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Originally Posted by GeoffRas22
Nath
While reading about TD somewhere (i forget) one of the critiques about the show was that your brother doesn't seem to be perfectly objective wrt MM character. Like every other character seems to be flawed in their own way but your brother seems to be kind of enamored with MM and relaying his personal beliefs/morals through him (like about religion for instance). How much, if any, truth would you say there is behind that and do you think it's a true critique of the show or do you think most shows have a character like that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by nath
Good question. I have to be somewhere this morning, so I'll answer it later when I have time to give it more consideration.
In brief, I would say that Cohle is pretty obviously flawed-- he stands out, in fact, because his flaws are on the surface rather than things he tries to hide or rationalize-- and also that he obviously has some doubts and doesn't have it all figured out. Or, as Hart puts it, if life is so meaningless, why can't he stop talking about it?
To elaborate:
While I would say that Nic's philosophy is far more in tune with Cohle's than Hart's-- he especially does not have patience for people who deal in rationalizations and denial-- I don't think we're meant to see Cohle as a guy who has it all figured out, by any means. A big reason he stands out is because he's in a place where the culture is basically the opposite of his beliefs-- that as long as you paint a good public face on everything and go to church on Sunday, everything is fine. The aggravation with and low opinion of that mindset in particular is something I think Nic and Rust would agree on.
At the same time, though, Cohle's personal philosophy is obviously borne from a number of strange and traumatic experiences-- a survivalist upbringing, the death of his daughter, a life undercover with a cartel. He's a pretty messed-up person, and I think we're supposed to see that, even when we agree with him. (I think 2012 Rust, though more outwardly damaged, is more right about himself and his decision to, essentially, not play the game of life anymore because of the damage he knows he can and will do.)
With this last episode, too, there are questions as to what degree Cohle is a thrill seeker, someone who puts himself in dangerous situations and environments because he likes it. I also don't consider his aloofness necessarily a positive trait: As much as Cohle might want to keep philosophical distance from his co-workers and the characters he encounters on the job, being deliberately difficult to work with is rarely the best way to go about
doing your job. And like I said, the stuff where Hart points out Cohle's constant need to talk about his philosophy isn't there by accident-- I think we're supposed to recognize that part of Cohle's philosophizing is as much to convince himself of his righteousness as anything else. (BTW, I like that Hart isn't just some good-ol'-boy paired with the weirdo outcast, but is legitimately intelligent and a talented detective in his own right: He's just one who's gotten so complacent with his justifications that it shocks him to actually have someone challenge them.)
So, to answer your original question, I don't think it's true, at least not more so than in any other show. I think many shows have characters who espouse some of the creator's points of view, or whom the creators identify with strongly. Sometimes it's so obvious as to be distracting: I couldn't get into Battlestar Galactica because I kept noticing when the dialogue switched from dialogue to "Here are the creator's thoughts on god and religion." Sometimes it's in subtle, even unintentional ways: Dan Harmon has always said that when creating Community, he identified most with Jeff-- who while being the lead character is certainly no saint, and is full of character defects despite his outward appearance-- but with time he realized he was more like Abed-- a pop culture obsessive/savant who didn't really know how to relate to people outside of that framework.
While Nic agrees with Cohle on some things, I'm sure-- albeit certainly to a less extreme version-- it would be unfair to reduce the show to such a black-and-white, "Guy the author agrees with / everyone else who sucks" dichotomy.
