THE ‘GAME’ AND THE ‘PAWNS’: SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS IN

STEPHANIE Scripted television is not generally considered an ideal LE SAUX-FARMER — medium through which to present large-scale social and political critiques. Its episodic nature fragments The Wire (2002-2008) information and “resists long, more complex messages” (Bandes 10). Indeed, television narratives often present simplistic characters, emblematic fgures who serve reaf- firm audience expectations about class and race (Bandes 10). HBO’s The Wire defies these common conceptions by constructing a complex narrative that presents a sys- temic critique of urban inequality. Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the series explores the political, educational, judicial, policing, and media systems of the city, reveal- ing the ways these institutions, together, perpetuate cur- rent structures of inequality. The Wire’s ability to enact this large-scale critique has garnered considerable schol- arly attention. While many have praised the show for the scope of its analysis, others have accused it of perpetuat- ing stereotypes of the marriage between African Amer- icans and life in the inner city, centered around drugs and violence. The central question, therefore, is this: how does the series perform its systemic analysis, and to what effect? By utilizing a naturalist approach, the series focuses on the relationship between the environ- ment and the individual, exploring the spatial and insti- 2 tutional structures that shape and constrain individual behaviour, ultimately serving to undermine stereotypes Originally from Otawa, Stephanie graduated of inner city life. Visual and formal style expose the spa- from the University of Toronto in 2013, with a tial confinement and institutional constraints that make major in Peace, Confict and Justce Studies, and minors in History and Cinema Studies. She is up the environment, while the narrative and character currently pursuing a Masters degree in Confict, development explore the idea of determinism and works Security and Development at King’s College London, in London England.

STEPHANIE LE SAUX-FARMER 25 to undermine stereotypes of American inner city life. stark contrast to the constantly developing and modernizing downtown core (88). In A scene in the ‘pit’, low-rise apartments in a government-housing neighborhood, first season episode “”, the world of the suburbs and the world of the inner in “” episode of first season, outlines the structure of The Wire’s systemic city are juxtaposed, highlighting the spatial differences within the city. Officer Jimmy analysis. In the worn-down courtyard, D’Angelo Barksdale explains the game of chess McNulty drives from his post in West Baltimore, where a group of young children are to two young drug dealers, Bodie, and Wallace. He compares the board to the ‘drug playing on dirty sidewalks, to his son’s soccer game, where the space is open and game’, highlighting that individual pieces navigate according to certain rules, pawns green. Peter Clandfield highlights this scene as evidence of the uneven distribution serve to protect the king, and centrally that “the King stay the King.” Using the chess of recreational space in the series more generally (45). Thompson argues that space is game analogy, The Wire examines urban inequality at the level of the ‘game’, the envi- used as a means to articulate the experiences of the individuals (88). In effect, visual ronment and institutions, and the ‘pawns,’ the individuals within it. markers refect the differences within the city, creating each space as fragmented zones An exploration of naturalism, particularly that used by novelist Émile Zola, pro- that reflect class differences and experiences (Aiello 13). vides a valuable framework through which to unpack The Wire’s systemic analysis. Beyond the visual markers of space that defne the boundaries of class, space in The primary aim of Zola’s naturalist literary works was to “conceive the individual as The Wire is also utilized to delimit the