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poliphiloI'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.
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.
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Date: 2007-07-24 11:20 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2007-07-24 11:49 am (UTC)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!