DOCSLIB.ORG

The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television Ebook Free Download

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television Ebook Free Download THE WIRE : URBAN DECAY AND AMERICAN TELEVISION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Tiffany Potter | 264 pages | 28 Jan 2010 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9780826438041 | English | London, United Kingdom The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television PDF Book Documentary drama tends to use an invented sequence of events and individuals to illustrate features of real historical events and issues. Please note a correction to GoodReads. Conditions of self-archiving. This presentation brings the young Barksdale close to character Michael Lee. The equity of Esther Summerson. Feb 09, Dan rated it really liked it. The idea worried Mr. Marlo suspects Kevin of having informed the police. Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer. The authors of the film thus insinuate that David Simon could just as well have cast Barksdale as one of the good guys, rather than choosing his name for a Machiavellian, ruthless gangster. Alisdair McMillan Contributor ,. Home 1 Books 2. Atlas, John and Peter Dreier. Page, N. The naturalist theatrical aesthetic of bottle episodes. She has published extensively in many journals, including Early American Literature. Projections , 13 1 , v - vii. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jones Eds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. As such, the flashbacks and the intertextual dialogues underscore and qualify the overall purpose of The Corner ; the simultaneous application of realist and melodramatic modes needed to humanize its characters which, in turn, might make the viewer reject other media discourses that does not do any favors to the public image of dwellers of inner-city neighborhoods. The viewer, of course, can understand it in either way or as both at the same time. Entries are arranged alphabetically, with each entry The technique depicts them as real people rather than proving them different from their counterparts in The Wire. To restore the reputation of Barksdale and Jackson, those employees scatter black and white sequences imitating the style of The Wire among documentary parts about the life of the Baltimore drug lord 8. The New History: Confessions and Conversations. Because the collection covers such a broad spectrum of topics, its appeal may fluctuate from essay to essay. And they was treated real bad when they got to this country. Critical Studies in Television , 9 3 , 54 - The color scheme clearly demonstrates a contrast between a bleak present and a, literally and metaphorically, more colorful past:. The variety o I rarely give out five stars, especially to an essay collection where the quality can be uneven. A reference to a third person, haunting the same boxing gym as the real Barksdale, one Larry Middleton, triggers the shift of identities. You know some people are uneasy that the real Barksdale is out of jail and walking the streets again. Publications Books 2. When Ronnie offers him drugs he abandons DeAndre without even playing basketball with him just for a short while. Apr 25, John rated it it was ok. Genocide Studies and Prevention , 12 3 , 40 - On European journal of American studies. The first collection of its kind to bring together scholarly and practitioner perspectives, this book The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television Writer His progress throughout owes nothing to the traditional ingredients of the American dream. Bibliografische Informationen. This book In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. Series Class, culture. In this way, the series points out a discursive context and a fictionalized interlocutor with which it engages. To strengthen the antithesis between documentarism and fictionalism, the creators of The Avon Barksdale Story include real documents. 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. Mar 14, Carol Storm rated it it was amazing. David Alff Contributor ,. Got it from there. Reporting from:. As opposed to the rags to riches pattern Barksdale applies to himself in the documentary drama, The Wire features the edifying story of Bubbles. 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. Fresh Air. Against 'Post-Cinema'. Find it at other libraries via WorldCat Limited preview. