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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I'm a sociologist, and I'm just blown away by The Wire. I like the Sopranos, but there is no comparison in terms of capturing the complexities of social structure, social class, race, and power. (In fact, the next time I pitch a of Sociology of X course to my academic overlords, it will be the Sociology of The Wire.)
The Sopranos indites it's own characters. It gives you a safe distance from which to participate in the titillation of the characters' evil actions without feeling complicit in them. The Wire indites us all, and miraculously manages to make us enjoy (rather than resent) the process of finding ourselves guilty as charged. One is good entertainment, even good art, but the other can change our perspective on our own lives and the lives of those around us, and that is great art. The Sopranos exists in its own hermetic universe. The Wire does most of its artistic work when we have stopped watching it and start to see it's themes writ large in the universe we all share.
Of every Salon TV column ever
I have to admit that I only finished watching the 2nd season of the Wire last night so I've got 2 more seasons to watch and apparently a 5th and final on the way. My feeling is that the Sopranos was about characters and the Wire, while having very likable characters (and some not so likable), does a better job of telling a story.
When it's all said and done, after seeing the final episode of the Sopranos I was very sad that it was over, that I wouldn't know what happened to the characters I had become so engrossed in throughout the series. At the same time, the meandering plots and myriad characters tossed at me throughout the series had become so confusing and really superfluous to the real focus which was the character of Tony Soprano and his fate.
At this point in the Wire I don't have the same affection for any of the characters. This is not to say that the characters are poorly developed or don't earn my empathy, but they are merely entertaining props to move the story narrative along rather than the primary focus of the story. When I've watched the last episode of the Wire I'll be sorry that I don't have such entertaining TV to watch, but I won't have the longing in my heart I do to know what happens next like I did with the Sopranos. At the same time I seem to be more impatient waiting for the next disc of the Wire from Netflix as I was with the Sopranos.
I think the answer to "best show of all time" probably depends on what you like. Both shows deserve consideration, and I only hope that HBO or some other network continues to delivery escapist dramas of this quality.
When making aesthetic judgments, we humans often turn subjective assessments into objective pronouncements: "I like it" becomes "It's good", or "I love it" becomes "It's great". Nothing wrong with that, as long as we admit that, from an aesthetic pov, for something to truly be great, it must be liked a lot by a lot of discerning people over a long period of time. Thus, The Iliad can truly be called great, as long as by 'great' we understand that we mean the collective subjective judgments of trained critics throughout history.
Now, my list of TV shows that are (or might be) great, which means I liked them a lot (we'll have to wait on the judgment of history) in alphabetical order:
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica (you know which one!)
Deadwood
The Office (original British version)
Is this really the best Salon can do for a lead story? Create an artificial argument about popular culture that caters to those whose memory is about 2 years long? Jesus, why did I renew my Premium membership?
The genius and beauty of "The Wire" is not that it's all a game, a tragic game its characters are for the most part trapped in. Yes, these dealers, cops, politicians etc. do treat life as if it had a series of win conditions, rules, as if nothing mattered but how well you used the latter to achieve the former. And yes, every time the characters step outside the game they are crushed by those who continue to play. But if this were all "The Wire" was, it would be a fairly mundane show. Well-written, perhaps. Entertaining, sure. But really just another "Law & Order" spinoff.
Instead, the beauty of "The Wire" is when it reveals to its audience--and less often, its characters--that the game is false, a shield behind which we hide in order to avoid the terrible truth that life is about real people, real tragedies. The genius is that "The Wire" lets us to participate in these games--the procedural, the tactics of drug traffickers, the ploys of small-time dealers, Union bosses, politicians. We watch wanting to see how the game plays out--for exactly the same reason we watch "Law & Order"--to see who wins, loses. And then the show sucker punches us. It brings it all back to the human level--the death of D'Angelo Barksdale, Frank Sabatka, the shooting of Detective Greggs, or maybe something more subtle like Tommy Carcetti receiving the trump card from those who play even better than he, anytime Bubbles is on-screen during the first two seasons--and then moves along, back to the game, back to what we would prefer to watch. It is jarring but it is seldom melodramatic.
"The Wire" has problems, namely the fast-forward "wrap ups" we inevitably get at the end of the seasons. These are annoying, obnoxious, and a betrayal of everything the beginning of the season has worked toward. But this can be forgiven because the show does what few others have--it shows us that life is *not* a game, and then it moves on, back to the game, because even the creators of television shows have to play.
it's not really a fair fight. even though both strive to be a metaphor for america and american capitalism the sopranos has more going on in terms of richness and scope.
as far as the sopranos being too episodic...that was what they were trying to do...rather than what hbo was pushing for which was the more extended soap type thing...which they did do very well (think of adriana's story) to a degree.
however i loved how each ep is like a little movie with a slightly different focus (like tony's father's old girl friend who slept with JFK).
the wire is very compelling and realistic...a really great piece of work. the characters are distinct and compelling and the story lines are almost journalistic. i love it. I particularly liked the plot line in which the cop who shot another cop quits to become a public school teacher.
however as an ENDURING piece of art i cannot imagine that the wire will survive as long as the sopranos. It is the fantasy element of the sopranos that also sets it apart. The dream about the fish talking in the voice of "big pussy"....classic.
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