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.