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. The series depicts Baltimore as an absurd version of the country of opportunity. The visit introduces unexpected causes for his fate, beyond the fact of living in a crime-infested area. Screen , 57 2 , - That is its political mission and I believe that its aesthetics underpin that ambition successfully. The third shot in the sequence is in colour. Nannicelli, Ted Nussbaum, Emily. The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television Reviews To restore the reputation of Barksdale and Jackson, those employees scatter black and white sequences imitating the style of The Wire among documentary parts about the life of the Baltimore drug lord 8. Deluding the watchful eye of the police, and the not so vigilant eye of the press, is the price of surveillance permission. Bloomsbury Publishing. A Philosophy of the screenplay. Vest, J. This warping perspective mainly concerns the vision of the American dream featured in The Wire , its satirical perspective on journalism, and even some specific characters in the show. Without saying a word, the actors conjure up the institutional fate Simon describes. Watt, G. Melissa rated it really liked it Jul 31, Schlike Ed. Ethical criticism and the interpretation of art. But I wanted more. It toys with the notion of social or environmental determinism, to present the criminal mind as the product of a segregated area. Saner, Emine. The article also takes a look at how The Corner sustains a sense of realism by inserting its director, Charles S. Notes 1 The Wire is the subject of five monographs Vint , Lavik , Williams , Kelleter , Corkin , five edited collections Potter and Marshall , Bzdak et al , Dillon and Crommey , Keeble and Stacy , and special issues of the journals of Criticism , Critical Inquiry , and Darkmatter. Of course, the book won't make much sense to folks who haven't seen the show. Books Nannicelli, Ted Home 1 Books 2. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. The color scheme clearly demonstrates a contrast between a bleak present and a, literally and metaphorically, more colorful past:. Summary Few other television series have received as much academic, media, and fan celebration as The Wire, which has been called the best dramatic series ever created. The character of Barksdale in the series shares this taste for the sport. Golding, R. The Wire would later revisit that agenda of humanizing black inner-city drug addicts but would do so in a way that also ponders the structural issues that this misery exists within. Social classes on television. English Studies, 51, Kelleter, Frank and Ruth Mayer. They had all this foreign shit. It is completely suiting to Gary—a man shown to have a strong interest in abstract thought—that he utters these thoughts but one could argue that it is important that Gary makes the connection explicit. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. The idea worried Mr. The Wire : Urban Decay and American Television Read Online It emphasises that vengeance comes at a bitter cost for Omar, who loses one of his friends. Visual Anthropology , 19 2 , - Urban Decay and American Television pp. Seeing the present world as a result of past choices and developments and learning of the paths-not-taken in historical change can make people see the world as more contingent than they might otherwise think Charles Dickens is probably the literary author to whom the series has most frequently been likened. 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. October , , - In the spring of , after eight years of bitter fighting, the war in Vietnam Toronto: University of Toronto Press. At the end of the sequence, shots are fired from the building roof, and one of the young women is killed see Plate 6. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Entries are arranged alphabetically, with each entry Beirut is the World Book Capital, as designated by UNESCO, and at the center of the festivities, in collaboration with the world-renowned Hay Festival, is a competition to identify the thirty-nine most promising young talents in Arab literature. Thanks to this tragic quality, The Wire scrutinises contemporary American society, and establishes the ratio between the exercise of free will and its limitations under the weight of social conditions. PhD dissertation. Zoom Original png, k. Omar is one of the most ambivalent characters in The Wire. Merged citations. Her addiction is at least not only her own fault. Marshall, New York, Continuum, , p. https://files8.webydo.com/9583590/UploadedFiles/CC4A759C-7B5F-882D-9067-BEFB40100647.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583711/UploadedFiles/98432BD0-7432-3C2A-6E76-E6207D48CA92.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9582763/UploadedFiles/66C961C5-63FE-E842-13E5-DC318F2C5C5F.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583254/UploadedFiles/AA828243-2573-F5F7-A730-BDE1C326E0C6.pdf https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/aaronhermanssoniv/files/the-boy-with-the-cuckoo-clock-heart-558.pdf.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Why Every Show Needs to Be More Like the Wire (“Not Just the Facts, Ma’Am”)
