Happiness and Gilmore Girls

As many of you read (many more than anything else previously read on this blog)  I recently quit the internship for the job I’d been working towards for about three years and decided to go in a new direction. The feedback has been amazing. I’ve gotten everything from , “you go, girl” (which was meant in solidarity and not a comment on my encyclopedic knowledge on all things Gilmore Girls) to, “I didn’t know you were miserable, why didn’t you say anything sooner, to “you selfish bastard, what is wrong with you?” (the last one was in the minority, so it stings less.)

It felt good being able to share that story with everyone. And given that we are in Commencement Speaker-times... that being Graduation time... for most college students, I wondered what I would say to college students out there. Then I realized I had a blog, and three days a week to fill, and I was like... hey, I do have the ability to figure that out. So, if I were giving a commencement speech (provided the students didn’t decide to boycott me based on my pro-Gilmore Girls views), it would go something like this.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of 2014... Congratulations. You’ve made it this far. For some of you, it’s the ending of what you might call the formal education years, where you sit in a classroom and learn a bunch of things that you may or may not use, and the start of the second phase of your education where you learn from life itself. The tests aren’t really graded, and if you want a smiley face sticker, you’ll have to go get one yourself.

For others, it’s the end of one leg of your education and the start of another, with post-graduate work. Those tests are graded, but you still have to by yourself your own smiley face stickers. I would recommend this, because it will cheer you up when you get a B plus on that paper you actually started early and not at the last minute. 

Anyway, this is the time of life you start getting a lot of advice, from parents, former teachers and educators, and me, your humble commencement speaker. I was once like you, sitting at my commencement, wondering when it was going to be over, not realizing that the cool speeches and the robes I was wearing were important - because there was little chance I would ever wear them again, or listen to someone that didn’t have advice that was linked to a bad pun about the industry I was working in attached to it.

Given that you are expecting advice from me, I’m going to go ahead and start doling it out.

Be happy. That may be the most vague advice ever, but it’s the best I can give, and the easiest to ignore. Too often we get sucked into something because we want to make other people happy. The thing is, we can only do that so long before we end up as someone we don’t want to be. You know the old saying, “people don’t really change”? Yeah, that’s not true. The problem is that people often change for the worse, allowing themselves to get sucked into worlds and situations that make them miserable, then they become miserable people. And too often, miserable people aren’t happy until they spread that misery to other people. It’s like a virus.

How can you be happy? By recognizing when you’re not, and realizing you’re never too deep into something to change. I was in the second to last semester of a graduate program when I stood up and walked away because every morning I was wondering how I could “accidentally” slip on some ice and get to go to the hospital for the day instead of dealing with what I had to deal with. That’s misery, people. It’s never too late to change your mind for the better.

Empathy is not weakness. I just said to be happy at the expense of all others, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop to think and care about what other people feel. We’re told too much to care only about ourselves, but we have to remember that what we do can affect other people. 

In short, you don’t really have to be a jerk about things. Don’t want to be in a relationship? End it. Don’t like a job? Don’t badmouth people on the way out the door, find something and move on. Save your outrage and retaliation for moments that really deserve it.

Don’t waste your time stopping other people from being happy. No matter what you worship... God, Zeus, The Almighty Dollar, Nothing... at the end of your life you’re going to have to answer a very important question. How did I spend my time? If even one minute of that was spent stopping someone else’s happiness, then you have wasted too much time. Who cares if two people get married that you disagree with. Who cares if someone is reading a book or going to see a movie that you disapprove of. Who cares if someone’s idea of fun is to run around and have people throw color packets on them. Who cares if someone wants to only eat meat, or doesn’t want to eat meat. 

Before you open your mouth, ask yourself if what they are doing is hurting anyone. And I don’t mean in a spiritual way that only applies to you and your beliefs. Are they holding a weapon to someone else? Is someone else being held against their will? No? Then ask yourself how you’d feel if someone was telling you that you couldn’t do something that, at the end of the day, wasn’t any of their business. You’d be pretty mad. Now imagine how they feel. Probably the same. There are real injustices in the world. Protest those. Not a book that has a naughty phrase in it. (unless it’s the book I’m writing. then protest it a lot. I want it on the front page of the news.) 