physical mobility and freedom of characters, a pawn on the chessboard of society” (Meyer 563). His body of work sought to trace the embodying a social immobility. Indeed, Thompson highlights the importance of space relationship between the individual and their environment, highlighting the environ- in The Wire as the central determinant of exclusion, safety, freedom, and entrapment ment as a force that shapes actions and character, fundamentally beyond the control of (88). The space one inhabits determines who is ‘trapped’ and who can ‘move freely’ the individual (Meyer 564). This literary trend emerged in the late nineteenth century, (Thompson 88). For example, in the finale episode of the fourth season “,” in the time of industrialization, and focused primarily on the changing structure of detective McNulty picks up a street-level dealer, Bodie, and takes him for lunch. society. Naturalism was an attempt to grapple with the great societal changes and its Throughout the encounter McNulty moves freely from the police station, to the jail, effects on the urban working poor (Aiello 11). Emphasis was placed on ‘the city’, as it to a park for lunch, then home. Thomas Carcetti is another character that is afforded represented a zone of intersection of different classes and races, different narratives the freedom of mobility. In the fourth season episode “” he travels from and experiences, proving an ideal subject for analysis of the impact of state institu- his home in the suburbs, to the downtown core, to the inner city in West Baltimore tions (Kennedy and Shapiro 147). and back. In contrast, the fifth season episode “React Quotes” sees a conversation The Wire mirrors Zola’s logic of naturalism by placing Baltimore as the main char- between Dukie and Cutty exemplify the isolation of the inner city inhabitants. Cutty acter of the series (Aiello 12). Its visual style constructs the space, defining the bound- says, “World is bigger than that, at least that’s what they tell me” and Dukie responds, aries of rich and poor and creating a sharp aesthetic distinction between spaces of pov- “Like… how do you get from here to the rest of the world?” The young boys of West Bal- erty and violence, and spaces of freedom and wealth. As Frederick Jameson notes, the timore live in isolation with little knowledge of the outside world, a testament to their depiction of Baltimore constructs a space wherein seemingly nothing exists outside of entrapment within the boundaries of their socio-economic status (Thompson 111). it (Thompson 87). In doing so, the spatial construction fragments the city into delim- Spatial confinement in The Wire can also be understood through Mike Davis’ dis- ited zones of privilege and poverty. Jameson observes that two worlds are constructed cussion of policing in urban spaces. As previously noted, the stark difference in visual and created, isolated from each other and rarely interacting (qtd in Thompson 87). representations of space fragments the city and delimits the boundaries of race and Visual markers include dark, grey, dirty, and cramped spaces in the inner city or the class. Davis highlights the way boundaries are enforced, transforming American urban jails, compared to the open, green spaces of the suburbs. Architectural markers also spaces into “fortress cities” (Davis 155). He argues that zones of affluence and poverty define zones of neglect from zones of privilege; worn down buildings, dark alleyways are constantly surveilled, serving the interests of the middle class at the expense of and makeshift playgrounds surround the young boys selling drugs in West Baltimore, the urban poor (Davis 155). The ‘militarization’ of the city creates individual spaces while city spaces with government offices are comprised of tall majestic buildings. meant to contain the urban poor through police surveillance and architectural design As Thompson notes, the inner-city neighbourhoods are visibly decaying, standing in (Davis 155). Throughout its five seasons, The Wire depicts this militarization, by using