    DIALOGUE WHY EVERY SHOW NEEDS TO BE MORE LIKE THE WIRE (“NOT JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM”) NEIL LANDAU University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) The Wire (HBO, 2002-2008) upends the traditional po- ed the cop-drama universe. It was a pioneering season-long lice procedural by moving past basic plot points and “twists” procedural. Here are my top 10 reasons why Every Show in the case, diving deep into the lives of both the cops and Needs to Be More Like The Wire. the criminals they pursue. It comments on today’s America, employing characters who defy stereotype. In the words of — creator David Simon: 1. “THIS AMERICA, MAN” The grand theme here is nothing less than a nation- al existentialism: It is a police story set amid the As David Simon explains: dysfunction and indifference of an urban depart- ment—one that has failed to come to terms with In the first story arc, the episodes begin what the permanent nature of urban drug culture, one would seem to be the straightforward, albeit pro- in which thinking cops, and thinking street players, tracted, pursuit of a violent drug crew that controls must make their way independent of simple expla- a high-rise housing project. But within a brief span nations (Simon 2000: 2). of time, the officers who undertake the pursuit are forced to acknowledge truths about their de- Given the current political climate in the US and interna- partment, their role, the drug war and the city as tionally, it is timely to revisit the The Wire and how it expand- a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wire the Complete Guide
    The Wire The Complete Guide PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:03:03 UTC Contents Articles Overview 1 The Wire 1 David Simon 24 Writers and directors 36 Awards and nominations 38 Seasons and episodes 42 List of The Wire episodes 42 Season 1 46 Season 2 54 Season 3 61 Season 4 70 Season 5 79 Characters 86 List of The Wire characters 86 Police 95 Police of The Wire 95 Jimmy McNulty 118 Kima Greggs 124 Bunk Moreland 128 Lester Freamon 131 Herc Hauk 135 Roland Pryzbylewski 138 Ellis Carver 141 Leander Sydnor 145 Beadie Russell 147 Cedric Daniels 150 William Rawls 156 Ervin Burrell 160 Stanislaus Valchek 165 Jay Landsman 168 Law enforcement 172 Law enforcement characters of The Wire 172 Rhonda Pearlman 178 Maurice Levy 181 Street-level characters 184 Street-level characters of The Wire 184 Omar Little 190 Bubbles 196 Dennis "Cutty" Wise 199 Stringer Bell 202 Avon Barksdale 206 Marlo Stanfield 212 Proposition Joe 218 Spiros Vondas 222 The Greek 224 Chris Partlow 226 Snoop (The Wire) 230 Wee-Bey Brice 232 Bodie Broadus 235 Poot Carr 239 D'Angelo Barksdale 242 Cheese Wagstaff 245 Wallace 247 Docks 249 Characters from the docks of The Wire 249 Frank Sobotka 254 Nick Sobotka 256 Ziggy Sobotka 258 Sergei Malatov 261 Politicians 263 Politicians of The Wire 263 Tommy Carcetti 271 Clarence Royce 275 Clay Davis 279 Norman Wilson 282 School 284 School system of The Wire 284 Howard "Bunny" Colvin 290 Michael Lee 293 Duquan "Dukie" Weems 296 Namond Brice 298 Randy Wagstaff 301 Journalists 304 Journalists of The Wire 304 Augustus Haynes 309 Scott Templeton 312 Alma Gutierrez 315 Miscellany 317 And All the Pieces Matter — Five Years of Music from The Wire 317 References Article Sources and Contributors 320 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 324 Article Licenses License 325 1 Overview The Wire The Wire Second season intertitle Genre Crime drama Format Serial drama Created by David Simon Starring Dominic West John Doman Idris Elba Frankie Faison Larry Gilliard, Jr.
    [Show full text]
  • Crime, Class, and Labour in David Simon's Baltimore
    "From here to the rest of the world": Crime, class, and labour in David Simon's Baltimore. Sheamus Sweeney B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Hons) This thesis is submitted to Dublin City University for the award of Ph.D in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. August 2013 School of Communications Supervisors: Prof. Helena Sheehan and Dr. Pat Brereton I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Ph.D is entirely my own work, and that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ___________________________________ (Candidate) ID No.: _55139426____ Date: _______________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Literature review and methodology 17 Chapter One: Stand around and watch: David Simon and the 42 "cop shop" narrative. Chapter Two: "Let the roughness show": From death on the 64 streets to a half-life on screen. Chapter Three: "Don't give the viewer the satisfaction": 86 Investigating the social order in Homicide. Chapter Four: Wasteland of the free: Images of labour in the 122 alternative economy. Chapter Five: The Wire: Introducing the other America. 157 Chapter Six: Baltimore Utopia? The limits of reform in the 186 war on labour and the war on drugs. Chapter Seven: There is no alternative: Unencumbered capitalism 216 and the war on drugs.
