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June 11, 2007

Fugetaboutit

One of my favorite shows ever—The Sopranos—has come to an end. I’m not going to disect the final show, the ending, the final scene. That’s for better-versed TV enthusiasts to comment on (Dad?). What sparked my interest to write anything in regards to the show, is the genre itself. Gangsters.

What I think we loved about the show was the freshness to a genre that had been beaten to death a thousand times over (sometimes genius, usually not).

Let’s face it, gangster flicks are about as backed into a corner as you can get in terms of creativity as a Meg Ryan romantic comedy. We know the casting. We know the smirks. We know the mob hits. We know the suits. We know it all. We still love it, but we know it. We don’t even think about wanting something completely different, but we do know we’ve seen it all before.

Then the Sopranos came along and completely transformed the entire genre. It broke new ground for characters, personalities, plots, all while keeping that general thread of gangster we all still appreciate.

The series proved that nothing can be stereotyped to death when it comes to creativity. There’s always room for improvement and change. I love this idea. Once again, there is no box. In fact, it proves there is no box. Good God we have to stop using that phrase. We are bound by nothing but our imaginations. A subject matter is not cornered creatively by it’s nature alone, but by how we treat it.

This relates directly to my life and work. While still in school, a professor once told me never to give into feelings of hopelessness over another “silly project”. Whether it be a real estate ad or marketing brochure, we’re bound by nothing.

Easier said than done. It’s easier to complain and bang it out rather than really focusing and making it something special. And I can personally attest to never always pulling that off. But if we keep it in the back of our minds that the “norm” is only a norm by our imaginations, it gives us an inkling of hope that we can change that norm.

Also, it’s one thing to try and break out of the mold. It’s another to sell a frightened client on the idea as well. The norm is good. The norm is known. It’s trusted, if not boring as all hell. Yet The Sopranos was new and different, and nearly seven seasons later we’ll all miss the characters. Because it was so good, we chose to care.

So the Sopranos is over and done. It had a great run. It also changed the landscape of television.

Not a bad goal to set.

Clamoring






    
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