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The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television
The first collection of critical essays on HBO's The Wire - the most brilliant and socially relevant television series in years
The Wire is about survival, about the strategies adopted by those living and working in the inner cities of America. It presents a world where for many even hope isn't an option, where life operates as day-to-day existence without education, without job security, and without social structures. This is a world that is only grey, an exacting autopsy of a side of American life that has never seen the inside of a Starbucks.
Over its five season, sixty-episode run (2002-2008), The Wire presented several overlapping narrative threads, all set in the city of Baltimore. The series consistently deconstructed the conventional narratives of law, order, and disorder, offering a view of America that has never before been admitted to the public discourse of the televisual. It was bleak and at times excruciating. Even when the show made metatextual reference to its own world as Dickensian, it was too gentle by half.
By focusing on four main topics (Crime, Law Enforcement, America, and Television), The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television examines the series' place within popular culture and its representation of the realities of inner city life, social institutions, and politics in contemporary American society. This is a brilliant collection of essays on a show that has taken the art of television drama to new heights.
The Wire is about survival, about the strategies adopted by those living and working in the inner cities of America. It presents a world where for many even hope isn't an option, where life operates as day-to-day existence without education, without job security, and without social structures. This is a world that is only grey, an exacting autopsy of a side of American life that has never seen the inside of a Starbucks.
Over its five season, sixty-episode run (2002-2008), The Wire presented several overlapping narrative threads, all set in the city of Baltimore. The series consistently deconstructed the conventional narratives of law, order, and disorder, offering a view of America that has never before been admitted to the public discourse of the televisual. It was bleak and at times excruciating. Even when the show made metatextual reference to its own world as Dickensian, it was too gentle by half.
By focusing on four main topics (Crime, Law Enforcement, America, and Television), The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television examines the series' place within popular culture and its representation of the realities of inner city life, social institutions, and politics in contemporary American society. This is a brilliant collection of essays on a show that has taken the art of television drama to new heights.
- GenresNonfiction
264 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2009
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121 people want to read
About the author
Tiffany Potter
28 books3 followersTiffany Potter, teaching in the Department of English, University of British Columbia, and holding a PhD in English Literature, focuses her research on cultural studies, with emphases on colonial and post-colonialism, feminism, the history of sexuality, and the historical literatures of anthropology and race. She has published extensively in many journals, including Early American Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 14, 2018
Fascinating look at crime in Baltimore and the HBO drama -- sometimes a lot more interesting than the show itself!
April 1, 2010
I rarely give out five stars, especially to an essay collection (where the quality can be uneven). But this is just fantastic: a highly readable selection of scholarly essays -- mostly from professors of English, actually, but the essays are written from a more sociological perspective.
Doubtless the fact that I love the television show -- perhaps the greatest in the history of the medium, but take my hyperbole with a grain of salt -- has much to do with my appreciation of the book. The variety of the essays is its main virtue: there's a discussion of "the production of gender" among the "Barksdale women", two essays loosely about genre (the police procedural, and the melodrama), capitalism and violence (as seen through Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale), serial vs episodic narratives on television, inner-city manhood, a close reading/viewing of Agnieszka Holland's visuality, and an analysis of fan reaction to Omar Little (and queerness and American citizenship). Foucault is mentioned a lot -- not just because of the theme of surveillance running throughout the show, but because, like Foucault, The Wire takes as its main topic the nature of modern institutions and the distribution and exercise of power within them.
Of course, the book won't make much sense to folks who haven't seen the show. But for fans who want to delve further into the rich, complexly layered world of The Wire -- and not just read a book that merely features making-of anecdotes or behind-the-scenes gossip (though I'd be happy to read that too) -- this book is highly recommended.
