Baltimore as World and Representation: Cognitive Mapping and Capitalism in The Wire

The article argues that the critically acclaimed series The Wire can be seen as a successful — if also necessarily incomplete — attempt at a Jamesonian aesthetic
of cognitive mapping, of charting the totality of relationships in the contemporary western societies, using, in this case, a dysfunctional American metropolis as a localised and critical prism. This is made possible by the specific, novel-like format of the series, which allows for an extensive and uncommonly complex mapping of the economic and political forces at play. Furthermore, by focusing on the effects of what the series creator David Simon calls the »raw and unencumbered capitalism«, The Wire can and must be seen as a comprehensive and piercing critique of late capitalism and its institutions.

The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!