I got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine yesterday concerning GH's Sonny & A.J. She insisted that A.J. was a bad father because he was an alcoholic while Sonny deserved to be a dad to Michael. My argument was that Sonny has no rights to be a parent considering he kills people for a living along with Jason and I resent GH for trying to paint both of these men as heroes. I also pointed out that A.J. never truly got to be a parent to Mike because Sonny forced him to sign away his rights and that horrible witch Carly started this mess when she lied about Jason being the dad.
Are fans in love with Sonny and Jason because of the actors who play them or are they just blinded by the good looks?
These men are despicable characters along with OLTL's Todd.
I think some fans are blinded by their love for the actors and or their good looks. But to be fair Billy Warlock is not even close to being an unattractive man.
Clearly the writers care more about Sonny and Jason so they prop them up whenever possible and all but purposely destroyed the AJ character, who never had a chance to be a father. They wrote it like behing an alchoholic was worse than killing people.
The whole thing was so odd first Tony was the father, then Jason and then AJ and someone it became Sonny's child. I never understood it. it never made any sense how Sonny could have any claim over the child.
Praying The Daytime Emmys air on TV in 2010!
Posts: 20043 | Location: just outside Providence, Rhode Island | Registered: July 28, 2002
Billy Warlock is a talented & good-looking man, so I don't think we can claim fans were "blinded". If anything, GH fans were pretty passionate about the issue and both sides were represented.
Personally, I don't hang with mobsters so Sonny's flaws didn't strike a chord with me. Alcoholism is another story -- and it SUCKS to raised by an addict. I would not wish that on anyone. If anything people just brought their real-life experiences & prejudices to how they saw the story.
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People seem to miss the fact that Sonny is a criminal because the show propagandizes for him, while at the same time they demonized A.J. Because A.J. was painted as the villain of the storyline, that's what viewers take away if they're not critical enough in their viewing. A.J. was the "bad guy," and Sonny is a "loving, devoted father," because that's what the show told us. Those of us who look one layer deeper understand that Sonny is a violently unstable, unfit father whose children and loved ones have been shot, kidnapped, blown up, and strangled as the direct result of his business.
Bob Guza wants Sonny to be Tony Soprano, but he overlooks two important facts: (1) Tony's children, though not immune to the effects of his father's business, were off limits when it came to the violence of it, and (2) David Chase and company never mistook Tony Soprano for heroic. He was a fascinating man capable of great love and loyalty to his family, but he was also venal, thuggish, unfaithful, and sociopathic. Guza is afraid to dwell on Sonny's obvious negative qualities because he thinks little of his audience. Not only does he think he needs to whitewash the character to make him palatable, he also thinks we'll fall for it!
My feelings about Sonny, Jason, and their portrayers has always been mixed. I think Maurice Benard and Steve Burton are terrific actors, and GH is lucky to have them. But writing them as heroes and overlooking their villainy -- and to do this Guza has demonized any character who opposes them, especially law enforcement -- he has alienated the more perceptive members of his audience -- that is, those of us with eyes and ears. What's worse, he's gotten the impression that this is the stuff we enjoy, so he keeps writing for thugs and punks (Lorenzo and Diego Alcazar, Jerry Jacks, Johnny Zacchara) and butchering any women who don't fall madly in love with them.
So syrus80, if your ever argue with your friend again, just read him or her my post, or direct them to this message board where any number of us will be happy to let them know what time it is.
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"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
I don't find Warlock or Burton attractive. Benard I found attractive before his character made me physically sick. I can't stand to look at him now. Iganacio Serrachio was so hot when he came back as the killer. I turned off the sound and just lusted after him. Wouldn't it be great if Diego turned out to be Michael's father and he posed shirtless while holding a newly born Michael? Johnny could decide that he's gay and Diego and Johnny could become the hot gay couple who have sweaty, nude sex.
It's interesting that GH created the show in the SOPRANOS mold. I tried watching that show, and I found it so broad that I wondered if it were a comedy. I never understood the appeal. I agree with what 742 wrote about how the writers have depicted Sonny and Jason.
