July 8, 2009

Why I despise Stringer Bell

So Melly Mele told me she was worried about my distaste for Stringer Bell. She says it’s irrational.

When a woman who makes bank while Skip Bayless (who, it should be noted, has always been really, really nice to me) begins Year 7 of his grudge with LeBron James, I feel the need to do what I do best — hyperintellectualize!

Well, not really.

Anyway, I hate Stringer Bell. I admit that I have a visceral reaction when I see his character on the screen. When he was on The Office, I wanted Idris Elba’s character — whose name I never bothered to remember — to be the victim of workplace discrimination. It’s just a tad serious when it comes to Stringer.

Like Jemele, many of you wonder why I go so hard on Stringer Bell. I actually had to think about this, because I readily acknowledge this isn’t normal and, on its surface, it does seem irrational (and this coming from someone that’s so rational that it’s got to be annoying to deal with).

It’s pretty simple. Stringer Bell is a racist.

(For a second, imagine Stringer’s a white man. Now read some more, then we’ll revisit this.)

The single most objectionable thing about Stringer Bell was the nauseating, condescending tone he took with the people that worked with and for him. Stringer Bell was a self-hating bastard. David Simon talks about how Stringer just wanted to be someone else, but that translates nicely to “self-hating.” He talked to those boys, boys who came up the same damn way as him, as if they were stupid. He sounded like the rest of the self-righteous bourgeois clowns that continually look down on the poor as if they’re lesser beings.

Think about this. A lot of you love Stringer because he was going to community college (as if that shit’s special). Here’s my question — why is it that Stringer Bell never, not one single time, encouraged anyone else to take his path. He thought he could change the game? Maybe. But how was he gonna keep that game going if he was the only one that had this advanced knowledge?

He saw the people around him as marginally superior to monkeys. He treated them as such. I hate those people in real life — and notice many of them looooooove Stringer Bell — and I hate them on screen.

Imagine Stringer as a white man again. You might have a different look at him.

Let’s take questions from the audience right fast.

*HE WAS TRYING TO TREAT THE DRUG GAME LIKE A BUSINESS! HE WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME!*

Now, the only way that’s a truly good thing is if you saw Stringer’s attempts to be a way to eliminate violence. I get that. One payoff from Stringer’s vision was less murder, and I guess he gets credit for that.

Except it’s not as if Stringer did this in the name of principle. He did it in the name of paper. Less bodies, less cops, more money. I don’t blame him for it. Ain’t gonna give him props for it, either.

Let’s go one step further. At every point, when Stringer ran out of answers, what was his solution? Take somebody out. Happened to Wallace. He tried to do it to Omar and/or Brother Mouzone. He wanted to do it to Clay Davis (classic television, btw).

Let’s not pretend this cat didn’t want anyone to die. He didn’t give a damn if they did or not. He just wanted the cops to get off his back. I guess I’ll give him a golf clap for that one.

Now don’t get me wrong. Stringer is a compelling character. I just don’t find him compelling because he was taking business classes. I’ve taken the same business classes. They didn’t make me a good dude. The biggest assholes I’ve ever met are in academia. And I have worked in both music and the sports media.

Just made him another dude in community college. Whoo-hoo.

He also was smart. Another great big whoo-hoo. I’m pretty smart. Know what that matters for in the grand scheme? Naythin. That’s what. Bupkis.

I won’t belabor the obvious points about Stringer getting with D’Angelo’s girl when he was in the joint. And having D’Angelo killed while he was getting with his girl. And the Wallace thing. And sending Avon up the river because Avon, the boss, wouldn’t listen to him. Nah, no need to get deep into that.

But the bad vibe I got off the character, which made him the biggest villain — even bigger than Marlo — in the greatest narrative I’ve ever followed, comes from the stench of a hatred of poor black people. I have no respect for that whatsoever, whether on Earth or on film.

15 Comments »

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  1. Great POV.
    LOL
    when did the Hatred begin? Season 1 or season 2?

    Comment by Cool__Jay — July 8, 2009 #

  2. Good stuff, you should do more analysis of other characters like Marlo,Chris, Michael,Bodie

    Comment by newarkhiphop — July 8, 2009 #

  3. Yeah, Stringer was a ruthless bastard but his methods were mostly logical. On the drug side of the show he was smarter than everybody else in the room except Prop Joe, Avon, and maybe Marlo (on a good day). When he was talking down to folks it’s because they were doing knucklehead things like Bodie not throwing the guns away properly in season 2 or the youngin’s just needed some schoolin’. I don’t even think he was that harsh all things considered.

    As for him wanting to murder folks, what was he supposed to do? Go to the police? The one time he did it ended up getting him killed. As much as it hurt to see, Wallace and D’Angelo needed to get got. Wallace was gonna snitch and D’Angelo made it seem like he was gonna snitch to a crazy cautious motherfucker like Stringer. Both these cats could’ve put Stringer in a cell forever, it’s do or die for String.

