Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

[jaycee]

I'm going to back @Clint Howard here a bit.

People who refuse to watch the Wire are probably institutionally racist...also those are the same people that when they do watch it they like Season 2 because they relate to the white people.

Breaking Bad is an excellent show too but yes some white people like it because they better relate to the character

 

[Clint Howard]

I'm going to back @Clint Howard here a bit.

People who refuse to watch the Wire are probably institutionally racist...also those are the same people that when they do watch it they like Season 2 because they relate to the white people.

Breaking Bad is an excellent show too but yes some white people like it because they better relate to the character

It's crazy to me that these other people here won't acknowledge this but eh, whatever.

 

[Joe Mac]

I'm going to back @Clint Howard here a bit.

People who refuse to watch the Wire are probably institutionally racist...also those are the same people that when they do watch it they like Season 2 because they relate to the white people.

Breaking Bad is an excellent show too but yes some white people like it because they better relate to the character

I agree with this to a point but I think his take went further than this and tried to conflate the two as similar stories which is what made it stink.

 

[Clint Howard]

I agree with this to a point but I think his take went further than this and tried to conflate the two as similar stories which is what made it stink.

No I didn't, I called it The Wire Light.. which it is. If you don't think The Wire shows the struggles of Avon, Stringer, Marlowe and all the other drug dealers.. I'm not sure we watched the same show.

 

[dhodo]

I'm going to back @Clint Howard here a bit.

People who refuse to watch the Wire are probably institutionally racist...also those are the same people that when they do watch it they like Season 2 because they relate to the white people.

Is this really a thing? Damn shame. Still don't see what it has to do with Breaking Bad.

If you can still relate to the lead character in Breaking Bad by the end of the show you are a piece of shit anyway, which is basically the point of the show, so I really don't get this take.

 

[Joe Mac]

No I didn't, I called it The Wire Light.. which it is. If you don't think The Wire shows the struggles of Avon, Stringer, Marlowe and all the other drug dealers.. I'm not sure we watched the same show.

It does but it’s eye is always on the bigger picture. The narrative is the city, they are characters rather than the main focus.

Breaking Bad was entirely a character study. The reason I hated it was that not only did he have no redeeming factors but he wasn’t even interestingly evil, he was as whiney as fuck.

 

[Clint Howard]

It does but it’s eye is always on the bigger picture. The narrative is the city, they are characters rather than the main focus.

Breaking Bad was entirely a character study. The reason I hated it was that not only did he have no redeeming factors but he wasn’t even interestingly evil, he was as whiney as fuck.

Your first statement is what makes it infinitely better than Breaking Bad. And if you don't think The Wire was also a much more thorough character study than Breaking Bad.. they just chose a wide variety of characters to study and not some ham fisted role. well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

 

[dhodo]

No I didn't, I called it The Wire Light.. which it is. If you don't think The Wire shows the struggles of Avon, Stringer, Marlowe and all the other drug dealers.. I'm not sure we watched the same show.

But the whole point of Breaking Bad is that they are largely self inflicted struggles, except arguably the initial need for money. That isn't true at all in The Wire and that's why I don't understand how you can compare them.

 

[Joe Mac]

Your first statement is what makes it infinitely better than Breaking Bad. And if you don't think The Wire was also a much more thorough character study than Breaking Bad.. they just chose a wide variety of characters to study and not some ham fisted role. well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

It is I agree it’s brilliant and Breaking Bad is shit! I just don’t think they are comparible in focus and tone in the way you did originally!

The wire contains character studies but it is not in and of itself a character study. It’s societal study. The characters service the larger arc and are all dispensable when they’ve run their course. There’s no breaking bad without the main character...

 

[jaycee]

Is this really a thing? Damn shame. Still don't see what it has to do with Breaking Bad.

If you can still relate to the lead character in Breaking Bad by the end of the show you are a piece of shit anyway, which is basically the point of the show, so I really don't get this take.

Of course it's a thing and of course many many people are POS

 

[dhodo]

Your first statement is what makes it infinitely better than Breaking Bad. And if you don't think The Wire was also a much more thorough character study than Breaking Bad.. they just chose a wide variety of characters to study and not some ham fisted role. well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

It sounds like your problem with Breaking Bad is that it isn't the Wire. If you criticized it for something that is about it and not something about the Wire, your hot take would be easy to accept.

