Books of the Dead, whether Egyptian (1500BC) or Tibetan
(C8th), are manuals for the change in consciousness that accompanies death.
They ensure safe passage for the soul at a time of dissolution and danger, with
each book reflecting their own culture. The Egyptian text externalises the
soul’s (Ba) journey in ceremonies like “the opening of the mouth” or the
“weighing of the heart against a feather” in the Hall of Judgement, where as
the Tibetan text internalises the transition of consciousness towards a
liberating state of Unified Clear Light, via “hearing” or deep attention. The
Western Book of the Dead as defined by True Detective 2 is designed for a place
that is a living hell for characters who behave like the living dead in need of
guidance. “I welcome judgement”, says Ray openly. “I don’t know how to be in
the world or who I am”, Paul discloses to Ray. Antigone asks for “guidance and
help”. “I’m trying to navigate through the blur”, says Frank. The guide for
these characters is the depth psychology of Film Noir, from 1940’s American
classics to Nordic Noir.
Nothing in this contemporary California suggests “the
promised land” of its idealistic pioneers who sought the Good Life, God and
Gold. The city of Vinci has its nameplate on a water tower at the centre of an
industrial complex almost cleansed of human habitation, (95 residents
remain).It’s now only a place of work where 70,000 people are brought in and
out to service it as “cogs in a machine”. Pipes criss- cross like Abstract Art,
non figurative, creaking mechanically, “a toxic wasteland of industrial re-zoning”.
The arterial road system is not the lifeblood of a vibrant city, but a tangled design
where cars commute with automatic precision like machines in a production line
that never stops. Even the scarred Californian hills look like formless abstract
art.
This world is worse than the veil of lies, deception, imbalances, illusions and corruptions that constituted Evil in True Detective 1 because it has become the absence of humanity, a negation, nothingness. The railroad that Morton feverishly fought over in “Once upon a time in the West” has become a triumph of indifference in the detached calculations of technocrats and businessmen who don’t care about anyone as they form their “co-dependency of interests”, a long way from the idealistic optimism of John Ford’s “Iron Horse”. “The world will turn. I’m carrying no bar struggles”, sighs the Mayor, the ultimate in ennui, drained of life and lacking spirit.
So the human presence is almost erased. “Behold what once
was a man”, says Frank in the strange language of poetic truth. And it’s ironic
that this gangster wants to be a legitimate business man while the business men
emulate gangsters, giving up his manhood to become a steely cog, much as his
namesake Frank (Fonda) intended in “Once Upon a Time in the West”. These new
speculators and investors may discuss “60 billion dollar high speed rail
systems and commercial developments” but it’s all an abstraction of electronic
numbers moving around cyber space as easily lost as won, a meaningless illusion
of wealth rather than the solid reality of Gold. It’s even futile to have
ambition here when the goals don’t exist anymore, as the disillusioned Ray
discovered about astronauts and his father discovered about cops. “Nothing
matters so never mind”.
city of vinci
In this emotionally anaemic, detached, meaningless world, the saloon bar where Ray and Frank meet looks like an empty Hopper painting with its nihilistic somnambulant singer. Porn has become an acceptable “business with a license” where prostitutes are creative “performers in a theatre” for a voyeuristic audience. The houses of the city major and manager are not homes, but “fetishist and weird” with “stuff that is twisted”(Ani).The therapists office looks anything but healthy with objects obsessively placed (pencils),nightmare images on wall posters and books by Araki containing controversial art porn. The guru of the Panticapaeum Institute doesn’t even have an office since he rarely attends and is just going through the motions. Names have been twisted and distorted to mean their opposite so the night club is Lux Infinitum (Eternal Light), the railroad company is called Catalyst (agent of change), and the mayor’s deranged son is called “Prince of Bel-air”.
This Western world has got it wrong and is out of balance,
creating unhealthy lifestyles based on relationships that are dishonest or
fractured or predatory or bullying or exploitative or voyeuristic, where long
distance fatherhood is a Dictaphone or Nike shoes (Ray) or “free” love (guru),
where sex is a commodity to trade and not the expression of anything deeper.
