The Wire, Edgar Allan Poe and Baltimore

I recently read an excellent collection of essays on The Wire which included one by a scholar noting the Poe influence in the excellent program. For instance, in one scene of the show, some white tourists ask a group of lower-class African-American gentlemen, "Where is the Poe house?" Their response, hearing it as "po" as in poor, is to essentially take your pick, since every house in that particular westside neighborhood is a po' house. However, a more startling literary revelation arises in the method through which Marlo Stanfield's crew disposes of corpses, placing them in unoccupied houses. Many of Poe's excellent macabre short stories feature similar themes, of characters placing corpses into walls of homes in an attempt to hide them. For instance, "The Black Cat" story, if i remember correctly, concludes with the aforementioned black cat revealing where a husband placed his wife into a wall. Likewise, "The Tell-Tale Heart" consists of a similar story, where the still-beating heart of the villain's victim reveals his crime. Fascinatingly, the writers of The Wire reincorporate themes from the dark fiction of the genius, Poe, for the rather disturbing practices of crews in the city of Baltimore. The character of Marlo Stanfield, a ghastly person in 'love with the game' and the violence of the corner, unsurprisingly, perpetuates similar misdeeds of Poe's fictional characters of 19th century American fiction. As an undisputed master of Gothic fiction, it is no surprise Poe's influence would appear in a very dark urban fiction populated by drug dealers, killers, corrupt government and police, and the bleak urban landscape of a once great American city. This is an interesting look at David Simon and Poe.