The Wire - some thoughts and ramblings
Thoughts regarding The Wire seasons 1 -3, with a few remarks about season 4 for good measure.
I have recently rewatched the first three seasons of The Wire. I’ve wanted to do that for some time, and for a strange reason I apparently found the time during the busiest exam schedule. Or its possible I was just trying to find an excuse not to read yet another book on politics, rhetoric and advertising.
At any rate these are some thoughts jumble together and they span all the three seasons, with references to season four. To summarise: SPOILERS FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS!
Season 1:
+ In this season there are surveillance cameras everywhere, and some scenes are even shot with a mix of surveillance and ordinary camera. For instance two characters get into the elevator, and the next shot is a black and white shot with a high angle clearly meant to be a surveillance camera. The next shot again is at a normal angle and with ordinary camera qualities.
Another good example is the scene where Omar sees Brandon at the morgue. Shots of Omar watching Brandon’s corpse is contrasted with shots of McNulty’s kids waiting in the hall and later playing soccer, and some of these shots are shown as a surveillance camera shot.
This particular scene is also a personal favourite because of what it doesn’t show. When we hear Omar’s anguished screams there is no shot of Omar. Instead we see a shot of the McNulty kids football rolling down the corridor. The screams have obviously stopped the kids from playing and the whole scene reads to me a bit like the screams of sorrow and anguish interrupting and stopping the games of the innocent.
The whole surveillance camera effect plays into the slight paranoid feel of season one, where everyone is watching everyone - including inside the Police Department. There is this feeling that you have to be careful with whom you tell what, as what you say is liable to be retold to someone who might use it. For instance McNulty’s comment about hating the boat, which gets told to Rawls and it’s at the boat he ends up. Rawls also uses or tries to use Santangelo as a mole. Carver gets used by Burrell, and it is only by a benevolent save from Daniels that he avoids being exposed as a snitch. (The fact that Carver in season one, and partially season two, suffers the possibility of the ostracising effect that goes with the label snitch makes his interaction with Randy in season four even more haunting and powerful. Oh, The Wire, you just insist on being all subtle and symbolic all while tearing my heart out don’t you?)
The result is that the feel of being watched is prevalent throughout all of season one, and to a much higher degree than the later seasons. That strikes me a very suitable in a series that for the first season focuses very intently on surveillance and stakeouts.
Season 2:
+ For some reason I didn’t notice this the first time around but Nick has the sign of Pi tattooed on the back of his neck. Pi of course being a Greek letter. Upon rewatching I kept reading that letter as some sign of ownership. Now several of the other stevedores have tattoos the similar place, but Nick is the only one with a Greek letter and of course a Greek connection. Poor Niko.
+ the_grynne had this fabulous and fun post about The Wire and it’s Greek inspiration and based on that I kept reading the smuggled cans in S2 as symbolic Trojan Horses. They were even partially smuggled in by a guy called Horseface, or Horse for short. Yes, this is slightly crack - but I indulge.
+ Season two also has some interesting symbolism in regards to identity. I’ve argued before that the stevedore society is all about who you are and who your father is/was. It is a society steeped in history. Frank Sobotka even says as much on a few occasions - on the docks its all "Who’s your father?", "Who’s your son?". The result is a society where identity is fixed and not so much a choice as an inheritance (much to Ziggy’s sorrow I supposed).
In contrast to this stand the almost identityless Greeks and most especially The Greek who doesn’t even have a name. Later he points out "I’m not even Greek!", and so even the idea we as viewers have had about his national identity proves to be false. The same is true for Spiros with the many passports.
Not only do the Greeks in a way lack identity, but they also take identity away. "Did he have hands? Did he have a face?" asks Sergei. "Then it wasn’t us." For the Greeks mutilate the bodies of those they kill, making them almost impossible to identify and all that is left is a trail of John Does. The same is true to a degree with the girls in the can. McNulty tries to figure out the name on one of them, but comes up short and so all the girls are filed away as identities unknown.