 

[jaycee]

I agree with this to a point but I think his take went further than this and tried to conflate the two as similar stories which is what made it stink.

I mean they're both about drug dealers. The dealers are usually white in Breaking Bad and usually black in the Wire. Of course the shows are more compicated / intricate than that narrative, which is why they're good, but many many people see a show about inner city Baltimore and say to themselves 'I have no interest' where they will simultaneously see Breaking Bad come on and say 'I wonder what Heizinger is up to now?'

 

[Clint Howard]

But the whole point of Breaking Bad is that they are largely self inflicted struggles, except arguably the initial need for money. That isn't true at all in The Wire and that's why I don't understand how you can compare them.

And what happens to Avon, Stringer, Prop Joe, Marlowe, etc.. isn't self inflicted? They weren't forced into that life due to circumstances beyond their control? Starting to sound a lot more like Breaking Bad than you're making it out to be. Just because The Wire did it far better and covered a number of people doesn't mean it didn't cover the same ground.

It is I agree it’s brilliant and Breaking Bad is shit! I just don’t think they are comparible in focus and tone in the way you did originally!

The wire contains character studies but it is not in and of itself a character study. It’s societal study. The characters service the larger arc and are all dispensable when they’ve run their course. There’s no breaking bad without the main character...

I would argue that Better Call Saul proves your last statement wrong.

 

[BjorgenFjorgen]

Tuco, Gustavo Fring, the guy whose body gets the acid bath in the first season, and Walter White. I'm sure I'm missing some but I see one white drug dealer of four.

I like both shows but they are completely different.

 

[Joe Mac]

And what happens to Avon, Stringer, Prop Joe, Marlowe, etc.. isn't self inflicted? They weren't forced into that life due to circumstances beyond their control? Starting to sound a lot more like Breaking Bad than you're making it out to be. Just because The Wire did it far better and covered a number of people doesn't mean it didn't cover the same ground.



I would argue that Better Call Saul proves your last statement wrong.

It’s a spin off based on one character set in a different time frame. It’s another individual character study that doesn’t tell a larger story.

I mean they're both about drug dealers. The dealers are usually white in Breaking Bad and usually black in the Wire. Of course the shows are more compicated / intricate than that narrative, which is why they're good, but many many people see a show about inner city Baltimore and say to themselves 'I have no interest' where they will simultaneously see Breaking Bad come on and say 'I wonder what Heizinger is up to now?'

Yeah humans are shitty and prejudiced but I think beyond drugs the two shows couldn’t be more different.

 

[Clint Howard]

Tuco, Gustavo Fring, the guy whose body gets the acid bath in the first season, and Walter White. I'm sure I'm missing some but I see one white drug dealer of four.

I like both shows but they are completely different.

All who are used solely to advance the development of the white character. You also conveniently left out the co-star of the show, Jesse Pinkman.

 

[jaycee]

Yeah humans are shitty and prejudiced but I think beyond drugs the two shows couldn’t be more different.

Maybe. but I wasn't arguing they were the same. I was agreeing that people who dismiss one in favor of the other are either naively or intentionally hypocritical

 

[BjorgenFjorgen]

All who are used solely to advance the development of the white character. You also conveniently left out the co-star of the show, Jesse Pinkman.

I mean, if that's the argument you're making, you couldn't say the same about how all the characters in The Wire affect McNulty? How is a show having a protagonist a criticism?

 

[Joe Mac]

Maybe. but I wasn't arguing they were the same. I was agreeing that people who dismiss one in favor of the other are either naively or intentionally hypocritical

Which is fair enough, I wasn’t arguing originally that they don’t, I just don’t think the two shows have many narrative/structural similarities at all other than that two different types of drugs in two very different settings/situations are used as backdrops on which the bigger picture story is told. A character study of an uninteresting bad man and the self perpetuating and rigged cycle of life in Baltimore.

 

[dhodo]

And what happens to Avon, Stringer, Prop Joe, Marlowe, etc.. isn't self inflicted? They weren't forced into that life due to circumstances beyond their control?

My point was that the Wire makes a point about how it isn't as simple as having the luxury of choice, where in Breaking Bad it is, because of the difference in socioeconomics.