I didn't think anyone fell for the character assassination done on AJ. I remember people being outraged.
Crystal, you had to go and find the one storyline idea that would make Johnny Zacchara palatable to me.
And of course, while Johnny and Diego are embracing their inner gayness -- or rather, each other's -- I think it's about time that Sonny and Jason admit that they've really been in love with each other all these years. Seriously, there are no characters in daytime less aware of how in love with each other they are than Sonny and Jason.
... Well, maybe Luke and Ethan.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Originally posted by 742: And of course, while Johnny and Diego are embracing their inner gayness -- or rather, each other's -- I think it's about time that Sonny and Jason admit that they've really been in love with each other all these years. Seriously, there are no characters in daytime less aware of how in love with each other they are than Sonny and Jason.
I could not I agree more.
I can never get behind Sonny being Michael's father when basically the only way he got him was by hanging AJ on that meat hook til he agreed to sign away his parental rights.
Posts: 441 | Location: Sands Point, Long Island | Registered: June 19, 2007
Originally posted by 742: And of course, while Johnny and Diego are embracing their inner gayness -- or rather, each other's -- I think it's about time that Sonny and Jason admit that they've really been in love with each other all these years. Seriously, there are no characters in daytime less aware of how in love with each other they are than Sonny and Jason.
I could not I agree more.
I can never get behind Sonny being Michael's father when basically the only way he got him was by hanging AJ on that meat hook til he agreed to sign away his parental rights.
But AJ never really agreed to give them away, they hung him on a meat hook, forced booze down his throat and tortured him until he was so worn out he didn't know what he was doing. And then the writers found every way to demonize AJ for it!
I've always wanted to see a storyline where Micheal now of age realizes what Sonny and Carly are like and finds out for himself what really happened and finds a way back into the Quatermaine family.
The entire story has been mishandeled from day one---the way Jason has cut out the Quatermaines because they were selfish and materialistic and yet he has no problem hanging with gangsters and thugs who murder?
Praying The Daytime Emmys air on TV in 2010!
Posts: 20043 | Location: just outside Providence, Rhode Island | Registered: July 28, 2002
Originally posted by syrus80: I got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine yesterday concerning GH's Sonny & A.J. She insisted that A.J. was a bad father because he was an alcoholic while Sonny deserved to be a dad to Michael. My argument was that Sonny has no rights to be a parent considering he kills people for a living along with Jason and I resent GH for trying to paint both of these men as heroes. I also pointed out that A.J. never truly got to be a parent to Mike because Sonny forced him to sign away his rights and that horrible witch Carly started this mess when she lied about Jason being the dad.
Are fans in love with Sonny and Jason because of the actors who play them or are they just blinded by the good looks?
These men are despicable characters along with OLTL's Todd.
Thoughts?
i don't care how many people they have killed, you can't compare them to todd manning, he is the devil.
Posts: 1216 | Location: Prince Edward Island | Registered: January 24, 2006
Originally posted by syrus80: I got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine yesterday concerning GH's Sonny & A.J. She insisted that A.J. was a bad father because he was an alcoholic while Sonny deserved to be a dad to Michael. My argument was that Sonny has no rights to be a parent considering he kills people for a living along with Jason and I resent GH for trying to paint both of these men as heroes. I also pointed out that A.J. never truly got to be a parent to Mike because Sonny forced him to sign away his rights and that horrible witch Carly started this mess when she lied about Jason being the dad.
Are fans in love with Sonny and Jason because of the actors who play them or are they just blinded by the good looks?
These men are despicable characters along with OLTL's Todd.
Thoughts?
i don't care how many people they have killed, you can't compare them to todd manning, he is the devil.
But that still doesn't make it right that the writers have villianized any character that oppose Sonny and Jason because they claim to be the moral authority on everything in town.
Praying The Daytime Emmys air on TV in 2010!
Posts: 20043 | Location: just outside Providence, Rhode Island | Registered: July 28, 2002
