"Follow the money." - Deep Throat
"Top Boy", a four part television series, was touted as Britain's answer to "The Wire". Though further instalments are planned, the series currently lacks the latter's socio-political scope.
Written by Ronan Bennett, the series takes place in an East London estate and attempts to follow the lives of various drug dealers, unemployed youths, gangsters, criminals, youth workers, adults and children. Bennett captures the allure, even necessity, of criminality, the way a lack of adult role-models influences underprivileged youths and the overwhelming effects external factors have on mental health, but his series is too reliant on stock characters and stock scenarios, and too heavily ignores larger social, structural and systemic forces.
Today, poverty is an escalating product of our economic system. In Britain, sixty five percent of the poor are not in work (Britain has gone beyond breeding poverty at home to exporting poverty abroad). 13.5 million are deemed income poor, thanks in part to deindustrialization, the destruction of trade unions and public sector cuts. Worse still, tax changes over the past 2 decades have put a higher burden of tax on the poor. Beyond this, however, is an understanding that certain levels of unemployment are desirable, acceptable and necessary. Full employment results in inflation, it is cheaper to pay benefits and maintain an underclass than lifting them out of poverty, a perpetual pool of unemployed allows employers to lower wages and, nationally, there are not enough jobs anyway (there are 5 persons for every 1 job). Ignoring the fact that most jobs are useless, conscious executive decisions are made every day to keep Britain's underclass out of work, in crime, poor and off the radar. This, it is believed, is good for the economy and keeps the wheels moving. Deal with the poor/marginalised and the whole shape of society collapses.
But "Top Boy", content to remain at the level of melodrama, isn't concerned about the unseen currents influencing its cast. Instead Bennett has us watch as a local gang goes through a "rags to riches" narrative, while a local boy does his best to keep himself out of criminality. It's common stuff, but Bennett nevertheless does put his own spin on the material. For example, our gangsters are woefully inept, botching most of their jobs. Bennett also paints murky, moral waters, teasing out "good behaviour" on both sides of the law and watching as these ethical actions have extreme, unpredictable results. In this regard, the "top boy" of the series' title alludes to a myriad of things: a good kid (aka a top boy) who stays out of trouble but whose kindly actions result in criminality, a local gangster who hopes to become a top crime-lord but who must reconcile personal ethics, friendship and morality with a violent career path, a reformed criminal whose ethical behaviour gets him killed etc etc. There are few clean moral lines here.
The series doesn't aim for social realism or attempt to capture the "kitchen sink" or "cinema verite" tone of British working class movies of the 1960s and 70s. Instead, director Yann Demange goes for a more stylised look, part Michael Mann, part Wong Kar-Wai or Hong Kong cinema, complete with a gorgeous Brian Eno soundtrack and moody, atmospheric cinematography. Immaculate attention is also paid to casting, costume and art design, and the film's carefully chosen locations, something woefully overlooked in British television, are splendid and often architecturally interesting.
But such heavy stylisation, so lush, romanticised and precious, comes at the price of authenticity. These characters do not speak like East Londoners and do not behave like London's underclass. The series does not capture the tempo of the streets, the truth of crime, the drumbeat of the estates, the daily activities, nuances, manners, lingo, lifestyles, garments, troubles, worries, actions and relationships of those it purports to depict. It is all very obviously the product of an outsider, a writer and a stylist. It's romanticised and fetishized and simply doesn't ring true. Why does everyone seem so well educated, well spoken, fashionable, good looking, brooding and introspective? Why must we romanticise the poor before empathising with them? Think how "horribly" the working class characters of Britain's "kitchen sink" period were portrayed, yet audiences were treated as being adult enough to empathise with them. And where are the police? Why is everyone in such well furnished homes and apartments? Where are the people? What happens in the schools? Why does everyone have so few relationships? Why are the estates so desolate? Why aren't we following the money? Why aren't we chartering the policies? Have we been spoilt by "The Wire"? Are we being too quick to judge "Top Boy"?
Still, what the series lacks in scope it makes up in style. You want a stylish crime drama, you've got a stylish crime drama, and one of the better productions put out by Channel 4 this year.
8.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Murder on a Sunday Morning", "Paradise Lost 1 and 2" and "The Wire".
