The show is undoubtedly an indictment of the war on drugs and calls it a wholesale failure, no question there. It condemns the violence on the streets and is honest about how violent the police are. And it is completely consistent on the theme that people turn to crime because the socio-economic system left them no other option. As the show spirals out into other fields, it shows how thorough the corruption of the whole government and how impossible it is to change anything. Anyone who actually tries reform either gets boxed out of the process (Bunny Coleman, Daniels) or conforms to the corrupt system (Littlefinger).
But while it condemns the war on drugs, there is still an element of “the police could be saved through reform.” Especially season 5 which is the worst season for a lot of reasons. The case against copaganda is much stronger without McNulty’s bullshit fake serial killer plot, in universe it confirms that with better allocated resources police can solve stuff like murders. Season 5 was saved by Marlo’s crew and the Newspaper storyline.
I think the biggest argument against it being copaganda is that you always follow the people they’re investigating. They are main characters as much as the cops (and are usually much more compelling characters). In every season at least one of the criminal characters chooses to reject the violence of the drug trade in some way. I don’t know of any other “cop show” that actually gives a shit about the people on the other end of the table, especially not to the extent we see in season 4. Season 4 is the highmark for showing the school to prison pipeline and actually trying to offer an alternative.
And as for the police, we see at least two characters who go through the journey of “don’t be a fucking cop anymore, it’s awful.” Prezbo is actually pretty based for killing a cop and then becoming a public school teacher.
I’m not making an argument either way I just wanna hear your thoughts.
“Hero” cops are the minority, as are blatantly corrupt shitheads, most are just there for the overtime and pensions.
it’s not pointed out often enough that cop is the only job in the US that is 100% armed and unionized, pays a salary you can live off of, and doesn’t require higher education. so even if you aren’t a hotdog necked white thumb ready to lynch a teenager for stealing bread, you might be attracted to the job for that alone. It is objectively a racist and classist job where you protect the private property of the wealthy and harras the poor, but most people don’t go into it caring about that, or necessarily knowing about it. (this isn’t a defense of cops so much as an analysis of why so many people become cops)
Yeah the show posits that black kids joining the drug trade is a product of socio-economic circumstances and so is the violence that comes from it. While the Wire shows that police do perpetuate violence against the community, it doesn’t show why. It shows why a regular kid would join the drug trade, but not why a regular kid would join the police and the war on terror.
I always thought it was a shame the Wire ended before the Baltimore PD planting guns corruption was made public. That’s awesome.
David Simon probably is a lib, he’s too rooted in his conditions. He was a reporter who covered the crime beat, so it’s natural for him to not advocate for tearing down the system. But Libs can still make good content and good points (occasionally) so I don’t write them off completely lol. If I didn’t watch anything liberals produced I’d be stuck watching exclusively old USSR documentaries and a few youtube channels.
Sometimes you just have to accidentally kill somebody to discover that your true calling is being a teacher
He also blinded a fourteen year old. And now he works with fourteen year olds.
It’s a nuanced show for sure. Prezbo does show real growth, but they make it clear he can never reconcile blinding that kid. However, that is a very realistic scenario and he does basically the best thing he can do to try to make up for it.
Yes, because it humanizes cops, and also because it strongly implies that there is no alternative to the status quo. Not once do we see people in the hood attempt to organize for anything except lumpenproletariat petite bourgeois capitalism IIRC.
IMO Babylon Berlin is a better cop show because it actually has communists who are human beings and even features fights between Trotskyists and MLs. It’s still a cop show though and it’s kind of frustrating in that the main character basically has no character while the other main character who is way more interesting is also in love with him.
Yeah that tracks. I probably gave too generous a reading to the corrupt status quo. It’s capital realism for sure.
The season 3 arc with legalizing drugs is the most novel idea. My read was that “yeah it actually worked, so of course the man came in to shut it down.” But you’re probably right that the intended message was “it’s a nice idea but it’s not PRACTICAL.”
I will have to check out Babylon Berlin. I don’t really watch many cop shows, but that sounds cool to see German communists.
Hamsterdam was poorly applied and that can be seen any time it’s shown on screen. It’s fucking bedlam and it would be, you can have all those drug dealers and addicts in one place, things will go bad. There will be violence, sexual assault and just all kinds of fucked up shit. If made legit, as there were several outreach groups willing to step in, then it could maybe be pulled off well. As it stood, it wasn’t too great. There was also the old lady they missed in the sweeps who refused to move and just lived there now.
last season of Babylon Berlin was a bit hit and miss because it had a bad case of tonal whiplash and really loved to treat Charlotte as a total butt monkey, which afaik isn’t in the books, but it’s absolutely worth watching. i haven’t gotten around to the new season yet, i need to check if it’s out already.
