The Politics of Being Way Down in the Hole

Back to The Wire: Ross is of course correct to argue that one of David Simon’s great achievements was creating a television show that was open to multiple legitimate interpretations. Though I might see the show as grist for a certain libertarian strain of thinking, I can quite see why an ardent drug warrior could also find plenty of evidence to support his analysis. As much as anything else, in fact, its this argument between competing worldviews that proves the shows’ brilliance. “Shakespearian” is a word bandied around far too often, but it’s apt and worthwhile in this instance. And of course the validity of these multiple interpretations is in no way compromised by the fact they may be very different from, or at odds with, Simons’ own views.

As Ross put it, the show was “the rarest and most precious of beasts: A work of art that’s intensely political but rarely devolves into agitprop.”