#also arguably shows with 'difficult' white male characters should always have a thesis because otherwise the audience will construct one

[hurlumerlu]

I had a sudden - and probably incredibly short-lived - spike in interest for The Shield and was reading a review of its last episodes that is in fact more of an argument of why the show function as a tragedy in the ancient greek sense of the world and this quote really struck me :

“In the end [Vic] is truly in the world that he made. Not deserved, but made, and that’s the morality of The Shield, expressed in consequence, not judgment.  Aristotle counsels that tragedy must be about a single action, and Vic’s has been clear since the pilot:  to get away with it and remain a good person.  He did get away with it [...] All it cost him was everything in his life, his Team, his family, his shield, his identity, everyone who admired him.  That happened not because Shawn Ryan wanted to make a point about the LAPD or America.  It didn’t happen because he’s doomed by masculinity or capitalism or authority or anything else.  It happened because of what Vic did, and that’s the essence of tragedy.”

And like, this is in a way a reductive take on tragedy but it also articulates why I’m so frustrated with tumblr’s weird insistance on a black and white retelling of every greek tragedy with a good character who did nothing wrong and a bad one who never did anything good ever. The characters make choices, the choices have consequences, that it. Whether the protagonists are pure hearted, or have good intentions, or are righteous in their fury is - while intersting - not the reason i care about tragedy. I’m here to watch te domino falls, and everyone scream opopoï ! at the sky. As a witness, not as a judge.

ironically i don’t think this truly can be applied to The Shield because the show doesn’t just ask us to witness, it puts us in the protagonists shoes with it’s hyperrealist asthetic, and only apply the concept of “consequences, not judgement” to characters in law enforcement, thus - accidentally or not - encouraging us to judge and condemn other criminals

Also, this is kinda hypocritical of me given how much I enjoyed Brecht’s Antigone, which ab-so-lu-tely does the good character vs bad character thing. Anyway, The Shield sure was a show ! would love to actually watch all the episodes except that I would hate every second of it.

Excellent review though !