Democracy on HBO and Basic Cable

On this blog I have addressed many issues with the lack of realism in many television programs and have attempted to highlight a few series that make an earnest effort to depict real world issues.  Even though shows such as The Wire, Treme, and Oz are all on HBO, it is clear to see that they are the exception to the rule even when it comes to paid cable.  The most popular shows on HBO do not tackle problems of youth and democracy.  While entertaining, Entourage and Sex and the City seem to go out of their way to avoid the gritty realities shown in the three programs mentioned above.  While I loved The Sopranos (the most popular show in HBO history), it is also a program that deals in the realities of a tiny percentage of people (the Mafia).  Furthermore, it makes a wealthy criminal a likeable character and glorifies crime in the name of pursuing the all-mighty dollar.  Such shows do not tackle real issues of democracy, and neither does basic cable programming.

Are fictional movie star Vincent Chase and his crew a
realistic depiction of youth in this country? Not really.

 

 

One of the best things about The Wire is that it never shied away from the amount of political corruption in this country or the absurdly warped priorities of many politicians.  The parties involved in the mayoral race and the corrupt to the core State Senator Clay Davis show how urban youth are not a major concern when there is political power and the money that comes with it on the line.  When preparing his campaign for Mayor, Councilman Carcetti is advised to run on trying to reduce crime statistics rather than improve the abysmal school system in Baltimore.  The logic behind this is that the system is so bad that making promises to improve it are too big of a risk to future campaigns and political endeavors.  Later in the fourth season once he has been elected Mayor, he decides against having the Governor of Maryland bail out the school system’s $54 million budget deficit as this could be used as political ammunition against Carcetti’s future run for Governor.  I addressed the serious effects that failing inner city schools have on urban youth in my first post.  The Wire and Oz are not afraid to show how politics fuels the school to prison pipeline in the United States.

Programs about politics rarely tackle such dicey issues, especially on regular cable.  The West Wing was a very popular program that was aired on NBC.  Even though the show was written by famous writer Aaron Sorkin and boasted a well-known cast, it did not show the darker side of democracy in the manner The Wire did.  One critic complained that the show's characters were far too squeaky clean, as obtaining a position in the White House in today’s America would require serious political ruthlessness.  I cannot say with certainty if this is the media feeding its audiences a subconscious propaganda, or if it is the audiences themselves that do not want to believe that those in power may not have the people’s best interests in mind and therefore they respond better to less realistic shows.  It is an interesting question.

The school to prison pipeline is ever-present in The Wire.

In examining different television programs across multiple networks, I have concluded there is both a lack of realism in most programs as well as what seems like a conscious effort to omit serious issues that impact youth in the United States such as the school to prison pipeline.  I hope that more networks broaden the variety in their programming so that the average viewer can be exposed to shows such as The Wire, but I am afraid that is not a very realistic hope as of right now.