>That's what I was getting at, the thin line between love and hate and
>all that, especially with family. That's one reason I love the
>Sopranos so much. It portrays the tension of family life so well.
>
>And I'll say it one more time, it's funny as hell.
and not just family, sometimes work. i haven't gotten to watch the last few shows. the last one was the one where they go to miami and Tony and Paulie are out on the boat. But what I was noticing about the show was the commentary on relationships at work. More than I'd ever gotten before, there wasn't just commentary on grander scale economics (e.g., gentrification), but on the social interactions between bosses and employees. I sat there watching it thinking, this could be a scene played out in anyone's life about treachery at work. Or even at the way Silvio and Paulie have to ignore Tony's eccentricities to his face, but you get the subtle sighs and the nearly rolled eyeballs. And how utterly incompetent they often are -- and sometimes sincerely dumb and not just ignorant. Or the scene where, conflicted about actually becoming his father and, after all these years, having to take someone out, Bobby manages to accomplish the task by cuts himself off at the knees doing so. Like he was afraid he'd be so good at it, he'd better engage in self-destructive behavior so he could be responsible for his failure, and not leave it up to fate (or someone else). There were the bigger issues that were touched on - such as Tony realizing he wasn't grooming anyone to take his place or, rather, was having second thoughts about his decisions. All I could think of was the story behind Michael Eisner and Disney. heh.
oh, and also, I can't imagine a better scene than the one where Tony and Melfi are exploring Tony's desire for Janet -- as a scene through which you'd teach fruedian theory and possibly lacanian theory. Because, while there is the surface edge -- You can't be serious, you think I want to fuck my sister -- what that show did was explore desire as a much bigger thing than simply fucking.
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