Many are physically overweight (Chad/Santos/Ray/Dixon), reflecting another form
of over-consumption, or emotionally undernourished and starving
(Antigone/Athene), finding solace in the excesses of drink, drugs and sex.
People have been “hollowed out” and everyone is wearing a mask, whether it’s an
animal head or balaclava or white theatrical mask or just the face people put
on each morning. The Hollywood apocalyptic film shoot about “the collapse of
civilization” reflects True Detective 2’s reflections on the world we currently
inhabit. The Russian oligarch concurs when he laments “the loss of old
Californian families and organisations, old rules, checks and balances, due
diligence”. “Nobody gives a shit”, says Ray. “Well, there’s no confusion about
that”, says Ani.
masks
Behind all this we get occasional glimpses of another reality, of the homeless huddled round fires and the unemployed queuing at corners, the immigrant Philipinos packed into squalid flats, people protesting and bus passengers who become civilian casualties. These are the system’s discarded humans, a reminder of something lost and lurking. Also winding through episode 1 like an absurd comic ghost is the aptly named Caspar who really is dead though he appears alive, wearing sunglasses to hide eyes that cannot see. His presence is surreal, sitting next to a bird head, raven or crow, either of which feed on carrion like Casper’s body.
“Caspar’s absence don’t mean a thing” says Frank in dramatic
irony, because it’s about to change everything as it cruises across the
landscape in an emblematic Cadillac; dead, blind and castrated, and ultimately powerless.
To the three callous agencies it simply means “a body, a missing person, the
subject of an investigation”, respectively. But it will change Frank’s life and
bring Ani, Ray and Paul together to solve a crime that confronts their own
sense of identity.
Behind everything is the soundtrack, worming its way
subliminally into our consciousness so we hear lyrical dirge- laments from Cohen,
Cave and Lynn, reinforcing themes of negation, loss and death:
“The war was lost/I had a name but never mind/in places deep
with roots entwined/but never mind” “Try to be a hero/wind up a zero/scar a man
forever right down to his soul/all the gold in California/ California’s a brand
new game” “This is my least favourite life/the one where Im out of my mind”
.............
In this tightly controlled micro managed world of Nonentity,
the rules are based on Fakery. This is California after all and the centre of
an industry built on fakery; film and television. It’s hard to tell what’s real
and what’s fantasy in a place built on fantasy. Allusion or references to that
industry run through all episodes so far, from “Prince of Bel-Air” to “The
Detective story” to “Caspar” to “Ace Ventura” to “No country for old men” to
“American Sniper” to “The Saint” to “Sherlock”. By episode 3 a post apocalyptic
Mad Max style film shoot is even intruding on the Noir production itself, and
was that shoot out at the end of episode 4 staged like a western or a cop show?
It’s confusing.
Fakery is endemic. The father/son relationship of Ray and
Chad is fake and Chad is expected to fake courage with the school bullies.
Businessmen who appear to be on opposite sides are actually working together.
Athena claims to be a “performer” when she is actually a prostitute. Paul fakes
erection and sexual preference by using Viagra and suppressing memories,
masking his true sexuality. Frank gives
a monologue on fakery and papier-mâché to open episode 2 while Ray opens
episode 3 with a dream about an impersonator faking an impression of Elvis
singing The Rose. Ani is faking male characteristics in order to survive the
male world of a cop precinct.
The therapist and New Age guru are modern pseudo
authorities, monsters in disguise, quacks peddling their bogus remedies in
language that appears meaningful when it isn’t. The guru is a cleverly staged
supernatural anthropomorphic fantasy figure that resembles a mixture of wise
ancestral spirit, omniscient Zeus the father god and New Age Esalen or
Swedenborgian mystic. His message is a mishmash of assertions about a
meaningless universe and Final Age of Man. His Panticapaeum Institute is filmed
in the glass Wayfarers Chapel, a Swedenborgian church in California where the
outside gives the illusion of appearing inside through the glass. True
Detective 1 mentioned mysticism with similarities to Ramon Lull (see blog entry
on season1). True Detective 2 may consider Swedenborg whose work inspired the
poet William Blake to write about the “mind forged manacles and satanic forces
of materialism.”Swedenborg wrote about the relationship between matter and
spirit, the inner order of things/geometry (see wood grain of tabletop in
episode 1), transformation, God as Goodness, angels of light, the final age of
man having already begun, the underlying network of correspondences recognised
as long ago as Thought.
