Comparison of Storytelling in HBO's "The Wire" and Written Novels

After watching just a few episodes of The Wire, it is easy to see why no critic is willing to refer to David Simon's masterpiece as your everyday television show. Through its intricate plot, brilliant characterization, and immersive setting, the show easily crowns itself as one of the best programs on television. But is that where it stops? Is it overly bold to dub The Wire a visual novel?

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kulish thinks not. Kulish views The Wire as "the closest that moving pictures have come so far to the depth and nuance of a novel" (Kulish). He even believes the viewer's devotion to uncovering The Wire's long, complex plot is "equal to a reader's investment in a novel" (Kulish). This is a fair assessment. Unlike the average TV show, which is straightforward and plainly attempts to provide the viewer entertainment, The Wire makes it a point to engage our moral and philosophical range. Rather than portraying characters as black and white, good and evil, The Wire gives a much more intricate analysis of the vices and virtues of every character. For example, most of the show's police officers have negative traits that prevent them from being the hero, and many of the show's drug dealers have human qualities that elevate them above the status of villain. In addition, while most shows conclude with the protagonist prevailing and the antagonist faltering, The Wire often presents the opposite outcome, because it is truer to real-life Baltimore. Through these complexities, The Wire is much more demanding of its audience. Instead of sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying, the viewer is compelled to think about the political, social, and ethical issues raised in the show, as well as the motivations of each character. In this way, The Wire is more like a stimulating novel than an entertaining television show.

Sharing this view is writer Laura Miller, who believes that now-a-days, "any kind of story" can be classified as a novel, so narratives as compelling as those in The Wire indubitably deserve the title (Miller 3). However, she goes beyond this. Miller compares The Wire to The Iliad and The Odyssey, two of the greatest works of literature of all time. While Miller makes a very daring statement in classifying The Iliad and The Odyssey as novels, they do share very similar storytelling to The Wire. Just like the stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey, The Wire's story "goes on and on" (Miller 3). With most television shows, each episode has its own distinct conflict, which is resolved by the conclusion of the program. While all the episodes may share the same characters, each has its own independent plot. The Wire, however, has one central plot line, which is explored over the course of a season. Unlike most TV shows, which treat each episode as a short story, The Wire's episodes are like individual chapters of a long novel. Trying to watch them out of order will ruin the narrative, because each episode builds upon its predecessors.

In many ways, The Wire is more like a novel than a television program. The show's ability to stimulate our morals and ethics, as well as to carry on a long, complex tale that spans the length of many episodes, echoes the style of the modern day novel. While it is true that the story progresses through visual, rather than written, works, each episode of that story reflects a chapter of the novel that is The Wire. And quite a novel it is.

Works Cited:

Kulish, Nicholas. "Television You Can't Put Down." The New York Times (9/10/2006)

Miller, Laura; Traister, Rebecca. "The best TV show of all time." Salon.com (9/15/2007)