Yeah, I thought my cable went out too.
A lot of people didn't get the ending, and I didn't either at first, but if you listen to the lyrics, it's perfect.
Working hard to get my fill,
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin anything to roll the dice,
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on
Life goes on, we just don't get to watch. It's a little disappointing, but it isn't. It's whatever you want it to be. David Chase, rightly or wrongly, has always believed that there are things should be left to the audience's imagination, that there are things that should be left open to interpretation and not spoon fed. And, rightly or wrongly, one of those things he left open was the ending to his show.
And just from talking with the people I saw it with, and people who called/texted me their opinion, and reading stuff from the crazy message boards online, even though I'd say about 60% of the stuff I read is angry "THAT WAS BULLSHIT!" stuff, there is a lot of talk about what happened next or what really happened or what Chase was trying to say.
Anyway, I'm just glad that Tony Soprano is alive. My theory is that he lives forever and becomes king of the universe.
June 11, 2007
Don't Stop Believing
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4 comments:
After being initially impressed by the theory that Tony was shot (the main evidence being how the convo with Bobby in the boat was repeated when Bobby got whacked) I have come to the opinion, this is ultimately not how it ended.
It's too easy, too gimmicky. Just like how I felt about it just going blank, before I added the meaning of the bullet in his head. I think the real point is that Tony now lives in fear. This is at least time number three that he was almost killed: once with the order coming form his mom via Junior, once by a senile Junior and now by Phil's Brooklynites. His mom and Uncle June trying to kill him just had him outraged. At the time Tony relatively felt like he had life by the balls. Getting shot by Uncle June, well that was a freak thing. But if I were Tone, I would have been near petrified from the last attempt. He came closer than a cunt hair from getting it and it was the deus ex machina of Agent Harris that saved him.
Tony is seeing all the red hearing we see in the finale, the tension building but no real substance. Now even the mundane frightens him, or at the very least sets him on edge, as does it for us the viewers.
People are on the blogs saying Chase has fucked us, and that's not entirely accurate. Chase is fuckING with us, which means something entirely different.
He's pulling an Andy Kaufman gag, and he know it. How many people gasped, held their breath, "the cable went out! Call the provider!" Or yelled "bullshit," as I admitidly did.
How many people are posting wild theories about how Tony got it from the guy in the bathroom, which actually begin to sound credible. But the more I think about it, they are not. Chase put that guy in there, highlighted the quote, and played up so many distractions, knowing we'd all go ape shit, well most of us, and he's sitting back and laughing.
The thing is, I can appreciate a good gag, and sometimes even when it's myself who is the one being had. But the ending is great for the moment, and will have people talking about it for months potentially, but not for years.
It's gimmicky, and clever, but not that clever. But in as sense that's Sopranos. It's all about the hear and now, not the distant past or distant future.
But in the end, it's all in good fun. Even the evil and the killings. Crass? Maybe, but that's just how it is. To quote the Comedian, "Life is but a joke." Even with war, greed, genocide, murder, poverty? "Hey," he says, "I never said it was a good joke."
The jokes on us, the jokes on them, it's on everyone. Tony was given a second chance on life, and he squandered it. He's gone back to cheating on his wife, killed his nephew, struck his son, caused the downfall of his crime family, allowed a situation to snowball to where his brother-in-law and best confidant died (or are dying). Has therapy helped him learn? no. Has the second lease on life helped him learn? No.
But what about Carmella's, has she learned? No. She's still living off his blood money, building unsafe houses and selling them to family members, and refusing to get a real job.
Has Meadow decided to help out the less fortunate as a doctor, or civil rights attorney? No. She's become a mob lawyer, defending the most evil people on the planet, those who combine street thuggery of murder, with the white collar crimes of theft and exploitation and extortion of wealth.
How about AJ, has he learned about what one person can do to make a difference in this life and stop being part of the problems of the world? No. Now he's driving a BMW, and is backing to not giving a shit about anything but himself.
Did Chris learn that having a family, a wife, a child, was an opportunity to clean up, be responsible, and take time to value the important things in life? No. He cheated on his wife, went in and out of drugs, and died with cocaine in his system.
And what about Paulie, has he learned... anything? No. He's the most miserable of them all, and he, like Junior has nothing. No family, no children or companions.
How about Janice? She's just playing a new angle to money grub and leech of off someone else.
Did anyone learn anything? Yeah, Melfi. Yeah, she learned she was wasting her time feeling sorry for Tony and trying to help him. And that's why Sopranos sums up what America is all about. The USA is the world's gangsters.
It's more than just the over political commentary in Sopranos about the discrimination of Muslims that makes us uncomfortable, or the racist rants, or Tony's endorsement of Dick Cheney following the scams for reconstruction after Katrina. It's more than the sentiment that Tony speaks of in the opening episode of the series that resounds with post-9/11 USA, that "we came in when the best was over."
Tony constantly says, "You go about life pitying for yourself," when it's him that pities for himself more than anyone. It's so true in the post-9/11 USA. Oh, America was victimized on 9/11, but don't tell me why the terrorists say it happened, don't tell me, I'm at fault, just find the bastards and whack them. I don't care how many civilians in the country we decide to reduce to ruble get in the way, it's their fault for being brown. I'd rather fight them over there, so that it's their women and children in the crossfire, than fight them over here. Why? Because we have the power to do it, and we are more important than those moolies.
We were the victims on 9/11 and if you disagree you are a terrorist sympathizer, but the minute you talk about what the USA did to another country, now you are a blame-America-firster. We are not oblivious to the rest of the world, but we are so full of ourselves, that we pity ourselves. We learn, like Tony, and AJ, and Meadow, and Carmella and Janice and so on, how to feign sympathy for the plight of the world, while simultaneously not lifting a finger to do a damn thing, and in fact being the rich, blood-money scum that is the most responsible for living off of the greatest, most blatant evils in the world.
We feel sorry for Eugene as he hangs himself, or empathize for spoiled AJ and his spoiled brat moral dilemmas. We secretly cheer on Tony when he whacks someone, and laugh when they make fun of the crackwhores or Puerto Ricans or shoot a poor waiter trying to make a living. Then the show ends, and we conveniently pretend that now are moral compass is back in tact, and go on pretending we actually give a shit about these things again.
How dare we call ourselves unrighteous and Tony evil. Where do we get off scolding Carmella. The mob is a para-military organization, but the USA has an ACTUAL military. The USA is nothing more than a glorified mob family. The president a don. But more importantly, we are just living off of the blood money like Carmella, and AJ and Meadow. Which means we are just as evil they are.
The sad thing is, most Americans won't get David Chase's sick humor. But he's making fun of himself, he's making fun of me, and so the joke's on you. And what if you go get it? Can wake up like Melfi, and see the scam, the charade, and end it before any more of your dignity is compromised?
Also, an most importantly, look at the shit storm Tony as brought down upon him and the people he loves because of his evils. And now he lives in fear. Very 9/11 indeed...
who is this guy and why won't he shut up?
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