Stop using the phrase, “Guilty Pleasure.” I enjoy Doctor Who almost too much, I could listen to musicals non-stop, I actually enjoy the adult pop-ballads of Russell Crowe (even if the lyrics are unbelievably cheesy at times... and a little fun to make fun of), I can name for you all of the different types of Lanterns in the Green Lantern series, and I’m an unabashed, die-hard, bring-back-a-movie-to-wrap-it-up-fan of Gilmore Girls. This doesn’t make me a bad person. It makes me a person who enjoys certain things. What do you enjoy?

If someone is afraid to tell you something, you’ve failed. I don’t care if you’re a parent, a boss, or a mid-level employee that gets fired by email. You should always be approachable. You should always make your views known, but let people know that they can talk to you about anything that’s on their mind. People should be able to talk to you about their failures, dreams, or something major without thinking your going to immediately jump on them. Now, what they did may have consequences.... but they need to know that those consequences are something justified, not you screaming or overreacting. 

Lastly, don’t judge. I had a good friend who once said, “when you point a finger, you’ve got three fingers pointing back at yourself.” Truer words were never spoken. Especially today we’ve almost made a sport out of judging people, or trying to justify that judgement. 

From all of this, I guess what’s most important is to live a life you’re proud of, and to live one where you don’t do any harm. Go out there. Enjoy yourself. And seriously, if you find yourself in a seat to make this happen, bring back the Gilmore Girls for one more episode.

Good luck, and Allons-y. 

How I Met Your Ending

A few weeks ago, the television show How I Met Your Mother ended it’s 9 year run. This being 2014, and everyone having access to the internet, it was deemed an instant failure because it either lived up to everyone’s predictions, or it didn’t live up to everyone’s predictions... to be honest with you, I’m not really sure. 

I mean... spoilers for a television show that everyone was mad about for a while... the titular mother died. Everyone was waiting for the big reveal and her appearance was kept secret up until the final season, which was a little silly since she was a character we never saw before. And then, despite the fact that the lead up to the last episode featured a million “Is the Mother dead?” articles, a bunch of people seemed shocked when it was revealed that, yes, she was in fact dead, and the main character was telling the story to his kids to remember her, then about getting permission to move on with another character who’s meeting started the whole show.

I thought it was cute.

Of course, since some people didn’t like it, and this is 2014, one of the first things that happened was that someone took the art that someone else created, and altered it because that’s what they wanted to see. Then it hit the internet, and everyone liked it, and the end.

I have a problem with this.

I don’t have a problem with someone deciding they don’t like something... that’s pretty much what the internet is for. It creates a magic identity shield so people think they can say what they want without the fear of people actually hearing what they think. That’s why if you go into a Youtube comments section about an adorable puppy sneezing, it will eventually devolve into a racist rant against the President or a poorly cited conspiracy theory about how all puppies were waiting for the mother to die on How I Met Your Mother.

I have a problem with the recent trend to take someone else’s art and change it because “you didn’t like it.” 

One of the final scenes of How I Met Your Mother featured the two kids that have been listening to the main character, Ted, tell the story for 9 years. Despite the fact that we have been watching for 9 years, through the magic of television time, these kids have only been listening to the story of how many women his father had sex with before meeting their mother for an afternoon. As a result, the adorable kid actors aged to adorable adult actors. So, the scene that featured the kids had to be filmed years ago, before they started aging. Which means this ending, that everyone hated, was the ending the writers of the show were building to since day one. (Or day whatever they did to film that particular scene. Which also means those kids knew the whole time, and didn’t spoil it... good for them.)

So, here we have creators of a show that worked hard for 9 years to build a narrative, and because someone didn’t like it, they decided to change it.

