Are Urban Drug Dealers as Supernatural as Vampires and Aliens? [View all]

[xchrom]

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/white-noise/2012/06/13/are-urban-drug-dealers-as-supernatural-as-vampires-and-aliens/

The most studied media empire topics in the last 20 years, and arguably the most popular, lie in the fantastical realm — aliens, vampires, dual realities…and drug dealers.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Matrix, Alien, and The Wire comprise the most academically cited TV shows and films of recent times. There are, of course, a number of reasons for citation — from capitalism to feminism to fashion — but academics largely take interest based on fan devotion.

That is to say, drugs and drug culture fall in the same norm and dedicated fandom as aliens and vampires. Motifs surrounding the fantastic draw viewership, and The Wire subsists as “an example of a popular cultural form that stimulates the sociological imagination,” according to one paper.

But what about The Wire, a Baltimore-based drug and law enforcement drama with characters the creator says are “invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed” by institutions, seems illusory? Are we as removed from urban culture and the drug trade as we are from high school vampire fighters? Stumbling on The Wire fan fiction certainly makes it seem so. Though we not be as familiar with street-level drug dealing, perhaps society could benefit by learning more about the real communities behind the show.