I have been watching the first season of The Wire and all I can say is that this show is too bleak, dark and not realistic. All this show does is tells about the failures and downtrodden state of Baltimore. Baltimore is a proud city and has made a lot of progress that is not even mentioned in the show. In 1994, a group called Baltimoreans United in Leader Development (BUILD) which is an organization that is a grassroots which united custodians, labor unions, churches and other organizations to lobby for increased wages. Due to the efforts of BUILD, Baltimore passed the nation's first living-wage ordinance. BUILD's work has extended beyond providing people a living. They have also built hundreds of affordable housing units for the working poor, created after-school youth programs and providing summer jobs for inner-city youths. In fact, the co-chair of BUILD, Bishop Douglass Miles said, "BUILD is making steady progress in eliminating blight throughout the Oliver neighborhood, where 44 percent of properties are vacant." This is the neighborhood where The Wire was filmed. However, do we hear about these success stories? NO!
Simon simply views the people in "the pit" as helpless victims rather than people to can bring change. That is not radical; he is simply reinforcing stereotypes for liberal and conservatives alike. It reinforces the idea that the status quo cannot be changed for any of these people in the inner city. A perfect example of this is Wallace. Wallace is trapped in this vicious cycle, he comes so bored after leaving "the game" that he returns to it after the spending a short time with his grandma away from Baltimore. He had his chance to escape forever, but becomes a "victim" of the drug trade and eventually loses his life. It is crazy that people praise this show so much because it does not give us a full picture of inner-city Baltimore and simply seeks to reinforce stereotypes of the white middle-class about inner city life.
Here is more info, supporting my view.
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/is-the-wire-too-cynical
