on The Family---for possible discussion re Vineland/TRP

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

What follows does not concern VL directly. But it does concern
families and Families, I hope.

In The Sopranos, there's this tense interplay between the family and
the Family. The series brings together genres of everyday middle-class
family life (family dramas, family sit coms) and genres of the Mob.

As to the latter genres, both Coppola and Scorsese externalize the
Mafia from the everyday life of the average moviegoer. Especially
in Godfather I, Coppola performs this externalization glorifyingly.
Whereas Scorsese pathologizes his psychos and their violently
childish Family system.

David Chase achieves something different: internally familiar oozes
into externally Familylike and vice versa. Everyday family life is
somewhat demonized, the Mob life normalized in the process ("Dad
goes to work" - it's business almost as usual). The shrink's chair
becomes a great reflection point for this interaction. It isn't
easy to either wholly sympathize with even the most family drama
type characters (Meadow, AJ, Carmela) or wholly antipathize with
even the most psychopathic Mob characters (say, Paulie).

The viewer experience tends to get approach-avoidingly "sticky"
instead. This stickiness varies in degree, but is hard to get rid
of completely.


Heikki