The Wire | David Simon
Suffering and Blackness. Blackness and suffering. Blackness and joy . Joy and Blackness. Commodified Blackness is its own genre of media, a kind I’ve known through so many films and shows, over the course of my life. The commodification comes in the form of humor, appropriated style, violence, suffering. The suffering clings to memory like no other. Joy is the “remember there is also…” in blackness, a reaction to the slough of material telling the hardship…and money being made from it into hands not a part of the community. It is imprinted in our understanding of blackness by way of poignant catchy one-liners, dead bodies illuminated by flashing red and blue lights, decayed housing, rich culture infantilized, so brave to see the rose through the crack in the concrete.
How much should then be captured? And in what way?
I have watched two episodes of the Wire so far and I will say the delight is found in a pensive place. I’m immersed in the complexity of Baltimore and its people depicted and get the sense that joy is found in the cracks that maybe get stepped on more than seen. Spicy chicken nuggets that are a delight to Michael B. Jordan’s Wallace are a call out to the powers that be making a flood of money and dismissing the creator of that nugget to a minimum wage job at most.
So, delight feels too airy for this kind of content. A kind of naive awe that takes away from the significance of the work because it hurts so much to watch. The soul kind of hurt. Maybe, it should end there. No search for delight, just satisfaction in the appreciation for the story-telling that is raw and honest. Because I am guilty of calling these characters so brave from the comfort of my bed in a quiet neighborhood of Somerville. Where soft blankets cradle heat and ignorance, I want to see the reality of Blackness and suffering and make sure that my discomfort of delight means I notice the joy in the crack, and I understand all the feet that step on it. And see how they find delight, too.
[Book of Delights pg. 220 | No. 83 Still Processing]