26 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 27 motifs of surveillance in all spaces, from the police station, to the low-rise housing depicted as another space of confinement. Through the parallel narrative structure projects, to political offices (Aiello 45). In doing so the series suggests that characters and the montage sequences, institutions are shown as operating for the purpose of have little space for maneuver, and heightens the risk attached to venturing beyond maintaining the status quo. Susan Bandes notes that The Wire depicts a truth about one’s spatial boundaries. The space thus becomes not one of freedom, but rather one of institutions, that they function primarily to “perpetuate and protect themselves” (4). entrapment. This idea of surveillance as confinement is most pronounced in the inner The series suggests there is little room for maneuver within institutions, and that, city where police are constantly roaming, monitoring and documenting the movement because it is in the interest of those in power to maintain the status quo, attempts of the inhabitants. The boys in the inner city are thus never free from the gaze of the at change will be actively suppressed (Bandes 5). The parallel structure of the series police, nor from the eyes of rival drug gangs. Indeed, in “Final Grades,” when McNulty allows for connections to be made on both sides of the law, Officer Bunny Colvin is picks up Bodie, the audience is aware members of ’s crew are watching. demoted for his attempt to legalize drugs in “” in the third season, while Ultimately, being caught by Marlo’s crew results in Bodie’s death, strengthening the ’s questioning of Marlo Stanfield’s tactics in the season five episode “Late notion of entrapment. Editions” almost ends with his death (Bandes 5). The series emphasizes institutional While The Wire’s articulation of space highlight differences within the city, paral- failure despite individual attempts at improvement, thus highlighting the force of the lel narratives and montage sequences highlight similarities and connections between system beyond the control of the individual. various institutions of the state, contributing to the systemic analysis. Various parallel The naturalist impulse to explore the ‘game’ is thus central to The Wire’s systemic story lines throughout the series illuminate the hierarchical nature of society, from analysis. The institutional constraints parallel the spatial confinement noted above, the judicial and state institutions to the drug-trade. The audience is made to see the together forming the greater ‘environment’ in which individuals interact. Through connections and similarities between all facets of life within Baltimore, drawing paral- visual clues that fragment zones of the city along lines of class and race, and the sur- lels between the way the drug industry and the political system are structured, all with veillance and policing that keep these areas separate and the distribution of resources the common theme of ‘the king stay the king’ (Aiello 12). This conveys to the audience uneven, the series establishes the basic spatial template for a systemic analysis. The that all characters act within the same system of failing institutions rife with corrup- exploration of the institutional framework, through parallel narrative trajectories and tion. The narrative parallels between characters on either side of the law is exemplified montage sequences, establishes connections between the varying institutions, and in the first season with the characters of D’Angelo and McNulty, who are both fighting demonstrates the way institutions create and perpetuate inequalities. within a failing system, and both have a firm grasp on the ‘rules of the game,’ trying Throughout the series the African American population (indeed, the majority of to effect change from within. The efforts of the two characters ultimately prove futile the inner-city) remains the most disadvantaged by the spatial inequalities and insti- and by the end of the season both have been demoted, D’Angelo in jail and McNulty in tutional roadblocks. Dudley notes that The Wire has a “preoccupation with what is nat- a different police division. Montage sequences at the end of each season also serve to ural or inevitable about African American identity and experience” (qtd in Thompson reinforce the systemic analysis of the series. These sequences are used as a means to tie 81). The following section will explore the ways in which the naturalist emphasis on envi- up the season, but ultimately serve to address the main themes of the show (Aiello 66). ronment, as well as The Wire’s systemic analysis, undermines stereotypes of the African Marsha Kinder notes the final montage of the series, at the end of the episode “-30-“, American urban poor, and presents potential for change in urban American cities. as emblematic of the series’ emphasis on systemic analysis (83). The sequence opens Tied to naturalism’s emphasis on the environment over the individual, is the deter- with detective McNulty, a central character, and a point of view shot of Baltimore, then ministic notion that individuals, dominated by forces beyond their control, are not presents a montage of clips of the police department, political offices, the school, the masters of their own destiny (Meyer 564). In other words, naturalist theory understands newsroom, known characters and ordinary citizens of Baltimore (E.10 S.05). It unifies the idea of one’s fate as the result of environmental factors. In this sense many com- the institutions and the characters within a broader system, reaffirming the show’s mentators have criticized the naturalist approach as pessimistic, since it suggests that primary goal of systemic analysis (Kinder 84). no amount of desire or effort will affect outcome (Meyer 566). In a review of Zola’s work Similar to the exploration of the environment, institutions in The Wire are however, George Wilbur Meyer characterizes Zola, and other naturalist, as ‘optimistic

