POPULAR CULTURE AND ETHICS – CASE STUDIES OF THE TV SHOWS THE WIRE AND TREME

Text topic: An Ethical Reading of Art

Text author: Милена Стефановић

Thanks to a specific form of distribution, popular culture has potential to present complicated and ethically relevant issues to the widest audience. When someone like David Simon appears in the field of popular culture, and through an artistically challenging process asks essential questions regarding inequality and social justice, claiming collective moral responsibility of the public institutions, we see that this narrative opens many different issues. By telling stories about the contemporary American society and its flaws, Simon claims collective institutional responsibility. Based on an analysis of two TV shows, The Wire and Treme, we will discuss ethics of the institutions, individuals and policies.