Tragedy and Realism in Baltimore: "The Wire"'s Challenge to American Myths

This paper aims to contrast the social reality of the United States and the classic American mythology of the country in the HBO television series. "The Wire" to make a deep analysis of the American reality. The TV drama has deep conclusions about the American reality in different fields....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: García Irureta-Goyena, Pablo
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/14421
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/14421
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:791.242The Wire
791.43:94(735.217.2)
"The Wire"
American mythology
David Simon
HBO
Home Box Office
TV series
Capitalism
Corruption
Ideology
Fiction
Baltimore.
Mitos estadounidenses
Series de televisión
Capitalismo
Corrupción
Ideología
Ficción
Sociología urbana
Televisión
Cine y literatura
6311.06 Sociología Urbana
3325.09 Televisión
6203.01 Cinematografía
Descripción
Sumario:This paper aims to contrast the social reality of the United States and the classic American mythology of the country in the HBO television series. "The Wire" to make a deep analysis of the American reality. The TV drama has deep conclusions about the American reality in different fields. "The Wire" gives insight into the different institutions shaping the functioning of a city, such as the police department, the unions, the political system, the education system, and the press. These are explored through different characters who participate in these institutions, and/or who suffer oppression at their hands. American mythology has been created throughout different historical moments and is one of the most important factors shaping the United States. Myths such as the American Dream, the City Upon a Hill, American Exceptionalism, the democratization of the education system and Freedom of the Press will appear in this paper. Furthermore, American individualism will appear in contrast with the ideology of Greek Tragedy in "The Wire". The thesis of this essay is that the contrast and the gap between American mythology and American reality are central themes of "The Wire". This paper also addresses both American mythology and American reality, with the purpose of showing a deep contrast between them.