There seems to me a disconnect in the writing and cinematography of The Wire. At some points the dialogue and staging seem so perfect that I remember my love for the show and why it was called "the best television program ever made".
Other times, it seems that either the writers and director are either phoning it in or working so hard to make their metaphors understood that they stoop to the level of cliche. Case in point: the chess scene.
The scene begins with Wallace and Bodie complaining about the drug game, juxtaposed with the shot of a chessboard between them. This already would've sufficed for a compelling metaphor. Maybe if they would've just shown that shot, perhaps a few moves, and had Bodie realize at the end of the game, as he does anyway, that "Pawns get fucked" the scene could have been saved.
Unfortunately for we gentle viewers, the dead horse of cliche was beaten further as D begins to explain the game's mechanics to Wallace and Bodie. Even this push for the veiwer to realize the obvious metaphor was tolerable, until, that is, names were brought in. After that point (1:18 in the video link) I personally felt played to. This is HBO. Do viewers need to be condescended to on this level? I think a touch of subtlety here could've helped a lot. Everything from Bodie's ambition (as he constantly references making it "to the end" and "having the power") to D'Angelo's softer side are announced through the thinly veiled metaphor of the chess game.
No comments:
Post a Comment