>JG: There's certainly room for improvement, but I think that we are in a
>golden age of TV at the moment - The Sopranos, etc. But I do agree with Lord
>Reith, former director general of the BBC - "Don't give the people what they
>want, give them something better."
>
>CB: I've never seen the Sopranos, but I'll take Carl's word that it's good.
> >From what I understand , it has a "gangsters are people too" theme, which is
>one thread of the Godfather genre.
I don't watch "The Sopranos" but is glorifying unbridled unregulated capitalism, which is what organized crime can be seen to be, really the epitome of the Golden Age of TV? When I think of TV at its best in serial production I think of the first several years of "MASH" or the early SNL shows. Is The Sopranos as good and subversive as these were or just a well acted reinforcement of the acquisition of power and money is good paradigm? Keep in mind this is my impression of the program based on seeing one episode and hearing from others what it is about.
>JG: And I'm sure that everyone else thinks of themselves in the same way.
>I'm not saying that we shouldn't raise cultural standards. But when you
>speak of discrimination, I
>suspect that you don't mean the philistine billionaires and their
>crappy Renoirs, but working class people choosing between consumer
>goods. Which, I might add, aren't thrown at people - we have to work hard
>and fight for the money to pay for these things where I come from.
>
>CB: You are using "choose" in a misleading way. Working class people in the
>US have very little choice or influence on what consumer goods are
>available. When I say "thrown at them" I mean in advertisements and the
>like.
James, do you believe that the way our society is currently aligned is the choice of the working class? Suburbs, shopping malls, SUV's, and the attendant alienation these things bring are all brought about because the working class demanded these things and forced the capitalist class to provide them? You state up above that you agree with the sentiment expressed in "Don't give the people what they want, give them something better." I agree. Give them livable clean densely populated urban habitats and the communities that this encourages instead of car dependant alienating sprawl and the unacquirable happiness of attempting to consume your way to satisfaction.
John Thornton