Yet have I something in me dangerous. . .

I've been tossing around a comparison of Jax Teller and Hamlet for a couple of weeks now and am finally ready to get some thoughts down on the proverbial paper.  I'm only scratching the surface with this blog - the comparison could go much deeper.

I was totally into the dark, brooding guys in high school; the guys who always seemed to be contemplating the more depressing aspects of life as they wrote in their black leather-bound journals using black ink and tiny, nearly illegible script.  Although they seemed to carry with them a certain ennui about life on their hunched shoulders, they carried it well - the dark yet neatly donned clothes, the ponytail so carefully slicked back.  So, when we read Hamlet in high school, I have to admit I always felt a certain level of affection for the perpetually prickly prince.  Despite how unfairly he treated Ophelia, I wanted to throw my arms around the suffering Dane and tell him that everything was going to be okay.  His tortured soul was so attractive.  He was so quick to act on some things - how he treated Ophelia, the impulsive murder of Polonius - but contemplative, even strategic in his plotting to avenge his father.  The audience is never entirely certain of his madness (Polonius even recognizes the method to it), never knowing if it is a function of his father's murder and his need for revenge, or if it is a carefully crafted ruse to distract everyone.  And, while we're suffering with him through his "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," Hamlet delivers some great lines to his rivals that makes us think:  "damn, I wish I was quick like that."

Jax Teller doesn't necessarily share Hamlet's appeal as the dark, brooding type.  The attraction to Jax is much more in the "bad boy" vein wrapped up in a male model package.  Yet, we all know Jax to be so much more dynamic than that.  We know, for example, that he's well read - how many of us actually got through Upton Sinclair's The Jungle in high school?  Jax tells Tara that the book almost made him a vegan.  We know how passionate Jax is about the Club - it defines who he is and gives him purpose - something Hamlet never really had. We've seen him contemplate his father's words on the roof of the clubhouse and journal his reflections...maybe he's even penning a new edition to The Rise and Fall of Sam Crow.

Where Jax and Hamlet are similar is much scarier when it comes to Jax's character arc.  Jax is both contemplative and impulsive.  Unlike Clay, he's a big picture guy.  Clay, like Hamlet's uncle Claudius, sees power as an ultimate goal.  We know that Jax understands that it isn't power that's necessarily important - it's what one does with power once it's achieved.  John Teller, like Old King Hamlet's ghost, provides some perspective for his son as he tries to navigate the tricky sphere of influence in Charming.

But Jax is so quick to act that he often undoes his own carefully laid plans.  Consider the episode in Season One when he had Half Sack dig up a dead body to use in a crime scene fabrication in order to distract the Lodi CSI crew away from the burnt gun factory.  Clay initially wanted Tig to find someone to kill, but Jax convinced everyone that using a member of the already-deceased would be better.  Good plan.  Very noble.   Yet on their way to stage the crime scene, a jerk in a mustang cuts Jax off.  They eventually run into the guy again, and guess what:  the guy ends up dead because Jax impulsively confronts him.  Now, Jax didn't actually kill the guy, but his actions created the right formula for the man's death.

Another area where the two characters overlap:  self-loathing increases as time passes.  Hamlet's is based on his role in the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia; Jax's as the MC unravels before him and he feels increasingly powerless to stop the downward spiral and somewhat at fault for it.

Where will these similarities lead Jackson Teller?

I was re-reading some of my favorite quotes in Hamlet today, and this line in particular gave me the chills about Jax:

"Though I am not splenitive (means to be angry, hot headed) and rash, yet have I something in me dangerous."  (Act 5, Scene 1).

And now we see the most impulsive act by Jax yet...to go nomad.  What will the fallout be?  How will he affect change in the Club if he isn't there?  Will Stahl try to turn him?  What will Tara do? We know from the previews for next week that Piney tries to convince Jax to stay, and that Gemma introduces Jax to the theory that his dad's death wasn't an accident (so juicy...did she have a role in John Teller's death? Is she omitting important information?). 

