Big Matty Spurr's Big Critical Research Blog

From the writer

2007-05-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

So, in writing his nonfiction books, Homicide and The Corner, Simon combined a skillful reporter's urge to penetrate hidden worlds—be it the culture of police detectives or heroin addicts—with a novelist's ear for language and flair for spinning a tale. That killer combination applies as well to his fiction in The Wire. Everything is grounded in the raw materials of real-world reporting.

Here the writer explains how everything written in The Wire is based on the writer’s own experience as a reporter. This therefore does not mean that the show is based 100 percent in truth but is written through first hand experience.

Brooker on the Wire

2007-05-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

One on One's

2007-04-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

One on one's will now be taken out with replies who answered the 5th queation about my specific texts.

Questionnaire Results

2007-04-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Questionnaire sent out to a group of 17/18 year olds, with 22 replies.

1) How often do you watch TV crime dramas?
The majority who responded watch crime drama once a week, if not once a week they watch crime drama 'rarely' or 'occasionally'.

2) For what reason do you watch TV crime dramas?
The popular response to this is that crime drama is 'exiting' or provides a 'thrill'. Other replies give the response that crime dramas provide reassurance, whilst others think they are 'thought provoking' and are interested in the criminal procedures and how the portay this and the relationship between police and criminal in crime drama. Another general theme was how they portray the life of crime or police to be inherently dramatic or exiting, in some cases overly so. Apart from these people watch tv drama 'if there's nothing better on' or 'if other people are watching it' or just merely for boredom.

3) How do TV crime dramas affect your view of the police?
A large proportion of replies said crime drama makes them see the police in a positive light as 'proffesional' or 'smart' or 'exiting'. one even said that crime drama makes them 'respect their efforts'. The negative responses say that they see the police as portrayed 'like scum' or as 'less proffesional' than they are in real life. one reply even said crime dramas show the police as 'scum'.

4) How Similar do you Think Police in TV Crime Dramas are to Police in Real Life?
The majority view is that police in TV crime drama isn't very similar to police in real drama. The main difference people stated to real life police was that Tv policing is 'glorified' or 'sensationalised', ie, less paperwork, less petty crimes etc. A few said that they think police in TV crime drama are 'suprisingly similar' to police in real life, or that just highlight the notion 'to do good'.

Why Media Images of Police Matter

2007-04-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

people know the police through television; which is a rich source of policing images. Research has suggested that up to two-thirds of people find out about the police through the media rather than through personal contact... in 2201 west yorkshire police found that although crime had fallen by 5%, according to a survey 36% of people believed crime was rising and 51% claimed to have formed this opinion based on tv

the fact that crime drama is one of the most watched genres on TV with its show repetedly coming in the top 5 watched shows of the year, shows how many people are influenced by media images. peoples perspective of the police through television puts pressure on the police to bring about reform to prove to themselves and the public that these portayals are just extremes:

policing programmes can inform debates about the future of policing, and can influence policy or procedure. For example Reiner ahs shown how the debate concerning whether the role of police should be essentially 'service' or 'force'can be plotted diallectically through police drama series.

Ratings

2007-04-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

Prison Break's first season won over 10 million viewers per episode in the US and 2 million in the UK, with its main target audience between 18-49.

The last episode of Life on Mars' ratings peaked at 7.7 million compared with an average audience of 6.3 million for Manchester United' Champions League victory.

The Bill attracts about 5.5 million viewers about 2.5 million less than when it was at its highest point in 2002.

The Wire has always struggled for ratings a reason for this is because (some people believe) the show glorifies killing, corrupt politicians, and drug use and also because it has represented young African-American males in a negative light.

UPDATE
from the BARB ratings figures it is easy to see that Crime drama and more specifically police drama is one of the most popular genres on tv. It attracts millions of viewers and is second to only soaps. In the case of the Bill it attracts the most viewers of any police drama due to its movement towards soap in 2002 under new Executive Producer Paul Marquess who had worked in Corrie. the question posed however is, in terms of the general popularity of police drama, is it due to the exaggerated representation of police in these dramas.

Also from BFI...

2007-04-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

A bit on the bill which summarises the main reason why i have chosen to do it instead of lewis amongst the others i have chosen:

The Bill (ITV, 1985-) began as a grittily realistic one-hour drama, but the series has shown an unusual flexibility, switching formats and even taking on the characteristics of a soap. The survival of The Bill illustrates the police drama's durability in a changing television environment. The Bill is also rare in the genre in consistently casting women and Black or Asian actors in major roles.

in the BFI's earlier interpretation it highlighted the fact that TV drama was dominated by white males, the bill is an exception, the similar example to this from my American Dramas is the Wire which is set in the town of Baltimore which has a majority Black population and the show consists of a lot of Black and female characters in the higher echelons of the Police Force as well as the Governernment.

