Family Ties in HBOs The Wire - Movie Review Example

and Number Due Family Ties in HBO’s The Wire Critically acclaimed, The Wire was a hit cable series that debuted in 2002, and aired its last episode in March of 2008. On the surface, The Wire was just another television show about life in the “hood,” but upon closer inspection, it is easy to see that The Wire is about ties that bind, institutional families, and how far people will go to get what they want, or need, regardless of which side of the game they are playing. Herein, this essay will discuss where, and how far, loyalties lie in the first five episodes in season one of The Wire. Episode one is entitled “The Target.” Office Jimmy McNulty sits in a courtroom listening to testimony in the trial of D’Angelo Barksdale. D’Angelo is accused of murder, but is acquitted. Judge Phelan, who presided over the case, calls McNulty into chambers and questions his interest in the case. McNulty admits that he isn’t assigned to the case, but says no one is because officers have been called to “do community policing.” McNulty tells Phelan that D’Angelo is the nephew of crime boss Avon Barksdale, and that Avon, along with his partner Stringer Bell, are suspected of committing at least a dozen homicides in the West End projects of Baltimore. According to McNulty, neither culprit is ever convicted because of lack on manpower on the part of the Baltimore Police Department. McNulty leaves the judge, but by the time he gets back to his precinct, he is admonished by Major Rawls for speaking with a judge about a person, meaning Avon, that he isn’t familiar with. He gives McNulty a short deadline to composite everything he knows about Avon, so that he is better equipped to discuss McNulty’s concerns with personnel with more rank and seniority than he. These scenes exemplify what is wrong with Baltimore, especially the West End. Everyone worries more about himself, than the whole organization. Almost any police officer would know that it is unacceptable to speak to a judge about something that he hadn’t spoken to his own superior officer about. While it is true that McNulty had no way of knowing that he would be called into chambers, he didn’t have to admit why he was in the courtroom. In episodes and seasons to come, McNulty is well known for lying for his own personal gain; however, he clearly saw an opportunity with the judge and decided to take it, no matter what it cost him. To some it might seem altruistic given that McNulty could have gotten himself into a great deal of trouble, but Jimmy clearly wanted something and went after it at the expense of others. Lieutenant Rawls isn’t much better. His approach could have been to praise McNulty for bringing the Barksdale crimes to the judge’s attention, since it could mean that more overtime hours would be granted to clean up the streets. Immediately, though, Rawls thinks of himself, and how his lack of knowledge would look to his superiors. Again, this is the problem. Everyone is looking out for his own best interest, and then claiming not to understand how the city’s crime got so bad. Officers in a police department usually see themselves as a family. They back each other up when necessary. They sometimes turn a blind eye to the wrongdoings of other officers because of the “blue wall of silence” that says officers do not inform against other officers. In fact, when it can be helped, superiors don’t often inform on subordinates. Any Internet or newspaper archive search will reveal dozens of instances in Chicago, California, or New York whereby a citizen makes a complaint against an officer, but the officer never receives any disciplinary action because no one will corroborate the citizen’s story. Bystanders often feel they will be targeted if they speak out, and fellow officers don’t tell the truth about what they saw. It turns into a case of one person’s story against another, and courts are unlikely to find against other civil servants. With this in mind, it is simple to see how shows like The Wire represent contemporary culture. Of course, some parts may be fictionalized, but the gist of The Wire is what actually happens on the streets of neighborhoods, especially ones that are low-income, and whose residents are predominantly African American. Officers, however, aren’t the only ones who see themselves as family. Members of organized crime families often feel the same way about each other. Upon returning home from court, Avon initially admonishes D’Angelo for killing someone, but then hugs him and says, “You family.” Avon and D’Angelo are, in fact, biological family members, but that isn’t what Avon meant. He would have made the same gesture and comment to Bell, with whom he has no biological ties. They are of the same crime family, though. On The Wire, that means something. Episode two, “The Detail,” finds William Gant, the informer against D’Angelo dead. “Snitching” on a member of the Barksdale organization has cost him his life. McNulty goes back to Judge Phelan and informs him of Gant’s demise. This time, he openly admits that he wants the judge to put some pressure on the department to get the crime