In reality this guru
is a father who abnegates responsibility and refuses to give guidance, who ran
a dubious cult falsely named “The Good People” when it was clearly not good for
anyone. All his pseudo talk about “old souls with hundreds of lives and huge
black/green auras” is just flattering enticements to hook victims in. The therapist
peddles the pseudo psychobabble of “personal growth”; “neurosis, anxiety,
painful past, guilt, self-loathing, damaging behaviour”, but his room is full
of evidence suggesting perversion instead of health. His surgeries aren’t real,
just cosmetic. He talks about “shock and confidentiality” but practices
neither. Both therapist and guru have the blank eyes of the world they pretend
to heal. They are monsters masquerading as New Age spirituality and Humanistic
psychology whose origins are in the American 60’s Human Potential Movement,
which is ironic since there is little human potential in this place for most
people.
Frank fakes concern before beating someone up. Caspar appears
alive when he isn’t. Mayor Austin and Caspar fake respectability in public
office when their personal lives are “twisted” and perverted. The bullets that
hit Ray are fake. Frank and Jordan are faking the sex act for IVF treatment or
considering adoption which would give them a fake child. Austin’s son fakes his
accent and pose as prince of Bel-air, “just playing a part, different roles for
different jobs”. Jordan fakes appeasement to Frank but flirts with the Russian
oligarch. She bears the name of a promised land but one doubts she embodies it.
Ani smokes fake E-cigarettes. She is told to fake sexual interest in Ray in
order to get information. All three investigative agencies have hidden agendas
beneath their nominal duties, “the state investigation is a sham”, says Ray.
It’s a complex and convoluted world in a story that is plotted
likewise, compounded by the fact that the four main characters seem to be
acting in different styles for different genres. Paul is a broody Method Marlon
Brando type in a motorbike film. Antigone is a woman acting like a man in a
gritty cop show. Frank is an experimental new wave character in an avante-
garde European drama with almost
Proustian monologues. Ray is an alcoholic moustachioed cowboy in a post Leone
Western with his shoelace tie, hands on hips swagger, dispensing justice by the
“natural law” of punch ups. Frank even tells him to “get back on your horse, my
friend”. Similarly, the animal headed killer could be a shaman figure from a
Western or an anarchist from a Nordic Noir (see “The Bridge series 1”, original
version).So it’s not surprising that Ray answers “No”when asked “Is that clear
to you, detective?”, whilst Paul can’t answer, “what’s this angsty cop drama
you’re in?” Frank however voices the irony of “Fuck; an eight part series!” which
is actually the length of True Detective 2!
Noir is the method chosen to frame the narrative that guides
these characters through, using much of that tradition; use of disjointed plot
complexity, distinct stock characters like the truthseeker or detective,
outsider, femme fatale or angel, often with an all consuming past or flashback
memories, locations of urban wasteland, stylised dialogue that ranges from
terse to poetic to silent to narrative monologues, a visual cinematography
including surreal and dream sequences, chiaroscuro with oblique camera angles,
themes of sexuality and male violence, corruption and betrayal, twisted
psychology and metaphysical angst etc. Having established itself firmly in a
tradition indigenous to L.A it will be interesting to see what they do with it,
and whether their new combinations offer fresh perspectives.
.............
It’s authentic soul life that is missing from this world,because the complete human being is Body,Mind AND Soul. Four
characters begin the journey to unmask themselves and others, a journey that is
vertical as well as horizontal, recovering their lost souls in a world that has
lost its humanity. They realise something is wrong that needs to be put right.
