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Yeah, The Wire doesn't succeed because groups are overly distinct (though it often shows they are). It arguably succeeded because the writers aren't Nowheres.
They had careers before Hollywood and lived their whole lives in the region. The city feels like an actual place and not Vancouver in Yankee drag. Entire plotlines and direct quotes are ripped directly from their experience (Simon's Homicide is basically The Wire). So they have roots, a position that isn't just ideology. Many of the characters are basically real people or composites of them, so they aren't predictable hacky stereotypes (though a "woke" author would have had Herc and Carver's stories end the same way)
A lot of the writers and showrunners not only often have much weaker credentials than you'd think - and in fact may be selected for their inexperience but they seem to be the same sort of person who uprooted themselves, moved to Hollywood, learned the new emperor's religion and now repeat that as their way of bringing value and climbing the ranks. So, if they're faced with something they're not familiar with, why not just let ideology act as a shortcut? As we see with the recent Barbie news, it becomes even more insufferable when such people get a ton of validation from their audience for this behavior.
So you end up with so much of the media and the personalities in it sounding the same.
Yeah, I agree. Especially since many of the actors were from the street and some even had a serious criminal record. They just don't make them like that anymore.
The Safdie brothers do.
Example?
Two examples could be Julia Fox in Uncut gems and Arielle Holmes in Heaven knows what, but it's a more general thing, they cast plenty of non-actors essentially playing themselves.
Here is a short video that talks about it.
A Playboy model is not exactly what I mean, but Holmes is a good example.
She is also a former prostitute, homeless person, heroin addict and convicted criminal with practically no prior acting experience.
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