This link has been bookmarked by 68 people . It was first bookmarked on 21 Mar 2008, by Matt David.
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28 Jul 15
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Another reason the show may feel different than a lot of television: our model is not quite so Shakespearean as other high-end HBO fare. The Sopranos and Deadwood—two shows that I do admire—offer a good deal of Macbeth or Richard III or Hamlet in their focus on the angst and machinations of the central characters (Tony Soprano, Al Swearengen). Much of our modern theater seems rooted in the Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind. We’re stealing instead from an earlier, less-traveled construct—the Greeks—lifting our thematic stance wholesale from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides to create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality.
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But instead of the old gods, The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason. In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed. Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak. Because so much of television is about providing catharsis and redemption and the triumph of character, a drama in which postmodern institutions trump individuality and morality and justice seems different in some ways, I think.
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Dan RosenblumThe Believer, August 2007
david simon nick hornby baltimore the wire television apple scrapple
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Ken DahlDavid Simon
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dtweney"My standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: fuck the average reader."
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15 Oct 08
dave sgonechinaBut instead of the old gods, The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason.
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Olibhéir Ó FearraighNick Hornby interviews David Simon
writing baltimore DavidSimon television journalism entertainment nickhornby Delicious
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11 Oct 08
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28 Sep 08
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07 Sep 08
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brian rodneyThe Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightni
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05 Sep 08
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04 Sep 08
Kai TurnerCreator & writer on The Wire: "It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason
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15 Aug 08
korantengWe don’t belong there and we don’t need the kind of money or the level of zeitgeist required to belong there. We hang out in the Baltimores of the world, writing what we want to write about and never keeping one eye on whether or not it could sell as much
TheWire writing tv Baltimore USA observation culture crime organization storytelling DavidSimon journalism media drugs interview wire television society entertainment politics
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David Thair"My standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: fuck the average reader. I was always told to write for the average reader in my newspaper life. The average reader, as they meant it, was some suburban wh
via-blackbeltjones thewire tv davidsimon articles interview thebeliever
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14 Aug 08
Jonathan Key"Much of our modern theater seems rooted in the Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind. We’re stealing instead from an earlier, less-traveled construct—the Greeks—lifting our thematic stance wholesale from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides to create doo
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21 Mar 08
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trailofmonkeys“MY STANDARD FOR VERISIMILITUDE IS SIMPLE AND I CAME TO IT WHEN I STARTED TO WRITE PROSE NARRATIVE: FUCK THE AVERAGE READER.”
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28 Jan 08
Niklas PivicThe author interviews the creator of "The Wire".
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Christopher RiceInterview witht he Producer/Writer of the Wire. Fantastic interview.
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17 Jan 08
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10 Jan 08
James StuartMy standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: fuck the average reader. I was always told to write for the average reader in my newspaper life. The average reader, as they meant it, was some suburban wh
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06 Jan 08
victoria p.The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces.
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04 Jan 08
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