But that’s what seems to happen lately. An entire internet industry has been built on taking art that someone else creates, and either changing it or pointing out flaws that don’t really exist in their minds. We have the “How This Movie Should have Ended”. “Honest Trailers” that point out the “flaws” in each movie. It’s getting to the point that putting something out there at all is a brave act, because people that can’t create are going to take it and mess it up to their own liking. 

Let’s also take a little movie that Disney released that was kind of obscure, you may not have heard about it. It’s called Frozen. I know, I know... there hasn’t been much press about it so bare with me. About halfway through the movie one of the characters sings the big show stopping number called “Let it Go.” Now, I joke about the obscureness of the movie, but there’s a real chance you have never heard the real “Let it Go.” Why? Because there are literally a billion parodies of the song out there. Everyone has tried to not only cover it, but some clever people have added their own lyrics, voices, and whatever, changing this song to whatever they want. The first million were amusing. Now it’s time to stop. Please. Everyone.

Also, on that, there’s only one guy who did parodies well, and that was Weird Al. All of you, creating the Frozen Parodies... you’re not Weird Al. 

Creating something is difficult. Putting out there was a hard thing, because it’s going to be judged and not everyone is going to like it. Believe me, I know, because I try to do it a lot, and I know that not everyone enjoys these posts. I know not everyone thinks I’m as cute as I think I am. And I’m pretty damn cute. But it’s gotten scarier, because of that constant threat that this work will be taken and changed because someone dislikes it that much. Or likes it, in the case of Frozen, and wants to be the person discovered for creating the one funny “Let it Go” parody.

As for something like How I Met Your Mother... the idea that she was dead was floated around years ago. And I liked it. And I was impressed with the fact that they thought ahead to film scenes years ago to make sure everything fit together. But here’s the thing, if I didn’t like it, I’d chalk it up to, “oh, well, these guys who worked hard on a show for 9 years went in a different direction than I would have” and I would have picked up a book or done something where I created my own art. Not taken someone else’s away from them. I'm not saying you can't like it. I'm just saying you don't have to change what the artist wanted.

Prayer for Summer Movie Season 2014

Our Whedon, who art in Hollywood,

Please watch over this Summer Movie Season 2014

As we hope for a prosperous year in movies.

Swing us a web, Amazing Spiderman 2, 

Show us all what superheroes can do

The X-Men also take the stage

With Patrick, Ian, Jackman, and Page

We hope to laugh with comedy this May

As Rogen and Effron Neighborly Fight away.

Hamm will inspire us with a Million Dollar Arm

And Godzilla will fix the previous movie’s harm

It’s not that we hate you Matthew Broderick

But seriously 1999’s Godzilla sucked. 

That didn’t rhyme. I just hated 1999’s Godzilla. This one better rock.

Angelia will try to make us all empathize with Maleficient

While in a black dress she’ll be looking quite excellent

Seth Mcfarlane in the West will a Million ways Die

While The Fault in Our stars is going to make us cry

Okay? 

There will also be Dragon Training Part 2 in June

While Hill and Tatum a partnership renew...oon?

As I think Like I man, my readers I must know it

and remind them that I’m a satrist, and not a poet

The mistakes of Bay shall be rewritten once more

As we are treated to a Shia-less Transformers Part 4

Eastwood moves on from the gruff tough guy game

As we get a musical, about Jersey the same

As July hits we shall not start to yawn

Because the Apes return, in their most daring Dawn!

Jupiter Ascends, And we Purge again

Plus the Rock is Hercules, And we Step up All in.

There’s also a movie called Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz. Still not a poet, guys.

August makes way for some Galaxy Guarding

A talking raccoon and a giant plant are starring

Besson and Scarjo team up for some Lucy

While some Ninja Turtles protect NYC

Let’s not forget as we discuss a movie return trip

And hope that none of the Expendables shatters a hip

For the sequel to Sin City, did we spend time awaiting

And it’s here! It’s here! By Joss we’ll be watching!

