AJ as a true "Anthony Jr."

1
I have got to thank FOMW for that beautiful explanation of Tony's desire for patricide (they Oedipal complex was explicitly brought up repeatedly, but I like everyone else kept taking Tony at his word and only focused on his mother) it has given me an entirely new perspective from which to understand the show. I can't believe it has taken me 13 years and 15+ watches to see how important AJ is understanding Tony.

I have always loved the Sopranos because I felt it was David Chase's way to collectively take the baby boomer men to therapy. My grandmother was, and countless of my peer's grandmothers were very much like Livia. I would point out Marie Barone as a 2nd example, albeit done for humor. I believe events of their time, going to college, being called into the work force, sending teenage husbands off to WW2, scarred many women of the greatest generation, who while doing their best raised a generation of emotionally stunted and damaged men (baby boomers).

In the small anecdotal sampling I have, my generation (The AJ's) have all born the brunt of unintended attacks from these emotionally confused men.
The exploration of this generation spanning wound is why I have always loved the Sopranos, but it is funny to me that I am just now paying attention to the relationship that I understand the best: Tony and AJ.

In the posts that will follow, I hope to show that Tony and AJ are far more similar that Tony understood, and perhaps more than we the audience ever did.

Re: AJ as a true "Anthony Jr."

2
i, too, have fallen in love with Robert Ilers performances. he makes the show hysterical. he is the main source of comedic relief in my opinion in for whatever reason why this machismo mobster cultlike gangster identity doesn't really fit in the stream anymore. or it is just too contradictory and too simplified. meat, meat, meat, fuck, meat, meat, meat. and it is really good that AJ is making Tony's depression much more obvious and less discrete. i think that Tony is too smart to pretend that he is not-not Kevin Finnerty, his soul is trying to give him an amends for all the bad shit he was forced into becoming. human beings are like blank slates that receive imprints from above, where-ever. i don't know, it might be too theological to talk about out loud. the entire explanation IS the show. that's what chase i think meant by saying, 'it's all there." the show is the thing. there's no use talking about it.
Post Reply

Return to “Sopranos Symbolism and Subtext”

cron