Doubtless the fact that I love the television show -- perhaps the greatest in the history of the medium, but take my hyperbole with a grain of salt -- has much to do with my appreciation of the book. The variety of the essays is its main virtue: there's a discussion of "the production of gender" among the "Barksdale women", two essays loosely about genre (the police procedural, and the melodrama), capitalism and violence (as seen through Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale), serial vs episodic narratives on television, inner-city manhood, a close reading/viewing of Agnieszka Holland's visuality, and an analysis of fan reaction to Omar Little (and queerness and American citizenship). Foucault is mentioned a lot -- not just because of the theme of surveillance running throughout the show, but because, like Foucault, The Wire takes as its main topic the nature of modern institutions and the distribution and exercise of power within them.
Of course, the book won't make much sense to folks who haven't seen the show. But for fans who want to delve further into the rich, complexly layered world of The Wire -- and not just read a book that merely features making-of anecdotes or behind-the-scenes gossip (though I'd be happy to read that too) -- this book is highly recommended.
January 5, 2014
The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television was a highly frustrating book of essays about, yes, The Wire. And urban decay. And American television. Frustrating because these are proper academic essays, yet they repeatedly failed at feminism and intersectionality.Like the essay on The Wire‘s depictions of African-American motherhood, which didn’t mention Kima and Cheryl, or the essay that acknowledges that Zenobia is a girl (and a very feminine girl, too, I note, whose delinquency is marked by using her comb as a weapon), but for the purposes of this essay she’s a boy? It was weirdly tone deaf, especially when there’s a lot of academic writing about the erasure of black femininity. The book also describes Rhonda Pearlman in sexist clichés (married to her job!), and barely mentions Kima at all. Some poor editing there, imho.
May 4, 2021
I've never felt as adult as I did reading a book about one of my favorite TV shows. This is absolutely worthwhile for anyone interested in the greater sociological and political interpretations of the original text, along with other perspectives like how fans felt about Omar's death. Awesome read.
September 8, 2021
Being somewhat of a collection of works it gets repetitive at times as they explain very similar situations multiple times, but other than that a fantastic insight into the best tv show of all time
January 30, 2016
My main beef with this book is that I wanted more. The book is divided into 3 parts, the first is about Baltimore, the second is a set of chapters that examine how the Wire approaches various social issues, and the third analyzes the story-telling and film-making. I wanted more about Baltimore, about the histories of some of the locations and food, not just about the crime. The chapter on the two lawyers, Perlman and Levy, was a lot of fun. In the second part, there was a weak chapter that brought some Foucault in, and I thought, if you understand even a little of what Foucault is on about, then you've already thought what this chapter is saying, and if you've never checked Foucault, you won't know what that chapter is saying. The other bits in the second part were great though, I like the Marxian thing, and there is a bit about gender, and some great stuff about how the Wire is actually conservative on the subject of policing and police powers. But I wanted more. The gender bit, especially, was focused on the Barksdale wives, sisters and mothers but what about the women in Omar's crew? What about Kima and Cheryl? Probably the most moving stuff in here were the chapters focusing on the corner boys of season 4 and critical pedagogy. Finally, the third part... I want a whole book like that... the chapter on melodrama, the close reading of Agnieszka Holland's episodes, and in general, the questions of can or should art agitate for social change, does the Wire do that, and does it succeed? I want more about that. I also want more about little stuff. I wish I knew who invented Chicken McNuggets, and whether he is in the basement, figuring out how to make the shakes taste better, or if Ronald McDonald wrote his clowny-ass name on a big-ass check for the man who took the bone all the way out of the chicken. But I guess wanting more is the normal situation for fans of this show.
September 20, 2011
The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television is an excellent companion for anyone who is interested in delving deeper into the myriad connections and themes of one of television’s most complicated shows. This collection of essays runs the full gamut of topics, from exploring the forces that shaped two of the main characters in Season Four in Ralph and Luara Bolf-Beliveau’s excellent “Posing Problems and Picking Fights: Critical Pedagogy and the Corner Boys” to examining homophobic attitudes of HBO forum posters towards the Wire’s arguably most popular character in Kathleen LeBesco’s “Gots to Get Got: Social Justice and Audience Response to Omar Little”.
