tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post114637095794351577..comments2023-11-03T11:37:13.579-04:00Comments on Something Old, Nothing New: The New Archie Bunker?Jaime J. Weinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15128500411119962998noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-1146438331756840342006-04-30T19:05:00.000-04:002006-04-30T19:05:00.000-04:00Might not Steve Carrell's boss in The Office be a ...Might not Steve Carrell's boss in The Office be a version of this type of character? A combination of just about every bad characteristic of the early 21st century bossMichaelRbnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11581359354402823032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-1146399199269976242006-04-30T08:13:00.000-04:002006-04-30T08:13:00.000-04:00Jaime -No new Archie Bunker? I beg to differ! Tony...Jaime -<BR/><BR/>No new Archie Bunker? I beg to differ! Tony Soprano is, in addition to being a lovable bigot (and murdererous adulterer, etc.), the center of a scathing satire on both suburban consumerism and the breakdown of the 'traditional family'. The forces of Italian-American Catholic traditionalism are constantly buffetted on that show by this or that secular danger, and the problems generally resolve themselves through the power of purchasing. To raise the dramatic stakes, the old Mafia <EM>omerta</EM> code gets the same treatment, and its rapid decay - summed up by the shift from the characters wanting to be Michael Corleone to quoting and acting like the schmucks from <EM>Goodfellas</EM>, itself a movie about the Mob in decline - plays out parallel to the end of Tony's daddy-knows-best authority at home.<BR/><BR/>Top it off with a heavy critique/embrace of psychoanalytic therapy-speak and play it for a combination of unsettling violence and relieving laughter, and you have a show that in dramatic effect is quite close to <EM>All in the Family</EM> in a number of ways.<BR/><BR/>You could make a similar argument about Simon Cowell, the British judge on <EM>American Idol</EM>, but I've never seen the show and would have to kill myself if I did. So we'll take a pass for now. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com