Television and the Public Sphere: The Function of the Realistic Narrative in the Wire Cover Image

Televizija i javna sfera: funkcija realističkog narativa u seriji The Wire
Television and the Public Sphere: The Function of the Realistic Narrative in the Wire

Author(s): Nikola Dedić
Subject(s): Philosophy, Media studies, Theory of Communication
Published by: Centar za filozofiju medija i mediološka istraživanja
Keywords: television; public sphere; realism; Marxism; totality;

Summary/Abstract: The Wire is a television series produced by HBO between 2002 and 2008 and it is a result of research project realized by the former Bultimore Sun journalist David Simon. The authors use a consistent realist narrative to deconstruct the bureaucratic functioning of American institutions. As a theoretical context for the interpretation of the series the classical Marxist thesis about realism by György Lukacs will be used, i.e. the comparative analysis of the series and traditional realist narratives such as realistic novel (Honore de Balzac), investigative journalism and documentary film will be realized. The series is, due to its consistently built realism (translation of the documentary form of investigative journalism into the fictional structure), an example of a possible reconstruction of responsible public sphere in Habermas’ sense.

  • Issue Year: 3/2014
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 746-755
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Croatian