Superman on The Wire
In what little spare time I have these days, I’ve been partaking in The Wire–a show everyone raved about and a show I now rave about. It’s quickly moved its way up into my top five series of all time thanks to its fantastic writing, great characters, and intricate plots. In “Hot Shots,” episode 3 in season 2, the character of Omar is looking for a way to get into the house of a drug dealer to steal his dope and his money. During the scene when they execute their forced entry, the guy inside of the house is watching a cartoon. Though this probably went unnoticed to most, I just so happened to watch the same cartoon a few weeks earlier in my history of animation class.
The cartoon is Superman from Fleischer Studios in 1941. The episode, “The Mechanical Monsters”, is about a scientist who invents robots to steal a prized collection of jewels, using their super-human strenght to pull off a major robbery. The clip only appears for a few seconds as the camera moves from the TV to the guy sitting inside, but it’s a nice little reference for people in the know.
is a Ph.D. student in the Critical and Cultural Studies program at University of Pittsburgh. He holds a B.A. from the College of William & Mary and an M.A. from North Carolina State University. He is editor of 
is a Ph.D. student in the Digital Media program at Georgia Tech where he does 
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