Justin writes:
> You don't get it. What's wrong, artistically, with a
show that glorifies gangsterism?
What is artistically right with it? Art (at least in my view) has a moral purpose -- I know there are those who will argue for "art for art's sake," but to adopt such a stance then leaves no ground for criticizing consumerism.
> Why do you adopt this absurd prudish puritanical
socialist realist view that art -- yes, TV shows can be
art, high or low -- must not romanticize Bad People
Doing Bad Things?
The question is what social benefit is gained from romanticizing gangsterism? What is the effect? If one is dedicated to creating greater justice in the world, does this type of tv show further that goal, inhibit it, or is it neutral, neither helping nor hindering?
> I'd rather watch The Godfather again -- a film that
certainly romanticizes, if not glorifies, gangsterism.
(Godfather II does not).
I think they are both pretty fierce critiques of patrichal cultural, the cost in violence of such a culture, and the diminishment of women in such a culture (recall the final shot of The Godfather with the door being closed on Kay, the falling of darkness on the most decent character in the film).
The films are also critical of the capitalist ideology that rules America. I do not see any glorification in them. They are aesthetically pleasing, but that does not equal glorification.
> Or Goodfellas, where, after depicting a lifetime of
conscienceless viuolent crime and theft, the Henry Hill character
stands down in a fantasy scene on the witness stand to explain
the glories of the thug life -- no irony intended.
Scorcese is a different matter and a lesser artist. He has never resolved completely his desire to be a gangster, so while his films depict the violence they never condemn it.
Carl writes:
> One of my favorite scenes . . Tony very smoothly humiliates
the doctor and intimidates him to the point that the doctor falls
back backward into a water hazard.
Funny, when I came out as a sadist some people were aghast that such a person had joined their ranks. But humiliation is fine on tv - it is as Carl writes "one of the joys of the show."
Curious.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister