In your Dispatch column, you ...
Question: In your
Dispatch column, you said that you enjoyed Vito's
Splendor in the Grass moment on
The Sopranos this week. Don't you think it was a little too reminiscent of
Brokeback Mountain? From the fight outside the bar, to the
Splendor in the Grass moment, the whole thing was either a deliberate, or at least conscious, imitation of
Brokeback. Why do something so unoriginal? Even if the story line was conceived before
Brokeback came out, it seems that they should have changed the way, or at least the place, in which that last scene played out.
Answer: Let's see. A fat mobster in exile and a volunteer fireman/short-order cook ride their motorbikes into the New Hampshire countryside for a clandestine getaway where they can finally show some affection for each other, and you think that's ripping off the angst-filled, awkward yearning of those
Brokeback cowboys? The only thing these stories share in common is how these characters' homosexuality upends the usual stereotypes not just of gay characters but of people who tend to inhabit these roles: cowboy, gangster, local hero/fireman. These
Sopranos episodes were certainly underway long before it was clear that
Brokeback Mountain would have as large a cultural impact as it did. The idea that
The Sopranos would change any of the content of this remarkable, equally groundbreaking story line seems staggeringly shortsighted. Unoriginal? I'm not even going there.
