Comments on: The Politics of Brisket: Jews and The Wire http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/ Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:13:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: All the pieces matter: analysis, essays, and anything else on The Wire « the readjack.com blog http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57927 All the pieces matter: analysis, essays, and anything else on The Wire « the readjack.com blog Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:55:52 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57927 [...] The Politics of Brisket: Jews and the Wire by Keith Kahn-Harris Levy represents D'Angelo on his murder of Pooh Blanchard. [...] [...] The Politics of Brisket: Jews and the Wire by Keith Kahn-Harris Levy represents D'Angelo on his murder of Pooh Blanchard. [...]

]]> By: Keith Kahn-Harris http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57891 Keith Kahn-Harris Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:55:00 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57891 This article, and the character of Levy, is discussed on a Guardian blog about The Wire: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/23/wire-television This article, and the character of Levy, is discussed on a Guardian blog about The Wire: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/23/wire-television

]]> By: Christian http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57871 Christian Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:17:54 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57871 I don't think I can say that you have a chip on your shoulder but I would definitely say that you have chip on your shoulder tropes. Regards I don’t think I can say that you have a chip on your shoulder but I would definitely say that you have chip on your shoulder tropes.
Regards

]]> By: Keith Kahn-Harris http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57868 Keith Kahn-Harris Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:49:27 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57868 Thanks Gordon. This is a really insightful comment and I'm really grateful to you for it. The idea of Simon having a 'Schindler Complex' is one I shall definitely chew over... Thanks Gordon. This is a really insightful comment and I’m really grateful to you for it. The idea of Simon having a ‘Schindler Complex’ is one I shall definitely chew over…

]]> By: Gordon Hon http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57867 Gordon Hon Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:32:36 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57867 <!--StartFragment--> It would seem from this piece that the noticeably negative representation of Jews through the portrayal of the Levy character was meant as a kind of reproach from David Simon to the Jewish community of Baltimore. For audiences unaware of the details of ethnic divisions in the city this representation does fall too easily into anti-Semitic tropes. This could be a limit of the specificity of place in the drama at which the series crosses from an ‘authentic’ sense of place into parochialism, which for those without this specific inside knowledge can only be understood through generalised reference points – i.e. stereotypes. In other respects this was part of the Wire’s appeal – the in-jokes and references that only Baltimorians would get all helped towards the rendering of a patina of authenticity.   It is very interesting that you bring up Simon’s consciousness of his Jewishness while he was making the Corner. There is no crooked lawyer in the miniseries but there is a very strong and rather anomalous reference to Jews in the episode called (I think), Less Than Human. In this episode the main character/junky, Gary goes to the movies on a whim. The film happens to be Schindler’s List. Later he relates to his unimpressed junky friends his impression of the film that he sees as analogous to their own plight. He says that the Nazis decided that the Jews weren’t human which meant that they could do anything to them including extermination. He goes on to say that with each day on the corners they all get less and less human and that they are exterminating themselves while everybody (meaning presumably, white America) is quite happy to stand by and watch. So we are given the picture of a self-inflicted black holocaust witnessed by an impassive, complicit white population.   Unlike much of the rest of The Corner this episode departs from the authentic feel of the series. It may be true, as Simon says, that people in West Baltimore don’t see Jewish people (except at court) but is it conceivable that they would be unaware of the holocaust? The unlikely occurrence of an addict wasting money on the movies is self-consciously dealt with when one of his friends asks, “what’s a junky doing going to the movies?” but this is effectively a framing device before Gary’s didactic speech which is framed at the other end with another funny put-down from the same friend. This frame perhaps draws attention to the writer’s efforts to embed the untypical pedagogical lucidity or even a kind of embarrassment on his part but the speech still sticks out, awkwardly from the rest of the series. I was intrigued by this for some time – trying to figure out why the speech was there and why it seemed so unconvincing. Somehow I felt it resonated with my general discomfort as a white English man watching the Corner and the Wire – forms of entertainment that incessantly claim realism through authentic inside knowledge but still created by two white men for a presumably, although not exclusively, white audience. It is also noticeable that in the Corner the role of the narrator which is effectively the voice of David Simon is given to a black actor. I felt that Gary’s speech was hiding something. What I suspect is that the real point of interest in his speech is not the Jews or the Nazis or the Junkies but the figure of Schindler. If the Jews are the self-destructing black addicts and the Germans are the complicit white bystanders then who is Schindler? Who else but David Simon? The man who is not happy to stand by and watch, the man who gets involved and comes to the rescue. Like Schindler, David has his list – a cast list of real people who he will rescue by pulling them out of their doomed reality. This is enacted at the end of the series when the real characters are called by name from the corner and walk over to the safety of being-on-TV. Perhaps Simon’s Schindler-complex casts some light on his depiction of Levy. In the interviews from which you quote he seems to be presenting himself as the good Jew against Levy’s bad Jew (Schindler as the good German): “I was the only Jew…” with his “little note pad”. So it could be that our discomfort at the anti-Semitic stereotype is not caused by our not being in the know in respect to internal Baltimore ethnic divisions but in respect to Simon’s Schindler complex. <!--EndFragment-->
It would seem from this piece that the noticeably negative representation of Jews through the portrayal of the Levy character was meant as a kind of reproach from David Simon to the Jewish community of Baltimore. For audiences unaware of the details of ethnic divisions in the city this representation does fall too easily into anti-Semitic tropes. This could be a limit of the specificity of place in the drama at which the series crosses from an ‘authentic’ sense of place into parochialism, which for those without this specific inside knowledge can only be understood through generalised reference points – i.e. stereotypes. In other respects this was part of the Wire’s appeal – the in-jokes and references that only Baltimorians would get all helped towards the rendering of a patina of authenticity.
 
