What if the institution has the internalized lie? Such was the subject on The Wire. After a while the cops have figured it out.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
In the pilot which skillfully present the players in such unique situations in an ensemble cast, we find out what the cops think about The War On Drugs.
Detectives Griggs, Carver and Hulk are looking for guns on a pullover off the advice of a confidential informant who works with Griggs.
The Informant in detail tells Griggs the lowdown. She relays that to Carver and Hulk. We see early in this sequence she’s the brains. They find one gun. But Griggs finds the other much harder gun to find. The one with the homicide tied to it.
Hulk and Carver are shown as two guys that just want to “bust some heads” a line out of their mouths as they explain what they think is effective police work.
(show was a workplace drama but that went over so many peoples heads. You saw it in the cops and the drug crews)
As a show set in the mid 2000’s they show how ineffective things are in how old their office tools are. They still use a word processor like computer. This comes up because Griggs says all that busting heads is useless if you don’t write up a good report.
Hulk and Carver laugh as they damn sure don’t want to do write ups and don’t want to do them on ancient technology.
But she insists this is how you build cases. Which lead to arrests, and then convictions. Then what?
Here Carver and Hulk are now shown as not just mindless brutes with badges. In a bit of brilliant writing, when pressed as to what is all of this for? Griggs says hey it’s to fight this battle and win the war, Hulk says, “you can’t call this a war, because wars end”. (So since all of this is futile let’s just bust some heads right?)
Then what are they doing? Reinforcing the institutional lie.
Put “dope on the table” (a line from Lt Daniels, which Det Mcnulty knows is a glory hunt. Doesn’t do anything but make the cops “look good”) the useless photo op we’ve all seen with all kinds of drugs, guns and money from some nameless drug crew.
Eventually even the dealers see this futility too(no one sells dope to “buy back the block”).
I feel this show operated with characters who knew what they were involved was not what the stated purpose turned out to be. If the war on drugs made me a better officer so my pension is solid so be it.
Thank you and happy holidays. When my material is ready will certainly be hiring you for consultancy.
Awesome! Good luck with your rewrite in the meantime 🙂
What if the institution has the internalized lie? Such was the subject on The Wire. After a while the cops have figured it out.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
In the pilot which skillfully present the players in such unique situations in an ensemble cast, we find out what the cops think about The War On Drugs.
Detectives Griggs, Carver and Hulk are looking for guns on a pullover off the advice of a confidential informant who works with Griggs.
The Informant in detail tells Griggs the lowdown. She relays that to Carver and Hulk. We see early in this sequence she’s the brains. They find one gun. But Griggs finds the other much harder gun to find. The one with the homicide tied to it.
Hulk and Carver are shown as two guys that just want to “bust some heads” a line out of their mouths as they explain what they think is effective police work.
(show was a workplace drama but that went over so many peoples heads. You saw it in the cops and the drug crews)
As a show set in the mid 2000’s they show how ineffective things are in how old their office tools are. They still use a word processor like computer. This comes up because Griggs says all that busting heads is useless if you don’t write up a good report.
Hulk and Carver laugh as they damn sure don’t want to do write ups and don’t want to do them on ancient technology.
But she insists this is how you build cases. Which lead to arrests, and then convictions. Then what?
Here Carver and Hulk are now shown as not just mindless brutes with badges. In a bit of brilliant writing, when pressed as to what is all of this for? Griggs says hey it’s to fight this battle and win the war, Hulk says, “you can’t call this a war, because wars end”. (So since all of this is futile let’s just bust some heads right?)
Then what are they doing? Reinforcing the institutional lie.
Put “dope on the table” (a line from Lt Daniels, which Det Mcnulty knows is a glory hunt. Doesn’t do anything but make the cops “look good”) the useless photo op we’ve all seen with all kinds of drugs, guns and money from some nameless drug crew.
Eventually even the dealers see this futility too(no one sells dope to “buy back the block”).
I feel this show operated with characters who knew what they were involved was not what the stated purpose turned out to be. If the war on drugs made me a better officer so my pension is solid so be it.