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 .................................................................................................................................. 65 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 72 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 75 Resumé ........................................................................................................................................ 76 Jarůšek 1 Introduction A successful neighbourhood is a place that keeps sufficiently abreast of its problems so it is not destroyed by them. An unsuccessful neighbourhood is a place that is overwhelmed by its defects and problems and is progressively more helpless before them. (Jacobs 112) To claim that the urban neighbourhood the audience is presented in the show The Wire by David Simon is an “unsuccessful” one would probably be more than fitting. According to Jane Jacobs’ argument from her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, an unsuccessful neighbourhood is an environment stricken with various shortcomings that mutually reinforce each other and cause the neighbourhood’s residents to live in drastic conditions. And that is exactly the world one can observe when watching the discussed the award- winning show which has been praised, among other things, for its emphasis on realism and depiction of the situation in the real-life city of Baltimore. When creating the show, David Simon was drawing from his own personal experiences from the time he worked in the Baltimore Son, the city’s largest daily newspapers, and the complexity in which Simon was able to capture some of the most pressing Baltimore’s problems is astounding. As Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire note in their work Tapping into The Wire: The Real Urban Crisis, „In episode after brilliantly stage episode one sees instances of disintegrating families, unchecked teen pregnancy, single-parent child rearing, homeless heroin addicts spreading AIDS through dirty needles, Jarůšek 2 concentrated poverty, endless violence, the failure of schools, and the inability of the police to stop the drug trafficking.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire 6). Thus, the city the audience is presented in the show is suffering from many very serious problems for which there are no simple solutions. The present paper discusses the realistic depiction of some of those problems and analyzes the way The Wire comments on Baltimore’s social disorder. More specifically, the diploma focuses on the lives of the show’s young protagonists who live in one of the city’s most underprivileged areas and the paper’s aim is to analyse the social and environmental factors that contribute to that fact that these children and young adults tend to engage in criminal activities, even though they are risking their freedom and lives by doing so. As the authors Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire further stress, “Growing up safe and healthy, and being able to go to school and actually learn, is often determined not by race or genes or a can-do attitude but by social and environmental factors.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire 136) In other words, that fact that those who live in under such unfavourable conditions are given very limited opportunities to succeed in life without breaking the law is primarily due to the environment that they are forced to live in. Thus, the present paper’s goal is to identifiy some of the most pressing issues associated with Baltimore’s urban environment that negatively influence the lives of local children and young adults. The first chapter of the diploma offers a historical overview of the city of Baltimore in regard to its problem with violent crimes. For the past several decades, the city of Baltimore has been stigmatized by its reputation of extremely Jarůšek 3 high crime rate which is often noticeably higher that in comparison to other big cities in the United States of America. A lot of those crimes can be attributed to the drug related illegal activities, but there are still many of murders of innocent people not involved with the gangs. Also, the victims (as well as perpetrators) of these crimes are children or young adults. The paper identifies the riots of 1968 which occurred after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King as one of the catalysts of the rise in violent crimes, exodus of a sizeably porting of the city’s population and the subsequent poverty. To illustrate this dark history of Baltimore is important in order to understand better its current situation and why the characters in the discussed show live under such inhumane conditions. The second chapter of the paper focuses on one of the main factors that contribute to the young protagonists’ inclination to illegal activities, and that is the sad reality of pervasive poverty and lack of economic opportunities in the inner-city neighbourhood that is affected by Baltimore’s historical development. Since we are witnessing lives of children or young adults whose parents and other predecessors most likely never worked, due to the lack of jobs and also their lack of education, the young protagonists do not see themselves getting a job themselves realistic. The most logical solution for someone in their unfavourable condition is to engage in illegal activities, such as selling drugs, because the environment simple does not provide them with enough opportunities to make a living for themselves in a legal way. While struggling for survival in a decaying neighbourhood, they are willing to risk their freedom and well-being in order to earn at least some money. And that is something that the local gang enables them. Jarůšek 4 The chapter number three identifies dysfunctional school system as another factor that has a significant influence on the young protagonists’ development. The show reveals Baltimore’s school system as immensely flawed and insufficient. The students are neglected by most of the school’s officials who do not show much of an interest to educate the children. Rather, they are focused on getting regular funding from the state. Thus, even those children who might have a chance of getting high school diploma one day are left far behind and their chances for a better life are undermined by the institution which is supposed to prepare them for their future. Such children then start to eventually look for any available means of survival which unfortunately often means engaging in illegal activities. The fourth chapter deals with the problem of uneven distribution of recreational space which can be viewed as another factor which contributes to the children’s descent into a criminal life. Although one might not think at first this might be of a great importance, many researchers agree that children’s ability to participate in various games in sports centres or other recreational centres can have a positive effect on their development, since these activities can provide them with an alternative to gangs and drugs. As the audience of the show can notice, The Wire presents kids in the city’s predominately white suburbs enjoy the access to various playgrounds, parks and so on, whereas mostly African-American children are forced to play on the streets, often not even with improvised basketball hoops etc. Thus, due to the official organizations’ neglect local children are not given the chance to participate in healthy collective activities that would help them to stay on the right side of the law. Jarůšek 5 The chapter number five discusses the importance of positive role models and father figures in the boys’ lives. As was found by researchers, many African-American boys identify their fathers as their role models, but as the television shows reveals, most of the kids from the disadvantaged neighbourhood are growing up without their fathers, presumably because they are dead, in jail or simply left the family. Thus, the boys are forced to substitute the father figure