Season 3:
+ First up season three has some of the best lighting I’ve ever seen. The light has these prevalent gold or silver - often contrasted with the wet, sometimes bloody, black pavement. I feel season one was very red and a bit sepia in its light, season two was gray and white with underscores of blue. Season three is gold and silver. Not sure if this means anything, but I do like how every season has its own visual signature.
+ The season starts with the tearing down of the towers and subsequently the drug community there. Part of this drug community becomes recreated in Hamsterdam, but in the last episode we see that also Hamsterdam has been torn down.
+ It was confirmed by season four, but it started with season three and the fact is I could basically watch a show called "The Bunny Colvin and Lester Freamon show". Now I love a lot of the other characters as well, but every time either Bunny or Freamon are on screen I feel everything is all right with the world.
+ I love the scenes between Bunny Colvin and Stringer Bell, and I love the fact that Bunny calls him Russell. Symbolically enough this takes place in a graveyard, but for me the most important part is Stringer being called Russell. For even if McNulty well knows Stringer’s given name is Russell he never calls him that. The FBI don’t care until he is Achmed Bell, and you get the feeling that it is just Colvin that cares - for better or worse - about Russell. I have mentioned that I love Colvin right? So why have I no Colvin icons!?
+ It feels a bit strange to say I love Stringer’s death scene, but I do. It might make me all teary and emotional - but in a way that just makes me love it more. There are so many symbols there. The empty apartment building Stringer has desperately tried to renovate. The golden light falling on the floor. The way Brother Mouzone comes down from the stairs and how Omar has chased Stringer up the stairs. Together they, almost like ghosts from his past, corner him in the middle. The fact that Stringer isn’t carrying a gun. The shots and the doves! How the aftermath of Stringer’s death is the echo of gunshots and the flapping of wings as the doves escape through the window. How the camera pans out that window to show the sign for B&B Enterprises.
It is all extremely captivating, powerful and almost deeply disturbing all at the same time.
Upon rewatching this scene it also struck me that for a show that has so much death like The Wire that this death is never trivialized. It is never easy or flashy.
(And when I wrap my head around it I would like to post about the deaths in season four, the vacant houses and the kids calling Chris the Zombiemaster. Because that was deeply disturbing)
+ "It’s all business"
This is a line repeated throughout the series. Stringer says it many times and the Greeks like to use it as well. In fact the line is repeated so many times its hollow ring becomes clearer and clearer, and the best example of that is the interesting juxtaposition of the line during Avon and Stringer’s mutual betrayal.
In the second to last episode in season three Brother Mouzone comes to see Avon in the barbershop and Avon starts to explain that what happened with "It’s just business". Mouzone corrects him and says business might be what Avon is doing now, but it wasn’t business that got him where he is today. It was name, reputation and heart, and as Mouzone implies those overrides the order of business any day. Contrasted to this is Stringer’s talk to Colvin in the graveyard. Stringer gives Colvin some info, leading Colvin to remark "This man must have done something to you". To this Stringer replies "No, its just business." Which of course it isn’t.
A further contrast, or perhaps more correctly a parallel, to this can be found in season two with The Greek. Both Spiros and The Greek insist its all business with them. In fact when asked if his flight is business or pleasure The Greek replies "Business. Always business."
The scary part is that you believe them. The Greek doesn’t appear troubled by some bond of loyalty or brotherhood. In fact he doesn’t have any names or identities to speak of, and so why should he have some emotional attachments?
At any rate the constant repetition of the "It’s just business" wrings the phrase hollow and haunting.
+ There is a tiny symbolic feel about some of the characters and their hobbies. Prez loves word puzzles and number games - and he of course excels at the paper trail and puzzling out numbers. Freamon makes his doll furniture which requires a great attention to detail and great patient - which again is paralleled in how he works and operates. Burrell, ever the competitive career climber, plays golf - a rather competitive sport with a posh air. Mayor Royce on the other hand is seen playing poker, and a fixed game at that, which can also be seen as mirroring his way of working.
------
Hmmm…I’ll leave it there today as this is quite long enough and the whole meta thing with Stringer Bell, D’Angelo and the Great Gatsby will have to wait (Don’t matter that some fool say he different, Dee says. In some ways those word could apply to Stringer as well?).
