thread: 2009-11-23 : The interesting prob with Sons of Anarchy
On 2009-11-24, valamir wrote:
I'm not seeing it.
I think the show goes out of its way to show Clay as being both dedicated to the good of the club, just with radically different ideas on what actually IS good for the club. Much the same way as politics involves people being passionate about what's good for the country with radically different ideas about what actually IS good for the country.
Clay clearly views the SoA as being a net benefit to Charming and thus feels ok with the excesses they take as being their just due. The show suggests that the majority of Charming agrees with them. While the writers clearly have control over what the townsfolk feel, I can easily see how many people in the real world would have no problem with the SoA in their town. Sure they're an extra legal organization, but they keep their shit out of our town and their presence keeps the majority of dirtbags off the street...I think history is full of examples where that was a generally acceptable situation for a community.
So I'm not seeing the show illustrate Clay as being any less moral than Jax. They both have the weakness of plunging in without considering the consequences, and that's where they become their own worst enemy. But I haven't seen either do anything that wasn't (at the time) seen as being right for the club...even if later it was shown to be poor judgement. I think pretty much all of the SoA club acts regularly with poor judgment, but I don't see much difference in morality.
Now this is a Monkey Sphere morality that divides the world in to "me and mine" vs. everything else. But I don't see the writers showing Jax as being any different in that regard.
