I would also just say that another reason why The Wire is essential viewing is that it takes an institution-based understanding of the problems affecting urban America. David Simon has said that he finds comparisons between The Wire and Shakespeare or The Wire and Dickens misleading, because the individual has too much agency in Dickens and Shakespeare. He prefers to think of the show as Greek Tragedy, with Institutions (The Police Force, The Mayoralty, Newspapers, Poverty etc.) standing in for the Gods. Individuals can try to act within it, with limited success, because ultimately, we aren't as powerful as we think we are.
All five seasons of The Wire share in common this: An individual (or occasionally a few) try to go up against an institution, or change an institution, only to find out they can't institute the change they want to. They then have a variety of responses to this. Think Bunny Colvin and Hamsterdam, or Pres and high stakes testing. Think Jimmy McNulty and how police work is done in general. Or Daniels and stat counts. Gus and Pulitzer Prizes. Every season has a collection of characters who find out exactly how powerful these institutions can be.
No where is this truer than with Tommy Carcetti.
Simon's pretty explicit about all of this-- I think one of the first lines of the commentary track to the first episode is something along the lines of "this isn't a show about cops and criminals, it's a show about institutions". That he could do this while also creating some of the most vivid individual characters is no small feat. But watching the show with an eye towards what is happening institutionally at any given moment reveals new narrative and thematic layers at every turn.
What, you didn't think two days would go by without a post that mentioned The Wire, did you?
So would you say that the show's message is one of defeatism? Do you come away feeling as if institutions can be changed, or that individuals will always be defeated by the institution?
Posted by: Scott Walters | October 31, 2008 at 03:49 PM