The Wire

~ Clarissa

N and I are still on season 1 of The Wire (yes, we tend to come very late to the TV-watching party), and here are my impressions so far.

The show is very professionally made and extraordinarily entertaining. Of course, there are also many problematic aspects in it, which is not surprising since it’s a popular TV show.

The noble white Knight in a crowd of black people who are, without an exception, inferior to him morally, intellectually and in every other way; the insistent “lazy blacks” motifs; the sexism that is just overwhelming – it’s all there. My understanding is that the creator of the series started working on the idea for the show back in the early 1990s, which explains much of this. It’s probable that these trends will not hold until the end of the series, but season 1 is like this.

But the show is amazing. The comedic aspect is great. The scene where the people in the towers throw TV sets at police officers would make any post-Soviet person collapse with laughter. There are also less successful scenes. The most contrived and jarring was the scene where the characters say nothing but “fuck” for 15 minutes. Even the actors looked embarrassed for participating in something so obviously HBO-pleasing and childish.

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Published by Clarissa

4 thoughts on “The Wire”

  1. “The most contrived and jarring was the scene where the characters say nothing but “fuck” for 15 minutes.”

    I agree. I also cringe at the ‘chess metaphor’ scene, which I won’t spoiler in case you haven’t seen it yet. It was a bit on the nose for a show like this.

    Still, for 60+ hours of solid TV, I’ll allow a lapse or two. Can’t wait until you reach season 4. As an educator, you may find it especially interesting.

    Also, it may be a popular show now but it definitely wasn’t when it was showing on HBO, one of the reasons being that the audience didn’t want to give a show with so many black characters a chance.

    Where are you in season 1?

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    1. Yes, the chess scene was a bit too didactic for my tastes, as well. But we couldn’t stop watching the show until 4 am last night, which is a good indicator of how interesting it is. 🙂

      You were right, I should have watched it a long time ago!

      We are at the point where the gang has spotted Omar’s boyfriend at the arcade. Today we plan to get in at least 2 more episodes.

      Thank you for the recommendation!!

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