Finding Meaning In "The Sopranos"

Rachel DiCarlo Currie interprets the David Chase series "The Sopranos," and offers us an explanation for the mysterious ending. More here at Acculurated. 

More about The Sopranos in the materials below.

G. Gabbard, The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire, and Betrayal in America's Favorite Gangster Family (Basic Books, 2008).

Martha P. Nochimson, "Whaddya Lookin' At?" Re-Reading the Gangster Genre Through "The Sopranos," 56 Film Quarterly 2-13 (Winter 2002).

Reading the Sopranos (David Lavery ed., I. B. Taurus, 2006).

The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill, Therefore I Am (Richard Greene and Peter Vernezze eds., Open Court, 2004).

Maurice Yacowar, The Sopranos on the Couch (Continuum, 2003).

Don Draper, Walter White, and Donald Trump

Thomas Batten explains the Donald Trump phenomenon in terms of antiheroes: Don Draper, Walter White, Tyrion Lannister, and Tony Soprano here (for the Guardian). He says in part:

Think about all they have in common – Tyrion’s cynicism and cunning, Don’s scorn for weakness, Tony’s rage, Walter White’s limitless ego. They’re all scoundrels who move through the world with an inordinate amount of swagger, and Americans, going back to 1773, love scoundrels with swagger. We love people who challenge authority and convention and get away with it. Thursday night, when Chris Wallace asked Trump if he thought a man who has declared bankruptcy multiple times was well suited to running the economy of an entire country, Trump’s response was to basically blow a raspberry and brag that he simply exploited the law.

Justice Alito On "The Sopranos"

Debra Cassens Weiss notes that Justice Alito doesn't like those Italian stereotypes revived through The Sopranos, at least, so the Trenton Times reports. Ms. Weiss says in her piece in the ABA Journal that the Associate Justice finds that a "trifecta" (Italian-Americans, New Jersey and gangsters) come together in shows like the popular HBO series. A cleaned up version of the show (that is--something that comports with FCC rules) is currently running on A&E.