The Wire
at 9:48am on Thursday, 17th April 2008
If you haven’t got round to watching The Wire yet then you are missing a treat. You might have mistaken it for just another American TV series sensationalising drugs and violence but The Wire is very different. Set in Baltimore, the series focuses on the subtle interplay between drugs cartels, the role of police and the corruption of politics.
It regularly (and starkly) demonstrates the power and weakness of institutions, their dysfunctionality and how they regular betray the people that are part of them. But more than this, the series is a social commentary, in the words of the director ‘a deliberate argument that unencumbered capitalism is not a substitute for social policy; that on its own, without a social compact, raw capitalism is destined to serve the few at the expense of the many.’
My favourite quote to date however is the attempt by the creator, David Simon to wrestle with our failings as individuals and the culture we have created, both in organisations but more broadly in society.
We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them.
It regularly (and starkly) demonstrates the power and weakness of institutions, their dysfunctionality and how they regular betray the people that are part of them. But more than this, the series is a social commentary, in the words of the director ‘a deliberate argument that unencumbered capitalism is not a substitute for social policy; that on its own, without a social compact, raw capitalism is destined to serve the few at the expense of the many.’
My favourite quote to date however is the attempt by the creator, David Simon to wrestle with our failings as individuals and the culture we have created, both in organisations but more broadly in society.
We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them.
LOGIN to add comments
Comments
I, too, have just started watching The Wire on DVD. In addition to your points above, about the show's commentary on social issues, The Wire also demonstrates what project-based and problem-based learning can look like for adults. The primary detectives in the show are a group of misfits, drunkards and rookies who have been cobbled together from other departments, which are happy to get rid of them. Along the way, in their shared task force work, they come to learn new things, improve their skills, and perhaps transform themselves.
Because I've been paying attention to education problems lately in my town, I was particularly struck by how this show is demonstrating through its characters the positive arguments for project/problem-based learning. For students who are disengaged, this kind of learning provides a means for tapping into their creative thinking and providing learning that provides purpose and meaning.
Steve Dahlberg
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
Connecticut, USA
http://www.appliedimagination.co.uk
Back from the Brink
Few places are gloomier than a ghetto on a cold, wet night. Boarded-up houses back onto rubbish-strewn alleys. Shopkeepers shelter behind bullet-proof glass. Doubled up on the pavement, a young woman sobs uncontrollably, because she has just blown a week's wages in a bar. Passing police officers establish that she has a home and advise her to go there before she freezes.
Outside a liquor store, a policeman pats down a suspect. The suspect's trousers are halfway down his thighs. You might think this an impractical fashion for someone who often needs to run away from the police. But the suspect insists he is no longer a criminal. He has a good reason for loitering for hours in the rain on a nearly derelict street notorious for drug-dealing. He is waiting for someone, he says... Baltimore's police chief, Frederick Bealefeld, prefers not to rely on divine intervention. With 282 murders last year among a population of 630,000, Baltimore was one of the most violent cities in America. But since last summer, the killing has slowed. The six months to March this year saw an impressive 28% fewer murders than the same period a year earlier. Mr Bealefeld credits smarter policing, and says he is cautiously optimistic that the trend will continue.
Television dramas such as “The Wire” may give the impression that Baltimore is a hellhole. It is not. Most of the city is calm and pleasant. Only a couple of areas are crime-ridden. And even in these areas, relatively few young men commit—and are the victims of—the most serious crimes. Last year, 89% of those murdered in Baltimore had a criminal record. (I can't give any more of the article away but it is worth a look)...
From a TV company's perspective, I can see why it wouldn't be popular: it makes almost all other television look bad by comparison. Ditto a casual viewer: If I saw the middle of an episode in the middle of a season, without having watched it all before, I'd find it baffling and incomprehensible. It's a TV show that doesn't care about TV formatting, and instead (according to the creators) bases itself on the slow, complex tropes of epic novels.