The Wire and the Democracy of Fiction

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/8335

Keywords:

The Wire, Fiction, Realism, David Simon, Mise-en-scène

Abstract

Beyond its oft-praised "realism", The Wire (HBO, 2002-2008) – precisely because of its closeness to non-fiction – explores the modalities and functionalities of fiction and investigates what fiction is and what fiction can do. The series above all reflects on the ethical stakes of fiction-making. In the game it establishes with its non-fiction antecedents, and in its meta-narrative story arc in season 5, the show reflects on the fictional process and on the different media which filter reality to try and represent it. This article analyzes how The Wire explores the moral implications of fiction-making and the different meanings of the term, from fiction as counter-fact, or counter-truth, to fiction as experimentation. Through the case study of the final season, we see how the series plays out its ambivalence toward fictional codes and advocates a mode of critical fictional representation as an alternative to the current, devious modes of safety policy and journalism. This article demonstrates how, by delegating fiction-making to characters as it does, more particularly in season 5, The Wire inscribes itself in what Jacques Rancière calls "fictional democracy".

References

Abrams, Jonathan (2018). All the Pieces Matter. The Inside Story of The Wire. New York: Crown Archetype.

Alvarez, Rafael (ed.) (2009). The Wire. Truth Be Told. London: Canongate.

Armati, Lucas (2011). "La série The Wire plus forte que les sociologues." Télérama 3227, November 17. http://www.telerama.fr/television/la-serie-the-wire-plus-forte-que-les-sociologues,75111.php (last accessed 10-06-18).

Atlas, John and Peter Dreier (2008). "Is The Wire too cynical?" Dissent, Summer. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/is-the-wire-too-cynical (last accessed 10-06-18).

Barthes, Roland (1968). "L'Effet de réel." Communications 11: 84-89. https://doi.org/10.3406/comm.1968.1158

Bennett, Drake (2010). "This Will Be on the Midterm, You Feel Me? Why So Many Colleges are Teaching The Wire." Slate Magazine, March 24.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/03/this_will_be_on_the_midterm_you_feel_me.html (last accessed 10-06-18).

Busfield, Steve (2009). "The Wire: Taking Sociology Forward?" The Guardian, November 27. https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2009/nov/27/the-wire-social-science-fiction (last accessed 10-06-18).

Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin (1998). Remediation. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Caïra, Olivier (2011). Définir la fiction. Du roman au jeu d'échecs. Paris: EHESS.

Chadha, Anmol and William Julius Wilson (2010). “Why We’re Teaching The Wire at Harvard.” The Washington Post, Sunday, September 12.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091002676.html (last accessed 10-06-18).

Chadha, Anmol and William Julius Wilson (2011). "'Way Down in the Hole': Systemic Urban Inequality in The Wire." Critical Inquiry 38(1): 164-188.

https://doi.org/10.1086/661647

Cohn, Dorrit (1999). Le Propre de la fiction. Paris: Seuil.

Fassin, Didier (2014). "Une relation spéculaire. The Wire et la sociologie, entre réalité et vérité". In The Wire. L'Amérique sur écoute, Edited by Marie-Hélène Bacqué, Amélie Flamand, Anne-Marie Paquet-Deyris, and Julien Talpin, 131-146. The Wire. L'Amérique sur écoute. Paris: La Découverte. 131-146.

Jameson, Fredric (2010). "Realism and Utopia in The Wire." Criticism 52(3&4) : 359-372. DOI: 10.1353/crt.2010.0053

Kois, Dan and Adam Sternberg (2008). "Debating the Legacy of The Wire: Did Season Five Tarnish the Show That Invented the Dickensian Aspect Ratio?" Vulture, March 7.

http://www.vulture.com/2008/03/debating_the_end_of_the_wire_t.html (last accessed 10-06-18).

Hoad, Phil (2017). "When Good TV Goes Bad: How The Wire Lost Its Spark." The Guardian, August.14.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/14/when-good-tv-goes-bad-how-the-wire-lost-its-spark (last accessed 10-06-18).

Hornby, Nick (2007). "David Simon: Creator-Producer-Writer of HBO’s The Wire." The Believer, August.

http://www.believermag.com/issues/200708/?read=interview_simon (last accessed 10-06-18).

