4. Ditch The "Shakespearean Influence"
Before the pilot aired there was a lot of hype behind
Sons of Anarchy due to the promotion of the show as a modern telling of
Hamlet, set within the context of an outlaw motorcycle club. When you think about the premise, its really kind of silly. There is also the stigma of when something is promoted as being based off of
Hamlet that a lot of peoples' first reaction is going to be, Soeveryone dies?
Sons of Anarchy was also creator Kurt Sutters new show, coming right after
The Shield had just ended its magnificent run, so I was going to watch it no matter how it was promoted. In the first season it actually worked out better than I had anticipated. Dont be fooled by the description as a modern version of
Hamlet, the show is more of a drama that features several plot devices from the play. The most obvious of which is the dynamic between Jax, Clay, and Gemma mirroring that of Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude. One of the more clever integrations of
Hamlet is Jax reading his fathers memoirs. As the show has gone on they have become less prominent, but initially voiceovers of John Teller seemingly speaking to his son were in almost every episode. It was a clever play on the ghost of Hamlets father. Anymore the comparisons between
Sons of Anarchy and Shakespeare seem stretched. Now its become popular to cite
Macbeth as another influence for the show due to the role that Gemma played in Clay usurping the throne of SAMCRO from John. Its an apt comparison, but the problem is that it's leading to a lot of strained efforts to bring Shakespeare back into play. The show has really become its own story and should stick to evolving what it has already built, and not worry about trying to maintain dated plot devices.