Semi-Charmed Life

Learning from “The Wire”

I wish I could have taken a course like this when I was in college. It's such a shame that to this day there are still so many people that have not checked this show out.

Why we're teaching 'The Wire' at Harvard

"The Wire" is fiction, but it forces us to confront social realities more effectively than any other media production in the era of so-called reality TV. It does not tie things up neatly; as in real life, the problems remain unsolved, and the cycle repeats itself as disadvantages become more deeply entrenched. Outside the world of television drama, sociologists aim to explain what causes certain social conditions and then assess the merits of competing theories. The solutions, however, are usually less clear. "The Wire" gets that part right, too.