[lbo-talk] in which lbo-talk defends 'the sopranos' (was "warmsummers")

[Carl Remick]

>From: ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org>
>
>>i have never seen an episode of 'the sopranos' and i do not plan to,
>ever. i find nothing interesting in yet another mob/gangster movie/show
>with some required dose of physical violence thrown in. it is for
>similar reasons that i avoid broadway shows, reading the washington
>times, and listening to brittney spears. ;-) in the process, i may miss
>an occasional gem, but the shortcut pays off significantly, in the long 
>run.

I've been itching to denounce Quentin Tarantino for a long time -- 
everything I've read about his work with its apparently solipsistic 
film-world orientation and cartoonish ultra-violence sets my teeth on edge.  
Unfortunately, I recognize that the price of admission to be an official 
Tarantino critic is to actually see a Tarantino movie, and that's too high a 
price to pay.  (Ditto Adam Sandler.)

But you're really missing something by not seeing The Sopranos, which offers 
a real window on the American psyche.  Tony Soprano is a man who can cycle 
from a narcissistic concern about his psychological well-being to strangling 
a man with his bare hands in just minutes.  You realize that a society 
capable of producing so totally disoriented an individual would be perfectly 
capable of displaying the swings of behavior the US has -- wallowing in 
self-pity and seeking "closure" over 9/11 at one moment, tearing Iraq to 
shreds in a temper tantrum the next moment.  The Sopranos is a scary show; 
the US is a scary country.

Carl