Idealism Versus Cynicism
Cover. Rust Cohle [Matthew McConaughey]. Series: True Detective [Season 1]. Producer: HBO.
Preface
This text is a transcript from Why Rust Cohle Is Still My Hero, 10 Years Later by video essayist, The Projectionist.
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Synopsis
Detective Rustin 'Rust' Spencer Cohle [portrayed by Matthew McConaughey] is a brilliant but disturbed detective serving in the Louisiana State Police. Cohle serves as one of the two main protagonists of the HBO crime drama True Detective alongside his partner, Martin Hart of season one.
After losing his young daughter in a tragic car accident, his became a broken man that dedicated every part of himself to his job, at the same time making him a hard and cold person, losing all faith in everything and everyone around him. However Cohle's hardened personality has made him almost the perfect detective as he is able to get into the mind set of even the most evil and depraved criminals that his job pits him against.
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Introduction
The Projectionist
When I first saw True Detective back in 2014, Rust Cohle became a sort of folk hero to me. I had grown up in a conservative Christian household, but had recently lost my faith. And after losing my faith, the world changed so drastically that even the physical appearance of objects, like trees, were strange and alien to me. Nothing seemed to fit into categories anymore. Everything was chaos without form. Might as well be living on the fucking moon!
And the rules and laws and meaning that I had relied on, no longer existed. I was paralysed by indecision, and desperately searching for some kind of meaning [my emphasis], to give my life direction. And so when Rust Cohle described the world like this: 'I think human consciousness was a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law.'
I thought, Yeah, that's it. That's what I see. But at the same time, he was able to act on the world and not just act, but act with efficiency and conviction. And to make matters even more confusing, his actions seemed to contradict his beliefs. For instance, his job is to solve crimes and save lives. But he believed that: 'the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programing, stop reproducing; walk hand in hand into extinction. One last midnight, brothers and sisters, opting out of a raw deal.
And so, despite his belief that human life isn't worth living, he still acts in order to save lives. Which makes me wonder: 'what's the point of getting out of bed in the morning?'
And so, despite his belief that human life isn't worth living, he still acts in order to save lives. Which makes me wonder: 'what's the point of getting out of bed in the morning?'
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'I think human consciousness was a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law.'
- Rust Cohle
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Philosophy
Rust Cohle
I'd consider myself a realist, but in philosophical terms, I'm what's called a pessimist.
The Projectionist
It's important that he says he's a realist first, because a realist doesn't necessarily have to be a pessimist. Let’s loosely define a realist as someone who wants to see the world as it is, and deal with it accordingly. As opposed to someone who wants to project a fantasy onto the world in order to make life easier to deal with.
Rust Cohle
What does it say about life hmm, if you have to get together, and tell yourself stories that violate every law of the universe, just to get through the God damn day? What does that say about your reality, Marty? [Martin 'Marty' Hart, Louisiana State Police detective and partner of Rust Cohle]
The Projectionist
What does it say about life hmm, if you have to get together, and tell yourself stories that violate every law of the universe, just to get through the God damn day? What does that say about your reality, Marty? [Martin 'Marty' Hart, Louisiana State Police detective and partner of Rust Cohle]
The Projectionist
And so a realist has a consistent and coherent worldview. Even if that worldview puts them outside of the community. While Rust is concerned with what's true, Marty is concerned with what's convenient. He believes what the people around him believe. He's a cultural Christian.
Martin 'Marty' Hart
Martin 'Marty' Hart
I mean, can you imagine, if people didn't believe, the things they’d get up to?
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
Exact same things they do now, just out in the open.
Martin Hart
Bullshit!
The Projectionist
But Marty only needs to act like a Christian in public. In private, he can act however he wants. Rust, on the other hand, says things that make him hated by the people around him.
Rust Cohle
If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother, that person is a piece of shit. And I'd like to get as many of them out in the open as possible.
The Projectionist
But in private, acts selflessly for the sake of others. In other words, Rust's beliefs put him outside of the culture around him, while Marty's beliefs align with the culture around him. But both detectives contradict their beliefs with their actions.
