I've never felt so ambivalent about a show before. On the one hand the Wire is a masterpiece in plot, character and dialogue. I'm watching it for the third time, know exactly what is going to happen, and I'm glued to the edge of my seat not the least bit bored. It is so layered and complex that I catch new things every time and have a stronger overall understanding of the nuances and strategies of all the different games being played, be they political, police, a combination of both, or much more deadly games on the street. I love that the Wire is so morally complex and gray, although sometimes I think the show tries a little too hard to make some characters morally complex. I can see the writers brainstorming and thinking, this character is too good, lets make him self centered or an adulterer, or this character is too evil, lets make him friendly, loyal, strong and in love with his pets. Which brings me to my main criticism of the Wire: It tries so damn hard to make a statement, that it completely loses sight of the big picture, instead focusing way too hard on the "cyclical nature of things". Season three finishes up with a montage that shows the streets the same way they were before Hamsterdam: Hoppers getting harassed by asshole low level cops in low level street rips, while Colvin stands around contemplatively looking at what is left of it. We are supposed to hate the Ultra conservative system that led to this, whether it was the uptight bosses that didn't have a clue or everyone too obsessed with their next reelection or being screwed over by the media to care about the bigger implications. David Simon is a hell of a storyteller has an incredible knack for how institutions work and operate, but he doesn't seem to be such a finely tuned sociologist, or at least he is so selective in the stories that he tells that he fails miserably at painting a complete picture.
Drug reform laws are not a new phenomenon and there has been a worldwide trend in changing them in the last two decades. Many European countries have relaxed the hell out of possession charges, decriminalizing both soft and hard drugs. Marijuana is now tolerated throughout Europe in a way that was unthought of even twenty years ago. In the U.S. individual states have made a mockery of federal drug laws by decriminalizing medical marijuana and letting anybody with as much as a headache or a bad mood receive a prescription for hydro strong enough for snoop or an Amsterdam coffeeshop. I am not saying that an experiment like Hamsterdam would be met with approval in a country as conservative as the U.S., but what I particularly don't like in the Wire is its fashionable pessimism. Who knows what drug laws will look like in twenty years? With globalization trends continuing as fast as they are, maybe some states will slowly start relaxing drug laws after seeing crime go down in European countries that are doing just that? David Simon realizes that work of art is much more "beautiful" and "revered" when it makes a grand gesture at how bad things are and how they will never change for the better. People can shake their heads and think how "raw" and "true". It is ironic that a show which goes out of its way to be morally ambiguous is so one sided when it comes to showing us the big picture of how things work.
Here is what I mean when I see that things are complex and are not simply getting better or worse. The crack epidemic subsided in the early nineties and the murder rate went way down. While that was happening, blacks who weren't involved in crime or the drug war (the vast majority) were moving out of black ghettos and getting better jobs in better neighborhoods. The empty houses in turn were being moved into by large waves of Latino immigrants who often started even worse gangs, but the crime rate still stayed down lower than it was in the late eighties. The nineties also saw a huge boom in education, and people of all races and social backgrounds went to college at an unprecedented rate. Then a meth epidemic came along but it hit small towns more than big cities. Then all of a sudden MDMA became the drug of choice for youths all over the country. Then that subsided and major drug cartels moved from Columbia to Mexico. There were now twice as many Mexicans in the U.S. as before so that made drug distribution a well planned process along both sides of the border. Then amidst a huge economic recession, Obama made history and offered national health care to all Americans. And now, despite the recession still happening, we are still expanding the information economy like never before, with high speed internet reaching the poorest and most remote neighborhoods. Change is not a new trend. After all, black people all started out as rural farm workers. Many then decided to learn trades and the Black working classes were born. World War 2 offered many opportunities for blacks to leave the south and offer skilled help with the war effort. Black neighborhoods got hit the hardest when the industrial economy shifted to a knowledge economy, but they are also catching up to the new playing field. The future is always uncertain, but as always it will bring all sorts of good and bad things with it. Trying to show just how "cyclical" things are is a gross oversimplification and a show this smart could try and tackle change more ambitiously.