Franks says, “this whole thing is unnatural, don’t feel right/something’s telling
me to wake up and I can’t/I’m trying to do right/change for me, change for you/I’m
going the wrong way, losing my vision”. Paul is told “you barely talk, you’re
not right”. “This isn’t healthy” says Ani. Ray says, “I’m thinking of changing
some things”. “Do you want to live?”he is asked as he stares deep into the screen and into our
own lives.“Waking up is harder than it seems”, the bar singer drones on...
They all have something to hide; homosexuality, corruption,
a fascination for rough sex and gambling debts. However they are being exposed
and challenged to face these facts through loss. Losing his girlfriend, Paul’s
facade is challenged by the male prostitute and war buddy. Franks bankruptcy
means he has to stop pretending and resume his lifestyle as a gangster, “sometimes
your worst life is your best life”. Losing respect, Antigone confronts
accusations of “sexual misconduct and coercion” in which her fascination for
rough sex is likely to be disclosed as well as gambling debts. Losing his son
and purpose in life,(“I had a right by any natural law”), Ray reaches his
lowest point where he’s “got no reason to keep at this”, yet he stays true and
resists the two temptations of his wife and Frank. When Frank says “Ray was
murdered” it’s a psychological truth since his wife has effectively killed his
spirit and also a fact since there was an attempt on his life. “Many truths in
this life”, says Pitlor. Well it’s only in the car where truth talks take place
between Paul, Ray and Ani.
truth talks in cars
When the three law enforcers are fatefully brought together at the end of episode 1 they are all in an altered state of consciousness and without the usual defences, what Austin calls “consciousness expansion”. Antigone arrives in an alcoholic stupor having been thrown out of a pub. Ray was asleep and unconscious from over drinking. Paul is in the middle of a speed ecstasy. They stand within the confines of a circle, “out of their minds” with Caspar dead in the middle in the spotlight like a Serge Leone “triella”, exchanging looks in close-up. This is the beginning of their adventure and the moment they realise change, where as Leone used it as a truth formation at the moment of death for his Spaghetti Western Finales. Either way, its represents the “arena of life” where characters face moments of truth at a time of great danger. They stand again in this formation after the shoot out at the end of episode 4, another moment of danger and altered consciousness, affected by the adrenalin of that encounter.
When the three law enforcers are fatefully brought together at the end of episode 1 they are all in an altered state of consciousness and without the usual defences, what Austin calls “consciousness expansion”. Antigone arrives in an alcoholic stupor having been thrown out of a pub. Ray was asleep and unconscious from over drinking. Paul is in the middle of a speed ecstasy. They stand within the confines of a circle, “out of their minds” with Caspar dead in the middle in the spotlight like a Serge Leone “triella”, exchanging looks in close-up. This is the beginning of their adventure and the moment they realise change, where as Leone used it as a truth formation at the moment of death for his Spaghetti Western Finales. Either way, its represents the “arena of life” where characters face moments of truth at a time of great danger. They stand again in this formation after the shoot out at the end of episode 4, another moment of danger and altered consciousness, affected by the adrenalin of that encounter.
Its only at the end of episode 1 in the spotlight that the
three law enforcers identify themselves clearly to the audience and each other
as individuals; Ray Velcora of Vinci PD, Ani Bezzerides of Ventura County CID,
Paul Woodrugh of traffic division CHP. It’s like a roll call, present and
correct. “You can make a name for
yourself”, Athene tells Antigone. Now they stand out and their names do matter
as individuals and to each other, contrary to Cohen’s nihilistic lyrics, “I
live among you well disguised/ I had a name but never mind/I had to leave my
life behind”.
The starting point for the Seeker/investigator is to be open
to enquiry, whether it’s a crime or the Self, however surreal it gets. That
journey involves going into the unknown, beyond Mind and Reason into the
bizarre, surreal imaginings of the Psyche/soul where there are different rules close
to madness.( A lot of people are behaving mad,
“my son is losing his mind. Some can’t handle the deep thrill”, says the
mayor.) Ani says “I make no distinction between good and bad habits”. “Stop
thinking” Jordan tells Frank who is stuck in his convoluted thought-monologue.
