I believe HBO's first season of True Detective is the best television
show ever made. It's time to make my case and I hope to do so in several parts... maybe even eight parts like the show. :)
First, the critics:
True Detective earned a tiny bit of its criticism, but most it is
utter nonsense. I don't want to name names or slam reviewers, so I won't. For
the record though, I really hate half-baked reviews. Anyone can have an
opinion, but if I am going to spend time reading it, then I want it to be a
well-informed one.
I will list here a smattering of
the outcry, which truth be told has been silenced by the vast majority of fans
and even many reviewers who've said it's the best, if not among the best,
television shows ever made. Here's what we've heard from the naysayers:
#1 The Show Has Woman Problems. Of all the criticisms received, this is by
far the most balanced and worthy of consideration. True Detective is
hyper-masculine... so was Palahniuk's Fight
Club. I'm not so sure that delving into male psychosis, or as Rust puts it,
"high functioning socio-pathology" is a bad thing anymore than a case
study of 15,000 years of male psychology is bad.
For better or for worse (and most
often for worse), male psychology is what has made the world turn for most of
human history. The world's empires, religions, wars, and boundaries have been
historically and primarily set by men. Wishing it were not such in a series of politically
correct Op-Ed pieces doesn't much change this fact. If we are going to be real
honest, it behooves us to understand male psychology if for no other reason
than to keep our own shadows from creeping up on the human race.
I recognize and appreciate the
need for strong female characters. But to put it candidly, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants this is not. True Detective is set
in highly fictionalized (perhaps even fantasized) male world -- even a man's sick
world -- where women and children often end up paying the ultimate price for that sickness. Again,
wishing the show wasn't this way in a review will not
erase the cost of the suffering inflicted by male psychosis. It seems best, as Rust
correctly asserts, "to get as much out in the open" as possible.
As a pastor of over 20 years
there is one thing I know for certain: you must meet men where they're at if
you ever hope to arouse change within them. If anything, it isn't the only women who
should be frustrated by the shallow portrayals and violence against their gender. In
my opinion, the men should be too -- at least up until the series finale.
Rust and Marty are anything but upstanding citizens as the show's protagonists. They are heavily fleshed out caricatures of male stereotypes and wish fulfillment. To stop our criticism at the level of demoralization of women, or lack of strong female characters, totally blows past the dysfunctional male characters in the story who have placed them in the narrative's margins. Apologies to my sisters, but harping on the "woman problems" in True Detective is truthfully mistaking the symptom for the disease.
Rust and Marty are anything but upstanding citizens as the show's protagonists. They are heavily fleshed out caricatures of male stereotypes and wish fulfillment. To stop our criticism at the level of demoralization of women, or lack of strong female characters, totally blows past the dysfunctional male characters in the story who have placed them in the narrative's margins. Apologies to my sisters, but harping on the "woman problems" in True Detective is truthfully mistaking the symptom for the disease.
True Detective is perfect if for no other reason than it goes for
the jugular: it attacks male illness head-on. It is unfortunate that the mechanism
employed is offensive: that strong female portrayals were noticeably absent
and that most women were presented at victims; but not only is this our
history as a species, it is our silent present we live in today as well. It will be our future if we don't (pardon the French here, but to again quote Rust:) "start asking the right f-n questions." (Note: this link is NOT work-safe or kid-safe)
At the very heart of True
Detective are two men, who although are not violent perpetrators against women and children themselves,
ultimately engage in violence via a "manhunt" (emphasis mine)
which results in each of the men confronting his own inner demon.
That demon has a name and a face
-- it's called Disconnect. And it has everything to do with masks, averting
eyes,
... and as Errol calls Rust in his sickened Carcosa: it is about "little priests."
More tomorrow.
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