    [Show full text]
  • Second Chances in the Wire: Perspectives from Psychology and the Judiciary
    University of Chicago Legal Forum Volume 2018 Article 9 2019 Second Chances in The irW e: Perspectives from Psychology and the Judiciary Rebecca R. Pallmeyer Dan P. McAdams Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf Recommended Citation Pallmeyer, Rebecca R. and McAdams, Dan P. (2019) "Second Chances in The irW e: Perspectives from Psychology and the Judiciary," University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 2018 , Article 9. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol2018/iss1/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Chicago Legal Forum by an authorized editor of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Second Chances in The Wire: Perspectives from Psychology and the Judiciary The Hon. Rebecca R. Pallmeyer† & Dan P. McAdams†† ABSTRACT Playing off a scene in The Wire wherein prison inmates discuss whether Ameri- can lives have “second acts,” this essay considers psychological and legal issues at play in people’s efforts to turn their lives around, from bad to good. In the first half of the essay, a professor of psychology discusses empirical research into re- demptive life stories in which people find positive meaning in suffering and/or transform their lives from failure to relative success. While examples of redemp- tive life stories may be found in The Wire, making good on second chances seems to be a relatively rare occurrence. In the second half, a federal judge considers the issue of second chances in the American legal system, focusing on the issue of sen- tencing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wire Master’S Diploma Thesis
    Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Ondřej Jarůšek Realism and Social Commentary in The Wire Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D. 2019 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Obsah Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.History of crime and violence in Baltimore ............................................................................... 7 2.Poverty and lack of financial opportunities.............................................................................. 19 3.Dysfunctional school system.................................................................................................... 28 4.Uneven distribution of recreational space ................................................................................ 33 5.The importance of role models ................................................................................................ 36 6.Isolation and disconnection from the outer world .................................................................... 53 7. Vicious circle .......................................................................................................................... 62 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Why Every Show Needs to Be More Like the WIRE
    Why Every Show Needs to Be More Like THE WIRE (“Not Just the Facts, Ma’am.”) The Wire upends the traditional police procedural by moving past basic plot points and “twists” in the case, diving deep into the lives of both the cops and the criminals they pursue. We see this immediately in the teaser of the pilot. Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) is at the scene of a shooting, questioning a Witness (Kamal Bostic-Smith) on the murder of a boy from “round the way nicknamed “Snot Boogie.” McNulty and the Witness go back and forth on the origin of “Snot Boogie’s” nickname at first. Until the Witness explains what happened: MCNULTY So who shot Snot? WITNESS I ain’t going to no court. Motherfucker ain’t have to put no cap in him though. MCNULTY Definitely not. WITNESS He could’ve just whipped his ass, like we always whip his ass. MCNULTY I agree with you. !1 WITNESS He gonna kill Snot. Snot been doing the same shit since I don’t know how long. Kill a man over some bullshit. I’m saying, every Friday night in the alley behind the cut-rate, we rolling bones, you know? All the boys from around the way, we roll till late. MCNULTY Alley crap game, right? WITNESS And like every time, Snot, he’d fade a few shooters. Play it out till the pot’s deep. Then he’d snatch and run. MCNULTY --Every time? WITNESS —Couldn’t help hisself. MCNULTY Let me understand you. Every Friday night, you and your boys would shoot crap, right? And every Friday night, your pal Snotboogie he’d wait till there was cash on the ground, then grab the money and run away?--You let him do that? WITNESS --We catch him and beat his ass.
    [Show full text]
  • And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System
    DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Law Faculty College of Law 2011 And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System Susan Bandes DePaul College of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/lawfacpubs Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Susan A. Bandes, And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System, 8 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 435 (2011). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Law Faculty by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline Wed Sep 18 10:31:41 2019 Citations: Bluebook 20th ed. Susan A. Bandes, And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System, 8 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 435 (2011). APA 6th ed. Bandes, S. A. (2011). And all the pieces matter: Thoughts on the wire and the criminal justice system. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 8(2), 435-446. ALWD Bandes, S. A. (2011). And all the pieces matter: Thoughts on the wire and the criminal justice system. Ohio St. J. Crim. L., 8(2), 435-446. Chicago 7th ed. Susan A. Bandes, "And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System," Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 8, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 435-446 McGill Guide 9th ed. Susan A Bandes, "And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on the Wire and the Criminal Justice System" (2011) 8:2 Ohio State J of Crim L 435.
