I am a fan of The Wire. I'm a bigger fan of Omar Little. He lives by a strict code. He only robs drug dealers. He takes his grandmother to church. He wears a trenchcoat and carries a shotgun around the projects. He announces his presence by whistling "The Farmer in the Dell."
In one episode when he was providing jury testimony, Barksdale attorney Maurice Levy called him a parasite who thrived on the drug trade, to which Omar quickly pointed out that Levy was essentially the same thing. "I got a gun --- you got a briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?"
More poignantly, he might be the only character in this HBO series that makes it a point to not use profanity. He's one of the toughest characters around, yet he's gay, which most people stereotype as being wimpy or overly feminine. His character is a walking paradox, which is fascinating to me, and shows the smartness and depth of writing in this show. His honesty, lack of materialism & commercialism, and strict adherence to his ethics makes him fascinating and unique.
And did I mention he walks around with a shotgun whistling "The Farmer in the Dell?" Classic. You gotta love him.
3 comments:
Omar Little
Nice link. I agree with the ed piece. Omar is definitely one of the reasons I still love t.v.
I could do a list of about 10-15 things I love about t.v. right now, or in the recent past. And most of them involve HBO.
Hey, Maybe that will be my next post.
I just got the first season DVD. its was kinda slow, but i'll stick with it for a few more.. Im sure it's like any other series where you have to wait until the characters develop. we will see.
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