The Wire

[poliphilo]

I've been reading that The Wire is the greatest TV show ever and I got a chance to watch the first episode last night so I did. 

OK-  it's gritty, OK-  it treats the crims with sympathy (which may be new to TV but isn't new to literature or cinema) but otherwise we get the usual testosterone-heavy shit with a pretty-looking white guy (in a sea of black faces) playing the maverick cop we're supposed to identify with and no women in starring roles except for the token lesbian cop who is so tough she's effectively a man.  (Phew, that was a long sentence!). So- and nobody I've read has noticed this which makes it even sadder-  it comes with racism and misogyny built in. Maybe if I stick with it I'll change my mind, but right now I'm thinking same old, same old.

Comments

[upasaka.livejournal.com]

a bit of The Wire - related trivia, although you have now seen more of the show than I have:

Actor Lance Reddick grew up at Grace and St. Peter's. In fact, I think he was in the boys choir. His mother Dorothy, is still a regular, and quite a character. She taught music in the Baltimore City schools for decades.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So which character does Lance play?

The guy who plays Jimmy McNulty is actually a Brit- and not only a Brit but an upper-crust Brit who went to Eton. What a huge cultural leap!

[pdcawley.livejournal.com]

That would be because it's essentially documentary fiction; the world it's portraying comes with racism and misogyny built in. Stick with it, seriously, the characters are way more complicated and nuanced than you're ever going to get in the first hour of the show.

And if you think McNulty's supposed to be the sympathetic one...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK- you've whetted my appetite.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

I strongly suggest that you get hold of the Danish crime-drama series" Ornen" or "The Eagle - a crime odyssey" ... beats the rest hands down.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into it.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

I know a few people who love this TV show. I watched it- thought it was OK, but yeah- the blurring of the lines of documentary and fiction kind of lost my interest.

If I'm going to watch a documentary, I want it to be real. If it's fiction, I want it to have a wild conceit, like LOST, or at least be a bit closer to something I'm interested in. Fiction and documentary? Hmm. I feel like it the same as I feel about Neil Stephenson's massive System of the World trilogy. If I'm going to read history, I'd rather read REAL history than half-real.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I feel rather the same. I'm not sure I want to spend on those hours on the projects in Baltimore.

But I'll watch a few more episodes before I make up my mind.

[sommeilbienivre.livejournal.com]

Have you watched any Homicide: Life on the Street? It is by far the better Baltimore-based crime shows. The characters are much more human, and the women characters are appealing, and struggle with the idea of strength rather than just masculinity.

As a side note, I had the opportunity to talk to Dominic West on set one time. Really nice guy who loves Shakespeare.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Homicide. On the whole I avoid cop shows. I find them a bit samey. I only made an exception for The Wire because people were saying, "Oh wow, this is as good as Dickens or Tolstoy!"