It is very interesting that you bring up Simon’s consciousness of his Jewishness while he was making the Corner. There is no crooked lawyer in the miniseries but there is a very strong and rather anomalous reference to Jews in the episode called (I think), Less Than Human. In this episode the main character/junky, Gary goes to the movies on a whim. The film happens to be Schindler’s List. Later he relates to his unimpressed junky friends his impression of the film that he sees as analogous to their own plight. He says that the Nazis decided that the Jews weren’t human which meant that they could do anything to them including extermination. He goes on to say that with each day on the corners they all get less and less human and that they are exterminating themselves while everybody (meaning presumably, white America) is quite happy to stand by and watch. So we are given the picture of a self-inflicted black holocaust witnessed by an impassive, complicit white population.
 
Unlike much of the rest of The Corner this episode departs from the authentic feel of the series. It may be true, as Simon says, that people in West Baltimore don’t see Jewish people (except at court) but is it conceivable that they would be unaware of the holocaust? The unlikely occurrence of an addict wasting money on the movies is self-consciously dealt with when one of his friends asks, “what’s a junky doing going to the movies?” but this is effectively a framing device before Gary’s didactic speech which is framed at the other end with another funny put-down from the same friend. This frame perhaps draws attention to the writer’s efforts to embed the untypical pedagogical lucidity or even a kind of embarrassment on his part but the speech still sticks out, awkwardly from the rest of the series. I was intrigued by this for some time – trying to figure out why the speech was there and why it seemed so unconvincing. Somehow I felt it resonated with my general discomfort as a white English man watching the Corner and the Wire – forms of entertainment that incessantly claim realism through authentic inside knowledge but still created by two white men for a presumably, although not exclusively, white audience. It is also noticeable that in the Corner the role of the narrator which is effectively the voice of David Simon is given to a black actor. I felt that Gary’s speech was hiding something. What I suspect is that the real point of interest in his speech is not the Jews or the Nazis or the Junkies but the figure of Schindler. If the Jews are the self-destructing black addicts and the Germans are the complicit white bystanders then who is Schindler? Who else but David Simon? The man who is not happy to stand by and watch, the man who gets involved and comes to the rescue. Like Schindler, David has his list – a cast list of real people who he will rescue by pulling them out of their doomed reality. This is enacted at the end of the series when the real characters are called by name from the corner and walk over to the safety of being-on-TV.

Perhaps Simon’s Schindler-complex casts some light on his depiction of Levy. In the interviews from which you quote he seems to be presenting himself as the good Jew against Levy’s bad Jew (Schindler as the good German): “I was the only Jew…” with his “little note pad”. So it could be that our discomfort at the anti-Semitic stereotype is not caused by our not being in the know in respect to internal Baltimore ethnic divisions but in respect to Simon’s Schindler complex.

]]> By: Keith Kahn-Harris http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57866 Keith Kahn-Harris Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:22:35 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57866 Thanks for your comment Christian. I'm happy to clarify that I don't see any 'sinister intent' in the portrayal of Jews in The Wire. Rather, I'm trying to understand the significance of the lack of Jews and the lack of detail on the few Jews who do exist (other than Levy). I am not saying the show is antisemitic, merely that some elements of the portrayal of Levy recall antisemitic tropes. My argument is that a consideration of these issues helps us understand The Wire better and makes the critiques it makes of the American city even more foreceful. Thanks for your comment Christian.
I’m happy to clarify that I don’t see any ’sinister intent’ in the portrayal of Jews in The Wire. Rather, I’m trying to understand the significance of the lack of Jews and the lack of detail on the few Jews who do exist (other than Levy). I am not saying the show is antisemitic, merely that some elements of the portrayal of Levy recall antisemitic tropes.
My argument is that a consideration of these issues helps us understand The Wire better and makes the critiques it makes of the American city even more foreceful.

]]> By: Christian http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/05/29/the-politics-of-brisket-jews-and-the-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-57865 Christian Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:04:31 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/?p=432#comment-57865 IMHO you place too much significance in Levy's character. The series creators made him jewish because I suppose there are many more jewish lawyers than there are say for example jewish dock workers. I find Levy quite likable, he is smart and manages to do well for his clients. I also find his intervention amusing when he explains to Stringer Bell that he has been swindled by Clay Davis.  BTW if Clay Davis had been jewish then you might have been justified in mentioning anti-semitism in your article, but that is not the case! TBH I find your article a bit contradictory; you seem keen on finding sinister intent towards jews in the Wire yet you yourself seem to be trying to find jewish characters according to their name: That seems more anti-semitic to me than anything in the Wire. Regards  IMHO you place too much significance in Levy’s character. The series creators made him jewish because I suppose there are many more jewish lawyers than there are say for example jewish dock workers.
I find Levy quite likable, he is smart and manages to do well for his clients. I also find his intervention amusing when he explains to Stringer Bell that he has been swindled by Clay Davis. 
BTW if Clay Davis had been jewish then you might have been justified in mentioning anti-semitism in your article, but that is not the case!
TBH I find your article a bit contradictory; you seem keen on finding sinister intent towards jews in the Wire yet you yourself seem to be trying to find jewish characters according to their name: That seems more anti-semitic to me than anything in the Wire.
Regards 

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