28 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 29 determinists’ (Meyer 567). He notes that naturalism’s social purpose sought to expose at home, and in the streets dictates their future (Thompson 83). The boys are all por- the laws of nature in order to one day control these forces. Zola notes: “In a word, we trayed as smart, innocent, and curious; yet throughout the season, their home lives are working with the whole country towards that great object, the conquest of nature force them into addiction, the drug trade, and group homes. The only boy to come out and the increase of man’s power a hundredfold.” (qtd in Meyer 568) Zola highlights that of the experience in a better place is Naymond, who is ultimately adopted by Bunny the causality of the determinism needs to be first understood, in order to be subverted Colvin and escapes the confines of the inner city. The school system and the boys’ indi- (Meyer 568). He projects a vision of society wherein “man, grown more powerful, will vidual ability ultimately has no effect on their fate. make use of nature and will utilize its laws to produce upon the earth the greater pos- The unceremonious killing of central African American characters further empha- sible amount of justice and freedom” (qtd in Meyer 570). In other words, naturalism sizes their role as pawns within the greater system. Characters are developed with seeks to understand the way the game affects the pawns, as a means to allow the pawns great detail and nuance, and then swiftly killed (Aiello 20). An example of this is the to change the game. killing of in the fifth season episode “Clarifications.” Omar Little is one of Bodie, a young drug-dealer in the series, articulates the concept of determinism the central figures of the series who plays the unique role of a robber of drug dealers, utilizing the same chessboard analogy noted earlier. In the fourth season episode “Final frequently killing other members of the drug trade. His death at the hands of a very Grades,” while having lunch with detective McNulty, Bodie says: “This game is rigged, young boy in a convenience store is swift and unceremonious. No attention is drawn to man. We like the little bitches on a chessboard.” While The Wire is fundamentally about his death by characters in the series or in the media, although it proves a deeply defin- overarching systemic failure, the show’s resonance lies in its ability to simultaneously ing moment for the audience who had grown accustom to Omar as a central fixture focus upon the concrete ways institutional failures enact systemic violence on the indi- (Sheenan and Sweeney). This swift killing of Omar, and other seemingly irreplaceable vidual pawns. characters like Wallace, D’Angelo or Stringer Bell, reinforces the naturalist, determin- The series emphasizes the deterministic nature of the system by creating complex istic nature of the series. characters that evolve over the course of the series, yet whose fate is consistently dic- At the end of the fifth season, the fates of Michael Lee, Duquan and Marlo Stan- tated by the nature of their environment. This is particularly acute in the case of the field, representing the next generation of the inner city West Baltimore, embody the African American urban community, whose fate is almost always tragic. A striking cyclical nature of institutional failure (Kinder 81). Indeed, Michael Lee comes to replace example of this is Bodie, a young member of the drug-game, present for four seasons of Omar as the lone crusader of West Baltimore, Duquan begins a spiral into addiction, the series. The narrative traces Bodie’s evolution from a young, low-level street dealer, reflecting the life of a recovering addict and central figure throughout the capable of killing his close friend Wallace over questions of loyalty, to the fourth sea- series, and Marlo Stanfield follows in the footsteps of Stringer Bell. The system per- son wherein he has risen through the ranks of the Barksdale crew, having become more petuates the cycle, old pawns replaced with new ones (Kinder 81). The cyclical nature knowledgeable about how the ‘game’ functions. When he realizes “the game is rigged,” of the series is most reflected in the connection between the opening scene of the Bodie has developed a wise and mature understanding of his circumstance and envi- series from the episode “,” with detective McNulty at the scene of the mur- ronment (Sheenan and Sweeney). Yet at the end of “Final Grades,” Bodie is shot dead der of Snot Boogie and the death of Omar Little. In passing, the name of Snot Boogie on a street corner for the same reasons as he shot his friend Wallace in the first season. is noted as being Omar Isaiah Betts, and is noted as the character that frequently robs His tragic fate emphasizes the violence of institutional failures and environmental cir- drug dealers (Marshall and Potter 2). Marshall and Potter note that Snot Boogie serves cumstances, contributing to the systemic analysis. a “prototype for another Omar” (2). In a sense this completes the cycle, from the opening The Wire also presents African American characters with great potential for growth of this series to its close, and thus allows for a micro-level emphasis on a single fgure in and the environmental and institutional forces that thwart that potential (Aiello 13). addition to the larger cyclical nature of systemic violence caused by institutional failure. The most flagrant example is in the fourth season of the series, which presents the Critics have regarded the deterministic nature of the series in largely the same ways failing education system in inner-city neighbourhoods. The season features four boys, as those who deemed Zola’s work as fatalistic. Thompson notes that some attributed Naymond, Duquan, Michael, and Randy, tracing the way their environment, at school, the show’s small fan base to its “bleak depiction of urban life” (Thompson 108). Others