But let’s not forget, that despite all the good that we see

That there will be a new Leprechaun movie, made by the WWE

Also after wowing us with Jack and Jill

Sandler returns for more movie thrill

And thus with this prayer to Joss, I must conclude

And grant us a prosperous movie season, Avengers-Making Dude.

Remember we ask that the popcorn be popped with care

With the hopes that soon the movie watchers, will be there.

Amen!

450 Years of Shakespeare! (Probably)

Happy Birthday, Willie S! Today is the 450th birthday of the bard himself, William Shakespeare. (Probably. We know he was baptized on April 26th, so we celebrate his birthday today.)

I’ve  been reflecting a lot lately on William Shakespeare, obviously. That’s been the theme of the month: The way this one writer has influenced countless writers that have come after him, the way that his work has been dissected and redissected, and how new information about his life is constantly changing the face of not only what we know about him, but the worlds that he left for us. This man is still changing the way we look at the world.

But what if it’s a little bit less than that?

Here’s what we know about William Shakespeare: he was a writer back in a time when writing and acting wasn’t that honorable of a profession. Some actor’s mothers would tell their Elizabethan-era bridge clubs that their actor-sons were thieves, but the best thieves on the blocks. Shakespeare didn’t really have to go through with this: he was pretty wealthy, invested his money wisely, and was a pretty well-known writer. We know he was popular - popular enough that 450 years later people are still mangling his works and he’s being studied not only by scholars but in high schools.

Take a moment to think about that. It’s one thing for Johnny Professor to study Mr. Obscure Writer You’ve Probably Never Heard Of like he was some kind of Literary Hipster, but Shakespeare is pretty much studied by High School students. Romeo and Juliet has been turned into kids’s movies. (Minus the whole “death” thing.) That means that Shakespeare, writing 450  years ago in a language that was actually considered lower class at the time, is important and known enough to be studied in basic scholarship... 

But what if William Shakespeare just wrote for that reason... to write?

I’m not saying to just make money. He didn’t necessarily need it. We know he didn’t write to create brave new worlds (see what I did there?). Most of his work was largely reboots of previous franchises. But what if he was just writing to say something for himself, and left it there?

I like that interpretation of his work. Because then it makes his work more accessible to everyone. Think about it, we no longer have this great writer on a pedestal. We no longer have this writer who’s fame and work is no longer achievable by us, the great unwashed masses. We have a guy. A guy that just wanted to write. A guy that had something to say, and said it the best way he knew how: by just writing. By making his statement, and moving on. By writing his words down, making sure they get out there, and then leaving the rest up for interpretation for us.

Remember what I said before: William Shakespeare is studied in High School. He’s important enough to ensure that everyone must learn about him. And there’s no evidence that this is what he wanted out of life. It’s what we, the people who read his work chose for him. And it makes  his level of writing an achievable goal. 

That’s the lesson I think we should all explore today, on William Shakespeare’s Birthday. I am asking all of you who read this today not to concentrate on William Shakespeare, the man today, I think you should focus on William Shakespeare and his accomplishment, and ask yourself, “why can’t I accomplish that?” Because there’s really no reason why we can’t achieve that. Profession sucks? Be the best you can in it. Want to write something but something similar was already written? Write it anyway. Have a point to make? Just make it. Leave the writing, art, or work there for people to interpret. 

And that’s what you should be taking away from William Shakespeare. Not even necessarily his writing. But the accomplishments that are inside us all. 

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare. 

The Women-Hatin' Shakespeare Club

Yesterday I talked about why it’s perfectly acceptable to hate Shakespeare in a partial response to a Buzzfeed collection of words that attempted to make up a coherent argument against the Bard that was totally not trying to be controversial during his 450th birthday. Totally. I didn’t address the two arguments in the article, but rather talked about why it’s ok to hate Shakespeare.

The first of the arguments, “Shakespeare hated women.” Let’s talk about that for a little bit.

