I got ....... season 4 today

[kyser_soze]

Do people still have region specific DVD players?

Blimey.

 

[mrsfran]

no, the dvd itself

Order it from Amazon.com

 

[marshall]

Order it from Amazon.com

have you all seen those Wire prequels on amazon.com?

Of a 10/11 year old Prop Joe working the playground? And Omar’s first stick up/good deed at same sort of age?

 

[London_Calling]

It is a cop show in a very broad sense
The Wire and The Shield have more than that in common though in that there's no moral overview - the cops aren't necessarily the good guys and the criminals aren't necessarily painted as the bad guys

I'm so tired of arguing against this simplistic, naive tripe.

"Swear to God, it isn't a cop show. Really, it isn't. And though there are cops and gangsters aplenty, it isn't actually a crime show though the spine of every season is certain to be a police investigation in Baltimore, Maryland

We know you don't believe us. We know what we seem to viewers after one or two episodes, or even one or tow seasons. We understand that we sound comically pretentious claiming otherwise, that the raw material or our plotting seems to be the same as so many other police procedurals.

etc" - for about another 2,500 words, The Wire > Truth Be Told, page 2, Introduction by David Simon.

 

[revol68]

Downloaded it S4 the other day and have watched the first one. Good so far, and the best cover of Down in the Hole.

yep the best version by far, i usually skip the credits on the other series but i actually let them play on season 4.

 

[revol68]

and yes the Wire is a cop show but it's much much wider, the police angle becomes very little more than a means of opening up so many other aspects of society, of power relations, conflicts of interests and the problem of individuals trying to make good choices in fundamentally fucked up situations.

 

[London_Calling]

Just as a staring point, the modern USA 'cop show' is a fairly straightforward morality play, in the way the western used to be - in fact, it replaced the western. The Wire is not on any level a morality play, thus it fails the very first hurdle.

Perhaps you're confused because some people wear uniforms, or because you're struggling to think what else it could be about ?

 

[revol68]

Just as a staring point, the modern USA 'cop show' is a fairly straightforward morality play, in the way the western used to be - in fact, it replaced the western. The Wire is not on any level a morality play, thus it fails the very first hurdle.

Perhaps you're confused because some people wear uniforms, or because you're struggling to think what else it could be about ?

or perhaps it's a cop show that doesn't fit into the neat conceptual model you nicked out of an 'Introducing Media Studies for Blagging Poseurs' textbook? Like I said it is superficially a Cop Show but the police angle serves only as an opening into a much wider world view. Perhaps The Wire is the equivalent of the spaghetti westerns. Your probably kicking yourself you didn't think of that wee soundbite, but don't be too hard on yourself, i'm just much cleverer than you.

 

[London_Calling]

Like I said it is superficially a Cop Show but the police angle serves only as an opening into a much wider world view.

Right.

While you're here, The Sopranos is about the Mafia right?

 

[revol68]

Right.

While you're here, The Sopranos is about the Mafia right?

On a superficial level yes, the world of the mafia provides the grounding, the perspective from which we get to examine far wider issues and social institutions.

Like I said The Wire is a cop show in that the police are the central perspective in it, it is their investigations that allow us to examine far wider organs and social relations, it simply provides a starting point from which we connect all the other dots, the projects, deindustrialisation, racism, state craft, the not very subtle analogies to the war on terror, the school systems etc.

I don't know why you feel the need to claim all 'Cop' shows have to be some simple minded morality play, sounds like some shit you picked up from an overegged media studies essay.For me a 'Cop Show' is a show that has the police and their dealings at it's centre, regardless of whether it plays things out in a simple minded manner or rejects such binaries or simply uses the police as a means to examine wider institutions or as an analogy for wider social commentary.

 

[London_Calling]

I don't know why you feel the need to claim all 'Cop' shows have to be some simple minded morality play

It's the genre. Not too tricky.

You seem to have a classification structure of your own - I wish you well with it.

Btw, thanks for clearing that up about The Sopranos.

 

[revol68]

It's the genre. Not too tricky.

You seem to have a classification structure of your own - I wish you well with it.

Btw, thanks for clearing that up about The Sopranos.

And 'Cop Shows' all have to fit neatly into your simplistic little genre?

Like I said I see no problem with admitting the obvious, that is the Wire is a cop show in that the central dynamic is the police and those that come into contact with them, this then allows us to look at many facets of society in an interelated manner. It's a cop show in that the police are the central axis around which all the other aspects pivot.

 

[Brother Mouzone]

Season 4 is my favourite, been watching the previews for 5 on youtube. Roll on Season 5, best TV show ever. IMHO

 

[London_Calling]

And 'Cop Shows' all have to fit neatly into your simplistic little genre?

I appreciate the accolade, but really it’s not my “simple genre”.

USA cop shows are simple morality plays, and they have succeeded the western in that function. If you want to argue against that, you’ll also be surprised to learn the consensus nowadays is that the earth is not flat - in neither case will I be discussing the point with you.

 

[revol68]

I appreciate the accolade, but really it’s not my “simple genre”.

USA cop shows are simple morality plays, and they have succeeded the western in that function. If you want to argue against that, you’ll also be surprised to learn the consensus nowadays is that the earth is not flat - in neither case will I be discussing the point with you.

except here's an idea maybe a cop show has come along that isn't a simple morality play, oh shit i forgot your argument is perfectly circular, by jeepers, it's positively watertight.