    [Show full text]
  • Download a Free Copy Of
    Free download of first four chapters of I SERVED, by Donald C. Hall and Annette R. Hall ©2001. All rights reserved. Praise for I Served “I Served is Oliver Twist, Romeo and Juliet, and All is Quiet on the Western Front, all rolled into one. An extraordinary literary achievement.” —Jim Morris, author of War Story, The Devil’s Secret Name, Fighting Men, The Sheriff of Purgatory, Strawberry Soldier, Breeder, and Silvernail. “Honest, gritty, passionate – I Served greatly adds to the personal narrative history of LRRPs in America’s longest war.” —Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning, (USA, Retired), Author of Inside the LRRPs: Rangers in Vietnam Inside Force Recon: Recon Marines in Vietnam, and Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam “From a turbulent childhood, to a warrior’s role, to a special love—riveting and true.” —Dennis Foley, author of Long Range Patrol, Night Work, Take Back the Night, and Special Men. “Company F, 51st Long Range Patrol played a pivotal and hair-raising role in the defense of Long Binh during the 1968 Tet Offensive. In I Served, Don Hall tells the story of Company F before, during, and after Tet in intimate details.” —Keith William Nolan, author of The Battle for Saigon: Tet 1968, Operation Buffalo: USMC Fight for the DMZ, Battle for Hue: Tet 1968, The Magnificent Bastards: The Joint Army-Marine Defense of Don Ha, 1968, and Sappers in the Wire: The Life and Death of Firebase Mary Ann I Served by Don C. Hall and Annette R. Hall Published by A.D. Hall Publishing Co. in cooperation with Publishing Copyright © 2001 by Don C.
    [Show full text]
  • Of African American Male Students in Season Four of the Wire
    ABSTRACT Title of Document: IMAGERY MATTERS: EXPLORING THE REPRESENTATION(S) OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENTS IN SEASON FOUR OF THE WIRE. Johnette Ruffner-Ceaser, Doctor of Education, 2012 Directed By: Hanne B. Mawhinney, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Teaching, Learning, Policy and Leadership The educational challenges facing young African American male students are complex and multifaceted. The media play a significant role in the perpetuation of these challenges, due to the historically negative and stereotypical portrayals of Black males. Despite the plethora of research and discourse about the educational attainment of African American male students, few studies explore the academic and masculine portrayals of this population of students in the media. Using a textual analysis guided by a theoretical framework of cultural representation and televisual realism, this qualitative inquiry seeks to examine and interpret the cultural message(s) The Wire conveyed about African American male students in the era of No Child Left Behind. This study explores the intersection between academic and masculine portrayals of four young African American male student characters in season 4 of The Wire using dimensions of cool pose and traditional stereotypical tropes and counter-tropes that visual media have historically used to portray African American males in visual media. The findings from this study revealed that the four boys studied in season 4 of The Wire were multi-dimensional characters. As such, they were characterized using traditional stereotypical tropes, but their characterizations shifted into more encouraging representations. The shift in these characterizations created emergent themes that spoke to the cultural messages conveyed about African American male students through season 4 of The Wire.