Back when Shakespeare was writing, women weren’t exactly viewed as equal to men. Women were a lower class, and couldn’t hold certain jobs, for instance, being able to act in the theatre. So, these women parts that Shakespeare wrote were actually played by boys - boys without beards which was actually a legit career back then.

Fun idea: Think about Twelfth Night for a minute. That means this play, which is about a woman pretending she’s a man, is actually a man playing a woman pretending to be a man. It’s hilarious.

Anyway, it’s difficult to blame Shakespeare for writing women as “weak” during a time when 1) his entire cast were men and 2) the attitude of the time was that women were, in fact, “weak.” Thankfully, we know better now and we have Gina Carano kicking some major Channing Tatum butt in Haywire. 

But here’s the thing, remember a little play called Hamlet that dealt with a lot of father/son issues and featured two female characters, one was pretty much useless until she accidentally killed herself, and the other one was driven crazy because Hamlet didn’t love her? See, it’s believed that Hamlet was written right after the death of Hamnet... Shakespeare’ son. The whole play is believed to be written to help Shakespeare deal with the death of his son, and the father/son issues contained within.

Let’s look at which plays were written after Hamlet, shall we? King Lear. Macbeth. Coriolanus. The Tempest. Twelfth Night (performed right before Hamlet, not published until AFTER Hamlet). Oh look, all plays with strong females in them. 

King Lear has a foolish father giving away his land to his daughters, who then start a war, equals among their husbands. Not only does it feature three strong female leads, but the weakest character, the most doddering, is an old man. 

Macbeth... seriously I need to point out the strong female character in Macbeth? Really? Lady Macbeth is played as “evil”, yes, but she’s ambitious. She doesn’t want Macbeth to be king, SHE wants to be king. She’s one of the strongest female characters in literature, never mind Shakespeare.

Coriolanus is mostly manipulated by his mother. The mother/son dynamic drives a lot of this play. It’s not until he leaves his mother that he runs right into the arms of the enemy, where’s he’s then manipulated by them.

Twelfth Night features a woman who just wants to help a lovelorn Duke. Of course, the duke does ask that she not put on female clothes at the end, so that may be a completely different story...

These are just examples.

Following the death of his son, it’s believed that Shakespeare focused on writing strong female characters to set a good example for his daughter, Judith. He wanted to create a better world for her. 

When exploring Shakespeare, or any writing, sometimes we tend to forget that there’s often a story behind what they are writing. Many writers, Shakespeare included, didn’t just write random things. They wrote about what was going on their life. I know I do it with this blog, even if it’s hidden. But there was a marked shift in the women in Shakespeare’s pieces following the death of his son. 

So, before declaring that Shakespeare hated women based on one, most likely satirical play, maybe it’s best to explore other things that he has written.

Why I Hate Shakespeare

Recently, Buzzfeed took time from posting captions to GIF’s and tricking you to clicking on them to post a real live, written article about “Why [The writer] hates Shakespeare” in honor of Shakespeare’s 450th Birthday. I’m a Shakespeare fan, but I decided to click on it because... well, I’m a Shakespeare fan. A real fan doesn’t blindly follow their devotion into the abyss, they should study their subjects, understand it, and be able to talk intelligently about it, even the flaws. 

For instance, look at Firefly, the space-western I talk about quite frequently. I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s awesomeness can’t be comprehended by everyone, and as a result some people don’t understand it. Joss Whedon probably should have made it less awesome. But, we can’t all be perfect.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, if you’re going to talk about something, you should be able to talk about it intelligently. Even if you hate it. I dislike Twilight. I can tell you specifically why I hate Twilight without being on the bandwagon of “It’s popular so I hate it” that seems to take up most of the conversation around it. For instance, I actually read the books, so I know why I don’t.

The writer of this particular article seems to have read exactly two Shakespearean works, and didn’t really seem to spend any time trying to understand them. One of them being the misogyny associated with Taming of the Shrew (which is under debate) and the other being Hamlet, which apparently the writer took very little time to understand, just realized that they didn’t like it.

