Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Watching The Wire

Just as Kindergarten taught us valuable lessons like how to tie our shoe laces and how to build castles made of blocks, The Wire imparted valuable wisdom in its five-season run on HBO. Here are some lessons you may or may not have learned from watching:

1) Institutions suck!

Whether it’s the police force, city hall, or the media, institutions are inherently corrupt, backward or in decline. As we saw in all five seasons, it’s all about maintaining the status quo. The police force is basically a game of statistics. Whoever can keep their clearance rate high and show that their bringing the crime rate down on paper will be in line for a promotion. How many times did McNulty, Kima and Freamon have to suffer the wrath of the bosses in their honest effort to bring down Barksdale? Of course it’s not as simple as we’d like to think it is. The bosses aren’t trying to stop the detail from solving cases because they’re bad people, but because they have to answer to the politicians who have to answer to the voters. It’s all about survival, and if you can climb the ladder while you’re at it, you’re just doing your job.

2) People can change, institutions cannot

As stated above, institutions are static and impossible to change from within. Reformers inevitably get pushed aside, or worse, executed. Look at how Stringer Bell and Bunny Colvin faired in the third season. Both men tried to find a rational way of dealing with the drug war, and made perhaps the best effort to really reform the trade in order to quell some of the violence. They would both meet their undoing as a result. However, it is possible for individuals to change their lives and circumstances. Both Cutty and Bubbles went through their own personal revolutions in season three, with Cutty realizing the drug game just wasn’t in him anymore and instead choosing to open up a boxing gym for kids. Bubbles too tried to help children, abandoning his drug habit in favour of selling white t-shirts to the young hoppers on the corner. Institutions may be inherently flawed and stagnant, but nothing will ever topple the human spirit.

3) Gay people are badass!

The Wire probably did more for gay rights than any other series on television. Even so-called “gay shows” like Will & Grace and Queer As Folk seem conservative when you match them up against The Wire’s three openly-gay characters. Omar, Kima and Snoop were some of the hardest, complex characters on the show. They were unapologetically queer in an environment that is viciously homophobic. Oddly enough, they were probably the most respected too, with Omar being hands-down the most charismatic gay man in television history. The Wire never shied away from presenting these characters sexuality either, whether it was Kima going to town on her lover’s breasts, or Omar doing the deed with his male partner-in-crime/bed. But my personal favourite had to be Snoop, whose orientation remained a question mark until this classic exchange with the Bunk:

Bunk: I’d rather be knee-deep in some pussy.

Snoop: Me too!

4) Gangsters are people too

In Baltimore, you could be the badest mofo in town and still have a soft spot. Peep Wee-Bay’s almost obsessive love for his fish, or Marlo’s weird pigeon coop fetish. Gangsters are human after all, so there’s no reason for them not to show a gentler side from time to time. In a nutshell, The Wire was about breaking down stereotypes, and the myth of the drug dealer as violent, greedy, and morally repugnant was often balanced with signs of warm-heartedness and caring. My favourite moments in The Wire come from the first season with Wallace - a young hopper - and D’Angelo - Barksdale’s nephew - talking about life outside of “the game.” They have a sibling-type of relationship, and manage to forge a tight bond that isn’t about rep or being hard, but trust and understanding. If they were born in more privileged surroundings, they’d both be off to college by now.