I have recently rewatched the first three seasons of The Wire. I’ve wanted to do that for some time, and for a strange reason I apparently found the time during the busiest exam schedule. Or its possible I was just trying to find an excuse not to read yet another book on politics, rhetoric and advertising.
At any rate these are some thoughts jumble together and they span all the three seasons, with references to season four. To summarise: SPOILERS FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS!
Season 1:
+ In this season there are surveillance cameras everywhere, and some scenes are even shot with a mix of surveillance and ordinary camera. For instance two characters get into the elevator, and the next shot is a black and white shot with a high angle clearly meant to be a surveillance camera. The next shot again is at a normal angle and with ordinary camera qualities.
Another good example is the scene where Omar sees Brandon at the morgue. Shots of Omar watching Brandon’s corpse is contrasted with shots of McNulty’s kids waiting in the hall and later playing soccer, and some of these shots are shown as a surveillance camera shot.
This particular scene is also a personal favourite because of what it doesn’t show. When we hear Omar’s anguished screams there is no shot of Omar. Instead we see a shot of the McNulty kids football rolling down the corridor. The screams have obviously stopped the kids from playing and the whole scene reads to me a bit like the screams of sorrow and anguish interrupting and stopping the games of the innocent.
The whole surveillance camera effect plays into the slight paranoid feel of season one, where everyone is watching everyone - including inside the Police Department. There is this feeling that you have to be careful with whom you tell what, as what you say is liable to be retold to someone who might use it. For instance McNulty’s comment about hating the boat, which gets told to Rawls and it’s at the boat he ends up. Rawls also uses or tries to use Santangelo as a mole. Carver gets used by Burrell, and it is only by a benevolent save from Daniels that he avoids being exposed as a snitch. (The fact that Carver in season one, and partially season two, suffers the possibility of the ostracising effect that goes with the label snitch makes his interaction with Randy in season four even more haunting and powerful. Oh, The Wire, you just insist on being all subtle and symbolic all while tearing my heart out don’t you?)
The result is that the feel of being watched is prevalent throughout all of season one, and to a much higher degree than the later seasons. That strikes me a very suitable in a series that for the first season focuses very intently on surveillance and stakeouts.
Season 2:
+ For some reason I didn’t notice this the first time around but Nick has the sign of Pi tattooed on the back of his neck. Pi of course being a Greek letter. Upon rewatching I kept reading that letter as some sign of ownership. Now several of the other stevedores have tattoos the similar place, but Nick is the only one with a Greek letter and of course a Greek connection. Poor Niko.
+ the_grynne had this fabulous and fun post about The Wire and it’s Greek inspiration and based on that I kept reading the smuggled cans in S2 as symbolic Trojan Horses. They were even partially smuggled in by a guy called Horseface, or Horse for short. Yes, this is slightly crack - but I indulge.
+ Season two also has some interesting symbolism in regards to identity. I’ve argued before that the stevedore society is all about who you are and who your father is/was. It is a society steeped in history. Frank Sobotka even says as much on a few occasions - on the docks its all "Who’s your father?", "Who’s your son?". The result is a society where identity is fixed and not so much a choice as an inheritance (much to Ziggy’s sorrow I supposed).
In contrast to this stand the almost identityless Greeks and most especially The Greek who doesn’t even have a name. Later he points out "I’m not even Greek!", and so even the idea we as viewers have had about his national identity proves to be false. The same is true for Spiros with the many passports.
Not only do the Greeks in a way lack identity, but they also take identity away. "Did he have hands? Did he have a face?" asks Sergei. "Then it wasn’t us." For the Greeks mutilate the bodies of those they kill, making them almost impossible to identify and all that is left is a trail of John Does. The same is true to a degree with the girls in the can. McNulty tries to figure out the name on one of them, but comes up short and so all the girls are filed away as identities unknown.
Season 3:
+ First up season three has some of the best lighting I’ve ever seen. The light has these prevalent gold or silver - often contrasted with the wet, sometimes bloody, black pavement. I feel season one was very red and a bit sepia in its light, season two was gray and white with underscores of blue. Season three is gold and silver. Not sure if this means anything, but I do like how every season has its own visual signature.