Quick programming note: Bad Shakespeare does not link to blogs or articles trying to be controversial and wanting clicks, posting why you hate Shakespeare during the month that the literary world is celebrating his 450th birthday is a prime example of that. If you’d like to find it, direct your Google to “Why I hate Shakespeare Buzzfeed”. Or, if you use Bing, search “How to set Google as my default search engine”, set that up, then Google the above phrase.

The thing is, there are plenty of reasons to hate Shakespeare beyond, “I didn’t understand it.” 

Part of the problem with teaching Shakespeare is that too many teachers don’t teach how to understand Shakespeare. For one, I’m a firm believer that Shakespeare shouldn’t be read at first.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa??” You say.

Shakespeare wrote plays. I’ve made this point before. Do you want to read Die Hard: The Script or watch Bruce Willis kick terrorists out windows in Die Hard: The Movie? how is William Shakespeare, who wrote plays, any different? Yes, it’s important to understand his language. Yes, after watching Bruce Willis go all Bruce Willis on Alan Rickman you may want to study the important language he used during it, including what is meant by “Yippie Kay Yay...” but first, it’s important to watch what happened.

There’s also the fact that we don’t even know if Shakespeare was the best writer of his time. There’s a gentleman you may have heard of when Shakespeare is referenced named “Henslowe.” This dude was basically the box office report of his time. What he did was record what plays were popular, like this new one about a guy who cooks the guys who raped his daughters into a pie and made their mother eat it, and then said, “hey, it’s popular!” and the plays survived. Plays that were less popular, like the one about a space western, may not have survived quite as long, and there’s a chance we don’t know about it. 

Seriously, Joss, you control the top grossing movies, ever. Take five minutes to make a new Firefly movie.

Moving on.

So Shakespeare was popular. That’s why we still know about it. Now, anyone who has studied his language and writers of that time do know that he was a good writer in the way he turned a phrase. But that takes further understanding. So, why don’t we convey this when teaching Shakespeare? Just because he’s popular, do we have any evidence that he was any good?

Another reason to hate Shakespeare is because he stole just about everything he wrote. Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello... these were all based on histories that he fictionalized, plays written by other writers, or popular stories of the day. You know how we all complain about reboots and sequels? Yeah, look at our boy Shakespeare. Fun fact: The story that Midsummer Nights’ Dream was based on ended with a gay marriage, Shakespeare wrote it out of the ending of his play.

In fact, evidence is that Shakespeare only wrote one completely original play, The Tempest, which is said to be written about why he no longer feels relevant in the ever changing world.

You should also hate Shakespeare because he was a formulaic writer. A lot of things he writes show up in other plays, mostly his comedies. Mistaken identity, love triangles, smart fools, comedic rich people, bumbling servants show up in most of his comedies. Check out the Reduced Shakespeare Company who did a great bit on this, combining pretty much all of his comedies. 

There are plenty of reasons to hate Shakespeare beyond “the language is hard” and “wow he hated women in that one play.” (More on Judith Shakespeare tomorrow.) Yes, it’s perfectly ok to hate Shakespeare. It’s ok to hate Shakespeare and not know much about it. The thing is, if you’re going to hate Shakespeare AND write an article about it, then I would highly recommend being able to speak about it in an intelligent fashion. I just gave you a few reasons explore right there.

But it’s never ok to hate Firefly. 

SOA Fridays: It's Hamlet, but with more Leather

Recently, I explored the world of Breaking Bad. The fact that I felt because of the symbolism, the characters, and plot, not only was it literature but it had a Shakespearean bent. Of all the posts I’ve written on this website, that was the most visited, and something I’m proud of. 

It’s important to keep in mind that while exploring that, there was no direct parallel to any of the bard’s works. There were some things we could compare, but Vince Gilligan, the writer of Breaking Bad, at no point said, “Walter White represents Macbeth.” It just sort of turned out this way.