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Action
The Projectionist
One of the things I think is most admirable about him, to me at least, is that he has this very rigid code of honour, that no one gave him - that seems to sit outside of the culture. That's why he's an oddball with the other police officers, because his code of honour has nothing to do with their cultural context.
You know, one of the interesting dichotomies [divisions or contrasts] between the two men, is that the one man has literally nothing governing him, and he keeps himself rigidly self-governed. And the one that has a family [Martin Hart], and should be more governed, uses that as an excuse to go ungoverned.
Marty's beliefs and actions make sense. He gets his cake and eat it, too.
Marty's beliefs and actions make sense. He gets his cake and eat it, too.
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'How good is cake if you can’t eat it?'
- Martin Hart
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The Projectionist
But Cole's actions don't make sense. He gets the worst of both worlds. He's isolated from a community, and simultaneously, acts in service to that community.
But because his actions are completely self-governed, he's able to act more effectively than Marty. He doesn't worry about what people will think, or whether he'll get in trouble. He simply does his job in the way that seems best to him, even to his own detriment. And this gives him a superhero-like ability to act independently of the system that he works for. And so we admire Cole because his philosophy isolates him from others, while at the same time his sacrificial actions serve others.
But because his actions are completely self-governed, he's able to act more effectively than Marty. He doesn't worry about what people will think, or whether he'll get in trouble. He simply does his job in the way that seems best to him, even to his own detriment. And this gives him a superhero-like ability to act independently of the system that he works for. And so we admire Cole because his philosophy isolates him from others, while at the same time his sacrificial actions serve others.
But the question is why? Why would anyone choose to live this way?
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Truth
Martin Hart
Some folks enjoy community, the common good.
Rust Cohle
If the common good's, gotta make up fairytales, then it's not good for anybody.
The Projectionist
The Projectionist
There's an importance placed on honesty that runs through every episode. Honesty is treated as the highest virtue. Lying is a tool used to manipulate reality. And it's the true believers who suffer.
Rust Cohle
Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey. He said for you [pointing to the Sun] to give me your fucking share. People ...
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'We live as human beings within a cloud of unknowing. Honesty is what matters to me, and honesty, in the the unknowability of your situation as a human being.'
- Nic Pizzolatto
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The Projectionist
The results of that honesty, or lack of honesty, become apparent when the present day retelling of events doesn't match the reality of what we're seeing from the past.
Martin Hart
The results of that honesty, or lack of honesty, become apparent when the present day retelling of events doesn't match the reality of what we're seeing from the past.
Martin Hart
And you know why the story's always the same 17 years running?
Because it only went down the one way.
Because it only went down the one way.
Rust Cohle
Soon as we started to back off ...
Martin Hart
Bam! Bullets cut through right near us head. We dove opposite ways, into the high grove, but they had already spotted us, and they had some high velocity ... Boom, to blow apart this tree between us. I mean, it was on!
Rust Cohle
[Pretending to fire a machine gun] Heavy shit ... and ferns and whatnot bursting all around us, bark, flying off the trees. I mean, we were in a fucking shit storm!
While I was hunkered down on this old, decrepit boat, Captain America, Marty Hart decides he's going to run deep into the woods,
flank around the back of the house where Ledoux's firing at us, right.
While I was hunkered down on this old, decrepit boat, Captain America, Marty Hart decides he's going to run deep into the woods,
flank around the back of the house where Ledoux's firing at us, right.
He sneaks up behind Ledoux, and just as Ledoux turns, bam! Popped one off in him, head shot clean, dropped him.
Note 1
Reginald 'Reggie' Ledoux is a brutal and vile drug dealer that manufactures meth [methamphetamine [n.] synthetic drug used illegally as a stimulant] for the violent criminal biker gang Iron Crusaders, and an accomplice and right-hand man of serial-killer Errol Childress. He also kidnaps, rapes, and kills children. For these activities he becomes a major suspect and target for Rustin Cohle and Martin Hart.
