Wire News: RIP Ashley, Savino Stabbed, the Academic Wire

Some may wonder why I continue writing about The Wire even though it ended weeks ago. Well, stuff keeps happening, and I'm pretty sure TVonDVD will extend the show's life by about a decade. Also, I have more to say. So that's that.

In the stuff keeps happening category: My deepest condolences to the family of Ashley Morris. Ashley was one of the fine writers at Got That New Package, he also started SaveTheWire.com, which may have even helped convince HBO to re-up for a fourth and fifth season. His death was all too sudden and surprising, he will certainly be missed. Even David Simon surfaced to give his respects. The man left a wife, three kids, and a New Orleans community which will surely feel his absence. If you feel it's appropriate, I encourage you to donate here.

In other news, Christopher Clanton, aka "Savino", was stabbed at a Baltimore party. While he thankfully seems to be recovering, the problems of Baltimore continue. I do think that introducing so many great Baltimore actors to mainstream film is one of The Wire's more important legacies, but for every Idris Elba or Robert Chew, there is a Christopher Clanton (who did really great work). I think this aspect of the show is best illustrated in a DVD commentary by the "four kids" from Season Four. Instead of commenting on the show, they spend more time discussing "the craft" and lamenting a lack of work for black actors. It's pretty 'meta' and I encourage watching/listening to it.

Finally, Harvard is hosting a symposium on The Wire (hat tip: A Thousand Corners). I think this is just great. I kid that I will eventually write my dissertation on The Wire, but in all seriousness, I think it can support such academic rigor. Certainly in the world of Pop Culture Studies, it's high art compared to Pro Wrestling (no offense to you Hulk-a-Maniacs out there). Though Simon often joked he would end up teaching screen writing at a community college, I think it's interesting that he has ended up at Hahvaad.

Clark Johnson, director of the Wire's bookends (pilot and final episode) and the actor playing Baltimore Sun editor "Gus" has also gotten into the academic game when he appeared at the recent Organization of American Historians conference. He participated in a session entitled "Film, History, and the African American Experience." In the American History world, the OAH is a pretty big deal with thousands visiting. That a history conference featured a show that got off the air a few weeks ago is fairly unprecedented. I'm sure Johnson talked about his work outside of the Wire as well, but nonetheless, very cool.

The Wire has been fairly critical of the academic world. For example, the Season Four portrayal-

"Sociologist: Even though the program didn't make it into all of the schools, this is going to provide a really great study.
Colvin: So a bunch of other people are going to sit around and study your study? ::shakes head::

It's ironic that even the very top of America's educational food chain can't fix and doesn't even understand the bottom. Following Colvin's hamsterdam experiment in season 3, Johns Hopkins denies him a job because he is "too controversial." Simon demonstrates in season four/five that he is one of the show's greatest "teachers" (his education of Carcetti, the sociologist, the corner kids, Carver, and eventually Namond are Colvin's true legacy). Despite his skill, he can't get a job in Baltimore's most famous/best school.

Despite this (pretty well aimed) criticism of the ivory tower, many professors, grad students, and other academics (me, asywak, Ashley Morris, to name a few) have been crazy about the wire. I can think of many history professors, in particular, that really love the show (Steve Reich, Scott Nelson, Eric Rauchway). Sudhir Venkatesh is another academic whose work intersects very closely with the show. For me, this blog is an attempt to promote an academically rigorous view of the show (which, in the tradition of most academic work, reaches almost no one). In 10 years will there be a class on The Wire? I'd say, hell yes! Call it- The Wire as Literary Text. Or maybe, Baltimore's Underclass: A Subaltern Study. If you have any suggestions as to what you'd call an academic class on The Wire, comment away.

Real Thugs 8

In looking at the comments, Sudhir Venkatesh has created a powerful institution in and of itself. Even those who have yet to see a single episode of The Wire can't help but wait for the next freakomics blog entry by the "thugs." Episode eight took it to a new level and his posts are more about the thugs than The Wire. Although I can't say I'm disappointed. Well, a part of me still wants their take on the show, but their own stories are so much better.

In the beginning the posts brought a different view of The Wire. The hustler's view of who was going to play who next (and they were often spot-on). But with the last few posts, Venkatesh subtly shows that The Wire is not merely a TV show. The Game is not a game. It's LIFE for many. In The Wire, success is making it to the top. Winning that Pulitzer, the Governor's office, supplying all of Baltimore with drugs, becoming chief of police. On the streets, success is: "if you woke up and you weren’t in jail and you were breathing." This is according to J.T., Venkatesh's friend in Chicago and a gangleader on whom he based his book Gangleader for a Day.

