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Television

David Simon

The Wire

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matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com - 1/7/2008

Matthew Yglesias (January 02, 2008) - David Simon and the Audacity of Despair (Culture)

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Reihan Salam critiques The Wire : "David Simon thinks he’s constructed a critique of capitalism, but in fact he’s prepared an elaborate, moving brief for despair and (ultimately) indifference." I think that's right. What's more, based on what I've heard David Simon say about politics, while he and I are clearly "on the same side" in some sense, I don't really agree with him about very much in ...

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Heaven and Here — ... Dickens loved writing about humans lost in industrial modernism, but he also loved watching them shine on through and make something of even the most debased circumstances. On The Wire, conversely, humanity is in many cases beside the point. Dignity is one thing, because it’s a process of striving for dignity that can at least temper life’s absurd, often pointless struggle, but full-bore humanity? Maybe out in the county. Simon seems to think so. ...

Mark Bowden Swings at The Wire's David Simon
mediabistro.com: FishBowlLA — ... of The Wire is allegedly based on Simon's experiences at The Sun (one of story lines deals with a newspaper's muckraking campaign on homelessness), Bowden got into a tiff with Simon while writing the story. Matthew Yglesis posts about the show: Fundamentally, I think his vision of the bleak urban dystopia and its roots is counterproductive to advancing the values we hold dear. Commenters point out that Yglsis knows fuck all about inner city Baltimore and then Simon shows up to comment .