Why The Wire is the Realest Show Ever

President Barack Obama calls it his favorite show (Ryan, 2008).  Entertainment Weekly ranked it number one on its list of the greatest television shows of all time, stating that creator David Simon tells “tales of race and class with unprecedented complexity” (EW staff, 2013).  I love The Wire for both its phenomenal story and its raw, realistic depiction of real world issues.  The shotgun toting, homosexual stick up boy Omar Little is one of the most unique characters to ever grace the small screen.  In bucking many stereotypes about the masculinity of young men he acts as a lens into issues often considered too controversial for basic cable.  The show also delves deeply into the problems with No Child Left Behind and the bleak reality of street life for inner city youth.

The tough as nails stick up boy Omar Little is a central character on the show.
He happens to be both black and openly gay.

 



Omar Little is one of the most fascinating characters on the show for a multitude of reasons.  The fact that Michael K. Williams never won an Emmy for his portrayal of Omar is a sin.  He has stated that he loved the idea of the character because he was non-traditional in many ways (Williams, 2005).  Openly gay characters are often portrayed as weak and effeminate in the entertainment industry.  One of their common uses in mainstream film and TV is comic relief.  The Wire completely flipped those stereotypes around.  Omar is actually the most feared character on the show, so much so that gang members run when they see him coming down the street.  In reality there are all types of people that happen to be homosexual, so it is nice to see the realism that the Omar character brings.  

The middle school kids in season four have already started
to lead lives of crime.

 

A harsh reality that is explored in the final two seasons of The Wire is the failure of the inner city school systems and the struggles of urban youth.  The contradictions of No Child Left Behind are bluntly displayed, namely inner city schools losing funding for poor test results when they are the schools that need the most help.  The cop turned middle school teacher Prez is frustrated by being forced to “teach to the test”, feeling that his students are not learning anything.  Bunny Colvin, the former commander of the West Baltimore precinct, conducts research about urban youth at the middle school with a professor.  Their discoveries are bleak.  Many of the middle school kids are already dealing and using drugs.  Fighting, robbery, and even murder are part of their everyday lives, prepping them for life on the street.  We also see them engaging in more childlike activities such as playing Xbox and saving money to go to an amusement park, reminding us how young they really are.  Colvin discovers that by age eighteen many “corner kids” are already hardened criminals that never finished school. 

 

Almost the entire Barksdale crew is either dead or in prison by
the end of the show.

 

This bleak future for Baltimore’s youth is also embodied in the Barksdale gang that is introduced in season one.  By the conclusion of the series, twelve of them have been murdered and three have been imprisoned for life, Slim Charles being the proverbial last man standing.  The series takes a powerful look at a serious social issue in this country, which is that failing inner city school systems lead many urban African American youth to lives of crime.  These lives typically end in incarceration or death.

The Wire unabashedly examines serious problems in modern America while also being very entertaining.  Being on HBO gives the show more flexibility than network programming, but all of those shows could still take a page out of David Simon’s book when it comes to depicting real world issues.