Well hello again! I hope everyone’s week three ended well. This was a whirlwind week for me, with tons of assignments in all of my classes. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about The Wire and digital storytelling, so let’s get into it.
I guess I should start with the Kurt Vonnegut and Bryan Alexander pieces. First the Kurt Vonnegut clip was not only a fresh take on looking at a story, but it was also hilarious! Being a physics major, I have a certain appreciation (although sometimes certain level of apprehension) for graphs. I have never thought to look at the progression of a story graphically. When taking this approach, most stories really can be lumped into several categories, each having similar “curves” as Vonnegut calls them.
On to the assignments!!!
Season 1, episode #13: Sentencing
I decided for this episode to use the “Triple Troll Quote” to sum up the season 1 finale. This quote and picture, in my opinion at least, sum up where the show is headed from here. What I mean by that is this: In this episode, we see McNulty and Bunk in the courtroom where Avon’s crew is being dismantled and sentenced to prison. On the surface it appears that the drug empire is on the ropes, but as the finale montage continues, we see the drug trade just as robust as ever, albeit controlled by some new blood. It appears at the episodes end that the drug game has not changed…just got more fierce. In addition, we see the return of Omar, up to his same old tricks, and just as charming as possible. The reason I attributed this to McNulty is that in this episode, McNulty has this aura of “what the hell did I do?” after the sentencing of Avon’s gang. He comes to realize that all of the work they did, all of the arrests that were made and the dealers taken off of the streets, not much has actually changed. The drug trafficking is just as prevalent and the body count is not going to drop drastically.
Season 2, Episode 1: Ebb Tide
For this episode, I used the “What They Might Have Done in Social Media” web assignment. This episode was a new start for several characters, but a new start is not always a good thing. McNulty is kicked to the one place he did not want to go: Marine Division. He is now a lowly officer, choking on diesel fumes and salt spray. I used FakeBook and the twister web app to crete fake profiles for McNulty, and had him tweet this from his new job on the force.
Season 2, Episode 3: Collateral Damage