Historical explorations of Baltimore, character studies, television narrative complexity - there’s a LOT of meat here. But then again, the show is so rich that I felt that there is absolutely no shortage of material and perspectives for another collection.
Because the collection covers such a broad spectrum of topics, its appeal may fluctuate from essay to essay. I would find myself immersed in one section (Jason Read’s Stringer Bell’s Lament: Violence and Legitimacy in Contemporary Capitalism), only to be completely disengaged and outright confused in another (Kevin McNeilly’s Dislocating America: Agnieszka Holland Directs “Moral Midgetry” did nothing for me because I’m unfamiliar with the process of directing). I expect this to be the case for most readers; thus it’s tough to throw out a solid recommendation for every Wire fan out there.
Still, I suspect that if you enjoyed the series enough to seek out additional analysis, there’s definitely something in here for you. Personally, this book has earned a place on my bookshelf, as the Wire has cemented its spot in my DVD collection as television’s most engaging and demanding show.
Historical explorations of Baltimore, character studies, television narrative complexity - there’s a LOT of meat here. But then again, the show is so rich that I felt that there is absolutely no shortage of material and perspectives for another collection.
Because the collection covers such a broad spectrum of topics, its appeal may fluctuate from essay to essay. I would find myself immersed in one section (Jason Read’s Stringer Bell’s Lament: Violence and Legitimacy in Contemporary Capitalism), only to be completely disengaged and outright confused in another (Kevin McNeilly’s Dislocating America: Agnieszka Holland Directs “Moral Midgetry” did nothing for me because I’m unfamiliar with the process of directing). I expect this to be the case for most readers; thus it’s tough to throw out a solid recommendation for every Wire fan out there.
Still, I suspect that if you enjoyed the series enough to seek out additional analysis, there’s definitely something in here for you. Personally, this book has earned a place on my bookshelf, as the Wire has cemented its spot in my DVD collection as television’s most engaging and demanding show.
May 19, 2014
This is an excellent collection of essays by professors of English, journalism, film studies, philosophy, and more. Not only does it include a reference list for cites, but it is quite mentally stimulating. I was tired of just reading critiques. This book connects The Wire themes, characters, and issues to Foucault, the French post-structuralist, and critical philosophy. Although this collection is way above my developmental students' heads, I can break some things down into everyday language for them. Wish there were more books like this!
February 9, 2011
Just like The Wire itself, there are some chapters that are thought-provoking, intriguing, and thoroughly developed, whereas there are others that simply exist to infuriate and frustrate you. Overall, though, it was a blast reading about other people's interpretations of the series that I love so much.
Most definitely a conversation starter for any true fan of the show.
Most definitely a conversation starter for any true fan of the show.
April 24, 2011
Please note a correction to GoodReads. _The Wire_ is edited by Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall.
This is a fine book that moves beyond the 'representation' of Baltimore in _The Wire_. There is attention to inner city decline and the complexities of the judicial system. There are a few fine chapters that investigate street corner cultures, which are very useful for city imaging projects.
This is a fine book that moves beyond the 'representation' of Baltimore in _The Wire_. There is attention to inner city decline and the complexities of the judicial system. There are a few fine chapters that investigate street corner cultures, which are very useful for city imaging projects.
September 24, 2010
Didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I had hoped for the character analysis to have more depth and wanted more focus on some episodes. They kept bringing it back to Baltimore, personal stories, and the city's history, which got tedious
September 26, 2010
There is analysis of Bubbles' Depot and capitalism!
An interesting collection of essays on a variety of topics. Insightful analysis but not too highbrow. Also, it was nice going through the plot summaries again.
An interesting collection of essays on a variety of topics. Insightful analysis but not too highbrow. Also, it was nice going through the plot summaries again.
March 20, 2012
somewhat pedantic but the essays in this book helped me put together and comprehend the overlay after overlay and intertwining themes of the Wire. (I started watching in the middle of season two)
February 16, 2014
An excellent collection of critical perspectives on The Wire, each of which is pleasantly readable. Several of the chapters are even exceptionally good.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews