tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412217048881657756.post8041062828519263918..comments2024-03-27T04:13:11.805-03:00Comments on The Fitness Philosopher: True Detective: RUST as MysticAndrew J Cutler Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14635544488661710663noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412217048881657756.post-91175024062668418302014-12-20T12:59:30.346-04:002014-12-20T12:59:30.346-04:00But what of Rust Cohle’s personal philosophy, does...But what of Rust Cohle’s personal philosophy, does it make sense? If Rust Cohle’s philosophy is at times incoherent, it’s because our own also is. If Rust Cohle’s anti-natal philosophy is plagiarized from Thomas Ligotti’s Conspiracy Against the Human Race, it is because our philosophies are also plagiarized narratives which are frequently dissonant. His pessimism is steeped in a personal tragedy, “Think of the hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence into this... meat, to force a life into this... thresher. As for my daughter, she spared me the sin of being a father,” he says of his daughter’s untimely early death. I can imagine Rust Cohle saying those words shortly after reading a Ligotti book, or hearing him muse about eternal recurrence after reading Thus Spake Zarathustra. Just as we seek answers and solace in whatever philosophy matches our emotional state, so it seems does Rust Cohle. It’s not that the writer is a “lying idiot,” as Andrew Cutler charges, but that he’s writing Rust as a real human being, which is entirely unconventional for entertainment.<br /><br />Unfortunately, as audiences we now expect our media to be neat and tidy. As Mark Twain once so eloquently stated, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” So if True Detective seems at times loose, if Rust Cohle’s philosophy seems incoherent, it’s because the show is written uniquely honestly. Of course the truth is stranger than fiction, fiction has to make sense. True Detective makes perfect sense. It is the world that we live in.<br /><br />-Sean IllesSean Illesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412217048881657756.post-82272399795226604492014-12-20T12:59:05.158-04:002014-12-20T12:59:05.158-04:00Andrew Cutler’s prior blog, “True Detective: Rust ...Andrew Cutler’s prior blog, “True Detective: Rust as a Mystic” had me plunged in an existential crisis of my own. Intentionally or not, his review was scathing. Calling the writer of the show, “A lying idiot,” who uses plagiarized philosophy to obfuscate an incoherent story and highlighting the seemingly incongruent elements of the protagonist’s personality had me questioning my own taste, my own sanity, my own life! Hyperbole aside, I had wondered and was convinced for awhile that I’d been duped by a good, but not great piece of fiction that used psychobabble interspersed with plagiarized philosophical works in order to give the illusion of depth where none existed. Upon further reflection, however, I stand my initial opinion that the show is in fact brilliant and that Andrew Cutler is succumbing to “neckbeardery.”<br /><br />I think it would be difficult to criticize the artistic elements of the show, and Mr. Cutler knows better than to go there! Shot against some truly beautiful scenes and masterfully framed by its director, True Detective is a visual tour de force that immerses the viewer into a part of the American South that very few, Southerners included, is ever exposed to. “People out here, they don’t even know the outside world exists. Might as well be living on the fucking moon,” Rust Cohle grumbles to his partner. And the shots reflect this lunar environment, providing truly unsettling backdrops for an intensely naturalistic and brutal plotline. “This place is like somebody’s memory of a town, and the memory is fading,” Rust speaks for the viewer, as we feel that something just isn’t right in this place.<br /><br />This is the genius of True Detective, a show not about coherent philosophies, anti-natalism, or even a murder mystery. It is the quintessential fish out of water story as we are plunged into a world, vicariously through Rust, that is saturated with foreboding, “I don’t like this place, nothing grows the right way here.” What is a fish out of water story? “The main character or character finds himself in an unusual environment, which drives most of the humour. Situations can be swapping gender roles, as in Tootsie (1982); an age changing role, as in Big (1988); a freedom-loving individual fitting into a structured environment, as in Police Academy (1984); a rural backwoodsman in the big city, as in "Crocodile" Dundee, and so forth. The Coen Brothers are known for using this technique in all of their films, though not always to comic effect. Some films including people fitting the "fish-out-of-water" bill include The Big Lebowski and A Serious Man.” (Wikipedia)<br /><br />Just as Rust Cohle is a fish out of water in rural Louisiana, so too are we a fish out of water in the world that we have been thrust into. His existential feelings of alienation and disconnection are all too familiar to anyone who lives an examined life, exacerbated by the fact that his alternative perspectives lead him to feel as if he inhabits an entirely different world. That is certainly a familiar feeling for me, and I’d be willing to bet that the philosophically inclined experience this type of existence more often than not. Thoughtful people languish in doubt, skepticism, and a profound sense of seeing beyond the obvious narrative, which is unpleasant and anxiety provoking. Rust Cohle’s case and attitude metaphorically embodies this as he tries to wake up those around him to no avail. They simply aren’t thoughtful enough to overcome their myopia of philosophical ignorance.<br /><br />Sean Illesnoreply@blogger.com