The Wire

TV Milestones

by Sherryl Vint

Frequently described by creator David Simon as a novel for television, The Wire redefined the police serial format by unfolding its narrative across many episodes, constructing themes for each of its seasons, and refusing to portray individual crimes outside of their social context. While it never achieved spectacular ratings or won an Emmy during its 2002-2008 run on HBO, the show was honored with several awards and has been described by critics as the best show on television. In this volume, author Sherryl Vint takes a close look at several episodes of The Wire to argue that the series challenges our understanding of the relationship between entertainment and social critique.

Informed by recent work on race, poverty, and the transformation of the American inner city through neoliberalism, Vint provides a compelling analysis of The Wire in four chapters. First, she examines the season 1 episode "The Buys" as an example of the ways in which The Wire diverges from the police procedural format. She continues by considering season 2's "All's Prologue" and season 3's "Middle Ground" to explore in more detail The Wire's critique of the exclusions of the capitalist economy. In the final two chapters, she looks at "Final Grades," the fourth season finale, to highlight the problems with institutional inertia and show both the need for and barriers to reform, and uses the season 5 episode "Clarifications" to consider the failure of the media to adequately reflect the social issues depicted in The Wire.

One of the landmark series of recent television history, The Wire is ripe for research and discussion. Fans of the series and those interested in social commentary and the media will appreciate Vint's new analysis in this volume.

136 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2013

About the author

Sherryl Vint is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and of English at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of Bodies of Tomorrow, Animal Alterity, and Science Fiction: A Guide for the Perplexed, coauthor of the Routledge Concise History of Science Fiction, and coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction.

Reviews

[bencreeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad sack that I am, made use of my university's journal access to read this for free as I rewatch the show for the third time, more gripped than ever. Mostly I thought this was a solid analysis - I hadn't really thought about neoliberalism as the main target of the show, a bit dumb in hindsight, but this helped to shine a light on that. I buy Sherryl's argument that the wire does excellent class commentary but faulty racial commentary - the coexistence of black and white characters hints at a form of racial harmony which is very much not present in America. I liked the idea that Avon, Stringer and Marlo represent the transition from Fordist capitalism to neoliberal capitalism, even if it sounds like some bullshit I'd make up for one of my own essays. There's also a valuable section on women, or the lack thereof, in the show and its production team.

My only real dispute is the idea that because The Wire shows characters being limited by their environments and succumbing to cruel fates that seem literally fated, the show doesn't present social reform as possible. Nope. The writers show how corrupt/underfunded institutions create systemic problems that are very hard to change. But that doesn't mean it suggests they can't be changed, or they shouldn't be changed! Sherryl's implication is that if the show had more examples of characters overcoming their circumstances, it would more convincingly argue for change - the truth is the opposite. So many of our narratives in film and TV - think Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness - show how an individual character can overcome great odds to succeed, reducing the burden of viewers to enact change. By showing how much change needs to be made, and how hard it will be to make those changes, The Wire gives the deepest, most honest assessment of the interrelated compounding issues of neoliberalism that I've ever seen. And, in every episode, makes the case that change is needed, and that the ingredients for change (good people, compassion, humanity) are already there.

[Elias Rosner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that offers a critical analysis of The Wire and its attempts at showing crime and the drug trade with a complexity and nuance that, according to the author, isn't prevalent in most cop shows.