    As for that racist stuff, I’d probably say you’re one of those dudes Stringer would’ve had to put in check and that’s clouding your perspective. Smart enough to see Stringer’s a beast but not smart enough and too jealous to sit back and learn from him. Stringer was ruthless no doubt but his was game was on point and on a whole other level than most of the drug dealers on the show.

    Comment by 1nnovator — July 8, 2009 #

  4. stringer would have had to check me for being stupid? heheheh.

    Comment by Bomani — July 8, 2009 #

  5. I’m following you on everything except for characterization of Stringer as a racist. Stringer was condescending to everyone who he knew he had some kind of angle on – I’m not sure color enters it at all, as much as I want more reasons to hate him.

    And I think people always sort of oversell how smart Stringer was. Yes, he was pretty sharp in his narrow area of expertise, but as the show proved, he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.

    Comment by Fred — July 9, 2009 #

  6. The hood’s Bernie Madoff, Mr. Bell was. End game was always money, no matter who of his closest had to be bumped from the picture. He was constantly condescending to everyone not in politics pretty much, because he was an elitist.

    I think folks liked Bell because he was the one person there that didn’t just see working in the game as survival, but instead he embraced capitalism and the very basic principles of simple economics. People always assume the Stringer Bells of the world are simpletons, almost like Bell thought of his minions, but that’s not the case.

    Comment by Tim — July 9, 2009 #

  7. Please analyze Marlo – I hate him how you hate Stringer! He was so wack! Didn’t see his appeal, his smarts, nothing.

    Comment by C.O — July 9, 2009 #

  8. Stringer was certainly condescending, but I don’t see how you make the inference to he was a racist who hated poor black people. It does not follow logically. Simply because he spoke down to those he thought intellectually ineferior doesn’t imply that he thought poor blacks were intellectual inferior. It’s possible that he thought the cats in the drug trade were imbeciles for not following his way.

    It seems that he dismissed all people that had an incongruent perspective toward the drug game. Unfortunately, in their line of business, the “workers” are almost always poor black dudes. I’d say he’s more like an educated dude from the hood that goes back and thinks everyone is dumber than him. He’s not necessarily racist, but is fully aware that he thinks on another level.

    Or, perhaps we are operating under a different definition of the term “racist”.

    Comment by An Apologist — July 9, 2009 #

  9. Stringer Bell…doesn’t….like….dumb people.

    Comment by FancyShirts — July 9, 2009 #

  10. Bo, I’m not up on “The Wire” like you and I can’t really add to the discussion much, but I will repeat something that I think some of the folks commenting have missed…

    “Imagine Stringer Bell was a white man.”

    Under that assumption, and based on what all here have agreed to be his tactics, I think he would be accused of racism “if he were a white man.”

    I will throw this out there (again, not having watched it much), people who climb to the top on the backs of others tend to maintain their power by “keeping people in line.” It’s the flip side of crabs in a bucket, he’s trying to keep those under him right where they are because he has to. Otherwise…he loses respect, power and money.

    Comment by Pizzle — July 9, 2009 #

  11. I used to think Stringer Bell was completely malevolent. But watching it again I have to feel sorry for him. I think he renounced violence enough times to realise he didn’t kill people for the sake of it like Marlo for example. I think Avon had it right when he said something like he wasn’t hard enough for their world and not smart enough for them out there. The contrasts between Avon and Stringer sort of reminded me of the difference between Paul Castellano and John Gotti. Ultimately Stringer is surrounded by dangerous psychopaths, Avon, Omar, Brother Mouzone and even Marlo who is putting a squeeze on the Barksdale operation.

    Comment by David — July 18, 2009 #

  12. I agree with this, and I think the reason for him being like this, is because Idris Elba is British, simple as. His whole acting style and mannerism, coupled with the dialoue he is given make him alien to the rest of his crew. The reason why I think it is him and not the character, is because not many people seem to really dislike him and even though he is the boss, (I am at season 3) there isn’t any real dissent among his people. This to me indicates that his behaviour, that I and many others I know who watch the program, despise, is something that is communicated subliminally, and thats why the audience picks it up and not the characters. Maybe, I don’t no, holla at me with your responses I would like to hear what you guys might think about that.

    Comment by kenny — January 7, 2010 #

  13. I stumbled across this article and loved it. Although I actually loved the character. His self-hatred made him absolutely fascinating. Check out my take on Stringer and let me know what you think:
    http://www.dvrassassin.com/2010/02/best-character-on-wire.html

    Comment by Ike Diamonds — April 20, 2010 #

  14. “As for him wanting to murder folks, what was he supposed to do? Go to the police? The one time he did it ended up getting him killed.”
    –

    That’s NOT why Stinger was killed.

    Comment by Omagus — August 8, 2010 #

  15. Stringer was just tired of the 40 degree days.

    Comment by Jari — August 27, 2010 #

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