You were watching her hips?!

Well….er….my eyes were wandering all over the place, but I think her hips are particularly awe-inspiring. Apparently she has the “ideal” waist/hip ratio in terms of what pushes male buttons.

Now before anyone turns up shaking their fist and hurling allegations of objectification, exotification, and other deadly sins that some of our more politically-correct American cousins are fond of accusing others of, let’s move onto more serious matters, as follows…..

Jagdeep,

Or there could be a third thing that David Chase does. Something more symbolic than any other interpretation. And that is, the viewer gets whacked…..Tony and Bobby have a conversation in one of the last episodes about what it’s like to get whacked.

Yeah I’ve read that interpretation in one of the online debates that the Sopranos Wikipedia page links to. Fascinating idea — that it’s actually the viewer who’s been killed by one of the shady-looking characters that the camera had been focusing on.

(What happened to Christopher was quite shocking too — I’d previously expected the finale to depict matters really coming to a head between him and Tony, with Chris being the one who survives. Maybe that would’ve been too predictable).

By the way, since El Cid mentioned the late-lamented Jay Singh (who everyone here suspects Sunny of whacking), I wrote a sort-of parody of his “removal” on the last weekend thread.

http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/1478#comment-86475

Amateurish attempt, I know, but I was hoping that Picklers who are viewers of The Sopranos would have picked up on what inspired it

Yeah Sunny, I think we need a mid week open thread going by the blatant derail we’re engaged in here!

Apologies to Sunny for the threadjack.

She was great in that notorious dance sequence in From Dusk Till Dawn. Impressive hips.

You were watching her hips?!

Yeah Sunny, I think we need a mid week open thread going by the blatant derail we’re engaged in here!

If you want Tony to get whacked, David Chase is saying to you — why? Do you think that would be ‘justice’? You want neat resolution and neat simple morality where the ‘bad guy’ gets what he deserves? So why did you empathise and care for him all this time? After all that moral complexity and murk, you want this to end like a simplistic morality tale?

On the other hand, if he does not get whacked, you reflect on your own emotional complicity, and the darkness of a world in which there’s no justice or resolution at all, no matter how much evil is done by an individual. The universe and the natural law of men is bleak. And you have tacitly wanted it to be so, by being emotionally involved in this character.

Or there could be a third thing that David Chase does. Something more symbolic than any other interpretation. And that is, the viewer gets whacked. All the time you’ve been watching the series like a voyeur. Tony and Bobby have a conversation in one of the last episodes about what it’s like to get whacked. You don’t feel a thing. You don’t know it’s happening. It’s just bada-bing, the lights go out. You’ve watched the whole series, you’ve even been morbidly entertained by all those killings and violence. So you’re standing there as the viewer, watching Tony eating his french fries, waiting for Meadow to join them. You’re standing there watching. The door opens, he looks up, and boom, from behind you, it goes black, you don’t feel a thing, you don’t even know it’s happening, you’ve just been whacked.

The End.

There are basically 2 main theories:

1. He got whacked, as we both think.
2. He didn’t get killed, as the final scene was actually an insight into Tony’s own state of mind — the constant apprehensiveness, paranoia, not necessarily knowing what’s about to happen next, feeling of being surrounded by potential killers on all sides, etc etc.

If it was the latter than it really was ingeniously done, I have to admit. The whole build-up and mounting tension (because we know the series is about to end in a couple of minutes and that “something big” may be about to happen) reflects how Tony sees the world, and the reason for his panic attacks. Speaking of which, some authors/critics have speculated that the sudden blackout was Tony actually having a sudden panic attack.

I found the ambiguity frustrating when I first saw it, but the more I think about it, the more brilliantly done I think it was.

But I still think he got killed. Hell, maybe the whole family did — possibly Meadow too as she came in through the door, or maybe she was the sole survivor.

Diabolically clever ending.

So he makes the audience complicit in Tony’s fate by making the viewer project or imagine the ending and question your understanding of evil and empathy for this character and his family for whom you care, even though they are all guilty of great crimes, murders, and sins. You have to reflect on it all. And that’s why The Sopranos is a work of genius.

I suspect he got killed either before Meadow came rushing in through the door, or just as she arrived.

Although Welsh Rarebit is quite interesting. It’s not just cheese-on-toast, people !

You know what would be really interesting ? Discussing what the freakin’ hell actually happened at the very end of the Sopranos finale.

Hope you continue to stop by when I talk about my admiration for Hayek,

I have a great deal of admiration for Hayek too.

She was great in that notorious dance sequence in From Dusk Till Dawn. Impressive hips.

Incidentally, Cameron is now saying if the Conservatives get in they’ll introduce legislation to end the block funding of the Labour Party by unions, and also will allow union subscriptions to be used by different political parties.

You started it?

I was attempting to stay on topic, before I got sidetracked.

I used to have a “Dead girls don’r say no!” Cradle of Filth top.

That’s a….stunning defense of Nu-Labour there, Leon. Who was it said they’d be “whiter-than-white”?

I also have admiration for the works of Wagner and Strauss, and for the writings of Doris Lessing.

Glad you stopped by. Hope you continue to stop by when I talk about my admiration for Hayek, Rand, and many other figures of importance.