+ The season starts with the tearing down of the towers and subsequently the drug community there. Part of this drug community becomes recreated in Hamsterdam, but in the last episode we see that also Hamsterdam has been torn down.
+ It was confirmed by season four, but it started with season three and the fact is I could basically watch a show called "The Bunny Colvin and Lester Freamon show". Now I love a lot of the other characters as well, but every time either Bunny or Freamon are on screen I feel everything is all right with the world.
+ I love the scenes between Bunny Colvin and Stringer Bell, and I love the fact that Bunny calls him Russell. Symbolically enough this takes place in a graveyard, but for me the most important part is Stringer being called Russell. For even if McNulty well knows Stringer’s given name is Russell he never calls him that. The FBI don’t care until he is Achmed Bell, and you get the feeling that it is just Colvin that cares - for better or worse - about Russell. I have mentioned that I love Colvin right? So why have I no Colvin icons!?
+ It feels a bit strange to say I love Stringer’s death scene, but I do. It might make me all teary and emotional - but in a way that just makes me love it more. There are so many symbols there. The empty apartment building Stringer has desperately tried to renovate. The golden light falling on the floor. The way Brother Mouzone comes down from the stairs and how Omar has chased Stringer up the stairs. Together they, almost like ghosts from his past, corner him in the middle. The fact that Stringer isn’t carrying a gun. The shots and the doves! How the aftermath of Stringer’s death is the echo of gunshots and the flapping of wings as the doves escape through the window. How the camera pans out that window to show the sign for B&B Enterprises.
It is all extremely captivating, powerful and almost deeply disturbing all at the same time.
Upon rewatching this scene it also struck me that for a show that has so much death like The Wire that this death is never trivialized. It is never easy or flashy.
(And when I wrap my head around it I would like to post about the deaths in season four, the vacant houses and the kids calling Chris the Zombiemaster. Because that was deeply disturbing)
+ "It’s all business"
This is a line repeated throughout the series. Stringer says it many times and the Greeks like to use it as well. In fact the line is repeated so many times its hollow ring becomes clearer and clearer, and the best example of that is the interesting juxtaposition of the line during Avon and Stringer’s mutual betrayal.
In the second to last episode in season three Brother Mouzone comes to see Avon in the barbershop and Avon starts to explain that what happened with "It’s just business". Mouzone corrects him and says business might be what Avon is doing now, but it wasn’t business that got him where he is today. It was name, reputation and heart, and as Mouzone implies those overrides the order of business any day. Contrasted to this is Stringer’s talk to Colvin in the graveyard. Stringer gives Colvin some info, leading Colvin to remark "This man must have done something to you". To this Stringer replies "No, its just business." Which of course it isn’t.
A further contrast, or perhaps more correctly a parallel, to this can be found in season two with The Greek. Both Spiros and The Greek insist its all business with them. In fact when asked if his flight is business or pleasure The Greek replies "Business. Always business."
The scary part is that you believe them. The Greek doesn’t appear troubled by some bond of loyalty or brotherhood. In fact he doesn’t have any names or identities to speak of, and so why should he have some emotional attachments?
At any rate the constant repetition of the "It’s just business" wrings the phrase hollow and haunting.
+ There is a tiny symbolic feel about some of the characters and their hobbies. Prez loves word puzzles and number games - and he of course excels at the paper trail and puzzling out numbers. Freamon makes his doll furniture which requires a great attention to detail and great patient - which again is paralleled in how he works and operates. Burrell, ever the competitive career climber, plays golf - a rather competitive sport with a posh air. Mayor Royce on the other hand is seen playing poker, and a fixed game at that, which can also be seen as mirroring his way of working.
------
Hmmm…I’ll leave it there today as this is quite long enough and the whole meta thing with Stringer Bell, D’Angelo and the Great Gatsby will have to wait (Don’t matter that some fool say he different, Dee says. In some ways those word could apply to Stringer as well?).