Monday, June 11, 2007

Sopranos Season Finale

Since the only time outsiders ever hit my site is when it's news this big, let me chime in. The finale was awesomely perfect and if you don't think so, or were let down, or thought they should all be killed, you are wrong. Here's why.

Each Soprano family member regresses into unchecked sociopathic "American Dreamism." They don't care about anything but selfish material success and what's worse is they TRIED to develop a political consciousness about the world, only to toss it all aside when the going got tough. Carmela never got over her homophobia (remember the whole Melville discussions?), and was confronted with it on the finale, albeit in an oblique way; she is also shown gazing at her house plans like a zombie; Tony shows no concern for the absestos issue, but that's only one of many things--he, of course, in "incurable" according to Melfi, which is a just a metaphor for incurable American Dream materialism; Meadow now longer wants to "be a lawyer for black people" and accepts a sell-out job; AJ is the worst of all because he fights so hard against his family's apolitical consciousness, researches terrorism/oil, etc. and then completely flips a 180 and gets the gaz-guzzling car. When the Journey song, "Don't Stop Believing" ends on "Stop--" with silence and blackness, we aren't screwed out of a "real" ending; rather we're given a NEVERending. Materialism, that is, and the "belief" in it over all other politics. So stop whining, fans. This wasn't a ganster show and it wasn't really a melodrama either. It was a dark satire of the American Dream and killing them off wouldn't have made the right point. In fact, THAT kind of ending would have truly "crapped the floor."

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