|
It has been said before, and I will say it once again - The Wire was the greatest show on TV - hands down. There are countless reasons I could reference, but I want to begin with just three that genuinely get me going whenever I think of them. Here they are: (Take Note: Minor SPOILER. I am not going to reveal any significant plot details, but I am going to mention a couple of characters names as well as the show structure). 1) The Players - Characters in HBO's The Wire are both extremely true to life & extremely compelling. And I am not just referring to some of the addicts, police officers, or drug dealers. I am referring to everybody except possibly Brother Mouzone who's literary refined hired killer personality is slightly unbelievable. Simply thinking about figures like: Stringer Bell, Daniels, Bubs, Wallace, Clay, Chris, and Michael (just naming a few) is more than enough to have an emotional overload. The roundness of those characters and their own 3-dimensional trials and moral quandries makes them practically too compelling. Literally, you pretty much feel that you know each character (or at least somebody like them) and you appreciate and empathize with each of their struggles - even when ultimately, they're killers or drug dealers. 2) Baltimore As Your Lead Character - This kind of imagination and ambition is what sets The Wire apart from most other shows. Truthfully, I do not believe I had previously ever watched a TV series or a movie that has attempted to use an entire city (an incredibly large landscape) as the protagonist. What is more amazing than the ambition it takes to do this though is the fact that Simon manages to succeed in turning Baltimore into his protagonist. As each season goes by you feel closer and closer with Baltimore - empathizing with it, praying for it, getting upset when it experiences a defeat. My love for Baltimore has actually trancended the show as well and is at this point just a part of who I am. I can sense it when I go to Baltimore, and I have quite a few times felt a need to comb the streets of the Western. 3) Broadening The Lens - This is actually the method to the madness of a city as your protagonist. In portraying Baltimore as the central figure in the story, the Wire begins the first season totally zoomed in - there are simply dealers, addicts, and police. Then as each season goes on, it gradually zooms out and starts telling the story of the city's blue collar workers, its political figures, schools, and journalists. This is not an easy feat, but The Wire is able to do it with the same unbelievably powerful dynamics that drew you in during the first season. This capacity to color a whole city, document it in time, and show all of the sadness and it's afflications is what the copy writers jokingly call the Dickensian aspect. And they manage to caputre it magnificently. If you have not seen The Wire, I definitely recommend it. You won't regret a decision to pick up The Wire DVD set.
Related Articles -
The Wire, HBO's The Wire, TV, Television, The Wire Complete Series,
|