What is it about these characters that make them so appealing? For that matter, what is it about any fictional character that makes them so attractive that we spend our time blogging and tweeting about them?  I've thought about this a lot, and I have a theory:  they are at once larger than life and completely familiar.  We all know someone who reminds us of Jax or Bobby or Clay or Gemma.  Piney in particular reminds me a little too much of one of my relatives.  But we also don't know anyone like Jax or Clay or Gemma....or Hamlet.  They say things we never have the nerve to say and do things we're too chicken to do.  And we, like the Greek Chorus in Oedipus, must watch them make the worst mistakes while we shake our heads and shout "NO! Don't do that!  Zobelle is behind it all!"

They are fantastic, and they are real, and they are really fantastic.

The real world has encroached on my SAMCRO obsession

Alas, my goal of writing a SAMCRO-related blog entry once a week in time for each new episode of Sons of Anarchy has been sabotaged by the real world.  You'd think my boss would be sympathetic to my need to pontificate profusely about a fictional motorcycle club in Northern California, but no.  Other deadlines are pressing.  Sheesh!  I hope to have a new post up by next week, but until then I hope you enjoy this great post by our Sons of Anarchy friends in Portugal:  An interview with Kurt Sutter! 

Enjoy!

http://sonsofanarchypt.blogspot.com/

Anger, Rage, and Sam Crow

My copy of the Sons of Anarchy Season 1 DVD arrived a few weeks ago.  Suffice it to say I've spent a lot of time in front of the T.V. watching the bonus material and re-watching my favorite episodes.  The final episode, The Revelator, tied together a strange motif that's been swimming around in my brain for the last couple of weeks:  Understanding rage and violence.

I just finished reading Sherman Alexie's Flight.  If you've read any Alexie, you know that some common themes in his writing are absent fathers, Indian identity, and anger.  Flight is no different.  Alexie filters these themes in Flight through the eyes of Zits, a half-Indian teenage boy with a history in the foster care system, an absent dad, and a dead mom.  This formula works like as a crucible for his anger and frustration and culminates in an act of Columbine-like violence, egged on by a friend (known only as Justice).  At the moment of crisis, Zits is transported into the body and time of another man.  He spends the better portion of the book traveling through time, into the bodies of other men in unenviable positions, from a Civil War scout responsible for the death of an Indian village, to a flight instructor who not only betrays his wife, but gives flying lessons to a terrorist.  What Zits communicates, subtly, through his excessive profanity and dismissive language (lots of "whatevers") is frustration.  Lots of it.  He's frustrated that his mom is dead, that his dad is a drunk, that each person he inhabits hurts other people for reasons that don't seem to make much sense, and that those same people can be kind, compassionate, even heroic.  Zits returns to his body still angry (though not as much), still an orphan, still cursed with terrible acne, but aware of the pain of the world and aware that he has control over how much he causes.  Alexie asks us to try to understand where rage comes from, what its impacts are, and if understanding the rage could lead to the prevention of its consequences.

No, I'm not on Sherman Alexie's payroll, or the payroll of his publishing house.  And I’m getting to a connection with Sons of Anarchy.

We've been thrown into the tumultuous world of an outlaw motorcycle club without a lot of back-story.  So far, we know that the founding members of the MC were Vietnam War vets and that they returned to an ungrateful country.  With almost every episode, we're being fed slightly more of that back-story.  Most obviously, we know that John Teller became jaded with what the MC became - less about social anarchy and more about retributive violence - and that Piney sympathizes with his views and Clay Morrow (and Gemma) do not.  Gemma may be the reason why the MC is in charming at all (and I’m so excited to get that whole story, aren’t you?).

Rage and anger come from somewhere.  They are actually secondary emotions to frustration, and frustration comes from unmet expectations and disappointments.  Unfortunately, for the residents of Charming, the results of frustration are ever-present.  The town is protected by an MC full of members of a disenfranchised group of society:  war vets.  Most are vets from the Vietnam War, but Chibs and Half-Sack represent a new generation of Vets – those who were created because wars were fought over oil. 