30 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 31 have commented that it merely perpetuates stereotypes of life in inner-city ghettos as lines the rules of the game, empowering the pawns within to enact social change. rife with drugs and violence, reinforcing existing preconceptions held by middle-class white audiences (Thompson 108). Yet, a closer reading suggests that the series is nei- ther fatalistic, nor does it perpetuate stereotypes. Works Cited The presence of success stories, although few and far between, are a testament to “-30-“ The Wire: The Complete Fifh Season. Wri. “Hamsterdam.” The Wire: The Complete Third the show’s optimism. The character of Bubbles, for example, spends the series recover- . Dir. Clark Johnson. HBO, 2008. Season. Wri. Denis Lehane. Dir. Rob Bailey. ing from and relapsing into spirals of addiction. In the final montage of the series, epi- DVD. HBO, 2004. DVD sode “-30-,“ he is finally invited upstairs in his sister’s house, representing his greater Aiello, Ryan. The Wire: Politcs, Postmodernism Kennedy, Liam and Stephen Shapiro. “Tales of triumph over drugs. His success, while minor in the grand scheme of the show, makes and the Rebirth Of American Naturalism. Diss. the Neoliberal City: The Wire’s Boundary him the only character, as Marsha Kinder notes, who “can go home again” ( 81). California State University, 2010. Lines.” The Wire: Race, Class and Genre. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2012. Beyond the fate of individual characters, the naturalist impulse of the series mirrors Bandes, Susan. “And All the Pieces Mater: 147-169. Zola’s ‘optimistic determinism’. As it relates to problems of urban poverty, namely Thoughts on The Wire and the Criminal Justce drug-trade and addiction in African American communities, the series undermines System.” Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law Kinder, Marsha. “Rewiring Baltmore: The Emotve 8.2 (2011). Power of Systemics, Seriality, and the City.” the very stereotypes it is accused of perpetuating. Instead of noting traits as inherent The Wire: Race, Class and Genre. Ann Arbor: to race, the systemic analysis displays the way individuals are fundamentally shaped Chaddha, Anmol, and William Julius Wilson. ““Way The University of Michigan Press, 2012. 71-83. down in the hole”: systemic urban inequality by their surroundings. In other words, by placing the onus on the ‘game’ as the central and The Wire.” Critcal Inquiry 38.1 (2011): “Late Editons.” The Wire: The Complete Fifh determinant of character and behaviour, it undermines essentialist notions of race. 164-188. Season. Wri. George Pelecanos. Dir. Joe Furthermore, by highlighting the human potential within all the characters, the series Chappelle. HBO, 2008. DVD. Clandfeld, Peter. “’We ain’t got no yard’: Crime, suggests that regardless of class and race, the people within the system can and must Development and Urban Environment.” The Marshall, C. W and Tifany Poter. “’I am the change it (Chaddha and Wilson 165). It presents characters with admirable moral codes Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. American Dream’: Modern Urban Tragedy and and characters that wish to change the status quo. While their efforts to change the New York: The contnuum Internatonal the Borders of Ficton.” The Wire: Urban Decay Publishing Group Inc, 2009. 37-49. and American Television. New York: The game are often futile, their experiences dispel the myth of equal opportunity, effec- contnuum Internatonal Publishing Group Inc, tively presenting a first step towards social change. “Clarifcatons.” The Wire: The Complete Fifh 2009. 1-14. In final analysis, The Wire’s construction of space and depiction of institutional Season. Wri. Dennue Lehane. Dir. Anthony Hemingway. HBO, 2008. DVD Meyer, George Wilbur. “The Original Social failure enables a systemic analysis, which in turn serves to undermine racial stereo- Purpose of the Naturalistc Novel.” The types of the African American urban poor. Through formal style the series constructs Sewanee Review 50.4 (1942): 563-570. “Corner Boys.” The Wire: The Complete Third a fragmented and confined environment in Baltimore. Individuals are fundamentally Season. Wri. Richard Price. Dir. Seith Mann. “Old Cases.” The Wire: The Complete First Season. confined by the boundaries of their respective spaces, both in terms of physical and HBO, 2006. DVD Wri. David Simon. Dir. Clement Virgo. HBO, social mobility. Narrative structure and montage in turn draws parallels between the 2002. DVD Davis, Mike. “Fortress Los Angeles: the fragmented spaces and contributes to the large-scale analysis and critique of dominant militarizaton of urban space.” Variatons on “React Quotes.” The Wire: The Complete Fifh social and political structures that perpetuate urban inequality. The focus on individ- a theme park (1992): 154-180. Season. Wri. David Mills. Dir. Agnieszka ual characters mirrors the deterministic impulse of naturalism. The series constructs Holland. HBO, 2008. DVD. “Final Grades.” The Wire: The Complete Fourth complex characters, displaying great potential for growth, whose fate remains ulti- Season. Wri. David Simon. Dir. Ernest Sheehan, Helena, and Sheamus Sweeney. “The mately determined by forces outside of their control. The cyclical nature of character Dickerson. HBO, 2006. DVD. Wire and the world: narratve and metanarra- development throughout the series further emphasizes the notions of individuals as tve.” Jump Cut 51.Spring 2009 (2009). pawns within a system. Ultimately, in effecting its systemic analysis, the series out-

32 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 33 “The Buys.” The Wire: The Complete First Season. Wri. David Simon Dir. Peter Medak. HBO, 2002. DVD.

“The Target.” The Wire: The Complete First Season. Wri. David Simon. Dir. Clark Johnson. HBO, 2002. DVD.

Thompson, Kecia Driver. “” Deserve Got Nothing to Do with It”: Black Urban Experience and the Naturalist Traditon in The Wire.” Studies in American Naturalism 7.1 (2012): 80-120.

34 CAMÉRA STYLO ALEXANDRA MCCALLA 35