"Top Boy", a four part television series, was touted as Britain's answer to "The Wire". Though further instalments are planned, the series currently lacks the latter's socio-political scope.
Written by Ronan Bennett, the series takes place in an East London estate and attempts to follow the lives of various drug dealers, unemployed youths, gangsters, criminals, youth workers, adults and children. Bennett captures the allure, even necessity, of criminality, the way a lack of adult role-models influences underprivileged youths and the overwhelming effects external factors have on mental health, but his series is too reliant on stock characters and stock scenarios, and too heavily ignores larger social, structural and systemic forces.
Today, poverty is an escalating product of our economic system. In Britain, sixty five percent of the poor are not in work (Britain has gone beyond breeding poverty at home to exporting poverty abroad). 13.5 million are deemed income poor, thanks in part to deindustrialization, the destruction of trade unions and public sector cuts. Worse still, tax changes over the past 2 decades have put a higher burden of tax on the poor. Beyond this, however, is an understanding that certain levels of unemployment are desirable, acceptable and necessary. Full employment results in inflation, it is cheaper to pay benefits and maintain an underclass than lifting them out of poverty, a perpetual pool of unemployed allows employers to lower wages and, nationally, there are not enough jobs anyway (there are 5 persons for every 1 job). Ignoring the fact that most jobs are useless, conscious executive decisions are made every day to keep Britain's underclass out of work, in crime, poor and off the radar. This, it is believed, is good for the economy and keeps the wheels moving. Deal with the poor/marginalised and the whole shape of society collapses.
But "Top Boy", content to remain at the level of melodrama, isn't concerned about the unseen currents influencing its cast. Instead Bennett has us watch as a local gang goes through a "rags to riches" narrative, while a local boy does his best to keep himself out of criminality. It's common stuff, but Bennett nevertheless does put his own spin on the material. For example, our gangsters are woefully inept, botching most of their jobs. Bennett also paints murky, moral waters, teasing out "good behaviour" on both sides of the law and watching as these ethical actions have extreme, unpredictable results. In this regard, the "top boy" of the series' title alludes to a myriad of things: a good kid (aka a top boy) who stays out of trouble but whose kindly actions result in criminality, a local gangster who hopes to become a top crime-lord but who must reconcile personal ethics, friendship and morality with a violent career path, a reformed criminal whose ethical behaviour gets him killed etc etc. There are few clean moral lines here.
The series doesn't aim for social realism or attempt to capture the "kitchen sink" or "cinema verite" tone of British working class movies of the 1960s and 70s. Instead, director Yann Demange goes for a more stylised look, part Michael Mann, part Wong Kar-Wai or Hong Kong cinema, complete with a gorgeous Brian Eno soundtrack and moody, atmospheric cinematography. Immaculate attention is also paid to casting, costume and art design, and the film's carefully chosen locations, something woefully overlooked in British television, are splendid and often architecturally interesting.
But such heavy stylisation, so lush, romanticised and precious, comes at the price of authenticity. These characters do not speak like East Londoners and do not behave like London's underclass. The series does not capture the tempo of the streets, the truth of crime, the drumbeat of the estates, the daily activities, nuances, manners, lingo, lifestyles, garments, troubles, worries, actions and relationships of those it purports to depict. It is all very obviously the product of an outsider, a writer and a stylist. It's romanticised and fetishized and simply doesn't ring true. Why does everyone seem so well educated, well spoken, fashionable, good looking, brooding and introspective? Why must we romanticise the poor before empathising with them? Think how "horribly" the working class characters of Britain's "kitchen sink" period were portrayed, yet audiences were treated as being adult enough to empathise with them. And where are the police? Why is everyone in such well furnished homes and apartments? Where are the people? What happens in the schools? Why does everyone have so few relationships? Why are the estates so desolate? Why aren't we following the money? Why aren't we chartering the policies? Have we been spoilt by "The Wire"? Are we being too quick to judge "Top Boy"?
Still, what the series lacks in scope it makes up in style. You want a stylish crime drama, you've got a stylish crime drama, and one of the better productions put out by Channel 4 this year.
8.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Murder on a Sunday Morning", "Paradise Lost 1 and 2" and "The Wire".