The Projectionist
This lie, that Rust and Marty participate in together, rips reality in two. And this creation of an alternate reality - this creation of a fantasy - in which Rust and Marty are heroes who survived a shootout.
This is the sin they have to atone for.
Ripping reality in two is what defines a person as bad. But this wasn't their mistake, per se. Their mistake was ripping reality in two for their own benefit. After all, the act of going undercover, is the act of lying. Of creating a fantasy and ...
Rust Cohle
... the world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door.
The Projectionist
But lying for one's own benefit creates darkness and confusion. It obscures truth. So they had to act selflessly in order to pay their debt and mend reality.
Martin Hart
Why would I ever help you?
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
Because you have a debt.
The Projectionist
But again, why? Why act selflessly?
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Acceptance
Matthew McConaughey [Rust Cohle]
Death would be a deliverance for him. It would also be a cop out in a way. It also would be ... He was not, not a man who was going to give himself amnesty, and didn't allow it from the rest of the world, wouldn't give himself an out.
And while living, in his head and heart and spirit was more of a hell than arguably dying, it was not, no alternative. It was not negotiable for that man. And that's why ... why he was the best detective that ever walked the earth.
That's why he was such a superhero, in a way. To have that singular ... That constitution, that clarity of identity. How about a measure in a man's constitution. He didn't allow anybody off the hook, especially himself.
Martin Hart
And while living, in his head and heart and spirit was more of a hell than arguably dying, it was not, no alternative. It was not negotiable for that man. And that's why ... why he was the best detective that ever walked the earth.
That's why he was such a superhero, in a way. To have that singular ... That constitution, that clarity of identity. How about a measure in a man's constitution. He didn't allow anybody off the hook, especially himself.
Martin Hart
What do you got the cross for in your apartment?
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
It's a form of meditation.I contemplate the moment in the garden. The idea of allowing your own crucifixion.
Nic Pizzolatto [Writer, Producer, Director]
Nic Pizzolatto [Writer, Producer, Director]
I always took Rust as, his complaint is essentially Job's complaint. Which is that, if you believe in a personal God who has a destiny for everyone, well, then you're just a character in his story. And Job's complaint is, I am a character in a story and I do not like this story
and I do not like the limitations of my character.
and I do not like the limitations of my character.
The Projectionist
The truth is, there is no answer to the question, why would anyone live this way? We don't choose our stories. Everyone either has to act out the story they're given, or cease to act.
Maggie Hart [Martin Hart's wife]
Do you like your job?
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
Not exactly. But it’s worthwhile. I'm good at it.
The Projectionist
We are ultimately powerless in the face of nature, God, everything. And the more individuated we become, the more painful and lonely life becomes.
Rust Cohle
Human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution.
The Projectionist
It's a sick, cosmic joke, that the closer we get to truth, the further we get from meaning. And no matter who we are or what we believe, we all throw up our hands and say, Why, God?
Rust Cohle
[Looks up to the sky] me, me, me, I ...
[Looks up to the sky] me, me, me, I ...
The Projectionist
And so, could Cohle exist in real life? Of course, people like Cohle have always existed. Anyone who's ever reached a place of utter hopelessness, but continued to lace up their boots and go to work, is like Cohle.
This kind of person has been completely stripped bare of any selfish motivation because all they want to do is die. And if death is a deliverance, then living is a sacrifice. And if everything is meaningless and humans should walk hand in hand into extinction, then it's not even a sacrifice for the sake of anything. It's like a machine that's been abandoned, but continues doing its job because it doesn't know how to do anything else.
And yet I find this kind of life to be incredibly heroic. It's not for the sake of an afterlife or with the hope that life will get better. Instead, it's the mundane acceptance that I'm a character in a story, and the story fucking sucks.
But who knows?
Maybe there's a way through to the other side. An ending to the story that feels satisfying, and makes all the suffering worth it.
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
It's just one story. The oldest.
Martin Hart
Martin Hart
What’s that?
Rust Cohle
Rust Cohle
Light versus dark.
The Projectionist
The Projectionist
Or maybe there's not.