But there are a number of other disenfranchised groups who we’ve encountered through the show, whose issues and frustrations are now becoming clear.  The One-Niners, Mayans, the True IRA, and even the League of American Nationalists represent populations who, in one way or another, have been denied resources, cast aside because of the color of their skin, or castigated because of their beliefs.  Because these resources have been denied, these groups have turned against and fought each other.  You could even say that Gemma represents the 50% of the population who has fought for equal rights to resources longer than any of the others:  women.  (For more on this, see Tim Wise’s video).

But there are also members of this cast of characters who aren’t really members of any disenfranchised groups.  Instead, they represent a generation who has had to fight for identity in a world defined by commercialism, the technological revolution, and wars fought not for ideals but for wealth:  the generation on the cusp between Generation X and the Millennials).  Jax, Opie, and Tara.  Neither are war veterans.  Jax, Opie, and Tara all grew up “in the club,” so for them the MC culture truly is their culture and provides them with an identity that people who enter the club from the outside don’t necessarily have. 

The transformation Jax has experienced after the birth of Abel is similar to the transformation experienced by Zits in Flight.  He sees the bigger picture now.  He understands the impacts his actions and the club’s actions have on other people.  He has the will to act in ways that preserve both the life of the Club and the lives of people connected to the Club.  Yet, as we’ve seen this season, Jax’s ability to stop a lot of violence has been curbed at nearly every turn by the Club itself.  Will he be able to turn the frustration of the Club members into something less than anger?  Will he be the salvation of the club?  Will he be the “balm of Gilead?”

Gilead - Day after news

Gather.com Episode Recap

Sons of Anarchy Season 2 Episode 7

October 20, 2009 11:16 PM EDT

SAMCRO looks good in orange. Good for them, because on Sons of Anarchy Season 2 Episode 7 they're all in the slammer. Gemma and Tara are hard-pressed with the seven figure bail (They'd need 300k even with a bondsman), so in the meantime, Clay is searching for protection from Zobelle's skinheads behind prison walls. He decides to team up with a group of black guys, but to do so, he must deliver a few enemies to them. One such enemy is Dion, a snitch in protective custody. Dion has developed certain tastes since he's been behind bars, if you catch my drift. Jax offers up cute little Juice as bait and arranges for the two to meet undisturbed in the infirmary. Juice lures him into the bathroom, unaware, and under the guise of going to retrieve some condoms, lets in the group of black guys, who proceed to jump Dion. Clay set these events in motion in his attempt to take care of the club; all that happens is that Juice is stabbed in retaliation out in the courtyard, yet another example of his poor leadership.

Katay Sagal Interview - Thanks to Sons of Anarchy Portugal for the link!

Katey Sagal (Sons Of Anarchy)
Uploaded by Tele-Loisirs. - News videos hot off the press.

Sons of Anarchy News - Monday, 10/19/2009

Here's a little Sons of Anarchy fix for your Monday morning: 


‘Sons of Anarchy’ creator Kurt Sutter weighs in on TV business: Emmys, ratings and Leno in primetime

Clark’s Kurt Sutter, creator of FX’s ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ explains how he really feels about Jersey

Ken Tucker's EW Blog about Sons

Ken Tucker's EW Blog about Sons of Anarchy

A bit of an oldie, but some good press, nonetheless.

Gertrude was no Gemma

I've compared Gemma Morrow and Gertrude (Hamlet's mom) in recent posts.  I vow never to do so again.  Gemma transcends Gertrude.

Now, the similarities between Gertrude and Gemma can't be denied.  Gertrude's husband and father of her child dies (is murdered) and she marries the king's younger brother, Claudius (note:  similarity to Clay).  Shakespeare surrounds Gertrude in a little bit of mystery:  because she marries Claudius so soon after King Hamlet's death, and doesn't really appear to mourn, was she involved in the murder?  In Sons, we haven't really been told how long it took Gemma to marry Clay after the accidental  death of John Teller (hit by a semi...that's about all we know, and that he took two days to die).  Gertrude clearly loves Hamlet and wants him to be happy.  She wants him to marry Ophelia, and it pains her to see his descent into madness.  She's also relatively aware that it was her hasty marriage to Claudius that causes Hamlet's malaise.

