MovieChat Forums > The Wire (2002) Discussion > They WAYYY overdid the Ziggy character. ...

They WAYYY overdid the Ziggy character. I've never met anyone like that.

posted 8 years ago by Patrick_Bateman_777
16 replies | jump to latest

...AS AN ADULT.

Of course I have met people like that who were 12-15 years old.

I just didn't find his character believable as an adult.

I know there is a whole world full of dumb ass people, but really? Someone this dumb and foolish to such a dangerous level (to himself and others)? I just think they WAY overdid this character. I mean, he was always acting like the biggest possible fool at all times.

As an adult, I have personally never come across anyone who acted this way on a consistent basis. We have all acted a fool at times and we all know people who are dumbasses but this guy takes it to a new level. Again I am speaking about grown adults. I just think they overbaked this character to a point of not being at all believable.

The best example of this? When he burned the $100 bill. Not even the biggest dumbass in the world would do that unless he had billions in the bank maybe.

One or two of his antics, maybe, but it was like constant with his dumbass antics. It was like Saturday morning cartoon level/frequency with the antics.

[–] ducksoup (3933) 4 years ago

You never met a Ziggy? You livin' under a rock?

[–] daveyh (602) 6 months ago

The Wire specialises in showing people in an environment they're not suited to, usually through the family or circumstances they were born in to, but sometimes through societal pressure too.
In Season 1 we had DeAngelo and Prezbo, both in roles they're not cut out for through very different reasons.
Season 2 gives us Ziggy.
He's not "manly" enough for the legit side of the docks and not streetwise enough for the other side.
Some characters are eventually able to find their niche - Prezbo for example eventually does with teaching - but with Ziggy, although he does show some smarts at times, his working class background and the fact the he's such a hellraiser/goof would make it difficult for him to fit in or get on at college or in another job. He basically doesn't fit in anywhere, which only makes him act out more because it augments, as evets_lives has already brilliantly stated, the pressure and expectation of being Frank Sobotka's son.
You could possibly draw comparisons with AJ Soprano but I think the difference is that AJ is just aware enough to know that he's not cut out for the mob life or the legit world, hence he has his own issues. Again evets_lives sums it up that Nick quite effortlessly doing a better job with the drugs brings it home to Ziggy how inept and unsuitable he is, until then he's deluding himself.

To some extent I agree with the OP though that he was a little overdone. Although he's inspired by a real person, I would imagine the guy he's based on did or experienced everything that happens with Ziggy over the course of several years or decades on the docks, rather than in the space of a few weeks. That's the problem when things are based on real events - trying to shoehorn all these real events into one story covering a short space of time and involving only a few people - ironically it makes it more unrealistic than if it had been fiction.