    [Show full text]
  • United States V. Van Auken, Case No. 4:19-CR-64: Indictment
    Case 4:19-cr-00064-BMM Document 17 Filed 01/02/20 Page 1 of 8 RYANG. WELDON Assistant U.S. Attorney FIi'L~[-\ .~ .. ,; U.S. Attorney's Office JAN O2 2019 P.O. Box 8329 Missoula, MT 59807 Clerk, U.S Dtstnct Co,,~ District Of Montana. 105 E. Pine, 2nd Floor Grc,,~t f::-,llt, Missoula, MT 59802 Phone: (406) 542-8851 FAX: (406) 542-1476 E-mail: [email protected] ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA GREAT FALLS DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CR 19-64-GF-BMM Plaintiff, SUPERSEDING INFORMATION vs. WIRE FRAUD (Count I) MICHAEL LEE VAN A UKEN, Title 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Penalty: 20 years imprisonment, $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release) Defendant. ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS IN PROPERTY DERIVED FROM SPECIFIED UNLAWFUL ACTIVITY (Count II) Title 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (Penalty: Ten years imprisonment, $250,000, and three years of supervised release) Case 4:19-cr-00064-BMM Document 17 Filed 01/02/20 Page 2 of 8 SUBSCRIBING TO A FALSE DOCUMENT (Count III) Title 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) (Penalty: Three years imprisonment, S250,000 fine or twice the pecuniary gain, costs of prosecution, and one year supervised release) THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHARGES: INTRODUCTION At all times relevant to this indictment: I. The defendant, MICHAEL LEE VANAUKEN, formed various business entities that he used to facilitate and conceal his fraud and embezzlement from a family in Montana, which would become his victims.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching Fiction?: the Wire As a Pedagological Tool in The
    120 Teaching Fiction?: The Wire as a Pedagogical Tool in the Examination of Punishment Theory Kristin Henning HBO’s highly acclaimed television drama The Wire has been hailed by some as one of the most accurate depictions of life in an American city.1 With its in-depth examination of the drug enterprise, police, city government and other institutions and social maladies that produce crime, The Wire rejects the formulaic features of a classic crime drama and has no clear heroes or villains. Its complex character portrayals and plot lines provide a fascinating media textbook for students to explore the basic maxims of punishment theory. A typical criminal law class begins by defining punishment as the intentional infliction of pain, suffering or deprivation of property imposed by the state on a person convicted of a crime. Students learn that punishment is an “evil” that typically violates basic human rights and requires some persuasive justification.2 Students then spend a significant portion of the semester exploring the moral correctness of punishment (retribution) and the positive outcomes of deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation that punishment may produce (utilitarianism). The Wire’s graphic depiction of life in Baltimore allows students to examine the validity of these justifications for punishment. Retribution, Motives and Just Deserts The Wire urges students to interrogate a core premise of retribution—that punishment is intrinsically and morally good for society.3 By perceiving punishment as inherently good, retributivists forget that punishment is Kristin Henning is a Professor of Law at Georgtown Law and is the Co-Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic.
    [Show full text]
  • “You Can Help Yourself/But Don't Take Too Much”
    TVN14510.1177/15274764 45279712452797Television & New MediaAult Article Television & New Media 14(5) 386 –401 “You Can Help Yourself/ © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: but Don’t Take Too sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1527476412452797 Much”: African American tvnm.sagepub.com Motherhood on The Wire Elizabeth Ault1 Abstract Despite The Wire’s (HBO, 2002-2008) successful, interesting structural analysis of urban politics and problems, its (few) portrayals of African American mothers exhibit a view of black motherhood as irresponsible, irrational, and emasculating, a view that hearkens back to that of the Moynihan Report. In this article, I look at the fourth season of the show to examine how mothers’ desires are presented as being central to the negative outcomes their sons face, as well as unrelentingly and sexually pathological. This aspect has been paid little if any attention in the show’s overwhelmingly positive critical reception; I explore the show’s political economic network context and the effects of The Wire’s self-proclaimed “authenticity” in furthering this discourse among its viewers. The treatment of these characters, encouraging mothers to “help [themselves], but [not] take too much” imbricates The Wire in the discourses of personal responsibility and self-governance that undergird neoliberal regimes it critiques. Keywords critical media studies, race, gender, television, United States, cable television Shots of bleak West Baltimore blocks, populated by drug dealers and abandoned row homes, consistently drunken and cursing police officers, politicians not even pretend- ing to act in the public interest, and graffiti welcoming viewers to “Bodymore, Murdaland”: this must be The Wire (2002-2008).
    [Show full text]