solved. The judge refuses, but tells McNulty to use the media. It is McNulty’s turn to refuse because he doesn’t trust the media. Once again, word gets back to the precinct of McNulty’s visit to Phelan. Deputy Commissioner Burrell wants McNulty fired for not following the proper chain of command, but Rawls is afraid of the message it might send if he fires a cop for desperately attempting to get police work done. Burrell tells Rawls, “We’re going to sit tight and hope that McNulty comes up short.” This comment, too, is inappropriate. As Deputy Commissioner, Burrell ought to want crimes solved. Instead, he is more worried about how he’ll look if the crimes are solved only when McNulty began using outside resources to put the pressure on his bosses. This is an example of an institution failing one of its own members. Now, McNulty has a target on his back, and members of his own team are hoping for his failure. While his behavior is less than ideal, his motive is only to get serious criminals off the street. At the end of the same episode, officers Herc and Carver, with Prez as their leader, get drunk, and in the wee hours of the morning go to the projects and pick a fight with a few drug dealers. At the beginning of episode three, “The Buys,” Lieutenant Daniels lies for the trio, claiming he sent the three to the project on an errand. He reprimands Prez by “putting him on a desk” for his extremely aggressive behavior. Happy that Prez wasn’t fired, his father-in-law thanks Daniels, and promises him two police cars and a surveillance van. Here, Daniels stands up for officers who were clearly wrong, whereas Rawls looks down on McNulty for something barely half as bad. McNulty’s behavior wasn’t even illegal, like the three officers, only frowned upon. This also brings up the specific problem of other people (i.e. Prez’s kin) becoming involved in business that should have only been handled by the superior officers. The father-in-law’s behavior would seem unethical to most, but strapped for cash, a poor city would likely look the other way and accept the gifts. This isn’t just something that happens on The Wire, it happens in other cities, too, where the old cliché “one hand washes the other” applies. By episode four, “Old Cases,” Burrell is clearly upset that there are so many open, or unsolved, murders. He says he doesn’t understand why no one will testify against Avon, especially when it seems that citizens would want him off the streets. McNulty surmises that people are more afraid of Avon, than the police. McNulty suggests using a wiretap to intercept cell phone calls and pagers. With the wiretap, they can get solid proof against the crime family without having to rely on skittish witnesses. The wiretap is obtained, but the pager calls are coded, and the police are at a loss for how they should proceed against Barksdale, whom they don’t even have a picture of because he’s been so careful. In “The Pager,” episode five, Prez breaks the pager code. Trying a different method, Officer Kima Greggs and McNulty pick up bad boy Omar Little who is also a known criminal. Unlike Barksdale, Little’s crimes usually involve carrying around a shotgun, and stealing money and drugs from other criminals, like the Barksdale family. Greggs and McNulty want Little to inform against Barksdale, but Little replies, “I don’t think the game should be played that way.” Apparently, even criminals have a code. It’s not just police officers that feel they should stick up for one another. Greggs uses some information against Little. He is upset, but only tells the officers to follow one of Barksdale’s men called Bird. He claims that wherever Bird is, other Barksdale boys will soon also be. To a certain extent, The Wire is about loyalty. It is a show about legal and criminal families, biological and institutional ones. McNulty is a family member of Rawls and Burrell. He is also the brother of Prez, Greggs, Carver, and Herc, even when they make decisions contrary to the ones he would have made. The problem with the TV family is this: No one can really control anyone. Sometimes you take a person’s side, other times you deceive him. This is also true of the biological family ties. D’Angelo acquittal wasn’t the end of the story for Avon. Once presiding over the drug deals in the higher paying Towers, D’Angelo was quickly demoted to running the low-rise projects as a punishment. Ironically, His uncle’s man, Bell, later kills D’Angelo, and in the series finale, McNulty is forced to resign his post. No one gets away with anything forever. Certainly, it can be argued that misbehavers are victims of institutions that let them down. In our current society, the Menendez brothers commit fratricide and matricide claiming lifelong abuse. Murders ask for acquittal because they were raped as children. Rapists ask for acquittal because they were molested as children. School shooters blame lifelong bullying for their behavior. Most people have a story, and while institutions sometimes bring out the worst in people, institutions can’t be blamed for everything. People do have to accept some personal responsibility for their own actions. Read More