Much about Gertrude is left to interpretation; Gemma is no different.

However, when Shakespeare penned Gertrude's lines, the reader is not provided with a great deal of character depth.  In fact, if we follow Hamlet's vision of his mother, she represents the so-called weakness of the female gender:  driven by passion and sex.  While she obviously loves her son and does want him to be happy, we have no sense that she will make a sacrifice for him. In the final scene of the play, Gertrude does die in Hamlet's stead, but only by accident.

Gertrude was no Gemma.

Compared to Gertrude, Gemma's character depth is like a glacial lake.  Now, it's undeniable that Gemma is heavily power-driven.  She enjoys her role as Queen and doesn't take kindly to anyone who she perceives as a threat to her influence.  I'm only speculating here, but Gemma might be the type of person who allies themselves with people of power, and when they perceive their power to be waning, they find a way to separate.  Case in point:  Gemma knew John Teller's philosophy about what the MC should be, and that if he was allowed to move the MC forward in that direction, his power in Charming would diminish.  Enter Clay Morrow.  The great thing is, Gemma doesn't appear to be so completely enamored with Clay that her vision for what her life should be is clouded.  Maybe it was when she was younger - but it isn't now.  Does anyone get the sense that Gemma's starting to explore her options now that Clay's arthritis (and judgment) are weakening his stance in the club?

There's a great quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the matriarch of that family tells the heroine:  "The man may be the head of the family, but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she likes."  It's a great reminder that, even in the most paternalistic societies and subcultures, the power dynamic between men and women is always present...sometimes even more so in a culture like Sam Crow.   Gemma knows she's the heart of the MC; perhaps she doesn't understand the depth of that power until her rape...she knows that if Clay and Jax realize she's been attacked (and therefore the center of the MC's power), it will truly break an already weakened club. She could so easily turn the "head" of the club in that direction, but she's wise enough not to.

Within this MC power structure, Gemma sees her role as matriarch as one that requires actions that often cross the ethical divide.  When it comes to family, you gotta do what you gotta do.   Jax (and now Abel, too) are practically the center of her universe, and she didn't really appear to juggle with the ethical implications of giving Wendy enough crank to make Jax a widower.  On the flip side of that coin, Gemma wants to protect what Jax loves - even if she didn't trust Tara in season 1, she gave her a hand gun (serial removed) to protect herself, without knowing who she needed protection from. 

Maybe that's why the Gemma from Season 2 is so much more dynamic and real than the Gemma in Season 1.  I'm not going so far as to say that Karma has come to call, because no one -- and I mean no one ever deserves to be raped, ever -- but I am not afraid to say that the rape was a catalyst for Gemma.  It was a catalyst for a lot of things on the show, but especially for Gemma's character arc.  We've seen her engage in some major self-reflection over the last three episodes, from paging through a bible and John Teller's book, to spending a lot of time in the hospital chapel.  We know Gemma is completely averse to being a victim, and we know she's definitely not going to be made to feel like a victim in a therapists office.  She's going to seek her own path.  I'm willing to bet Gemma's understanding of John Teller's words will come none too soon. 

In a previous entry, I asked that Gemma be given an opportunity to right the wrong that was done to her, and I meant, basically, that I hoped she got to kick someone's ass...really kick it, like, cause enduring, painful, debilitating injuries.  Although I do think the whole "eye for an eye" deal is one that is sometimes useful (and will still cheer Gemma on if she gets to have her retribution), I'm not sure that would be the best outcome.  Maybe if she just gets to face her attacker, confront A.J. about what he and his crew did to her, and let him see that she has not been broken, and that her spirit has transcended the need for physical retribution, then justice will be served.

Then Clay and Jax can have at them.

But where will the similarities between Gemma and Gertrude end?  Will Gemma spend spies after Jax (has she done so already?).  Will she witness Jax's murder of whoever fills Polonius's shoes (hmmm..who is Polonius on the show)?  Will she sacrifice her own life (accidentally or not) to save Jax?


