Friday, April 23, 2004
They made me read an article and I coulnd't refuse
My thesis is a simple one. In the past, many of us learned some of our first lessons in manners and morals by watching Sesame Street: cooperate, play fair, share things, don't hit people, say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Today, in watching The Sopranos, about 11 million viewers an episode are taking an advanced course (i.e. containing-adult language, violence, nudity, and explicit sex scenes) about the self defined universe of Mafia ethics: What is Duty? What is Honor? What is Omertà? But more than just a curious and titillating analysis of an aberrant ethical code—the tribal or warrior justification of murder, mendacity, prostitution, infidelity, extortion, and usury—it is, in some sense, a traditional morality play. The Sopranos may not be high art, but neither is it a cheap action-thriller or a murderous melodrama. I believe it is a mass media, action-packed, X-rated version of Waiting for Godot, a story of both existential despair, and, in the words of Victor Frankl, "man's search for meaning."
Having never seen the show, I can't comment. But it might be of interest to someone?
Having never seen the show, I can't comment. But it might be of interest to someone?
