Re:Be critical or be corrupted
by woodruffw on Friday September 23, 2022 @12:25PM
(#32953990)
Well, I don't think the intended message of The Wire is "adopt the CCP's anti-corruption measures." That's editorialization on our part as viewers.
I also don't think the show has a particularly anti-individual message: individual police officers and drug dealers are repeatedly shown as struggling within a collectively dysfunctional system, and individual members of each group are shown as themselves corrupt while being protected by the collective. The show is more nihilistic than proscriptive, other than the small handful of "successes" that occur (like Hamsterdam).
Re:Be critical or be corrupted
by pphysch on Friday September 23, 2022 @12:47PM
(#32954263)
The Wire is radical, but not quite radical to the point of openly questioning the foundations of modern American culture. That would be crazy in ~2002.
Re:Be critical or be corrupted
by woodruffw on Friday September 23, 2022 @12:54PM
(#32954343)
Right. The show is even conservative, by some measures: the police are generally shown deference by the show's writers (even when individual cops are openly characterized negatively).
I also don't think the show has a particularly anti-individual message: individual police officers and drug dealers are repeatedly shown as struggling within a collectively dysfunctional system, and individual members of each group are shown as themselves corrupt while being protected by the collective. The show is more nihilistic than proscriptive, other than the small handful of "successes" that occur (like Hamsterdam).