(no subject)
The third season of The Wire is the one in which Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell come to blows, finally. They've been partners all this time, Avon in charge and Stringer his wily lieutentant, and then as time went on Stringer has ascended while Avon waited out prison time, and became smaller. No, I think the game got bigger while Avon waited, and it's Stringer who made it bigger, by allying with other outfits and developing new supply lines. So Avon comes out of prison and discovers he has been eclipsed, and indeed Stringer is very close to leaving him behind.
There's that poignant moment mid-season, where one of Marlo's crew has killed one of Avon's, and Stringer goes to Avon and tries to reason with him. It's bad for business, he explains. We keep the peace and everyone gets rich. It's worth the blow to your ego and your personal alliances not to avenge this death. And Avon says no: he can't follow where Stringer is leading. Everything that Stringer says makes sense, and he's clearly got the ambition and the smarts to be successful at that higher, more profitable level, and Avon can't go with him because he can't give up his interpersonal sensibility. He thinks of his people as his, in a system of obligation up and down the hierarchy. Stringer by contrast thinks of them as employees to be appeased and relied on; he doesn't belong to them, nor they to him.
I think if it were to come to war, Avon would have the bigger army, though it might be the doomed army what with Stringer's access to capital and strategic alliances. It's a tragic moment, though, these lifelong friends discovering a divergence that they can't bridge. Stringer has known it for a long time, and kept things from Avon -- it's probably 2-3 years from the point that he decides to assassinate DeAngelo to the moment that it becomes necessary to disclose that fact to Avon --- but that's the first time that Avon realizes it. His right hand isn't his right hand any more, is doing things Avon can't control and can't countenance, and is able and willing to think bigger and more coldly than honor allows. It's frightening and lonely, and it's prep for that disclosure about DeAngelo, which comes 2-3 episodes later.
In the meantime though are the little moments of Stringer's learning how to navigate at that bigger and colder level: how people refuse to shake his hand, how his ignorance makes him an object unworthy of attention. He sits across from the corrupt city official Clay and thinks of him as an ally; but as the season goes along Stringer realizes he is the student, and the frustrated student at that. (There's even a jarring scene where Clay introduces him to someone and calls him Russell, which, yes, that's his given name; but absolutely nobody calls him that. It's like he's trying on the face of a completely different person.) It's another frightening and lonely turning point, but the difference between Avon and Stringer is that Stringer has the ambition to swallow his pride and keep learning. Clay condescends to him and you see Stringer's jaw clench, and then he lets it go, and takes as much from the lecture as he can. He doesn't understand why a particular business designation matters, so he gives this little annoyed sigh and makes himself ask. He has the mental flexibility, and the coolness to loyalties of his former peers, to leap social classes and succeed in a much bigger way.
Obviously, his peers know that. He waits till Avon is wounded to tell him about DeAngelo, so that when it comes to physical fighting (Stringer in a suit, Avon in track pants), Stringer will win. He explains to Avon his very clear reasoning: DeAngelo almost turned once; he was likely to turn again; to depend on loyalty in the face of the odds is to play a losing game. And Avon sort of takes that, sort of listens to it, but with that stubborn look on his face that says he knows the facts but can't accept them.
When I think about The Wire, I often think about what Omar would say about this character or that situation. He's the brass tacks guy, you know? The one who cuts through the bullshit. (Which is why that scene with him and Bunk, you know that one, was so illuminating and tense.) Omar has already tried to kill Avon, and he already knows that Stringer engineered a situation where he and Brother Muzon might kill each other, and get rid of two problems at once. I think that if he got to really watch Stringer in action, he'd like him; but then he'd shoot him down in the street like a very dangerous dog. Avon, he'll probably succeed in killing someday, but I think he'll do it gently, if such a thing exists.
No spoilers please. We're so close to the end of season 3 I can taste it.
This entry was originally posted at http://vehemently.dreamwidth.org/24089.html. Comment wherever you like.
There's that poignant moment mid-season, where one of Marlo's crew has killed one of Avon's, and Stringer goes to Avon and tries to reason with him. It's bad for business, he explains. We keep the peace and everyone gets rich. It's worth the blow to your ego and your personal alliances not to avenge this death. And Avon says no: he can't follow where Stringer is leading. Everything that Stringer says makes sense, and he's clearly got the ambition and the smarts to be successful at that higher, more profitable level, and Avon can't go with him because he can't give up his interpersonal sensibility. He thinks of his people as his, in a system of obligation up and down the hierarchy. Stringer by contrast thinks of them as employees to be appeased and relied on; he doesn't belong to them, nor they to him.
I think if it were to come to war, Avon would have the bigger army, though it might be the doomed army what with Stringer's access to capital and strategic alliances. It's a tragic moment, though, these lifelong friends discovering a divergence that they can't bridge. Stringer has known it for a long time, and kept things from Avon -- it's probably 2-3 years from the point that he decides to assassinate DeAngelo to the moment that it becomes necessary to disclose that fact to Avon --- but that's the first time that Avon realizes it. His right hand isn't his right hand any more, is doing things Avon can't control and can't countenance, and is able and willing to think bigger and more coldly than honor allows. It's frightening and lonely, and it's prep for that disclosure about DeAngelo, which comes 2-3 episodes later.
In the meantime though are the little moments of Stringer's learning how to navigate at that bigger and colder level: how people refuse to shake his hand, how his ignorance makes him an object unworthy of attention. He sits across from the corrupt city official Clay and thinks of him as an ally; but as the season goes along Stringer realizes he is the student, and the frustrated student at that. (There's even a jarring scene where Clay introduces him to someone and calls him Russell, which, yes, that's his given name; but absolutely nobody calls him that. It's like he's trying on the face of a completely different person.) It's another frightening and lonely turning point, but the difference between Avon and Stringer is that Stringer has the ambition to swallow his pride and keep learning. Clay condescends to him and you see Stringer's jaw clench, and then he lets it go, and takes as much from the lecture as he can. He doesn't understand why a particular business designation matters, so he gives this little annoyed sigh and makes himself ask. He has the mental flexibility, and the coolness to loyalties of his former peers, to leap social classes and succeed in a much bigger way.
Obviously, his peers know that. He waits till Avon is wounded to tell him about DeAngelo, so that when it comes to physical fighting (Stringer in a suit, Avon in track pants), Stringer will win. He explains to Avon his very clear reasoning: DeAngelo almost turned once; he was likely to turn again; to depend on loyalty in the face of the odds is to play a losing game. And Avon sort of takes that, sort of listens to it, but with that stubborn look on his face that says he knows the facts but can't accept them.
When I think about The Wire, I often think about what Omar would say about this character or that situation. He's the brass tacks guy, you know? The one who cuts through the bullshit. (Which is why that scene with him and Bunk, you know that one, was so illuminating and tense.) Omar has already tried to kill Avon, and he already knows that Stringer engineered a situation where he and Brother Muzon might kill each other, and get rid of two problems at once. I think that if he got to really watch Stringer in action, he'd like him; but then he'd shoot him down in the street like a very dangerous dog. Avon, he'll probably succeed in killing someday, but I think he'll do it gently, if such a thing exists.
No spoilers please. We're so close to the end of season 3 I can taste it.
This entry was originally posted at http://vehemently.dreamwidth.org/24089.html. Comment wherever you like.