem. Afterall it's just good old lovable Tony isn't it? Funny how irony when selectively applied smooths out those troublesome moral edges. Oh well, as Abba put it "knowing me, knowing you, that's the best I can do."
-
Just go on vacation already
"Are We Rome?" And now this? Just go to Italy already, Gary.
-
The Cuddly Sociopath at Your Breakfast Bar
Kamiya gets the cart before the horse. David Chase's creation is a brainchild of the Clinton era. With no clue as to how to lead, The Bushies appropriated David Chase's scripts as blueprints for government by thuggery. Geroge Bush owes a great debt to Mr. Chase.
-
Ask yourself this . . .
Remember that poor fella in the last episode who crashed his motorcycle and got run over during that fracas outside the Bing? Why do you suppose Chase bothered with such a detail? You see, mob violence has a way of spilling over and bloodying up the rest of us, doesn't it? Did anyone stop and sympathize with this poor fella? He's dead you know. He represents somebody. At one time he may have been an apple-cheeked little boy digging holes in his backyard. Later, in high school he would kiss the girl he secretly pined for for three years. His heart pounded the whole time with the blood of life. He would marry that girl and together they would go on have three gorgeous children. He enjoyed mountain climbing and hiking. He privately gave to charity. Watching his children sleep made him smile, sometimes cry. He's your son, your Dad, your brother, your friend and he's gone, forever . . . Still rooting for Tony?
Penway
-
Gary, next time give us preview the day before you write something like this
And I'll accurately predict the letters that come in. As witnessed by the letters that did come in. I would have predicted every one, of course, being so smart.
You'll have people who say, "What do you mean 'we'? I don't watch TV. I'm far too sophisticated!"
You'll have people who say, "The Sopranos is no where near as good as The Wire, etc."
You'll have people who say, "Well, what do you expect, with the worst president in the history of the world in office?"
You'll have people who tell boring, totally irrelevent personal stories that they think relates to the article.
You'll have people who use the article to show off how smart they are by referencing some obscure book or essay
You'll have people who simply use it as an excuse to make their prediction about the end of the show, which will of course be wrong.
It's all so fun.
-
Well Mr/Mrs Grisscoat
Many people in Salon's letters section have already discussed the motorcycle rider. And his death was not Tony's fault. If you want to blame someone for it, blame Phil's hitmen, who callously pulled out into traffic after shooting Silvio. Do you think Tony wanted that to happen?
And, to a much much much lesser extent, blame the rider himself, for being stupid enough to ride a motorcycle. But I don't want to blame the victim.
-
Would Tony have "whacked" Iraq
"Somebody whacked some of our crew, and we were scared, so we whacked Iraq. Just like Tony ordered the hit on Adriana."
I don't think Tony would have whacked Iraq. Instead of listening for a message from Jesus or Paul Wolfowitz, Tony would have taken more time to consider the consequences of his actions. Surely, Hesh and, possibly, the pre-Alheimer's Junior would have let Tony in on the history of Iraq and explained the concept of "blowback." No, Tony would have built his resources (unlike Donald "You go to war with the army you have" Rumsfeld") and relied on his network of information gatherers--ie: weapons inspectors, the CIA--to more carefully consider all of the angles than our impetuous, petulant president.