HBO’s “The Wire” actor Jim True-Frost talks about filmmaking and the American city

The late, popular HBO series "The Wire" has become an invaluable visual aid for academics to teach students about the roots of deep inequality in inner-city America.  On Friday, Nov. 19, cast member Jim True-Frost led class discussion in WRIT125 "‘The Wire' and the American City," drawing on his experience working on all five seasons of the series that ran from 2002 to 2008.    

"The Wire" is acclaimed for its unprecedented verisimilitude, and uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes.  Each season focuses on a different institution, such as the city government, law enforcement, school system and the media, and analyzes their social ramifications on the lives of the urban poor, identified as drug dealers, stickup men, junkies, human smugglers and dockworkers.  

Most students in higher education are far removed from the experiences of the characters in "The Wire."  By offering courses on the show, academics across disciplines have sharpened the lens through which students perceive issues of urban poverty, class stratification and bureaucracy.

Professor Lynne Viti of the writing department was at the forefront of this trend—in the fall of 2009—followed by professors at Harvard, UC Berkeley, Duke, Middlebury and recently, Johns Hopkins.

"[‘The Wire'] has so much literary value…there are so many layers to it, and the acting is outstanding," Viti said.  "The structure of the series is so carefully thought out.  [Executive producer] David Simon had in mind a long narrative [from the beginning] that had multi-parts and each part had a theme and a focus."

Students in "‘The Wire' and the American City," focus on the first and fourth seasons, watching two to three episodes a week.  True-Frost played Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, a police officer in the first season about the drug war in Baltimore and the tension between the police and the drug dealers.  His character becomes a teacher in the fourth season, which portrays how the public school system fails poor children.

Asia Sims '14 raised the issue of police brutality and racism that the viewer confronts through True-Frost's character Prez.  She described the viewer's animosity towards Prez when he strikes a fourteen year-old boy with his gun, blinding him in one eye.  She contrasted this initial impression to the sympathy Prez attracts from the viewer much later in the series, when he mistakenly shoots and kills a plain-clothed police officer, an act portrayed by the local press as potentially racially motivated because the officer was African American.  

True-Frost explained that as a white law enforcement officer in the inner city, Prez was put in a position to hold active animosity towards people because of their race, which is problematic.  "[The writers] wrote about the individual and the institution…[emphasizing that] institutions never change, they're rigid, they're hierarchical [and] they're stuck," he said.  

"The show just fleshes out not only the dynamics of power, but peoples' lives," Laura Cabral '14 said.  She says the course has given the Chicago native a different perspective particularly on the kids and police officers in the city.

"The police department [in the show]…is often run by people who care more about obtaining a high rank than actually…addressing crime," Cabral wrote in an e-mail.  "Kids get tired of trying in school…because their schools lack the proper resources to address the needs that arise from living in poverty and crime-stricken neighborhoods."     

A large part of the show's success in realistically portraying urban life is its adaptation of cinematic style.  While television cameramen typically focus on one person, or a conversation between two people, those working on "The Wire" have developed their signature use of the short lens, which captures wide shots of neighborhoods and streets.  

According to True-Frost, this technique enhances the show's storytelling by allowing the viewer to draw objective conclusions.  "[The directors] avoid camera work that would suggest that the storyteller or the person behind the camera knows something about the story, or is pushing the story in a position," True-Frost said.

The show's candor is also enabled by the absence of any incidental music.  "You may hear music, [but only] from the radio, or from a club, or from an instrument," Viti said.  

For Sims, "The Wire" keeps her connected to the real world and brings forward its issues in her college discourse.  "‘The Wire' makes stressing out for an exam seem minimal, when compared to the everyday struggle of characters like Bubbles who is battling with poverty, HIV/AIDS and a cocaine addiction," Sims said in an e-mail.  

Her observation of the dietary habits of the characters from low-income neighborhoods have led her to write her final research paper on desserts in Baltimore.  "Currently, the Baltimore City Government is working diligently to correct this public health issue," Sims said.     

True-Frost pointed out that while the show is not a work of scholarship, but a creative fictional production, it is appealing to academia because it brings a human face to academic discussions.  

"Instead of dry ideas and policies, you're talking about specific individuals, faces and lives that you've seen in the show, that are impacted by those policies and thinking that they're not even real people, they're a work of fiction," he said.  "Because it's a work of creative imagination, it can prompt an academic to use her own imagination, whether it's for problem solving, or for filling in the blanks."

The show's portrayal of various institutions gives professors the flexibility to customize their curriculum by choosing to focus on certain seasons over others.  On the other hand, students are not complaining about watching television for homework.  It is easy to see from both ends why the show is still winning in the classroom two years post-production.