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This book examines the television serials created by influential showrunner David Simon. The book argues that Simon’s main theme is the state of the contemporary American city and that all of his serials (barring one about the Iraq War) explore different facets of the metropolis. Each series offers distinctly different visions of the American city, but taken together they represent a sustained and intricate exploration of urban problems in modern America. From deindustrialisation in The Wire and residential segregation in Show Me a Hero to post-Katrina New Orleans in Treme and the transformation of the urban core in The Deuce, David Simon’s American city traces the urban through-line in Simon’s body of work.
Based on sustained analysis of these serials and their engagement with contemporary politics and culture, David Simon’s American city offers a compelling examination of one of television’s most arresting voices.
‘Jensen’s book is a significant contribution to television and cultural history studies and their interconnections. Jensen closely analyzes Simon’s shows and ideas that the shows engage with, showing how TV shows can critically interrogate cultural history, thereby expanding our ideas of what television studies can accomplish.’
—Steen Ledet Christiansen, Professor of Culture, Media, and Aesthetics, Aalborg University
Introduction
1 The humanized drug addict: The Corner (2000)
2 The aesthetics of ‘pessimism’: The Wire (2002-2008)
3 The case for the city: Treme (2010-2013)
4 The long civil rights narrative: Show Me a Hero (2015)
5 Porn and patriarchy: The Deuce (2017-2019)
Conclusion
Index