The problem isn’t necessarily THE SOPRANOS but the pop culture template it fills (and sometimes subverts). You cannot, repeat cannot, watch these murderous thugs week after week without getting comfortable with them, and I think the very fact that it’s been on the air for seven years does in fact invite us to get comfortable with them. Yes, they are living in constrained circumstances — I’ve mentioned that in my posts, and in Star-Ledger articles over the years — but there is still a strong power fantasy aspect to the show’s appeal, and it is not always as complex, subtle or challenging as the shows most vocal defenders (myself included) sometimes insist. Trust me, I have to read the mail each week from people who are complaining that there haven’t been enough beatings, shootings or trips to the Bada-Bing. To them, the dream sequences, therapy scenes, quiet character moments and moral/ethical/spiritual questions are the price they have to pay for the chance to see Paulie Walnuts waste some Dominicans and then get kicked in the balls. You can’t tell me that Chase and company aren’t aware that the show is a hit mainly because of those elements rather than for the qualities we pore over in the comments thread of this site. You could say that Chase isn’t to blame for the ignorance of the show’s yahoo fan contingent, but that would be letting him off the hook.
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…from a purely personal, subjective, probably indefensible and unexplainable standpoint, I would like to see Tony suffer, or at least experience truly profound and lasting changes as a result of what he’s been through over six seasons. Because if he doesn’t, then we really have been asked to spend an hour a week in the company of an evil man who does evil things. Drama should lead to insight and the decision to change or not change; if it’s just a series of situations and events that are thrown onscreen to keep us interested, it’s not really drama, it’s just escapism. To intentionally mangle the cable channel’s slogan, if that happens, I will feel that what I’ve spent seven years watching isn’t HBO, but television.
—Matt Zoller Seitz on The Sopranos, specifically what must be done to justify creating and viewing an ongoing television series that centers around criminals. Do you agree?
Good Lord, there’s so much more in this post to read and ponder–go and do so. It’s in the comment thread.