The Wire
I have this theory about television, specifically popular television drama. Shows that are wildly popular -- not cult programs, but seriously nationwide popular -- have a thing that they give us. You go back to the same restaurant twice a month because you expect a certain dish or a certain flavor, right, so what keeps people coming back? What is the quality it feeds? What it is giving up in favor of keeping that flavor?
Take Lost: the emotionless brainteaser factor, I think. I said once that Battlestar was the opposite of 24 because on that show, all the people act like robots and you don't care about their feelings, while with BSG, all the robots act like people and you do. I think it's true about Lost, too: a drama for the Asperger's generation, in which social cues and emotional responses don't really matter (although every show will have its shippers and hated/beloved characters) as long as you've got a problem to solve. Most popular sentiments of disillusionment with Lost have to do with the idea that they don't know where it's going, secretly, and that they're making it up as they go, which speaks to the feeling that the show is not providing the necessary positive reinforcement to say, yes, you're continuing to figure it all out, here's another clue. Press the lever and get a cookie.
Or, and this is key to the question I'm asking you today, take The West Wing. The one thing you could count on with that show was a feeling of hope. Pride, and the lush sharp joy of the language, but mostly hope, and pride. The concept that everything is going to be okay can be revolutionary, when things are not okay and seem to be getting worse. I think that TWW would do pretty well today, when we're all kind of caught in this Obama wave of trying to convince each other to have hope and not feel gay about it.
I mean, Buffy was a cult show, but it always grows in popularity all the time. I'm not sure what you get from that show week-to-week, but there's a disillusionment again in the sixth and seventh seasons that I think stems from Buffy herself becoming fallible. It's brilliant, and necessary, but in terms of the overall popularity of the show, I think that was the killer. One of the reasons the Christ myth is such a big deal is that we go through his life story on a constant basis: glory, betrayal, complete dismemberment. It's the reason every hero goes to the underworld, because it's telling our stories back to us. So when Buffy starts fucking up, as she does throughout the last two seasons, that's a lot like us fucking up, and who wants to watch that? Lots of people, but not as many.
So I'm going to be recapping Generation Kill for TWoP in a couple of weeks. Reason number one is that I asked for it because I liked the title. Reason number two I'm actually excited is that I've loved military stuff since I was a kid; it's one of the reasons I get so immersed in BSG when I'm writing about it. It's a headspace that can be hard to get into, for some, but it's something that makes a lot of sense to me. A lot of my most avid readers -- and thus avid fans of the show itself -- are ex-military. The few times I've gone to BSG presentations at the Alamo, you can see them in the audience, these silver brush-cut guys that show up alone, at midnight, and leave alone two hours later. That's love. And a lot of them have reached out to me, all through BSG and now to say thanks for writing about GK. I thought it was surprising for awhile, but now I think I get it.
Whenever anybody says something is "just good," with no qualifications or explanations, that's a flag that you're dealing with people's actual inside-the-head stuff. That hope, or that BrainAge-disguised-as-TV, or that quasifeminist messianic superhero.
Why do I like The West Wing? Because it's awesome. Why Buffy or BSG (or Gossip Girl)? Shut up, they'll say: it's because it's so great. What else do you need to know?
I'm reading the book GK is based on, and the books by and about the guys the story is about. But I never watched The Wire, although of course it was the first thing on my syllabus... And now I'm not sure if I should.
If it's emotionless like Lost, I'm not interested ... Five seasons of brilliant and hard-hitting gritty municipal politics starring scarred men with hideous underbellies. The Sopranos started boring me well before you might think. But if it's a West Wing... You see what I'm saying?
So to the Wire viewers reading this: what is the dominant theme of the show? What key is it written in? I don't care how intricate or realistic it is, I just want to know: are they robots or are they people? What is the nutritive thing that keeps people coming back to the show?
Take Lost: the emotionless brainteaser factor, I think. I said once that Battlestar was the opposite of 24 because on that show, all the people act like robots and you don't care about their feelings, while with BSG, all the robots act like people and you do. I think it's true about Lost, too: a drama for the Asperger's generation, in which social cues and emotional responses don't really matter (although every show will have its shippers and hated/beloved characters) as long as you've got a problem to solve. Most popular sentiments of disillusionment with Lost have to do with the idea that they don't know where it's going, secretly, and that they're making it up as they go, which speaks to the feeling that the show is not providing the necessary positive reinforcement to say, yes, you're continuing to figure it all out, here's another clue. Press the lever and get a cookie.
Or, and this is key to the question I'm asking you today, take The West Wing. The one thing you could count on with that show was a feeling of hope. Pride, and the lush sharp joy of the language, but mostly hope, and pride. The concept that everything is going to be okay can be revolutionary, when things are not okay and seem to be getting worse. I think that TWW would do pretty well today, when we're all kind of caught in this Obama wave of trying to convince each other to have hope and not feel gay about it.
I mean, Buffy was a cult show, but it always grows in popularity all the time. I'm not sure what you get from that show week-to-week, but there's a disillusionment again in the sixth and seventh seasons that I think stems from Buffy herself becoming fallible. It's brilliant, and necessary, but in terms of the overall popularity of the show, I think that was the killer. One of the reasons the Christ myth is such a big deal is that we go through his life story on a constant basis: glory, betrayal, complete dismemberment. It's the reason every hero goes to the underworld, because it's telling our stories back to us. So when Buffy starts fucking up, as she does throughout the last two seasons, that's a lot like us fucking up, and who wants to watch that? Lots of people, but not as many.
So I'm going to be recapping Generation Kill for TWoP in a couple of weeks. Reason number one is that I asked for it because I liked the title. Reason number two I'm actually excited is that I've loved military stuff since I was a kid; it's one of the reasons I get so immersed in BSG when I'm writing about it. It's a headspace that can be hard to get into, for some, but it's something that makes a lot of sense to me. A lot of my most avid readers -- and thus avid fans of the show itself -- are ex-military. The few times I've gone to BSG presentations at the Alamo, you can see them in the audience, these silver brush-cut guys that show up alone, at midnight, and leave alone two hours later. That's love. And a lot of them have reached out to me, all through BSG and now to say thanks for writing about GK. I thought it was surprising for awhile, but now I think I get it.
Whenever anybody says something is "just good," with no qualifications or explanations, that's a flag that you're dealing with people's actual inside-the-head stuff. That hope, or that BrainAge-disguised-as-TV, or that quasifeminist messianic superhero.
Why do I like The West Wing? Because it's awesome. Why Buffy or BSG (or Gossip Girl)? Shut up, they'll say: it's because it's so great. What else do you need to know?
I'm reading the book GK is based on, and the books by and about the guys the story is about. But I never watched The Wire, although of course it was the first thing on my syllabus... And now I'm not sure if I should.
If it's emotionless like Lost, I'm not interested ... Five seasons of brilliant and hard-hitting gritty municipal politics starring scarred men with hideous underbellies. The Sopranos started boring me well before you might think. But if it's a West Wing... You see what I'm saying?
So to the Wire viewers reading this: what is the dominant theme of the show? What key is it written in? I don't care how intricate or realistic it is, I just want to know: are they robots or are they people? What is the nutritive thing that keeps people coming back to the show?
