as a fan of david simon's work i happened to have the interesting opportunity to live in or at least near the cities he portrayed in his hbo series while they were in production. i have to admit to living near as i lived in washington dc, not baltimore, during the production of the wire though anyone with experience will tell you that living in one means knowledge of and (at least occasionally) frequenting the other.
for those who may not know, david simon worked the baltimore sun city desk for 12years during which time he wrote homicide: a year on the killing streets and co-wrote the corner: a year in the life of an inner city neigbourhood both of which had their own (mini)series and both of which certainly inspired the wire. after katrina, simon worked with part-time new orleans local, eric overmyer to create treme; the tale of nola's recovering historic musician's neighbourhood.
while both shows embodied their respective cities well my experience with both of them is certainly different. i was already living in new orleans when the creation of treme was announced and over the last five+ years i've gotten very intimate with this city. perhaps had i known baltimore in the same way my views of the wire would more closely resemble those of treme. that being said, i remember an excitement in new orleans when treme was initially announced. the producer of the wire was going to come tell a similar story of our beloved city in the aftermath of our abysmal near death experience; how could there not be excitement? simon had wrote some of the grittiest, true characters ever conceived for the wire, he'll surely do the same with his characters of new orleans. but after the first season, treme was getting mixed reviews from the nola natives. i heard critiques about the show's apparent slow pace or the lack of depth; that the characters didn't resonate with the locals though the events the characters experienced did. others, of course, enjoyed it immensely; glad to see simon capture more than simply gratuitous jazz+gluttony.
for me what differs between simon's stories of baltimore and new orleans is that while the wire told of individuals lives through exemplary character development, treme conversely showed how each character served as interactive piece of the greater whole (best embodied in the season 3 finale; tipitina). the main character in treme was the great city of new orleans. her hopes+dreams, her health+well-being, her trials+tribulations were lived out through her citizens; parts of a greater whole like the arteries+organs of her body - each action a felt though potentially not noticed reaction. the music was her heart, the food was her soul, the politics+crime; her brain. treme mirrored the way i've come to see the city over the years; thousands of interlocking pieces of diner+streetcar+bayou+sousaphone. in that way the show became a great success and i was thrilled that hbo allowed it to conclude... albeit rapidly.
.....
simon's work serves as a bitter look at an american reality all too often cast aside or hidden from plain sight by the media, the aristocrat, the government, and the ignorant which sadly includes... the majority. we are, after all, a country of complacency far too satisfied with our instant gratification.
this post was inspired after searching one of my new favorite websites: dangerous minds. i came across a talk david simon gave at australia's "festival of dangerous ideas" in the sydney opera house. his speech was appropriately titled "my country is a horror show." in it david simon proves himself a dangerous mind, and one worth listening to. check it out.
a few other intriguing dangerous minds links:
istvan orosz art
hitchcock's unseen holocaust documentary
houdini exposed
franz kafta's "it's a wonderful life" brought to you by the new doctor, peter capaldi
grant/hepburn : 5-minute version of charade
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