BFI's interpretation

2007-04-13T04:28:00.000-07:00

Pared to its bare bones, the police drama is the 'eternal struggle between good and evil'. It is also a crossword puzzle in the tradition of Agatha Christie, with the thrill of a journey on the wrong side of the tracks. But this 'conservative' genre has consistently explored social mores, popular concerns and contemporary folk devils. At the same time, it treads a thin line between realism and a relentlessly upbeat representation of the police force, and is prone to stereotyping and tokenism. It remains a world dominated by individualistic white men. Despite this mass of contradictions, however, it is a versatile and flexible genre that can survive the loss of central characters and confront highly sensitive social issues.

ME- i feel that this doesn't cover the issue of bad police, although the 'eternal struggle between good and evil' could be interpreted as internal rather cops and robbers. What it does pick up on is TV police drama's tendency to focus on the police force as unrepresentative of the population and often a lot more exiting than it actually is.

The Bad Men of Prison Break

2007-03-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Not only does prison break have the nasty character of Agent Mahone, the other persuers listed on the Five website seem pretyty nasty too. Prison Break certainly, in my opinion sheds a bad light on the police be it Prison Guard, FBI, Secret Service:

FBI Agent Alexander Mahone

Michael has met his match with Agent Mahone, who appears to be able to anticipate his every move. A pill-popping expert in escape behaviour and fugitives, Mahone cunningly identified the tattoos as the key to the escape plan. But Mahone’s not invincible. Will his dark side be his downfall?

Captain Brad Bellick

As bent and twisted as prison officers come, Bellick gets off on humiliating and abusing inmates. As supervisor of the prison industries program, Bellick became very closely acquainted with the Fox River Eight, taking hefty bribes to favour Abruzzi and developing an obsession with Michael. Alas, Bellick was playing with fire. The Fox River Eight escaped on his watch and his job was swiftly terminated. Now he’s determined to bring in the brothers, dead or alive.

Secret Service Agent Paul Kellerman

A natural assassin and blackmailer, Kellerman helped engineer Terence Steadman’s “murder” and is ruthlessly slaying anyone who stands in the way of the conspiracy. Bishops, LJ’s parents, Veronica’s fiancé…no one is safe from the wrath of Agent Kellerman.

Books!

2007-03-12T03:02:00.000-07:00

-Chapter 11 (by Rob C. Mawby) of Criminal Visions edited by Paul Mason
-Crime Dramas: the collapse of the real? (P47) in Crime and Law by Sheila Brown

Officer James "Jimmy" McNulty

2007-03-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

One of the best characters on television??

Irish whiskey. The stick. A good hard case. And women. These are some affinities in the life of Jimmy McNulty. A failed marriage, drunkenness, philandering, disturbing co-workers in the middle of the night, insubordination and backdooring aside, McNulty is good police - both in skill and heart - driven by a propensity for solving cases. Having instigated the Baltimore Police Department's investigation of the Barksdale organization, McNulty defied anyone he had to for the sake of the case. Breaking the chain-of-command, he gets sent to a no-hope detail with the Baltimore Harbor Patrol. At least he met Beadie Russell there. He also encounters another case worth building: 14 bodies in a shipment container landing him back in the detail. Closure in that case focused his attention back on the Barksdales and a war with a new westside rival. McNulty almost squeezes out a tear when Stringer is killed subverting his efforts on the case. It had become personal. He still manages to find some satisfaction when he hands Avon an arrest warrant citing Stringer as the named source of information. A journey had ended and a new one begins as he throws himself back in the streets of the Western and with it a new perspective on his life.

Facebook Groups

2007-03-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'm using my internet network resources to tap in to the online TV Drama fan communities. I have therefore joined the following Facebook groups:
Ford Cortina! - the Life on Mars Fan Group
Addicted to Prison Break
"All in the Game" - The Wire

Note that there was no fan group for 'Lewis' or my possible alternative 'the Bill'

It seems a few people are doing what i'm doing

2007-03-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

here's an extract from www.slate.com:

...This time, our focus is The Wire, HBO's critically lauded drama about
inner-city life, which recently began its fourth season (and just got renewed for a fifth). The show has been a favorite in the
Slate offices for years for its nuanced portrayal of race conflict and political
tensions—subjects that have rarely, if ever, been explored this bracingly on
television.

Starting Sept. 18, our team of Wire-ologists will gather here each
Monday. They'll discuss new plot developments, for sure, but also analyze the
show's depiction of the police, the drug trade, and inner-city education...

-this will be useful

Sam Tyler

2007-03-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a good representation of a modern day copper (In contrast to 70s police) in the form of Life on Mars' Sam Tyler.

FBI Agent Mahone

2007-03-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

There's always a black sheep...
FBI agent Mahone unlawfully killing the helpless David 'Tweener' Apolskis in Fox's Prison Break.

Police in TV Drama

2007-03-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

I, like anyone else, have my own personal view of the police. What I want to know is if this view is influenced by the media and specifically TV Drama. The police, on TV, from my point of view always come across as the bad guys but thats probably because i watch the american prison break where 'the man' is gettin everyone down, as such. Therefore i will be analysing 2 shows each from the US and the UK to get an even spread of the representation of the police in TV Drama:

The Wire
Prison Break
Life on Mars
The Bill.