For instance, in Season 2, Hard Cases (Episode 4) explores the idea of individuals who are repeat offenders, and the difficulty for the police to even come close to managing crime. Just as one crime is potentially solved, three more pop up that may never be. The police must count on people from the neighborhood to assist them, but these same individuals are torn between helping the police and being part of the community. The idea of hopelessness is summed up when one of the characters, Nick, asks his father if he misses his work at the dock (the shipyards are closed, and the father now spends much of his time at a local bar, drinking to dull his pain). His father replies, "Wouldn't matter if I did" (the Wire 2005).
Also apparent is some real systems thinking with the Wire that goes to the heart of inner city labor and urban marketplaces. If we think sociologically, of cities as systems, then each part of the system should, in theory, be set up to actualize other parts -- residents live in neighborhoods, work to support local business, supply labor to actualize other organizations, form a tax base to support government (post office, police, fire, etc.). Then, in turn, the ecology of the city should, in theory, support the citizens so they can earn a living and contribute positively to society. The inner relationships of this ecological view can certainly be seen in Season 2, Episode 6, "All Prologue." This phrase referes to D'Angelo's view that a person's life is a continual unchanging prologue to their current situation. Ironically, he makes this comment when discussing F. Scott Fitzerald's the Great Gatsby,...
This epidomizes the labor market of the inner city -- it is tremendously difficult for anyone to escape the inner city -- typically the only routes are professional sports and higher education, both statistically unlikely for most urban youth (the Wire 2005).
In the same vein, the episode "Undertow," refers to an effect in the ocean that traps unsuspecting swimmers, sometimes to the point of drowing. This is a metaphor for character Frank Sobotka and others', who are never really able to escape from the labor market to which they have become accustomed -- in this case sumuggling, but the idea of criminal activity being a reasonable action for youth who see no chance of escaping the undertow of society (the Wire 2005). Over and over again, we see steel mills, docks, factories, small businesses boarded up and vacant; giving the overall feel to one of decay and degredation -- certainly an epithaph for what seems to be the modern urban city unless steps are taken to revitalize it.
Works Cited
Franzese, Covey and Menard. Youth Gangs. Springfiled, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2006.
"The Wire." HBO. June 2005. http://www.hbo.com/the-wire/episodes#/the-wire/episodes/index.html&isVideoPage=true&g=u&subcategories=none&order=date-desc&limit=none (accessed March 2012).
Traister, R. "The Best TV Show of All Time." Salon.com. September 15, 2007. http://www.salon.com/2007/09/15/best_show / (accessed March 2012).