Hudelet, Ariane (2014). "'Let’s see if there is a pattern' : filmer l’individu, le groupe et l’espace dans The Wire." In The Wire, visages du ghetto, entre fiction et sciences sociales, edited by Marie-Hélène Baqué, Amélie Flamand, Caroline Glorion, Anne-Marie Paquet-Deyris, and Julien Talpin, 147-169. Paris, La Découverte. 147-169.

Hudelet, Ariane (2016). The Wire. Les règles du jeu. Paris: PUF.

Lavocat, Françoise (2016). Fait et fiction. Pour une frontière. Paris: Seuil.

Lazier, David M.J., et al. (2018) “The Science of Fake News.” Science 359(6380): 1094-1096.DOI: 10.1126/science.aao2998

Lefait, Sébastien (2013). "Through The Wire : The Avon Barksdale Story.". TV/Series 4, December.

https://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/746 (last accessed 10-06-18).

DOI: 10.4000/tvseries.746

Nussbaum, Emily (2010). "Pugnacious D." The New York Magazine, April 4. http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/65235/ (last accessed 10-06-18).

O'Rourke, Meghan (2008). "Behind The Wire. David Simon on Where the Show Goes Next." Slate, January 4.http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/recycled/2008/01/behind_the_wire.html (last accessed 10-06-18).

Pavel, Thomas (1988). Univers de la fiction. Paris: Seuil.

Penfold-Mounce, Ruth, David, Beer, and Roger Burrows (2011). "The Wire as Social Science Fiction." Sociology 45(1) : 155-167.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038510387199

Poirier, Jean (1984). Histoire de l’ethnologie. Paris: PUF.

Potte-Bonneville, Mathieu (2011). "All in the Game."In The Wire. Reconstitution Collective, edited by Emmanuel Burdeau and Nicolas Vieillescazes, 145-166. Paris: Prairies Ordinaires. 145-166.

Rancière, Jacques (2017). Les Bords de la fiction. Paris: Seuil.

Rancière, Jacques (2014). Le Fil perdu. Essais sur la fiction moderne. Paris: La Fabrique.

Schaeffer, Jean-Marie (1999). Pourquoi la fiction? Paris: Seuil.

Sheehan, Helena, and Sheamus Sweeney (2009). "The Wire and the World: Narrative and Metanarrative." Jump Cut 51(Spring).

Simon, David (2004). "Passing resemblance." The Baltimore Sun, September 26.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-09-26/topic/0409250286_1_jay-landsman-kevin-davis-gary-childs (last accessed 10-06-18).

Simon, David (2009). Homicide, a Year on the Killing Streets. Boston: Canongate.

Simon, David and Ed Burns (2010). The Corner, A Year in the Life of an Inner-city Neighborhood. Boston: Canongate.

Simon, David (2013). "There Are Now Two Americas. My Country is a Horror Show." The Guardian, December 8.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/david-simon-capitalism-marx-two-americas-wire (last accessed 10-06-18).

Soll, Jacob (2016). “The Long and Brutal History of Fake News.” Politico, December 18.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535

(last accessed 10-06-18).

Venkatesh, Sudhir (2008). "What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire?" Freakonomics, January 9.

http://freakonomics.com/2008/03/10/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire-part-nine/ (last accessed 10-06-18).

Vieillecazes Nicolas (2011). "Bouclage." In The Wire. Reconstitution collective, edited by Emmanuel Burdeau and Nicolas Vieillescazes, 119-144. The Wire. Reconstitution collective. Paris: Prairies Ordinaires. 119-144.

Wickman, Forrest (2012). "David Simon Gets a Blog, Asks Fans of The Wire to Get Serious." Slate, April 25.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/04/25/the_wire_creator_criticizes_shallowness_from_fans_and_the_media.html?via=gdpr-consent (last accessed 10-06-18).

Wardle, Claire (2017). "Fake News. It's Complicated." First Draft, February 16.

https://firstdraftnews.org/fake-news-complicated/ (last accessed 10-06-18).

Williams, Linda (2011). "Ethnographic Imaginary: The Genesis and Genius of The Wire." Critical Inquiry, 38(1):208-226.

Williams, Linda (2014). On The Wire. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Wilson, William Julius (1996). When Works Disappears. The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Vintage.

Wolfe, Tom (1970). "The New Journalism." Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Sept. 1970. 18-22

Downloads

Published

2018-12-26

How to Cite

Hudelet, A. (2018). The Wire and the Democracy of Fiction. Series - International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 4(2), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/8335

Issue

Section

Narratives / Aesthetics / Criticism