The Wire and Corrupt Institutions - Essay Example

?The Wire and Corrupt s Unit The Wire and Corrupt s During my last holidays I finally got around into watching The Wire. I was able to agree with the quite often praise the series receive. The TV series can be summarized as tale of high magnitude corruption, the American decline and the diverse effect of capitalism when it is not regulated in a city. In the end, it becomes difficult for one to make any sense of what really happened throughout the five seasons. It calls for one to look past the drama while mainly focusing on the way the city and main institutions are portrayed. In the end, I came to the conclusion that what made the series so good was definitely its ambiguity (Alasdair, 2013, p. 1). Throughout the series, it is difficult to precisely pi point down what made characters like Burrell and Rawls who they are. The obvious factor would be their obsession with crime lords and their dysfunctional management formation but this will not be enough. We end up seeing figures like Rawls and Burrell having been transformed by their institutional practices (Alasdair, 2013, p. 1). This leads to them not conforming to the institution while actively reproducing a new culture through their actions. With respect to the above point, Cedric Daniels is definitely one of the most fascinating characters. From the first series we hear of availability of a certain file that has dialed information of corruption allegations in relation to the liquid assets he had acquired during the beginning of his career. This makes it easier for one to label Daniels as a corrupt person and villain in the series. The irony is that he is the only character who refuses to actively keep on reproducing the institutional culture and kind of governance that he purports to be failing (Deleuze, 2002, p. 6). In return, he tries harder to set his own standards with the hope that young officer like Carver can emulate (Alasdair, 2013, p. 1). As the audience, one cannot help but end up applauding the deviations from institutional behaviors. These deviations can be easily mistaken as those of a corrupt individual going against the interest of the city. In the end, characters like Daniels end up been relegated to peripheral roles within the corrupt institution for their actions. We can observe the same complexity extending to other institutions in the city during the second season. During this season, dockworkers are observed forming an alliance with international syndicates mainly represented by the Greeks. Through the entire series, the Greeks can be deemed to be the most expert people who are often deemed to be mysterious. Towards the dramatic end of season two, one discovers that he is yet to know any names of the Greeks (Alasdair, 2013, p. 1). There is even further speculation that they have links to the FBI and it is disheartening to find out that they are not even Greeks. Corrupt dockworkers like Frank Sobotka conveniently lose some shipping containers so that The Greeks can use them in shipping their drugs and sex workers. Frank and his fellow workers never bother to ask any questions as long as they keep on receiving their cut. To them this is a new source of revenue and a way of supporting their families. Property developers re in bed with politicians who are determined to own the docks, officer Valchek is seen to be doing what it takes to disrespect dockworkers, this leads to a natural form of alliance between the Greeks and dockworkers (Alasdair, 2013, p. 1). As a result of political greed and police intimidation, these two institutions have naturally and unconditionally pushed the dockworkers towards the lesser evil (Agamben, 2000, p. 13). The viewer cannot help but see Frank actions as not been different to that of the institutions created to protect their interest. Some police officers can be seen trying to do their best for the city of Baltimore by working overtime. Those in position of power like management seem to be doing their best in manipulating authorities to lose some cases. This is one of the reasons it is difficult to talk about corruption as a whole entity in the institutions. With major characters deviating from the expected institutional code of conduct, rugged capitalism becomes the norm in The Wire. This happens mainly because the institutions are ineffective. The police are not well motivated to tackle crime, dealer continue to be involved in unsafe trade while the dockworkers find themselves in a state of economical decline (Judd, 2013, p. 1). The survival behavior from the institutions leads to production of a self sustainable institution which is in constant chaos with each other. Individual authority figures in the end tend to have little or no agency. In the end they have two options, submitting to the institution hence becoming the creation of the institution, or finding new methods of deviating (Agamben, 2000, p. 13). In the series this happens for many various reasons but the main usually