Venkatesh also addresses how difficult it is to cause any real change in this environment. Sudhir often felt "helpless, uneasy, and looking to do the right thing." Yet one of the other thugs responds to Venkatesh's thoughts: “You want to know what’s hard, Sudhir? Understanding that you just can’t fix [anything] — not always, and not right away. Live with that feeling you got, my brother, ’cause we’re living with it every day. I hope you suffer; it’s good for you.” It's powerful stuff that truly connects the imagery, and the literary symbols, and the plots twists to what The Wire is really about. Life in Baltimore. Life in the American City.

But this is not to merely lay pity at the feet of a drug dealer who isn't making it. The point is that (to bring it back to The Wire), like a Greek tragedy, Dukie could not choose his fate, and neither can some of these dealers who must hustle on the street to survive.

David Simon on S5

There is a new interview with David Simon by Newsweek on the interweb this week. In it, he addresses the problems many fans have had with the media plot line. Simon is adamant that its not about the Sun or getting back at a few editors he had years ago, but addressing an important problem in the newsroom. He's arguing that fabrication is more prevalent than many in society and the journalism community would believe. Furthermore, he tears into Devin Gordon, the Newsweek interviewer for privileging some of Simon's other "bad" characters as being more nuanced than the lying Scott Templeton:

Is the reporter who makes s--t up to serve his own ambition not going to be hateful to some viewers? Is Marlo not hateful for being a sociopath? Is Major Rawls not hateful for serving only his own interests? Are these characters somehow more nuanced?

While Simon is obviously correct that many of the journalistic types have been reacting negatively to the media plot, whether consciously or unconsciously, because they are necessarily defensive about their culture and its drawbacks. It is also interesting how Simon frames this lie against a larger societal lie, the War (you know which one, but it could be that other one too).

But I guess when I think of the failure of the newsmedia, it is not the Scott Templeton's of the world which bother me most. Yes, fake journalism is bad, ambition that ignores ethics is bad, but Templeton is not one putting Britney Spears on A1A, while Darfur is pg 15 below the fold. Yes Scott Templeton is a product of the media institution, but I don't know if his transgressions elevate him to antihero.

It's "angry" Simon at his best, and a very enlightening interview. Go read it.

Real Thugs - 6

Real Thugs analyze the latest episode of the Wire and I really look forward to this weekly Freakonomics post. The discussion in this post revolved around morality. It is interesting the way the men project a logic derived from the streets or prison in their analysis of politics. One comments that Carcetti should get Clay Davis in his pocket by letting him off the charges. That the only way to get ahead in politics is through deal making and displays of force on the street, ala Giuliani vs Dinkins. It's a very interesting no-holds-bar approach to politics that is maybe more reminiscient of European politics in the thirties, but nonetheless, they aren't too far off base in that politics these days is all about the image you portray to the public, and the power you hold behind closed doors.

This is not to say they don't value a sense of morality. They recognize and respect that Bunk, Omar, and Gus are the three men who live by a specific code. Even though such a strict code is an impossible goal in real life on the street.

Bubbles

Bubbles, played by Andre Royo is obviously one of my favorite characters. A more likable dope fiend has not been created since "Gary" from Simon's earlier HBO miniseries, "The Corner" (Gary was a real person though). When most people discuss Bubbles, they throw in words like Shakespearian or Dickensian, but I think he can speak for himself. Andre Royo has done numerous interviews over the years, but this one is particularly great. The interviewer seems a bit condescending or silly ("did you do research on this role har har") but Royo is simply classy.

Royo is a seriously great actor and some of his scenes are the most poignant of the show. You can be sure that this won't be the last post about Bubs.

The Media Angle

Columbia Journalism Review has a great/expansive article on David Simon and The Wire. Some have criticized the current season for its portrayal of the media and particularly the portrayal of Baltimore Sun Executive Editor, "James Whiting" and Managing Editor, "Thomas Klebanow." These characters are virtual stand ins for the actual Sun editors during Simon's time, John Carroll and Bill Marimow. Carroll recently tried to fight layoffs at the LA Times and resigned himself. In an open email of sorts (couldn't find the link to it that I read a couple days ago), he shows himself to far from the corporate stooge Simon writes him as. Simon's criticisms of the bottom line ruining journalism is echoed by Carroll. The journalism community also holds Marimow in high regard. The main disagreement between them seems to be one of journalistic style. Marimow and Carroll have written some of their most successful stories on individual phenomena, which brought real substantive changes, issues "you could take a bite out of." Simon's most powerful work, like Homicide or The Corner paints in much broader strokes, or according to Simon “problems and people portrayed in all of their complexity and contrariness.”

Its a little disappointing that Simon's normally ambiguous writing has made such good-bad/right-wrong characters in the newsroom, but I don't want to pass judgement yet. Indeed, I think he had to go to the Sun in this season, and it certainly fits into his model of institutionalization and bureaucracy (hint: it's bad). And maybe the characters will achieve more complexity in the coming episodes. Maybe Scott Templeton will grow some conscience. Maybe Gus will be a little more evil. Maybe the editors will start doing more with more. Maybe the newsroom subplot won't turn into Simon settling a grudge with his bosses from ten years ago. Ok, probably not.

