Stringer Bell: Adjourn Your Asses

[Rinaldo]

Stringer epitomizes the character complexity of The Wire more than almost anyone else. We think we know what he's about at first, then he reveals more and more sides and interests. His attempt to run a drug-dealing meeting in an appropriate way is one of the more hilarious scenes I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPS9YKGaKQE

And kudos to Idris Elba for internalizing a very specific American accent perfectly.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Rinaldo

[Zola]

The Wire, has so many interesting characters that you don't always get time to fully appreciate them all. Omar Little, is the guy that fascinates me most; but on repeat viewings I can get to appreciate the other lead characters, not least of course, Stringer Bell.

Clearly a man who wants to be something other than a gangster/king pin; he tries to pass himself off as a legitimate businessman, and tries to educate himself in microeconomics, and a book library full of literally heavyweights including Adam Smith. He also tries to pull Avon away from the world of corners, packages and bullets, but at the end of the day he is nothing more than a gangster - a slightly more enlightened gangster but a gangster nonetheless. 

And yes, our very own Idris Elba did a fantastic job bringing that character to life and adding so many layers to it; more so given that Elba is a Londoner  - something I would never have of guessed on first viewing. 

[Zola]

On 17/05/2017 at 9:19 PM, Zola said:

The Wire, has so many interesting characters that you don't always get time to fully appreciate them all. Omar Little, is the guy that fascinates me most; but on repeat viewings I can get to appreciate the other lead characters, not least of course, Stringer Bell.

Clearly a man who wants to be something other than a gangster/king pin; he tries to pass himself off as a legitimate businessman, and tries to educate himself in macroeconomics, and a book library full of literary heavyweights including Adam Smith. He also tries to pull Avon away from the world of corners, packages and bullets, but at the end of the day he is nothing more than a gangster - a slightly more enlightened gangster but a gangster nonetheless. 

And yes, our very own Idris Elba did a fantastic job bringing that character to life and adding so many layers to it; more so given that Elba is a Londoner  - something I would never have of guessed on first viewing. 

[Zola]

Just finished S3, and I will really miss the presence of Stringer Bell!

It's interesting to read how desperate Idris Elba was to keep his character alive at the end of S3, but writers David Simon & Ed Burns felt it was time for the Barksdale story arc to come to some sort of closure, and that Bell just dug himself into so many holes there was no where else for him to go other than to be offed!

Edited July 17, 2018 by Zola