Images:
http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/mothers_day/bd_mom_hamlet.jpg
http://www.daemonstv.com/images/fx/sons_of_anarchy3.jpg

Falx Cerebri

Here's what one looks like, in case you were wondering.  It's very scythe-like, don't you think?

Source:  http://www.somso.de/english/index.htm?f=english/anatomie/qs8_6.htm

Routing: From Kurt Sutter, a thought-provoking video

Kurt Sutter's Blog: Posted video "The Creation of Whiteness"

A really thought provoking youtube video of Tim Wise, noted anti-racist speaker and author.  This really speaks to the idea that the only differences we think there are between "us" and "them" are artificial, and created because it is more profitable for "the man" to propagate otherness than it is to foster brotherhood.

Fuck the man.

Sam Crow and Stereotypes

As a neophyte to the culture Kurt Sutter has introduced to the mainstream through Sons of Anarchy, I feel totally incapable of speaking to the art of motorcycle maintenance or the subtleties of organized crime, gang warfare, or arms dealing.  My experience with motorcycle clubs (outlaw or otherwise) is limited to my interactions with my mechanic in a small town in California that is not unlike Charming.  If I ever had a stereotypical picture in my mind of a motorcycle-riding mechanic, this guy would fit the bill.  Big gut, long white goatee, shaved bald head, Harley-Davidson t-shirt.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I took my Subaru in for an oil change and brake pad replacement.  Within five minutes, however, I was reminded yet again that stereotypes more often than not reflect the exception, and not the rule.  He was one of the nicest guys I've ever met.  Maybe it was because I drove the only Subaru in town and this added some novelty to his shop, or maybe it was because a glitch in the Subaru's computer that developed during my tenure in the town stumped him.

His garage blurred the lines between mechanics and art.  Two of the slots in his garage were for routine oil changes and other maintenance jobs; the other two were for the custom builds - classic cars and motorcycles, and there was some fairly amazing metal working going on.

"John's" office was what really made me like him.  He had a billboard full of pictures of him and his daughter, "Mandy."  From infancy through toddlerhood and beyond, John had documented Mandy's development.  Pictures of him and Mandy on his bike, at her dance recitals, as him dressed as a Hog-riding Santa Claus and her as an elf were my particular favorites.  Sure, there were the requisite posters of scantily clad women on the walls of the shop, some raunchy bumper stickers. John was also the head of the local group of motorcycle enthusiasts.  They rode together in the town Christmas parade and collected funds for anything from the local library to the Lutheran church's food drive for the homeless.

I didn't need Sons of Anarchy to break down the stereotypes I carried around in my head about dudes on bikes.  I had John.  What the Sons of Anarchy is doing is helping the rest of Suburbia understand that this culture is more than what has been typically portrayed in the media.

For example:  James Frey in his book Bright Shiny Morning provides a typical description of an MC member who owns an auto shop.  His name is Tiny.  He fits the description of John, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Tiny spends most of our time with him shouting at his wife on the phone.  He also seems to take pleasure in constantly reminding a new employee that his life is in danger.  And, after a particularly violent attack on Tiny's garage, Tiny completes the image of the terrifying biker dude.  I wont spoil the ending for you.

Stereotype successfully propagated.

The characters in Sons are studies in members of a society we've been shown to be traditionally packed with testosterone, petroleum, and violence - and that's about it as far as complexity goes.  But these residents of Charming are full of a texture and life that make them more real than most real people.  To be sure, this particular stereotype is based on plenty of evidence.  Hunter Thompson not only wrote about the Hell's Angels, but was on the receiving end of a pretty major beating.  Sutter knows this culture.  He's studied them, lived with them, and even spent a birthday with one of the most important and influential members of Hell's Angels (Sutter Celebrates Sonny's 71st). 


And we're the happy beneficiaries of his research.  God, I love this show.

Defending your small town from sprawl: Your friendly neighborhood outlaw MC.

