By: Teah Henry 

I recently finished my first watch through of ‘The Sopranos’, and I wasn’t the only one who was binging the show. According to HBO, the show’s viewership went up 179% at the start of the pandemic. ‘The Sopranos’ still manages to be relevant today with its commentary on mental health, social issues, and American capitalism despite its finale airing in 2007. 

The show cemented itself as a staple in television history with its realistic, complex characters and being one of the first shows that proved T.V. could be just as effective as film.

It was also one of the first to utilize the anti-hero; a protagonist that the viewer isn’t meant to agree with or even like. ‘The Sopranos’ paved the way for other shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Rescue Me’. 

It’s not far fetched to say that most mafia stories are critiques of capitalism. They take place in a system that encourages cheating and competitiveness, and the members are often not happy with the way things are. The way that only a few in the mafia make a large profit while sending out lower ranking members to do the dangerous work is reminiscent of the small amount of people that hold the majority of wealth while most Americans are stuck working for a living. Christopher’s frustrations with Tony are the same as workers towards their own bosses; feeling used and not cared about. 

During the pandemic, the rich got insanely richer while the working class struggled to make ends meet. Congress couldn’t agree to send out another stimulus check a year after the first one, while other countries were consistently sending them out monthly. A lot of people became aware of America’s unfair distribution of wealth, and ‘The Sopranos’ bleak look at how capitalism only keeps its citizens unhappy helped people feel heard. 

Tony’s struggle with his mental health was also something viewers could relate to. Struggling with depression and panic attacks, Tony has to hide his problems to nearly everyone in his life due to social stigma. Tony’s inability to feel completely happy and satisfied is something a lot of people deal with, especially now as living conditions in America become worse.

Teens may also see themselves in the character AJ, Tony’s son, who is a teen throughout most of the show. He inherited his father’s mental health issues. His struggle with school and finding a purpose in his life is familiar to many. 

While almost all of the characters in ‘The Sopranos’ are irredeemable, there is something relatable about their feelings and struggles, and the commentary it makes will always ring true with American culture. 

By: Mohamed Ahmed

As you may know, ‘Attack on Titan’ season 4, is coming out weekly. As of March 24th there are 16 episodes out. This anime is arguably the most watched seasonal anime coming out right now. Apparently, season 4 is the final season of the anime, and this is what I think about the season so far. 

Animation 

The animation for this last season is really good. The studio in charge is most known for doing another anime called ‘Vinland Saga’. The animation studio is WIT studio.

They have the task of animating much harder things and details than the other seasons, like the technological advancements in this series during the timeskip. Trains, guns, and explosions are rampant in this season making it a much more difficult task to animate. Even with all that, they are doing a great job with consistency and the animation is much better than expected. 

Voice acting 

For this season, you have good news for both sub (Japanese) and dub (English), because the voice acting is phenomenal. Especially in Japanese, this part of the anime is flawless.

The octaves of the voices changed according to what they used to sound like, and for me personally, they sound exactly like what four years would do to someone; older characters sound the same as younger characters grew up. 

Designs 

The designs are really good for most characters. The main character, his sister, and his best friend have all aged and the designs were really good. On top of that, the change in animation really made the designs look significantly better because we were unfamiliar with this animation style.

Changes 

This is by far the worst part of this season. The changes they made to save time cheapens the story. They keep the most important parts intact, but the foreshadowing and other details, like character interaction and buildup, were removed. The more time passes the worse it will get, and the more they will skip.

They are claiming that this is the final season, but to this day, the manga is still coming out.

By: Teah Henry

‘Freaked’ is a 1993 comedy written and directed by Alex Winter and Tom Stern. It stars Alex Winter as smug celebrity Ricky Coogin, who is hired by the company Everything Except Shoes, or E.E.S. for short, as a spokesperson to speak against accusations that the company is producing a harmful toxic waste. Sent to South America by E.E.S., Ricky and two of his friends end up taking a detour to visit a freak show, only to find that it’s run by a mad scientist who kidnaps them and turns them into freaks for his show. 

The movie was originally an ‘Evil Dead’ style horror movie starring the band Butthole Surfers. After some rewrites, it became a surrealist comedy more in line with the directors’ MTV show, ‘The Idiot Box’.

When they pitched the film to Fox, Joe Roth was the studio head, and he gave them twelve million dollars as a budget. Unfortunately, Roth would be fired during ‘Freaked’ being filmed, and was replaced by Peter Chernin, who did not like the film and cut the budget.

‘Freaked’ made only $30,000 dollars in theaters, mostly due to the cutting down Chernin and Fox did to the budget and publicity. 

It’s a shame the movie didn’t do well at its release, because it’s one of the most creative comedies out there. It feels like it easily could have become a classic alongside other movies such as ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’.

It’s surreal humor features jokes where an outhouse is humongous on the inside, or how the villain character can’t hear a loud crash but can hear a styrofoam cup falling to the floor. It never misses a beat with the laughs, and the script is actually pretty smart with some jokes being cleverly set up in the beginning of the movie, only for the punchline to appear near the end. 

If the humor isn’t your thing, its special effects are worth watching the movie for on their own. Done by three different companies, the effects in ‘Freaked’ create an ensemble of people turned into freaks such as a human worm and a man with a nose bigger than his face. It’s all done incredibly well, especially the make-up for Ricky Coogin, once he’s turned into a half-human, half-beast. It was even nominated for a Saturn Award for best make-up. 

Despite its troubled release, ‘Freaked’ has become somewhat of a cult hit. It’s not available anywhere to watch officially, but the movie has been uploaded on YouTube in its entirety and has nearly one million views. Most people that have seen it agree that it’s a good movie while being very, very weird. 

‘Freaked’ is a look at how films and their creators can get shortchanged by a big studio, but luckily, some films are able to gain a decent fan base based simply on the quality of the movie alone. If you need a movie to watch, ‘Freaked’ is a good one to check out.