The Wire and History and Real Thugs - Part 5

Sudhir Venkatesh is back with another segment of What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire - Part 5.

Venkatesh is a Sociologist at Columbia and the author of Gang Leader for a Day, which explores the Chicago drug trade and gang life. It's gotten great reviews and I look forward to reading it. He has also written several other books on the economics of the urban underclass and the ghetto in general. You can read a few articles he has written at his Columbia faculty site.

Another interesting article that I've come across is Joseph Spillane's "The Making of an Underground Market: Drug Selling in Chicago, 1900-1940" in The Journal of Social History Vol. 32, No. 1. (Autumn, 1998), pp. 27-47. Spillane's article is mostly narrative, but it shocks because of the similar terminology and situations as in today's drug war.Interestingly and perhaps true of Baltimore as well (the great grandfather of Bubbles?): "By 1908, the phrase 'as crazy as a West Side dope fiend' had entered the lexicon of city residents" (1). Also in 1908, the Chicago chief of police vocally made a complaint that many a police chief of today's drug war has uttered under their breath: "'we can drive out every occupant of the 22nd street district in forty-eight hours. But do you want us to drive them into the lake as has been suggested? Do you want them driven to the resident districts? What do you want done with them? Isn't it better to keep them corralled in one spot with their names and histories tabulated?'" The parallels with season 3's Hamsterdam are obvious.

The Wire treats history in an interesting fashion. The action itself is certainly in the present without the use of flashbacks, but there is a glorification or nostalgia for the past. A pantheon of drug dealers from the seventies and eighties are often invoked by Prop Joe in Season Three for their ability to make drug-dealing into "just business", without the murder, guns, and games that come with its current incarnation. Of course, the attempt by Stringer to go back to this idealized past ultimately dooms him.

This same theme is played out in Season Two by Frank Sebotka. He felt he was breaking the law for all the right reasons to preserve the stevedore/working class future for his family. Of course, he doesn't save the dying occupation.

Simon has set up a world where institutions obliterate individual agency, but it is also a world constantly becoming worse. A sort of declension theory ("decline of the American Empire"). But Simon seems to tie this decline to more recent phenomena. The war on drugs, the weakening of the working class, the failure of inner city education and resegregation of schools, and mass media's transformation all become fodder for Simon, but as Spillane points out, these same battles have been fought in inner cities for well over 100 years.

For the past 4000 years, every old guy thought "it really used to be better in the good ole days" or.. "simpler" (conversation repeated 38 times daily at Colonial Williamsburg: "boy, they really knew what was important back then" "yep, it was a simpler time"). Often, it ain't quite like you imagine it (conspicuous lack of horse manure and raw sewage in the streets of CW?).

...a few more thoughts on this for a later time.

(1) Spillane, "The Making of an Underground Market: Drug Selling in Chicago, 1900-1940," Jo. of Soc. Hist. Vol. 32, No. 1. (Autumn, 1998), 29.

NPR Interviews characters from The Wire

The darling radio network of educated, white, upper-middle class suburbanites (ok, that's me), NPR, has given The Wire a large amount of press during its seasons. I guess some of its producers are big fans and it makes sense with the NPR headquarters located less than an hour away in DC.

-Michael K. Williams plays "Omar" and discusses the character's internal fragility despite his brash actions, the first kiss, and how he got his scar.

-Germaine Crawford plays "Dukie" and talks about giving real children like Dukie a voice in the show. In an online only clip, Crawford talks about his fellow cast members outside of their characters.

-NPR's Fresh Air interviews David Simon and George Pelecanos from 2004.

-An older Fresh Air interview with Ed Burns. And one from 2006.

-Clark Johnson, director of several episodes and "Gus" in the current season.

The interviews can go into great depth... and if you search the NPR site you can find interviews with "Snoop", "Marlo", and others. I can't really think of other shows where so many of the actors and creators have been interviewed. And oddly NPR has chosen some of the more minor characters (I don't know if this has anything to do with availability). They certainly are fans, which is nice to see.

The Wire

This blog will pretty much be an extension of my obsession for David Simon's "The Wire." I hope to look at the themes it brings up, analyze it on the level of great film, and generally be a sounding board for some of the criticism that is already out on the internet.

My thoughts on the show will come at a later date, but for now enjoy Sudhir Venkatesh's interviews/sessions with actual drug traffickers and what they think about The Wire. Start with The First Episode and move through to the current one.

Here's a quick link to actual Baltimore Crime as well.

That's all for now, but stay tuned as I unleash many more links/info on the "best television show in history."