Despite The Wire’s (HBO, 2002-2008) successful, interesting structural analysis of urban politics and problems, its (few) portrayals of African American mothers exhibit a view of black motherhood as irresponsible, irrational, and emasculating, a view that hearkens back to that of the Moynihan Report. In this article, I look at the fourth season of the show to examine how mothers’ desires are presented as being central to the negative outcomes their sons face, as well as unrelentingly and sexually pathological. This aspect has been paid little if any attention in the show’s overwhelmingly positive critical reception; I explore the show’s political economic network context and the effects of The Wire’s self-proclaimed “authenticity” in furthering this discourse among its viewers. The treatment of these characters, encouraging mothers to “help [themselves], but [not] take too much” imbricates The Wire in the discourses of personal responsibility and self-governance that undergird neoliberal regimes it critiques.
AkassK.McCabeJ., eds. 2005. Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die for. London: I.B. Tauris.
2.
CruikshankB.1996. “Revolutions within: Self-Government and Self-Esteem.” In Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism and Rationalities of Government, edited by BarryA.OsborneT.RoseN., 231-51. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3.
DeClueJ.2011. “Lesbian Cop, Queer Killer: Leveraging Black Queer Women’s Sexuality on HBO’s The Wire.” Spectator31(2).
4.
DowB.1996. Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
5.
DugganL.2003. The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press.
6.
EthridgeB.2008. “Baltimore on The Wire: The Tragic Moralism of David Simon.” In It’s not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era, edited by LeveretteM.OttB. L.BuckleyC. L., 152-64. New York: Routledge.
7.
FergusonR.2006. Aberrations in Black: Towards a Queer of Color Critique. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
8.
FoucaultM.1991. “Governmentality.” In The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, edited by BurchellG.GordonC.MillerP., 87-104. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9.
GrayH.1994. “Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream.” In Television: The Critical View. 5th ed., edited by NewcombH.New York: Oxford University Press.
10.
GrayH.2012. “Recovered, Reinvented, Reimagined: Treme, Television Studies, and Writing New Orleans.” Television & New Media, 13(3): 268-78.
11.
Hill CollinsP.2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Rev. ed. New York: Routledge.
12.
LeveretteM.OttB. L.BuckleyC. L., eds. 2008. It’s not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era. New York: Routledge.
13.
LippmanL.2004. “The Women of The Wire (No, Seriously).” In The Wire: Truth Be Told, edited by AlvarezR., 55-61. New York: Pocket Books.
14.
MarshallC. D.2009. “Barksdale Women: Crime, Empire, and the Production of Gender.” In The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television, edited by PotterT.MarshallC. W., 149-61. New York: Continuum.
MoynihanD. P.1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Washington, DC: Office of Policy Planning and Research, United States Department of Labor.
17.
MukherjeeR.2006. “The Ghetto Fabulous Aesthetic in Contemporary Black Culture.” Cultural Studies20(6): 599-629.
18.
O’RourkeM.2006. “Behind The Wire: David Simon on Where the Show Goes Next.” http://www.slate.com/id/2154694/ (accessed December 1, 2006).
19.
PetersonJ. B.2009. “Corner-Boy Masculinity: Intersections of Inner-City Manhood.” In The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television, edited by PotterT.MarshallC. W., 107-21. New York: Continuum.
20.
ReevesJ. L.CampbellR.1994. Cracked Coverage: Television News, the Anti-Cocaine Crusade, and the Reagan Legacy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
21.
WallaceM.1979. Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. New York: The Dial Press.
22.
WallaceM.1992. “Boyz N the Hood and Jungle Fever.” In Black Popular Culture, edited by DentG., 123-31. Seattle, WA: Bay Press.
23.
The Wire. Episode no. 13, first broadcast September 8, 2002 by HBO. Directed by T. Van Patten and written by D. Simon and E. Burns.
24.
The Wire. Episode no. 39, first broadcast September 17, 2006 by HBO. Directed by C. Moore, and written by D. Mills.
25.
The Wire. Episode no. 41, first broadcast October 1, by HBO. Directed by J. McKay, and written by D. Lehane.
26.
The Wire. Episode no. 43, first broadcast October 15, 2006 by HBO. Directed by D. Attias, and written by E. Overmyer.
27.
The Wire. Episode no. 45, first broadcast November 5, 2006 by HBO. Directed by A. Holland, and written by R. Price.
28.
The Wire. Episode no. 47, first broadcast November 19, 2006 by HBO. Directed by E. Dickerson, and written by E. Burns.
29.
The Wire. Episode no. 49, first broadcast December 3, 2006 by HBO. Directed by J. Chappelle, and written by G. Pelecanos.
30.
The Wire. Episode no. 50, first broadcast December 10, 2006 by HBO. Directed by E. Dickerson, and written by D. Simon.
31.
The Wire. Episode no. 59, first broadcast March 8, 2008 by HBO. Directed by J. Chappelle, and written by G. Pelecanos.
