INTER-TEXT

Plato, Foucault, and Institutional Power

Fratricide in The Wire and in Shakespearean History Plays

Further Similarities to Shakespearean History Cycles [Production]

Dickensian Coincidence

While a staple of the average police procedural, the Platonic moral framework wherein a good vs. evil dichotomy exists is lacking in The Wire. Through the omission of traditional heroes and antiheroes, Simon is able to examine a deeper question concerning the moral categorization/labeling of individuals. particularly, he examines the inability for such simple labels as 'good' and 'bad' to fully capture the reality of morally complex characters/individuals. Instead, one would be benefited from viewing "evil" in the show as manifested in the complex, corrupt institutions of power using a Foucaultian lens, which is explored in detail here. In an essay on police procedurals and the Wire, author McMillan states, "like Foucault, Simon casts aside cherished beliefs about the legitimacy of legal institutions in order to examine the concrete effects of their power on individuals".

Throughout the series, we see that the body is the site of resistance in the drug trade, with institutional powers placing bodies in jail as punishment, and constantly surveilling them through the use of undercover cops, buy-busts, and raids. McMillan continues, "It seems that at least since Plato, heroism has been closely associated with morality and the triumph of the individual; in The Wire, we are shown a Baltimore where individuals are perpetually at the mercy of dysfunctional, amoral institutions." Many have said that such a realistic portrayal of corrupt institutions has not been achieved on this scale since the writer Franz Kafka wrote The Trial, and that like Kafka's work, even the "heroes" of the story can be seen as twisted products of the system themselves, trying to escape an unavoidable fate.

(Referenced from Heroism, Institutions, and the Police Procedural by Alasdiar McMillan)

The relationship between Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell in Season 3 is reminiscent of tragic relationships between family members in Shakespearean history cycles: two brothers who are both heirs to an empire betray each other. In the end, both of them fall.
- Stringer gives up Avon to the police, for the future of the Barksdale organization
- Avon gives up Stringer to Omar & Brother Mouzone, for wrongs done in the past
Fratricide is a notable theme in Shakespeare’s work.
- Ex: “Make war upon themselves, brother to brother, blood to blood, self against self” [Richard the Third II.iv.66]
Metaphorically, Avon represents Claudius, who kills his brother Hamlet.
- Claudius says: “Oh, my offense is rank. It smells to heaven. It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t. A brother’s murder.” [Hamlet III.iii.37]

In the final scene of season 3, an intertextual reference to Dickens is made (5:10 - 6:10 in the following clip). A serendipitous encounter occurs between "two characters we have grown to love and admire, who come from very different social worlds, but who coincide and understand one another."

("Way Down in the Hole": Systemic Urban Inequality and 'The Wire' by Anmol Chaddha and William Julius Wilson)

Both rely on “Ticket Sales”: pleasing the audience rather than the companies
History plays made their money by selling tickets for each show rather than using corporate sponsors
HBO makes money by attracting subscribers rather than airing commercials
HBO, as a subscription channel, is likened to the “Blackfriars” theater: a smaller, more expensive and exclusive playhouse than the open-air theaters/large TV networks.

References to Other Shows

HBO in particular is a network that prides itself on its references to other shows and media. Here is an instance within Season 3 that perfectly encapsulates how Herc sees himself as a police officer: a hard-boiled, lady-loving icon. This reference is particularly funny in that promptly after making this ridiculous display to his fellow officer, the scene ends with them making fools of themselves in front of the whole neighborhood, and in front of the criminals themselves, in a wholly devastating failure. In the end, they charge a young man under meaningless pretenses down at the station, which in part motivates Bunny Colvin to start the Hamsterdam venture as a new tactic to end the War on Drugs. Here we witness how Bunny Colvin sees Herc's vision of himself, and how it fits into his master plan of reform.

David Simon directly parallels The Wire to a Greek tragedy:
- From a Slate interview: “...the guys we were stealing from in The Wire are the Greeks. In our heads we're writing a Greek tragedy, but instead of the gods being petulant and jealous Olympians hurling lightning bolts down at our protagonists, it's the Postmodern institutions that are the gods. And they are gods. And no one is bigger.”
- From a Believer magazine interview: “In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed. Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak. Because so much of television is about providing catharsis and redemption and the triumph of character, a drama in which postmodern institutions trump individuality and morality and justice seems different in some ways, I think."
Much like how main characters in Greek tragedies were at the whims of the gods, the main characters of The Wire were at the institutions’ feet
- This is especially apparent through how the theme of reform in Season 3, as we feel for these characters who try to initiate reform (in the political, law enforcement, and drug economy systems) but are thwarted by these enormous, perpetuating institutions
- Characters in The Wire don’t truly get the “happy endings” - they face staunch realities that succumb to the present institutions/systems

The Wire as a Greek Tragedy

Inspiration from Religion & Philosophy

Judaism: Ecclesiastes 1:8-9

“All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

The characters in The Wire are part of a cyclical system in which mistakes are repeated, so that “what has been done will be done again”. McNulty and Bodie both realize this in the

first episode of the season.

Hinduism: Mahatma Gandhi

“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”

This quote summarizes Bunny Colvin’s experience in season 3. He understands that

bureaucratic obstacles will always be there to impede true police work so he can only

resort to moral experiments.

Confucianism: Confucius

“Study the past, if you would divine the future.”

The Wire: Season 3 Episode 1

"Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same." – Bodie

Modern Interpretation:

History will repeat itself, we cannot add or subtract from what the world is. We leave the world the same as when we arrived.

Series Interpretation:

The Wire constantly reminds viewers that humans are not Gods. We may take ‘active’ roles in society, but they are no more than the parts the world chooses to cast out at you. In season 3 of the Wire we see characters fall into the exact same problems as before. Characters like Bunny, who try to change how drugs are sold find that they are incapable of changing the system. Order always reverts to chaos. Hamsterdam falls apart, and Bunny loses his cushy retirement pension.