Sons of Anarchy Come Riding into FX

The success of the Sopranos, the long running mob series on HBO, is inevitably leading to more series about criminal organizations. The latest in this genre is Sons of Anarchy, a series on FX about a California motorcycle gang that adds in elements of Hamlet.

Sons of Anarchy, which is the creation of long time The Shield producer/writer Kurt Sutter, stars Charlie Hunnan as Jax, the Hamlet character, Ron Pearlman as Clay, the Claudius character, and Katey Sagal as Gemma, the Gertrude character. Clay is not really Jax's Uncle, but he married Jax's mother Gemma and took over the Sons of Anarchy after Jax's father, who used to run Sons of Anarchy, died.

Under Clay's leadership, Sons of Anarchy operate a number of illegal enterprises, including a gun running operation. They also behave, in the small town of Charming, California, like the horde of Attila the Hun, beating people to a pulp, murdering other people in various grisly ways, and generally doing what they want, when they want it.

Why the fascination with criminals in popular culture? Most people know that folks like the Sopranos, Sons of Anarchy, or the Corleones need to be put away at the very least, blown out of their socks with shot guns if necessary. But we like watching them perform their various atrocities, whether it is Michael Corleone wiping out the heads of the Five Families, Tony Soprano having one of his own wacked almost once an episode, or the various horrors that no doubt the Sons of Anarchy will commit for the edification of the viewing public.

Part of the reason may be the oft made comparison of criminals to the Great Men of history. What was Julius Caesar (depicted in HBO's series Rome) or Henry VIII (in Showtime's The Tudors) but Mafiosi writ large. Tony Soprano fought to control his little part of New Jersey. Julius Caesar wanted the whole of the known world. What is Clay in Sons of Anarchy but a Viking chieftain on a Harley, raping and pillaging at will?

Of course criminal, whether they be Sicilian Mafiosi like Tony Soprano or hog riding bandits like Clay, are really when one gets down to it tawdry little figures, not to be compared to history making giants like Caesar or Attila?

So again, why the fascination? Perhaps there is a little part of us who wonders what it might be like to be quit of the rule of law and to solely follow the dictates of our wants. Most of us would never give into the temptation. Law, custom, or religion keeps us safe from the animal part of ourselves. But what a guilty joy it may be for some to vicarious live a life free from all that by watching it on TV. That is the real, guilty fascination of shows like Sons of Anarchy.

Source: Sons of Anarchy, IMDB