been to make ends meet. With the police carrying out surveillance, there is a need for the criminals to adapt to institutional surveillance. This calls for the criminal organizations to be better at counter disciplinary institutions. This happens to be the main distinction and most important difference between organized crime and pure plain delinquency (Kois, 2004, p 1). It can be said that the actions of the people within the crime organizations has been predetermined by their idiosyncratic relationship with the legal and justice institution (Judd, 2013, p. 1). It is worthy pointing out that delinquents happen to be institutional products. The criminals in this series can be seen to prevail due to order and discipline among the organization as compared to the city’s institution. This also ensures that they are able to escape institutional surveillance. This form of production is taking place through natural selection and in a cultural context (Hornby, 2007, p. 3). With the ongoing war on drugs, undisciplined criminal institution is soon done with by the police force. Frank (dockworker) who is in business with the Greeks terms this war as a war mutating on the American underclass. With police surveillance during this war, a new disciplined ‘underclass’ of proficient delinquents has been formed. This generation of delinquents tends to include the whole section of the community who are driven to silence and cooperation by resentment and intimidation (Foucault, 1997, p. 26). This underclass can be said to a creation of the system and as it becomes part and instrumental to it. In The Wire, the wire taps have the ability to carry the audience past the pretense of sovereignty portrayed by the legitimate and illegitimate institutions (Judd, 2013, p. 1). Thus revealing a closed world behind it’s scenes of disciplined individuals. These scenes show that the delinquents are a creation and part of the institution. In the series, one cannot help but observe that some police and politicians are sustaining themselves and their agenda through the constant flow of drug money. This calls for the good police officers to continuously create a new pool of informants’ while manipulating the low level drug dealers in order to disrupt the flow of that illegal income (Judd, 2013, p. 1). The Wire instinctively motivates one to start thinking about the phenomena it is portraying. One is definitely encouraged to begin questioning what he is watching and how he should distinguish it. The ending of the series can be termed to be or related to the phrase “the cycle of life”. But in his instance it is the cycle of crime and corruption (Judd, 2013, p. 1). The cycle tends to be repeating itself within the city of Baltimore. New drug dealers keep on emerging, police keep on been promoted and politics keep on prevailing. With this cycle one cannot help but laugh at the confusion on Jimmy McNulty’s face. The most intriguing fact about Jimmy is his self belief and the fact that he sees himself as been more intelligent than his contemporaries. He is not afraid to talk to drug dealers or notable figures like Lestor Freedmon while doing his best going behind the police force to get what he want. He was once able to pull an ridiculous hoax on the police force by creating a nonexistent serial killer in order to spread thin their resources. Jimmy ends up finding himself staring at the city in absolute confusion (Judd, 2013, p. 1). With the older generation been moved out of the city’s institutions, one cannot help but notice the young generation been drawn into the same institution. In spite of the actions and stories seen, nothing changes for the city of Baltimore. The self sustainable institutions of the city keep on prevailing. Despite Jimmy’s effort, he is still far from understanding what is happening to his city. Both jimmy and the viewer are left confused. Bibliography Agamben, G 1998, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen. Stanford University Press, Stanford. Alasdair, M 2013, Dramatizing Individuation: Institutions, Assemblages, and The Wire. Retrieved from, http://cinephile.ca/archives/volume-4-post-genre/dramatizing-individuation-institutions-assemblages-and-the-wire/ Deleuze, G 2002, ‘Postscript on the Societies of Control.’ October59, 3-7. Foucault, M 1997, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. Vintage Publishers, New York. Judd, F 2013, Common Ground: The Political Economy of The Wire. Retrieved from, http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/common-ground-the-political-economy-of-the-wire/ Hornby, N 2007, ‘Interview with David Simon.’ The Believer, August 2007, 72. ‘The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces’. Kois, D 2004 “Everything you were afraid to ask about The Wire.” Salon.com, 1 Oct. www.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2004/10/01/the_wire/index.html? Walker, J 2004 ‘David Simon Says.’ Reason: online. http://www.reason.com/news/show/29273.html October 2004. Read More