Bush and Obama, Wars and Economy: Power and People in an Age of Limits and Loss 585just kill labor radicals and wall them up in concrete. When Burns gets good
news, he says, “this calls for a celebration: let’s fire some employees.” Monty
clearly evokes memories of the robber-barons of the early 20th Century—
indeed, he somehow seems to be the same age as them—and it is easy to
imagine him acting exactly as Rockefeller did after Ludlow. For a generation
of Americans raised on the conventional wisdom of network news, CNN, the
New York Times, and other standard media, The Simpsons has provided a vastly
different interpretation—the other side of the story of American power and
society, as it were—on vital issues like immigration, drug legalization, homo-
sexuality, religion, and maybe most importantly, education and Capitalism.
“Lately,” Tony Soprano said to his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi, “I’m getting
the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.” Melfi tried to reas-
sure him, “Many Americans, I think, feel that way.” Soprano was referring to
“this thing of ours,” la cosa nostra, the mafia, and he was looking at a bleak
future. “See,” he told Melfi, “things are trending downward.” And so began
one of the most popular, honored, and important shows in television, The
Sopranos, shown on HBO. As the exchange between Tony and Melfi showed,
this would be no typical Godfather-type mob show. It was textured and com-
plex, and at heart it was a story about making it, or not, in America, a story
about immigrants, a story about the problems of sustaining a family, a story
about Capitalism and power. Tony Soprano gets little satisfaction from his
work, he has to handle the same problems as every parent of two young chil-
dren, he has to deal with financial issues, and he has to kill people and avoid
getting himself and his family—both blood and mob—killed. But unlike the
cool and usually under-control gangsters seen on the big screen played by the
likes of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and others, Tony Soprano,
brilliantly acted by James Gandolfini, was full of anxiety and had panic attacks.
He understood the code of the mafia, of “men of honor,” and abided by
it, even killing one of his closest friends, Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, for
being a snitch. But at the same time knew that the world was changing and
even went so far as to consider allowing an openly gay man, Vito Spatafore,
to remain active in the family and conduct mob business. He even got rep-
rimanded by another mob boss because of his attire at a cookout—“a Don
doesn’t wear shorts,” Carmine Lupertazzi scolded him. But Tony’s bigger
problems were those that any corporate CEO or Wall Street banker would
recognize—how to keep business going strong in an uneven economy. The