The Wire - How Stringer Bell Manipulates Everyone

This video essay analyzes Stringer Bell from HBO's The Wire. Stringer Bell is performed by Idris Elba and is one of the key antagonists for the first three seasons of The Wire.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:33 Clean Language
4:18 Lies and Manipulation
7:58 The True Businessman

Music used:
Sinister by Anno Domini Beats
Thunder Chant by E's Jammy Jams
Down with your Getup by Mini Vandals
Warzone by Anno Domini Beats
Anomalous Hedges by The Mini Vandals
Who Do You Think I Think You Are by Mini Vandals

#thewire #idriselba #stringerbell

[ObservableObserver]

Stringer Bell: "N**ga, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?"

Probably the funniest line in the entire show :)

[FirstLast-cgnk]

Stringer Bell reminds me of the old adage, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". He's much smarter than the average "player" in the game. However, that difference is often literally the difference between a college student and a high school dropout. Stringer spent much of his life surrounded by people less intelligent than he was, who were easy to manipulate. However, once he stepped outside of that circle, he learned just how limited his "vision" actually was, and got played himself.

[mrturtletail]

Stringer is one of the best written characters I've ever seen. The writers must of spent so much time perfecting his dialog and motivations. And Idris Elba absolutely crushing the performance. Truly outstanding work.

[AdamPiper]

My guy watched the wire for the first time during the pandemic and cannot stop thinking about it. 20 years after it came out almost. Talk about a show with a legacy.

[ashleyoneill]

Stringer climbing the stairs and being blocked before his death is a metaphor for him trying to climb the construction business world and not being able to make it to the top. This show is truly genius writing

[jamesmarshall]

Stringer always sounded like the smartest guy in the room but so many of his plans backfired and it became obvious why Avon was in the top spot. Avon didn't just have the attitude not to mention the emotional intelligence to inspire loyalty but if you looked at his planning, while they didn't all work out, a lot of his plans did. When getting rid of the correction officer his plan went perfectly. He basically had Marlo and only timing got him, he knew he needed to give up Stringer and Stringer was taken out, in prison he played Marlo to his advantage, hiring Brother Mouzone was smart and worked until Stringer ruined it, he even saw right through Stringer. His biggest issue was not seeing through Stringer sooner and it's understandable as they had been friends since childhood. Avon made his mistakes as he was not a perfect leader but he was by far the better leader. Stringer was a perfect #2 who just didn't understand he was always a #2.

[ajtaylor]

Idris Elba's most iconic role of his career as Stringer Bell is literally one of the most methodical and strategic crime bosses in TV history.

[walesure]

Avons’ analysis of Stringer was spot on. Not hard enough for this & not smart enough for them out there!

[licmir]

The fact that Stringer somehow finished school (or something equivalent to it) and went to college, and wanted to leave the criminal life behind and become a legitimate businessman shows much of who he was and what he could have become. I wasn’t happy with his death. Marlo wasn’t interesting as he was. And I wish we had more information on Stringer Bell’s upbringing.

[emmanuelmondesir]

Stringer ALWAYS fails because he underestimate people intentions. It’s very telling that he studies in macroeconomics and not microeconomics.

[VivaCubaRoja]

Idris Elba did a fantastic job as Stringer Bell. I didn’t initially realize that he was British because of how spot on his accent was.

[RockySamson]

"You still don't get it, do you? Huh? This ain't about your money, bruh..."

[cloudbloom]

The best part of the wire is the street gang stuff as opposed to the police aspects, and Stringer is a big part of what makes it fascinating

[scorpiolady]

The way he changed his tone when D asked....Where's Wallace? Where's the boy, String?....his whole energy shifted. Mask came all the way off. I love the way they scripted this character. Thanks for the video.

[gelly]

Great video. Never really thought about Stringer's name in that way of "pulling the strings" of others and being "strung" along by others.

[sirrebral]

Stringer Bell's story reads like a classic Greek tragedy...a (anti)hero on a complex path, who the audience empathizes with, yet knows that his actions will end in his demise.

[qjames]

Your recent vids on this show made me finally watch The Wire, and boy howdy have I been missing out

[King-wlzj]

Stringer is arguably the best written TV Antagonist Of All Time

[georgebeef]

Please keep it coming with your Wire videos! There's such a drought of good video essays on this show and it deserves better. Also, I love both your analysis and writing, thank you for the content!

[josuebermudez]

What a character, Idris played him far too well. Great analysis by the way, Stringer always thought he was smarter than everybody in the drug/street game. Downplayed Omar’s street code, thinking his personal vendetta for Brandon would help him get rid of Mouzone. Which ultimately ended in Stringer’s demise.

Hate that he wasn’t a character anymore, but there was no better way to write him off. Kudos David Chase