Oh curses. I finished series 3.
I’m left with the sense of an epic sweep. And real loss.
“We are bored with good and evil. We renounce the theme.”
David Simon (apparently) said this. And if he really did, he’s even more the man.
Here’s some more paraphrases from the commentary on the last ep, which I actually did hear him say on the commentary on the last ep of the show:
Series 3 is a microcosm of the war in Iraq. Street dealers going to war in Baltimore play out the larger drama of the USA until the realisation hits that “Once you’re in a war you’re in it” and there’s no good way out.
Avon Barksdale, the main gangster man, caught ruminating the disaster that his own greed and fear have caused him, is described by Simon as “George Bush, only more reflective.” Well, now.
“The big theme of the entire show is the struggle between individual desires and subordination to the group’s goals.” (Which would be more colourfully voiced in the voice of the characters as “Everyone has to bend over in the end”)
Season 3 “reflects on the nature of reform and reformers, and whether there is any possibility that political processes, long calcified, can mitigate against the forces currently arrayed against individuals.” (I think he still means that everyone has to bend over in the end.)
I’m not so sure about the Iraq parallels Mr Simon. I thought the show worked just fine without them – and didn’t the fact that you had to keep making them more and more overt because people weren’t getting it tell you something?
But, in general, WOW!!!!!
I like television that tries to do all this. And delivers. And makes it supremely entertaining.
What a monstrous show. All I have to look forward to is Series 4. And Series 5.
How To Write A Screenplay
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
All this unqualified praise for ‘The Wire’ makes me uneasy. Sure, the textbook Robert Mckee storylining and scenewriting really takes off, and the unflinching look at ‘the issues’ is a blast of – er – refreshingness. But there are things The Wire didn’t do well:
1. Female characterisation: for all the development of the many male principals, the only female character who arcs in the slightest is Kima, and then not much.
2. The hyper-real sex is gratuitous and breaks the fourth wall; you’re not thinking about the plot, you’re thinking about ‘did they actually do it?
3. David Simon might well pontificate about how ‘important’ the series is, but some of is see him settling old scores more than anything else.
Let the flaming begin.
Hi Robin,
I’m not convinced that actually it is Robert McKee’d – I found it a very very hard watch initially, until with plenty of missing ‘obligatory’ beats, but of course you’re right there are things it didn’t do well – nothing’s perfect (except Bergman’s ‘Fanny and Alexander’ – but that’s a different argument.)
1. Absolutely. And I was bored rigid by Kima and Cedric’s respective home lives. But more than that, I don’t think the majority of the police characters are so interesting as the majority of the gangsters. (Unlike in Homicide, LoTS, where the police were the most interesting characters.)
2. We-ell, not sure I agree with this – there’s a lot of that about these days. Didn’t really have that effect on me.
3. Old scores? I’m intrigued. Tell us more…