A few people pointed me to a show I hadn’t watched before called Sons of Anarchy, which is a Hamlet story. In this event, yes, the show is exactly that... the story of Hamlet, with some parallel characters, themes, etc. So I decided to give it the same treatment that I gave to Breaking Bad, and I’m going to start during this, the celebration of Shakespeare’s Birthday.

Welcome to the first installment of Sons of Anarchy Fridays, here on Bad Shakespeare.

If you would ask anyone what the most adapted Shakespearean work was, you’d probably come down to two answers: Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. The label “Romeo and Juliet in a...” gets thrown around a LOT, and is essentially used to describe any story that features two star crossed lovers, (or parents who hate each other. Or rival gangs. Or rival monster groups. Or... you get the idea.) while ignoring the deeper themes of death, life, mistaken identity, and war. But for true adaptations that try to capture the theme, that would have to be Hamlet. 

It makes sense, too, believed to be written following the death of his own son, Hamlet explores a father/son relationship as well as the ideas of loyalty, family, revenge, madness, action vs inaction, fate, ghosts...

So Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy (SOA) said, hey, let’s set it all in a biker gang!

SOA tells the story of Jax Teller, the Vice President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original (SAMCRO or Sam Crow). As the story opens, his junkie ex-wife prematurely gives birth to his son, Abel, and he finds a storage unit containing the diaries of his father, John Teller. SAMCRO has been in the gun running business and generally owns the town of Charming, California (including having a complicated relationship with the law... sort of love/hate.) and the diaries indicate that this isn’t what his father wanted. But more on that as we go along.

Running the club is Jax’s Uncle-father, Clay Morrow, who was John’s best friend, and now married to Jax’s mother following the death of John, Gemma. So yeah, there’s your Hamlet/father connection right there. There are other characters as well, including Clay’s right hand man Tig, middle of the road Bobby Elvis, Not quite a member Half-Sack, Horatio stand-in Opie, Club co-founder Piney, Juice, and Chibbs, all plaing very specific roles. There’s also Tara, the doctor who left Charming, and is the main love interest. 

Let me start out by saying that this show is incredibly violent. Not Titus Andronicus violent mind you, but you are dealing with a biker gang. One of the things that always amuses me when looking at things like this and Breaking Bad are the little ways the writer gets you to look at something like a violent biker gang and say, “hey... these are the good guys... I want them to win!” But we will explore this as well, and the brilliant way it is done. 

Now, this is a Hamlet story, so it’s important that we remember what that means. We are talking about a story that has Hamlet-type elements, in this case a strong focus on father/son relationships as well as revenge, death, and a few other themes. This isn’t a shot for shot remake of Hamlet with people wearing biker helmets and getting into turf wars. This has elements of Hamlet in it, the most obvious being the mother marrying the “brother” type situation and the prince/VP/cool biker dude. (Who is referred to as a prince several times.)

Take Gemma for instance, which we are going to explore. Gemma is clearly the Gertrude character, the mother of the hero who married his “brother”. However, while Shakespeare never really answered that question, “What did Gertrude know?” Gemma clearly knows just about everything, and manipulates everything behind the scenes, just like Volumnia in Coriolanus. Fine, just like that one chick in the scottish play. You happy now?

I mentioned earlier that one of the the things that’s so great with some of Shakespeare’s works is the ability to set them in just about any time. Some of them. Some of those themes are universal. Hamlet is one of those stories that has a timeless appeal to it. Father/son issues will remain a good story narrative until the end of time. When I started SOA, I was curious as to how that would play out, and it has been an interesting ride. I’m looking forward to exploring more of it as the show continues (for me, at least, I’m only up to Season 4, I hope to be up to season 6 by the time I write the next Sons of Anarchy post next Friday.) 

I look forward to exploring this show as a Hamlet narrative, and thus justifying why you should be watching it instead of doing your homework.