Submitted by Bushgjl t3_10izah0 in television
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hgkm4 wrote
Reply to comment by um_ok_try_again in I like The Wire but it's seriously flawed by Bushgjl
The Wire had the potential to be better if they dropped some of their ambitions, got a tighter cast, and tried to make these characters more interesting(for the most part) and have sympathetic qualities.
The show strikes me as obsessed with realism at the expense of the narrative.
um_ok_try_again t1_j5hif4k wrote
Ha ha. I couldn't disagree with you more.
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hj203 wrote
My example would be Jimmy McNulty which is the character we are first introduced to and the lynchpin of the series. He is an asshole in every way imaginable and has virtually no charisma, and when he fucks up you are supposed to feel for him but why?
The actor may very well be good but the character is mostly uninteresting dogshit, which you can extrapolate to much of The Wire.
um_ok_try_again t1_j5hkw0w wrote
Friend, we're not going to agree here.
If you can't see charm in McNulty, if you can't empathize with his self-destructive nature, then I don't know.
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hlfxe wrote
Honestly I kind of hated him after he sent his kids to follow a drug dealer, and then had the nerve to argue with his wife in court over custody.
He's not that interesting and he does a lot of dumb reckless shit, and the show tries to portray him as a great detective. He's an idiot asshole.
um_ok_try_again t1_j5hlww5 wrote
He is a great Detective, he's good police. It takes a toll on him. This is reflected in his personal life and overall health. Again, it doesn't matter. We are not going to influence each other here.
chimchooree t1_j5hq9py wrote
What the fuck did Jimmy do?
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hqj5g wrote
>I mean the closest thing you have to a main character cheats on his wife, endangers his children, fucks over his co-workers, illegally detains people, drives drunk, and is exceedingly unapologetic about all of it.
spareparts91 t1_j5hs4fs wrote
Do you understand what drama is? Are those not things that make him compelling to watch.
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hssvd wrote
No what should make him compelling to watch is the complexity of the character, in this case he's kind of a wooden scumbag.
There is nothing to relate to him with. No heart.
spareparts91 t1_j5hucy5 wrote
Ok, I read a bunch of you're criticisms in other comments. You call it copaganda in some and then complain about not being able to relate to the police officer characters in other posts. I think (and I'm not saying this to be mean) you are either a troll or have abysmal media literacy. Jimmy is a scumbag. He has major flaws. Many come from his inability to cope with the things he does and also he's a selfish asshole. But also, Jimmy is good police. Take politics out of it. Just on a level of catching murderers, he's good. It's the only thing he's good at, and sometimes he's scummy to do it. On you're problems with the show being copaganda. I don't know, I have pretty left leaning political views and I feel like the wire falls more into just a story about complex people. Sometimes they do the right thing sometimes they don't, that's part of what's interesting in a story. If everyone did the right good thing the show would be fucking boring. Also I might suggest you think about the themes. The wire is a pretty hard critique on capitalism and the drug war. I would argue that it's pretty hard on the police who are outright targeting the barksdale drug organization while politicians involved all skate free in harmed. The real scammers through the show are the contractors and businessman who are stringing stringer bell along to funnel more money out of him into their pockets. All legal.
spareparts91 t1_j5hulln wrote
Example
Bushgjl OP t1_j5huq5i wrote
>Ok, I read a bunch of you're criticisms in other comments. You call it copaganda in some and then complain about not being able to relate to the police officer characters in other posts.
Yeah it's weird right? I'm saying that in spite of the characters being so terrible that you are still expected to root for them, in a weird way making it almost like an "ends justify the means" mentality the creators are pushing.
Which post 9/11 would not surprise me.
spareparts91 t1_j5hvpj1 wrote
Troll
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hw7ed wrote
Dude they literally mention 9/11 multiple time in the show, what am I trolling about?
kickspecialist t1_j5idwn6 wrote
You just described all the characters from The Soprano’s.
somedickinyourmouth t1_j5hhiec wrote
It's just not for you. It would be literally impossible to make a show about criminals that had a "tighter" cast. I don't know how you'd expect that to work. Did you think gangs were just 5 people?
Bushgjl OP t1_j5hi0kz wrote
The Sopranos did it easily, that's my point.
You have Tony, Tony's family, Christopher, Paulie, and then the rest are mostly supporting characters. It was kind of an ensemble cast but Chase knew that the focus was primarily on Tony and people close to him so they could weave a consistent narrative.
It's not scattered like The Wire where you are watching events unfold without caring much how things go down.
Cool-Ad8928 t1_j5k9b1z wrote
Sopranos were a single family yea? Or at least the family goons/workers etc..
The Wire shows the corruption across a city, and the systemic problems it faces, up to the state level even (and international to an extent)
They did easy because there’s like 10 chars max.
There’s ~10 cops assigned to Barksdale’s case. There’s ~10 crew members in the towers. There’s ~10 east side characters to pop in and out (Joe & such), and 10 members of the court system (lawyers/da/judges etc) and at least 3 street characters (bubs/his boy*/wayland)
I don’t think it’s supposed to be easy.
*forgive me y’all - drew a blank on the name of bubs’ underling.
Victorcreedbratton t1_j5hps34 wrote
I disagree. Although I prefer The Sopranos, I think the shows are on equal footing and it comes down to personal preference. Sopranos fans likely prefer the psychological depth, while Wire fans love its sociological bent. I don’t know how “likeable” any of the Sopranos characters are, as they are mostly amoral, detestable liars. If anything, it’s the Wire’s departures from realism that I dislike.
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