Avenue Dee

brightwalldarkroom:

“A Thin Line ‘tween Heaven and Here”: The Moral Implications of Television’s Best Show

by Chris Cantoni

[Ed. Note: This essay contains major spoilers]

It is important for everyone reading this essay to recognize right off the bat that critical writing about The Wire is everywhere now…

Speaking of The Wire, excellent essay up on BWDR, impressively tackling the show and how its complexity extends beyond its doc-style storytelling to how viewers relate. I’m so guilty of feeling an entitled “Oh, I’ve watched The Wire!” twinge when discussions of race, poverty, politics, the “war on drugs,” and our broken education systems arise. So true about the difference between education and understanding. We can all pat ourselves on the back for deciphering street shorthand, rooting for conflicted inner-city characters, feeling that constant red-tape choke, and “surviving” the show’s gruesome scenes in front of our MacBook screens… but we can flip them closed and reset upon conclusion of our most recent five-season marathon binge.

Maybe this is why some of David Simon’s criticisms of the show’s academically minded but late-to-the-game megafans obviously go beyond pure TV ratings.

brightwalldarkroom:

PARTY AT THE MOON TOWER!

by Danielle Lee

Obviously a fond look back on “the best years of [your] life” is going to include getting wasted in the woods. Driving a car blasting “Free Ride” in your Chevy Chevelle Super Sport on your way to score Aerosmith (circa Toys in the Attic!)…

Didn’t realize how long this had gotten. Oops. Read or skim if you’d like. You will be rewarded with tales of the parking lot politics at my high school. Which reminds me that my 10-year reunion is tonight. With, according to the FB page, the DJ dedicating a special song to all the expelled kids in attendance. I’m mostly sorry to miss that song.