The average Walmart covers 102,000 square feet.  Costcos cover an average of 141,000 square feet. That's store floor area - the parking lot and any road widened to accommodate increased traffic is extra. 

Why do we need these places?  What does a Costco have that my neighborhood supermarket (which still covers an immoral amount of fertile topsoil) doesn't?  A giant jar of pickles? Value packs of Nutella with two - count 'em, two - giant jars?  Why do I need two giant jars of Nutella?  Sure, it's sweet; It constitutes the happy union of milky, creamy, gooey, scrumptiously yummy chocolate and richly sinfull hazelnut.  But do I NEED it?  No.  I certainly do not - the fact that I still haven't lost the last five to ten pounds of pregnancy weight is a testament to that.

Where am I going with this, you ask?  What, you ask, has this to do with Sons of Anarchy?

If you've seen the deleted scenes from Season 1, then you'll know of an interchange between Floyd (the barber) and his employee.  The employee asks Floyd why he always gives Piney a free haircut.  Floyd responds:  "Do you see any Fantastic Sam's? Any Supercuts?" (or something to that effect...I need to check my references).

Now, I'm not expounding on the evils of franchises.  And I'm not necessarily beating a "big box stores are evil" drum.  I'm an active participant in the capitalist structure, and a card-carrying member of Costco.  The issue here is, what good does having all of these conveniences really do?  Are we healthier because of convenience?  Are we more connected to each other?  Is it a good thing that we have access to giant jars of pickles and spreadable chocolate?

I don't know.

One "theme" of Sons of Anarchy is that the MC keeps Charming "charming."  There are no big box stores, no franchises - just lots of mom and pop shops, a quaint main street, kids on bicycles, and a locally-owned and operated auto shop (perhaps even a cigar shop). And, at any given moment there's an illegal store of automatic weapons somewhere within Chief Unser's jurisdiction (or maybe Trammel's).


What do we trade for convenience?  How do we define it, and what does it cost?  Do we define convenience by our access to couture fashion, stores that carry everything you need to survive the day - from Froot Loops to wide-screen televisions?  Or do we define it by non-consumables?  Does it  mean living somewhere we can walk safely from our front doors to our schools, restaurants, and jobs?

Would you speak up at town hall meetings to keep fertile farm land from being sold to developers?  Would you choose to get your oil changed by the local mechanic?  Or would you go for the convenience of the Jiffy Lube?  Would you make the extra effort to stop at the Farmers' Market for your fruit and veggies, or do you prefer the one-stop convenience of Vons?

The fact is, one voice isn't very powerful when it comes to issues like sprawl.  One consumer making the choice to buy local doesn't make much of a difference.  Like Wal-mart, activism deals in volume.  And, when it comes to acting out against sprawl, volume is critical.  Unfortunately, many of the decisions we make about our own communities are made through inaction, or passive acceptance that growth, and all its side-effects (insert drug, crime, or other viral-like transgression here) are inevitable.

Who knows what the populace in Charming would choose if Sam Crow wasn't around?

Maybe we deserve social structures like Sam Crow when we're too passive to make the right choices about our communities.

Sex, Violence, and Motorcycles

Tonight's show - Season 2 Premiere "Albification" - began with the violence of a makeshift target shoot and the wail of automatic weapons. Shells flew through the air like mosquitoes as the Men of Mayhem aimed their guns (I have no knowledge of the subtle differences between one form of murderous weapon and the next) at paper targets. All the while, Anvil's version of The Who's "Slip Kid" raged above the din of the weapons' report. It ends with the brutal rape of my favorite Lady Macbeth/Gertrude, the wonderfully, seductively protective and ambitious Gemma. The image of three men in Michael Myers masks (one of whom is undoubtedly the wicked Henry Rollins, who gives me the shivers when he isn't playing a an Aryan asshole) attacking Gemma while offhandedly apologizing to her "for the trouble" has remained with me all evening. I'm kind of worried I'll have nightmares. I want Gemma to be okay, but I want her to get her revenge even more. Please, Mr. Sutter, let Gemma have her own revenge.  

