Popular Culture Review 29.1 (Spring 2018) | Page 116

of masculinity , which are explored through the usage of morally ambiguous antiheroes as protagonists ( Sepinwall 41 ). However , The Wire is unique from its peers in several important ways .
The Wire , which aired for five seasons from 2002 to 2008 , consists of 60 separate hour-long episodes . Set and filmed in Baltimore , The Wire serves as a critique of American bureaucracy and local government , with each season examining institutional and systemic dysfunction within a different public service of Baltimore . One of The Wire ’ s most unique traits is its casting , as more than half of the series ’ cast is African American . While The Wire ’ s casting accurately reflects the racial demographics of Baltimore , such diversity remains a rarity in American dramatic television . Instead , representation of African Americans in television – and entertainment as a whole – have been historically limited to roles that reinforce cultural stereotypes , the most prevalent of which being the presentation of African American males as criminally or sexually dangerous ( Ward 285 ). It is noted that :
The relationship between race and masculinity has always been one vested with popularized stereotypes that … involve representational practices that classify and categorize members of another group , reducing those members to simplified and exaggerated characteristics , which are then communicated as fixed by nature . ( Park 370 ).
Due to the racial diversity of its cast , The Wire is a distinctive research text that provides a unique opportunity for scholarly research on cultural representations of race and gender in popular media , particularly regarding how they intersect . Specifically , does The Wire perpetuate or challenge popular notions of hegemonic masculinity , which describes the “ most honored way of being a man ” ( Connell and Messerschmidt 832 ) in society ? How does The Wire ’ s portrayal of hegemonic masculinity differ across racial representations ? Such questions are especially important given the prominent role that mass media plays in influencing expectations amongst male viewers towards idealized masculinity in society ( Moss 29 ). Popular television is recognized as exerting especially strong influence over audience conception of gender roles , as audiences derive “ contemporary archetypes … from the small screen ” ( Watson 3 ). Out of The Wire ’ s expansive ensemble , two characters in particular will serve as the prism through which this research is conducted : Jimmy McNulty , an Irish American police detective , and Omar Little , an African American stickup artist who robs Baltimore ’ s drug dealers .
McNulty is The Wire ’ s most prominent white character , being the main protagonist of the series . Dominic West , the
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