[lbo-talk] They're teaching The Wire at Harvard

Mark Bennett bennett.mab at gmail.com
Tue Sep 14 10:56:21 PDT 2010


"The Game" is what the Wire is all about: the dog eat dog world we actually live in, where cunning, corruption, ruthlessness and violence are the only virtues that actually matter. The Game as it played on the streets of B'More by the warring drug crews is simply the most basic version, with its structure laid bare. As you move up the ladder, the ugliness of the The Game becomes concealed and stylized, but the essential elements remain the same. Doug touched upon this long ago when he described the epiphany he had riding an elevator with a cop to, I believe, the trading floor at brokerage when he briefly worked, and realized that ultimately, the whole operation was based upon violence or the threat of violence (I may have a few of the details wrong; if so, I apologize Doug). Omar's confrontation with Levy during his testimony in Bird's trial is one of the pivotal moments in the series where Simon, et al, hit the viewer over the head with the theme; they are usually more subtle or ironic. The very first scene of the series, when McNulty is talking to the witness in Snot Boogie's murder is another. This was personal favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kQLgWw9aRw

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 8:25 AM, <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:


>
> Mark:
>
> "I thought Harvard has been teaching "The Game" for well over 300 years."
>
> What's that?
>
> Joanna
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>



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