I love it when television shows - often lambasted by the high-minded "I don't watch television" crew - make me reflect about how morality is a question of shades and hues, and not primary colors. The evil of white supremacy, or any group that operates under the premise that one race is better than another and that races should not mix, and the efforts undertaken by that particular form of evil to dominate others and control societies overshadows any other form of skulduggery that tends to preoccupy the legal system. White hate scares me because of the zealotry behind it. Fundamentalism in any form frightens me, but white hate is absolutely terrifying.  Is it the white robes and dunce caps? Is it the swastika (a much maligned symbol originating in eastern philosophy)? I don't know...I guess that needless rage and anger that makes the world that much more difficult to live in makes me wonder what purpose hate serves.

Perhaps it serves to put in perspective the kind of crime Sam Crow decides to engage in - supplying guns to Oakland gangs, using somewhat illegal means to protect Charming from sprawl - and makes them comparable to the tragic heroes who act out of love but still cause pain. Make no mistake - the SoA are a ruthless crew who use criminal tactics to protect what they hold dear, tactics that result in death and deadly anarchy. No matter how you package it, the SoA does some shit that will eventually require atonement. But Kurt Sutter has made clear that the motives behind the SoA's actions are rooted in love - love of family, love of brotherhood.

I have trouble seeing past the hate that emanates from the Aryan crew to the humans underneath - if they're even there. I have no trouble at all on that front with Sam Crow. The love is there, and that makes their humanity as clear as crystal.

Sons of Anarchy - My New Obsession

I've never been drawn to the mystique of motorcycle culture. The growl of a Harley or Harley imitator has never appealed to my inner bad girl. I don't like bullet bikes because they attract idiots who like to weave around traffic, hang out in blind spots, and compensate for whatever they're lacking by speeding through school zones. This can be traced mainly to the noise. I'm not a fan of the noise. I don't like it when my teeth rattle a little when a guy on a Hog pulls up beside me at a red light. I guess I'm also a little intimidated by the culture drawn to the bike. The black leather, rivets, skid-lid beanie helmets, long beards, tattoos of skulls and naked women....what can I say...they tend to put me on guard. Now I'm generalizing to an entire population...something I'm not a fan of.

Maybe this is also being fed by my new television obsession: The Sons of Anarchy. Everything about this show has me...the violence, the sex, the complex social structure, the use of a leisure activity to cover a subversive subculture, the code of honor among thieves, the loyalty to family, friends, the moral code, the Shakespearean relationship between Jax, his mom, and his step-dad. Can we say Hamlet? Macbeth? I try to imagine myself living in such a community (the version of me not totally averse to the sound of mufflers) and can't quite wrap my head around it. Would I be one of the nameless "innocents" who live a relatively vanilla life while a violent subculture keeps the cogs, nuts, and bolts of my community turning? Or, would I be a member, in the know about secret meetings, black markets, and clashes with other subcultures that sometimes result in death and dismemberment? I'd like to think I'd have some tie-in to the club, but never be privy to any information that could make me a target of a federal probe or professional hit.

All I know is that I can't stop thinking about it. The lives of Jax Teller, Gemma Morrow, and Tara Knowles are as real to me as I let most of my fictional obsessions get. I carry on imaginary conversations with them. Since Tara lived outside of Charming for ten years, does she long for the kind of luxuries she no longer has easy access to? Does she think to herself - "if only there was a Bed, Bath, and Beyond"? or "I would kill for some Stilton cheese right now"? What kind of music does Jax listen to? Are White Snake and Metallica required listening for the two-wheeled? Or is there a relative diversity to the playlists of the SOA members? Would Bobby listen to Andrew Bird, for example? Does Gemma like to dabble in gourmet cooking when she isn't threatening people? Does she have other hobbies, like jewelry making or competitive knife throwing? Does she want to go on vacation to Paris? Hawaii? Timbuktu?

These are tidbits of information I'd like to get my hands on. Too bad this kind of stuff isn't covered in a forty-five minute television drama.