The Mash-Up: The Sopranos 1.4 X Jersey Shore 1.4

This is an experiment. It might piss some people off. But I'd like to introduce you to a new, hopefully recurring event that I'm tentatively calling The Mash-Up, in which I smash two recap/analyses together in order to form new conclusions about each show that would otherwise be hidden or perhaps just plain false without its point of comparison, all in a sort of Large Hadron Collider of Ideas. And like all good mash-ups, the things that seem to go together best are the critically lauded, musically complex beats topped with the trashiest, most ubiquitous, yet infectiously hooky pop tracks.

And so, The Sopranos and Jersey Shore seem to be destined for each other. The broad connections are obvious, i.e. a pretty raw portrayal of Italian-Americans (both raw enough to be damned as mere "stereotypes" by some of the media), set predominantly in New Jersey, not to mention that I happen to be on the 4th episode of the 1st season of The Sopranos, and that the 4th episode of the 1st season of Jersey Shore happens to air this week. And if these broad connections seem tenuous to you, I say: That's the point. Mash-ups rarely make any sense. But when they work, they're sometimes better than either original song was to begin with (at least until you listen to it too many times and get sick of it). Think of it like Dark Side of the Rainbow; it might seem really stupid, but it's still really fun to do sometimes. So here, for your pleasure (or extreme pain and displeasure, for some of you I imagine) is your Dark Side of the Rainbow of Italian-American-Based Television Analyses.

"Meadowlands" X "Fade To Black"
There are always repercussions to violence. A shot in the face, whether fist or bullet, premeditated or spontaneous, deserving or not, never goes unheard. Dr. Melfi said she doesn't understand "the climate of rage in American society; the casual violence." I wonder what she would think of what happened to poor Snooki.

Yes, Snooki got socked in the kisser, and even though MTV decided to black out the shot in question the whole event was really rather anticlimactic and didn't have much of a bearing on the episode as a whole. But it proved that violence has a profound affect on us as humans. The threat of it frightens us, but the prospect of seeing it firsthand excites us. The lead-up to it makes us talk about it and the climax of it inevitably lets us down. Violence is never what we expect, what we want, or what can solve what ails us. Tony Soprano knows this, which is why he has opted not to throw down with Uncle Junior and let the old man have his title while slowly working to dig out from underneath him. Even his colleagues acknowledge it's a smart move as they gather for the funeral of the fallen Jackie, having finally succumbed to his cancer. It's a death that I feel Tony in particular finds most unbecoming of the kind of man Jackie was (which of course we never really got to see). "What kind of God?" he lamented while Jackie laid on his deathbed spouting incoherent memories of his life, none of which having to do with The Family or the business that Tony will soon be burdened with, and this lament points us back to Tony's desire to die for a reason, as if he would prefer Jackie got bumped off instead of going relatively quietly in a hospital bed. Snooki, on the other hand, probably wishes she had had more of a reason to get knocked the fuck out, instead of just running her mouth to some jackass at a bar on the Jersey Shore.

The motivations of each of these two groups of proud Italian-Americans seem to be pretty disparate at first glance. One group wants power, the other seems to only want pussy (or just action in general I guess, but I was going for alliteration). But in the end isn't it all the same thing? The way the boyz on Jersey Shore manipulate and connive and control is strikingly similar to the power plays of the Soprano clan, the wardrobe is just different. Instead of track jackets and gold chains, they have... well, they're shirtless with gold chains instead. There's a camaraderie, a downright brotherhood between these doods that rivals that of Tony's gang for loyalty. DJ Pauly D dives on a "Grenade" for The Situation, a Grenade being an annoying uggo cockblock (I'm paraphrasing what Pauly wouldn't stop more or less implying) just so The Situation can blow the whole shebang (hah) by being way too wasted. Maybe it was when they ditched the girls the first time to follow some other girls in a Mercedes like flies to a bug zapper. Maybe it was when they told the Mercedes girls to beat it when the first girls came back, and told the first girls the whole situation. Or maybe it was Pauly bailing on being wingman, followed closely by The Situation bailing on even trying to entertain the Grenade. But it was pretty obvious from the get-go that the whole situation for The Situation was pretty fucked, and not in the way he might have preferred.

But the group o' Guidos (MTV has decided this isn't racist right? It's a "lifestyle choice") hang tuff together. They even convene in a barbershop to talk shop (their shop being, you know, banging) just like Tony and his boys talk their shop (killin' and such) in the back of a strip club. And whether it be talking sexual conquest over a couple of haircuts or talking Mafia power grabs over a couple of lobsters, it gets the job done. These are the rituals of the clans. Tony speaks to his uncle in very prepared, proper prose, so as not to offend. The Jersey Shoremen "beat the beat" and do the Fist Pump in the club. These are two very different Jerseys we see in these two shows, but somehow, they connect. Everything is interchangeable. The habits are different but serve similar purposes. Everyone is very close to their mothers. The accent is mostly the same across the board. And appearances are of the utmost importance.

Tony's paranoia and apparent narcissism are again on display as he doubts the safety of him continuing therapy and risking exposure as a nutcase. Ronnie's paranoia and blatant narcissism are on display as he stalks home shirtless from the club because a girl he is sort-of-but-definitely-not dating gave somebody her number as he danced with another girl. The two are one and the same. Ronnie cried into the bosom of his beloved Sammi while Tony popped another pill. The world was right again. Until next week, that is, when the repercussions kick in.
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Alright, so that was pretty fucking difficult. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind, or maybe Jersey Shore is just a completely vapid, empty show compared to The Sopranos. But it couldn't be the latter. Anyway, the big hullaballoo about the Punch That Rocked The Snooki was all I really wanted to talk about in doing this, and I think I achieved my purpose.

Addenda et cetera
-- The theme for this week being "there are always repercussions," it's an interesting subplot developing with Anthony Jr, who now knows that his father is not just a garbage man. His longing gaze at his dad at Jackie's funeral tells me that this kid is seriously disturbed about all this. At least until he sees the kind of power it brings him and totally gets corrupted.
-- The dream sequence at the beginning of this episode answered a question that's been brewing in my head for a while now: Tony definitely finds Dr. Melfi attractive. 20 bucks says something comes of this. Also fairly telling that this is the dream he has when he is post-coitally napping with his mistress.
-- This week was all about punching people in the face: Snooki got herself popped, as did Tony Jr, as did Mikey the Henchman (along with a couple of staples to the chest... eesh. Dr. Melfi wasn't kidding about the climate of violence).
-- A question I wrote down for myself that will most likely continue to be dealt with: Is Tony a good father? He seems to have a good relationship with the boy (though that's probably about to change), but the daughter is too busy taking crystal meth. So at this point it's kind of a toss-up.

Loaded Lines

• "Focus through distractions. That's a lesson for you." - Tony to Tony Jr.
• "Don't ever say you hate life. That's blasphemy." - Christopher to Meadow
• "Those people went through World War II." - Tony re: his mother and Uncle Junior
  

So the experiment may or may not have been successful, but it was a good try. Maybe I'll get better at it with a little more thought given to subject selection, but I think it went over pretty well. The suggestion box is open for future mash-ups, doesn't have to be Sopranos related, I just wanted to break up the monotony of these write-ups. I promise I'll do some other TV coverage soon, but The Sopranos is too addicting; I just want to watch them already. But keep checking back because I still want to write about: The Faux-Seinfeld Reunion, The It's Always Sunny Xmas Special and Why The F-Word Isn't As Funny As Some People Think, and maybe some coverage of the ubiquitous Holiday-Themed Programming we're all going to be subjected to if we haven't been already. Stay with us, we'll be right back.