“This America, Man.” Narrating and Reading Urban Space in The Wire

Abstract

The chapter deals with HBO’s television series The Wire (2002–2008). Following the idea that the series is mainly built around the story of life in the postindustrial city in America, the essay looks at the sociocultural fabrics of the series and explores how it transforms its real-life elements in imaginative ways to create a new urban experience for the viewer. Therefore, we, first of all, outline the narrative space of The Wire, before questioning what it, in turn, tells us about postindustrial/post 9/11-America. A discussion of how city space is narrated in the series by making use of the television medium will round off the analysis.