So everybody is talking about the Sopranos. I might as well weigh in. Personally, I thought the ambiguous ending was pretty brilliant. The Sopranos is always being compared to literature, but the engineered vagueness of that final scene is perhaps its most literary act. As the literary critic Frank Kermode famously pointed out, classic literature is defined not by the certainty of its meaning, but by its linguistic instability, its ability to encourage a multiplicity of interpretations. What makes a novel or poem immortal is, paradoxically, its complexity, the way every reader discovers in the same words a different story.
That's precisely what happens at the very end of the Sopranos, when the screen abruptly cuts to black. Nobody knows whether Tony is dead or alive. (Perhaps this ambiguity also explains the strange appearance of that cat. Reminds me of Schrodinger.) And while this uncertain conclusion might be unprecedented in television history, many literary works have realized that the best ending isn't really an ending. The last scene of the Soprano's actually reminded me, in some very oblique and silly way, of the last scene in Mrs. Dalloway.
In that classic novel, Virginia Woolf deliberately leads the reader to expect some sort of grand conclusion ("What is this terror? What is this ecstasy? he thought to himself. What is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement?") but then ends with a glimpse of Mrs. Dalloway doing nothing particularly important. Likewise, the Sopranos ends with a banal family meal, the same sorta thing we've seen enacted dozens of times before. The text (or episode) ends, but life goes on. Ob-la-di, ob-la-da.
And this kind of ambiguity isn't confined to modernist texts. For example, many readers find the ending of George Eliot's Middlemarch, in which Dorothea elopes with Will, to be a traditional happy ending, in which marriage triumphs over evil. On the other hand, some readers - like Virginia Woolf - see Dorothea's inability to live alone as a turn of plot "more melancholy than tragedy." The same book manages to inspire two completely different conclusions. But there is no right interpretation. Everyone is free to find their own meaning in the novel. Props to David Chase for imitating George Eliot.
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Conclusion.
We had a discussion on this subject on Orac's blog relative to Battlestar Gallactica -- another show nearing its end and how people want a tidy end to the storyarc.
I'm not sure why people pine for closure in literature or TV because closure seldom comes in life. Maybe it's the philosophical difference between people that have a destination and people that are just travelers on a journey. I once read something about the difference between a tourist and a traveler -- the difference is that a tourist wants to go back home where the familiar is, while for the traveler, there is no familiar; only the next interesting place to get to.
I haven't watched the Sopranos, but I did read
that in a recent episode, Tony's shrink ended
therapy because she had read that a study had
found that treating psychopaths did no good
(and in fact made them worse).
Is that true?
And if so, wouldn't that mean that Chase
knowingly went out of his way to make
millions of people admire, identify and
root for a psychopath?
Why would he do that?
@terry
Chase wrote a story (84 hours worth but still only a story). He did not write Tony as a lovable teddy bear that brings toys to children but shoots the occasional person. Tony was written with all flaws exposed (as was his family). So to say that millions admire or identify with him is a stretch. Millions did love the story and for very different reasons. Some because it was a well crafted show. Others because they thought the show was about family. Others just for the Mob element.
As for "why would he do that?" Why does a writer write anything?
For the record - I was thrilled with the ending.
I was surprised by the focus on the sociopathy in the final episodes because it was clear that Tony wasn't at all clinical sociopath, he wasn't remorseless narcissist. He personally engaged in acts of extreme cruelty and violence but he had compassion and empathy for his family members, associates, friends, even if he suppressed them in favor business concerns. There is no real contradiction in this, evolutionary psychology has made a strong case that normal humans can easily segregate their empathy apart from violent acts they commit. The difference in modern society is that we have just extended the in-group to which we apply a moral framework.
There is no way his psychotherapist could have concluded he was a sociopath given the kinds of concerns and personal episodes he has shared, a sociopath's deception isn't that overly elaborate, it's focused to achieving a specific benefit. I'm guessing the writers just didn't have much of real sense of the specifics of what sociopathy/psychopathy entails and assumed Tony's ability to compartementalize his violent behavior from the rest of his life was suggestive of this. I don't think the writers were affirming the conclusion that Tony was a sociopath but to even entertain it as a suggestion is implausible and pretty sloppy on their part.
I enjoyed reading your take on it. I thought you might get a kick out of my new t-shirts. Thanks for letting me share them.
http://www.cafepress.com/sheilacameron/3122619
Sheila
Moonenite wrote:
"There is no way his psychotherapist could have
concluded he was a sociopath given the kinds of
concerns and personal episodes he has shared..."
Perhaps, I don't know, but if not a psychopath,
he certainly was an evil man. So my question
would instead be: why would Chase go out of his
way to make millions of people admire, identify
and root for an evil man?
And I realize that though he was never portrayed
as a Teddy Bear, he was very much portrayed in
such a way as to inspire a huge amount of
admiration among the show's fans (present company
excepted, of course).
To express "interest" in a fictional character is not the same as "admiring" that character. I think Terry is confusing an interesting character with an admirable chracter.
I have not watched the Sopranos regularly because I do not have HBO, but I have seen it occaisionally and get the drift of the show. It is indeed, exceptionally well written and produced for a TV show. And yet I have never seen a single character that I would call admirable.
Writers write. We notice the ones who write well, and create interesting stories and characters. The boring ones, we don't notice.
Daniel wrote:
"To express "interest" in a fictional character
is not the same as "admiring" that character."
Well that's true. Nevertheless, from listening
to people talk, and reading various commentary
it's obvious that people have a real affection
for Tony. This actually makes sense, if he
was stone cold killer people wouldn't want to
watch week after week, so to keep people watching
the writers had to emphasize his human side.
But not too much, if he gave up the mobster
lifestyle (and the money and violence that goes
with it) people wouldn't be that interested in
watching.
So you don't admire the Sopranos, but a lot of
people do. If you go the Amazon and
do a search for "Sopranos" in the book section
here are a few of the results:
- "Leadership Sopranos Style: How to Become a More Effective Boss"
- "The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco"
- "Tony Soprano on Management: Leadership Lessons Inspired By America's Favorite Mobster"
- "The Gospel According to Tony Soprano: An Unauthorized Look Into the Soul of TV's Top Mob Boss and His Family"
- "Entertaining with the Sopranos"
A lot of people admire his mob honor philosophy
and his obvious love for his family.
I read one commenter argue that he *only* kills other
thugs, and that when innocent bystanders are hurt,
it's always been someone else's fault.
This explains the ethically challenged behavior of the CEOs. They're reading management books based on fictional characters -- reading about Herb Kelleher is so passe in comparison.
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