This is why I didn't like the stevedores season two "death of the docks" season. For many children born into the working classes college is something almost everyone goes to, they don't follow in the footsteps of their parents and go out on the docks everyday hoping to get some hours in. They don't go to four year colleges and become rich, but they do get associate degrees at community colleges and end up with an income that many European professional would be envious of. Community college was mentioned one time in season 2 and only for a couple minutes. In other seasons the Wire made the point time and time again that many of the hoppers had never been outside the west side of Baltimore and hadn't heard of much else, even being surprised that Philadelphia has different radio stations from Baltimore. I bet many of the kids similar to the ones shown in the Wire are regular internet users and watch the history channel.
Drug reform laws are not a new phenomenon and there has been a worldwide trend in changing them in the last two decades. Many European countries have relaxed the hell out of possession charges, decriminalizing both soft and hard drugs. Marijuana is now tolerated throughout Europe in a way that was unthought of even twenty years ago. In the U.S. individual states have made a mockery of federal drug laws by decriminalizing medical marijuana and letting anybody with as much as a headache or a bad mood receive a prescription for hydro strong enough for snoop or an Amsterdam coffeeshop. I am not saying that an experiment like Hamsterdam would be met with approval in a country as conservative as the U.S., but what I particularly don't like in the Wire is its fashionable pessimism. Who knows what drug laws will look like in twenty years? With globalization trends continuing as fast as they are, maybe some states will slowly start relaxing drug laws after seeing crime go down in European countries that are doing just that? David Simon realizes that work of art is much more "beautiful" and "revered" when it makes a grand gesture at how bad things are and how they will never change for the better. People can shake their heads and think how "raw" and "true". It is ironic that a show which goes out of its way to be morally ambiguous is so one sided when it comes to showing us the big picture of how things work.
Here is what I mean when I see that things are complex and are not simply getting better or worse. The crack epidemic subsided in the early nineties and the murder rate went way down. While that was happening, blacks who weren't involved in crime or the drug war (the vast majority) were moving out of black ghettos and getting better jobs in better neighborhoods. The empty houses in turn were being moved into by large waves of Latino immigrants who often started even worse gangs, but the crime rate still stayed down lower than it was in the late eighties. The nineties also saw a huge boom in education, and people of all races and social backgrounds went to college at an unprecedented rate. Then a meth epidemic came along but it hit small towns more than big cities. Then all of a sudden MDMA became the drug of choice for youths all over the country. Then that subsided and major drug cartels moved from Columbia to Mexico. There were now twice as many Mexicans in the U.S. as before so that made drug distribution a well planned process along both sides of the border. Then amidst a huge economic recession, Obama made history and offered national health care to all Americans. And now, despite the recession still happening, we are still expanding the information economy like never before, with high speed internet reaching the poorest and most remote neighborhoods. Change is not a new trend. After all, black people all started out as rural farm workers. Many then decided to learn trades and the Black working classes were born. World War 2 offered many opportunities for blacks to leave the south and offer skilled help with the war effort. Black neighborhoods got hit the hardest when the industrial economy shifted to a knowledge economy, but they are also catching up to the new playing field. The future is always uncertain, but as always it will bring all sorts of good and bad things with it. Trying to show just how "cyclical" things are is a gross oversimplification and a show this smart could try and tackle change more ambitiously.
This is why I didn't like the stevedores season two "death of the docks" season. For many children born into the working classes college is something almost everyone goes to, they don't follow in the footsteps of their parents and go out on the docks everyday hoping to get some hours in. They don't go to four year colleges and become rich, but they do get associate degrees at community colleges and end up with an income that many European professional would be envious of. Community college was mentioned one time in season 2 and only for a couple minutes. In other seasons the Wire made the point time and time again that many of the hoppers had never been outside the west side of Baltimore and hadn't heard of much else, even being surprised that Philadelphia has different radio stations from Baltimore. I bet many of the kids similar to the ones shown in the Wire are regular internet users and watch the history channel.