“Never mind”, says Cohen’s lyric. Soul life involves “leaps or flights of the
imagination” that transform and energise, which is why the soul is
traditionally associated with winged phenomena, like the Egyptian Ba soulbird
or the winged Isis. And this flying imagery haunts True Detective 2,in
figurines and wall posters, the butterflies in Paul’s girlfriends flat, the
Naughty Girl Angels website, the men in fancy dress as white angels, in the
bird mask, in the dialogue (“if you don’t have flies you can’t fly fish”),in
the bar song(“whisper of two broken wings/maybe they’re yours, maybe they’re
mine/This is my least favourite life/The one where you fly and I don’t/The one
where you’re out of your mind”.
Myth is also part of this world of the psyche/soul. In True
Detective 1 there was a sense of Greek myth, Theseus and the Minotaur in the
labyrinth. Here there are references to the Theban plays with Antigone, to
Oedipus and blindness, and Athene. These figures have relevance in modern
psychoanalysis as it reinterprets ancient myth, though all part of the same
story. There may be an Indian shaman (killer) and Indian totems (Institute) in
this series too, for there are similarities between shamans and psycho-therapists
who are both psychopomps deep in American culture.
This may still be a man’s world where women exist in
relation to men, whether it’s a wife/ lover (Jordan) or mother ( Paul’s) or
daughter (Antigone), or the lawyers and prostitutes who service their male
clients. Frank says, “a good woman regulates our baser tendencies”, expressing
that need in a language he understands. Perhaps Antigone will break free and
develop an independent identity not related to male ideals. Perhaps Athene will
develop the Creative Intellect of her namesake.
Leading the shootout
Change is in the air,a turning point, and there are other forces involved on other levels; elemental, celestial. At the end of the opening credits we see the transit of Venus named after the Goddess of Love, a remarkable happening as the tiny planet slowly crosses the sun. Water, vital to civilization, is under threat of contamination in this part of California. In 1967, at the end of “Once upon a time in the West”, an epic Western with noir undertones, Leone leaves us with the image of the only significant woman, Jill, dispensing pails of water to the thirsty railroad workers, the only character to survive social change. “She represents the Water, the promise of the West” said Leone hopefully, source of Life and regeneration. That promise has been contaminated on many levels as evident in the world of Vinci in 2014. As diminutive Antigone leads the shootout at the end of episode 4 we begin to see the emergence of something different, not triumphalist or heroic or egotistical, but still carrying the water. Something monumental happened in that scene. “I hold your soul/The balance of Love is changing”, say the lyrics over the end credits of episode 4, with sudden optimism.
Change is in the air,a turning point, and there are other forces involved on other levels; elemental, celestial. At the end of the opening credits we see the transit of Venus named after the Goddess of Love, a remarkable happening as the tiny planet slowly crosses the sun. Water, vital to civilization, is under threat of contamination in this part of California. In 1967, at the end of “Once upon a time in the West”, an epic Western with noir undertones, Leone leaves us with the image of the only significant woman, Jill, dispensing pails of water to the thirsty railroad workers, the only character to survive social change. “She represents the Water, the promise of the West” said Leone hopefully, source of Life and regeneration. That promise has been contaminated on many levels as evident in the world of Vinci in 2014. As diminutive Antigone leads the shootout at the end of episode 4 we begin to see the emergence of something different, not triumphalist or heroic or egotistical, but still carrying the water. Something monumental happened in that scene. “I hold your soul/The balance of Love is changing”, say the lyrics over the end credits of episode 4, with sudden optimism.
Transit of Venus
The perfect picture/paradise/Golden SectionOld Dualities face themselves
Inner order/outer order
PS. See critique on series 1 True Detective here: http://janethylandandplainpaintings.blogspot.ie/2014/06/true-detective-and-its-investigation.html
Part 2 critique of True Detective 2 to follow once I've seen episodes 5-8.
