Sons of Anarchy the Modern 'Godfather'?

Sons of Anarchy Influence by 'The Godfather'?

Sons of Anarchy saw a middle aged man named Jax Teller struggling to find balance between his duties as a father and those as a member of a motorcycle club. That was the first season. He was conflicted. As time went by, Jax found himself in the position of leadership in the club. Those familiar with the show will know that the motorcycle club is actually a front for more

serious, illegitimate business activities such as the guns trade. Jax wants the club out of the guns business, just as his father did before he died. Just like his father, he, too, is conflicted by the present work of the club, and pursues a way out of the criminal endeavors to create some form of stability for his family, now consisting of 2 boys, both still very young.

Six seasons later, he is still trying to achieve this objective of his. The path out of guns has been long and is still not over. During that time, the club, known as SAMCRO, found its hands in drugs as well, which the show portrays to be a deadlier line of work. They’ve had run-ins with various law enforcements agencies, been in prison for 14 months, and botched several efforts to work with the cops in return for immunity. 

As the show progressed into the later seasons, I realized that the series was actually based on the story of an old film, a classic to be exact. It happened to be the Godfather, or rather The Godfather Trilogy. The Godfather sees Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone accept the reigns of his father’s empire following his father’s falling into illness and the death of his elder brother, Sonny. Just like Jax Teller, he was reluctant to embrace this position of responsibility. Just like Jax Teller, he promised to his wife to get the family out of the criminal enterprise within the space of a few years. Just like Jax Teller, his efforts to free himself and his family from the criminal world only managed to push him deeper and deeper into that abyss, and along the way, both of them have done deeds that are questionable. Both have killed in the pursuit of their cause. Both characters adopted a “by all means necessary” policy. 

Clearly, there are parallels between the TV show and the movie trilogy and it may seem like that the show borrowed from The Godfather, or rather was influenced by it. Kurt Sutter has not made any reference to The Godfather in interviews, but he did say that the premise for the show was derived from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The backstory involving Jax’s father can be explained through its resemblance to Hamlet. His father was murdered by his wife (Jax’s mother of course) and best friend (Clay Morrow played by Ron Perlman), who had an affair going. Unlike Jax’s father, they didn’t want the club to get out of guns. So the story’s origin is clearly influenced by Hamlet. Jax’s father, mother and the father’s best friend are based on King Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius respectively. The similarities, however, disappear or are difficult to discern later on with regard to the story as 6 seasons with a dozen episodes each can create enough twists and turns along the way. And anyway, ‘Sons’ is not meant to be a carbon copy of Shakespeare’s work. 

 ‘Sons of Anarchy’ develops it seasons slowly and steadily. In the first 6 to 8 episodes, it’s difficult to say in which direction the show will head, because each character has a different objective and end game in mind. This season, Jax, as always, wants out of guns. His wife Tara, wants to get the kids and run as far away as possible from the motorcycle club. Then there are the law enforcement agencies trying to incriminate SAMCRO. Towards the end of the season, I must say that it becomes even harder to discern the direction of the show, with so many twists and turns along the way. Last week, a series regular was surprisingly killed off and the audience’s expected course of action had to be discarded. There is no way to predict the show’s plot at any point. 

My point is that it’s foolish to act clairvoyant and predict the storyline of the show because it has a resemblance to either The Godfather or Hamlet. The show has progressed through 6 seasons, a long time on TV and as a result, the subsequent plots and subplots make it difficult to draw these parallels, and we shouldn’t, because Sutter and his team have provided a truly original take on a crime saga in the 21^st century. The purpose of the article to me, was to illuminate the influence of one of cinema’s timeless classics and its reach on creative work even today, even though the show’s creator attributes his inspiration to a much older piece of work by Shakespeare.

Last week’s episode saw Katey Sagal’s Gemma Teller talk to her boyfriend Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits). She asked him if he was thinking about cutting ties with the club and its “activities.” He wasn’t sure, but he made a reference to the “Godfather Paradox”. No matter how hard he tries to get out, everything sucks him right back in. Padilla, Jax Teller, everyone has the same problem. The problem Michael Corleone faced in Mario Puzo’s novel. For this very reason, I wouldn’t hesitate to call Sons of Anarchy the modern “Godfather”, a retelling of the 1972 film classic (or the book) in a contemporary format of a man struggling to extricate his family and himself from the clutches of evil, only to find himself entangled in an even harsher fate.