The Lost Boys of Baltimore: Beauty and Desire in the Hood

This article explores black masculinity within the show The Wire.  Mr. Williams starts out this chapter by trying to understand the black and white relationships within the series.  He gives credit to the series in creating these homosocial spaces that we see our characters revolve around.  One example he gives is the crack house Bub's and his white junkie friend hangout in.  Also, he gives note to pairing's within the show.  Examples of this is Bunk with McNulty and Carver and Hauck.  These lending the most obvious representations of black masculinity.  

The less obvious representation of black masculinity are the attention dwellers between the top drug dealers ( Avon and Stringer) and the black officers ( such as Carver).  Mr. Williams believes each type of person is constantly fighting for the viewers attention.  "What is ones persons's urban nightmare, is another mans fantasy" (p. 59).  I found this quote quite intriguing.  On the one hand you have Avon who grew up in the towers and knows nothing but them.  The towers and drug dealing are his world.  On the other hand you have Carver, the low level policemen. Two totally different men fight for the same attention to the viewer.  In essence as the viewer you see Avon more powerful than Carter simply because of the level they posses within their individual societies.  I really interesting aspect to The Wire.  

Mr. Williams goes on and describes the different ways black males and everyone else are portrayed by camera angles.  He believe whenever a "dominating" male black actor is present there is a sense of urgency with the camera.  Specifically a play on the cameras focus and speed of the scrolling along with distance.  One example that actually I could relate to was him talking about Stringer.  Stringer always captures that superior male dominating role whenever on screen.  Obviously him being high up in the business helps with this portrayal, but even when he is around Avon they seem pretty even to me.  

Another way the camera dominates and provokes this black male masculinity portrayal is by the one on one scenes within The Wire.  An obvious example of this is Omar and all of his boyfriends.  Another example of this is Avon in jail.  Numerous times the camera focuses in on Avon's one on ones, either with Stringer or even with Wee-bey just hanging out in jail eating chicken.  

As a result Mr. Williams believes this portrayal of the black male does not help the so-called realistic aspect to the show.  Whether or not the director purposely did these thing I have no idea.  Without a doubt I would have to agree with Mr. Williams  and say that people are definitely affected by certain tactics used by the director himself.  How many people it affects and how often is up for debate in my book.  All in all I believe it important to be aware of these devices the director employs and judge accordingly.

The Lost Boys of Baltimore: Beauty and Desire in the Hood

James S. Williams.  Film Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Winter, 2008/2009), pp. 58-63

R.I.P D

First things first, D will be missed.  Even though D wasn't my favorite character (Lester is), he still played a major role within The Wire.  I almost felt as if he was Avon's "better" and "realistic" self.  Without D playing such a sympathetic role in the series Avon definitely wouldn't of seemed so bad. On the other hand without Avon, D wouldn't of seemed so innocent.  All in all im still waiting for the episode where D pops up out of his grave and starts selling back at the towers.  I guess only time will tell if that ever happens.

The one article by Currie talks about the crime in a market society.  Within his article he defines the market society by saying that they are sink or swim societies.  He goes onto explain that these specific types of societies are breeding grounds for serious violent crime.  Lastly he goes on and explains the 7 determining factors/characteristics these specific societies turn to crime.

" Number 2.  Inherent tendency toward extremes of inequality and material deprivation".  I picked this one in specific because I believe it relates to The Wire the best.  In essence it says this is the elimination of "good" work.  This idea is found throughout The Wire in many situations.  Ziggy and Nick are the obvious ones within the series.  Seniority is a major problem for both of them.  The longer you have worked on the docks the more shifts your going to get.  By not getting the shifts they need to support themselves (and in Nicks situation his girlfriend) they turn to crime.  You see a transition within Nick in the last couple of episodes.  At first he is totally appalled by the idea of drug dealing.  Then, you see him take half of his earnings in cash and in drugs.  This simple transition shows you how the possible benefits outweigh the extreme costs. In Nick's mind he just wants to get his own place.  On the other hand he has become a drug dealer.  This also can relate to the article we read earlier in the year, explaining the girlfriend and her needs within the drug atmosphere.

Season 2...lets go

So I just finished the third episode of season 2, and I must say im quite impressed.  The show itself really has a weird way of hooking its audience.  Its not like the show 24 that has constant action 24/7 (no pun intended).  Im quite impressed with the intertwining of the two seasons.  Not only do you get the excitement of the Avon Barksdale case, you also get the women trafficking corrupted blue collar docks men.  I cant wait to see what happens.

On a more serious note, season 2 really exemplifies this idea of Agnew's strain theory.  Right from the beginning theres strain everywhere.  The strain that the docks men experience is one that involves money.  As we saw in the first three episodes times are hard on the docks.  You begin to realize the people that work the docks are no cleaner then the water itself in baltimore.  First and foremost starting with the head Frank.  Strain causes Franks own son to steal from the company and make a profit on his own.  Whether you believe strain causes crime is up to your own discretion.  Also, I believe its episode 3 where you see one of Franks workers tell him that he is going to leave the docks.  As a result Frank tells him to go get a drink on him and tell him the answer in the morning.  To his surprise a money roll is waiting for him at bar.  Whether or not this money was obtained legitimately or not is still up in the air, but we can make assumptions.  Strain can turn the nicest man into a corrupt man.

Not really class related

So I just started season 2 of the wire and realized the intro singer changed to Tom Waits.  If you've never heard of him I recommend you check him out.  Here is one of my favorite songs by him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvMy1xOh6cw

Robert Taylor Homes

After watching the whole first season of The Wire, I realized it had a lot of similarities to the Robert Taylor Homes of Chicago.  If you've never heard of the Robert Taylor Homes heres a little background.  It was a public housing development that tried to create cheap affordable housing for many low income families.  The high-rise development soon enough collapsed internally and turned into a breeding ground for crime and drugs.  As seen in The Wire, cops avoided certain areas of the Robert Taylor Homes.  Initially the homes were built to accommodate 11,000 people, but soon enough peaked at 27,000 people within the community.  Also seen in The Wire, "turf wars" broke out constantly within the area.  In 2007 the high-rise buildings were demolished.  Heres a website that gives you a little more information the Robert Taylor Homes if your interested.

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7002&page=1

Its quite unbelievable how many connections you are able to make between the two areas.  To think that there is an ideal type of community for crime to thrive, is an interesting aspect to look at.  With so much known about where crime comes from and how it originates, why do we keep building areas that provoke this type of behavior?  Obviously we cannot predict everything, but we can compare the similarities between the towns and cities that provide our country with the most crime, and act accordingly.