Hi, I'm Michael. This is Lessons from the Screenplay. True Detective and Se7en share a number of
similarities. They both feature an investigation into a
disturbing series of murders. They both bring their characters and the audience
face to face with some of the worst horrors imaginable. And they both have themes which are ultimately
optimistic in nature. So today I want to talk about how these themes
are an integral part of the narratives. How they are expressed in the beliefs of the
main characters, their partners, and the serial killers they are hunting. And examine how exploring the darkest parts
of humanity can allow us to see the light. Let's take a look at True Detective and Se7en. In her book, Creating Character Arcs, author K.M. Weiland discusses the important connection
between character arc and theme. “Not only does character arc directly influence
story structure, it is also a direct influence on theme. In some respects, we might even go so far
as to say that character arc = theme.” So before we examine character arc, let's
establish each story's theme. There are many ideas explored in both True
Detective and Se7en as they ponder morality and religion and philosophy. But I think there is one central theme that
is reflected in the main characters' arcs and influences the story structure. At the beginning of the November 1st, 1994
draft of Se7en, there is a quote from Ernest Hemingway, which
eventually became the last line of the film. "Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is
a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." I think these lines concisely summarize the
theme of both Se7en and True Detective. The world is not a fine place. It's filled with inescapable pain and terrible
people. But there is also good, and at the end of
the day it is worth fighting for. So now that we have an idea of what the theme
is, let's examine how it relates to character arc, beginning with the beliefs of the protagonist. "Where you headed?" "Far away from here." Somerset has become cynical. He's repulsed by the apathy he sees every
day in his city, and he believes that he can't go on fighting
any longer. In True Detective, Rustin Cohle very clearly
expresses his nihilistic, antinatalist perspective. "I think the honorable thing for our species
to do is deny our programming." "Stop reproducing." "Walk hand-in-hand into extinction." At the beginning of their stories, Cohle has
embraced his pessimism and Somerset has succumb to apathy. But why are they this way? There's always some experience that has shaped
a character's beliefs. This is often called the character's ghost. A character's ghost, also referred to as their
"wound," is something in their past that haunts them. In their book "The Negative Trait Thesaurus, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi point out that... "Wounds are often kept secret from others
because embedded within them is the lie— an untruth that the character believes about
himself... Self-blame and feelings of shame are usually
deeply embedded within the lie, generating fears that compel him to change
his behavior in order to keep from being hurt again." Both Cohle and Somerset have ghosts that feed
into their pessimistic beliefs, and both have to do with their children. "You believe in ghosts?" Two-thirds of the way through Se7en, Tracy—Detective
Mills's wife—asks to meet with Somerset. They discuss her hatred of living in the city,
and her recently-discovered pregnancy. Somerset then reveals the only specific piece
of his backstory that we learn about— his ghost. "I had a relationship once, it was very much
like a marriage..." "I remember thinking, 'how can I bring a child
into a world like this?'" "'How can a person grow up with all this around
them?'" The conflict within his ghost is directly
tied to his struggle with the theme. Then comes the part of his ghost that haunts
him. "I told her I didn't want to have it, and
over the next few weeks...I wore her down." In this final part of the scene, we see a
glimpse of the lie within his ghost. "I'm positive that I made the right decision." "But there's not a day that passes that I
don't wish I had made a different choice." The inherent contradiction in these lines
demonstrates how Somerset is struggling with his beliefs...with the theme. In True Detective, Cohle's ghost also has
to do with the loss of a child. "I was married, Marty, for three years." "We had a baby girl." "She died." "Car accident, she was two years old." And just like with Somerset, Cohle's ghost
contains traces of the lie he's telling himself. Cohle: "You know, I think about my daughter now..." "You know, what she was spared." "Sometimes I feel grateful." In struggling with the pain of losing his
child, Cohle has managed to twist this loss into something he's grateful for. And in order to feel like your child was spared
the burden of existence, one has to believe that existence is a burden. The ghosts for both Cohle and Somerset establish
a clear reason why they believe what they believe, and hint that somewhere deep inside they both
know that they're lying to themselves. With these starting beliefs established, it's
the story's job to send them on a journey of change. And in both Se7en and True Detective, one
of the biggest keys to their change is their partners. At this point, it has become almost cliche
for two characters who can't stand each other to be partnered up, but it's a great way to generate conflict. And when it's done well, it's not just that the characters can't stand
each other because of behavioral, odd-couple traits, it's because they have intrinsically different
values. This allows for their conflict to be a discussion
of theme. In Se7en, Somerset and Mills have very different
outlooks on the world. After all his years on the force, Somerset
is quitting to get away from this place, while Mills... "You actually fought to get reassigned here." "I've just never seen it done that way before." "I thought I could do some good." Slowly, Mills helps rekindle Somerset's passion, reminding him why he finds value in being a cop. Until finally, toward the end of the second
act, Mills calls him out on the lie he believes. "You say that 'The problem with people is
they don't care, so I don't care about people.'" "It makes no sense." "I don't think you're quitting because you believe
these things you say." "I don't." "I think you want to believe them, because
you're quitting." This gets to Somerset. It shakes his beliefs ever so slightly, enough that he takes his metronome—the device
we've seen him use to block out the world, a symbol of apathy—and throws it across
the room, destroying it. Just as in Se7en, Cohle and Hart do not get
along at all. "Every time I think you've hit a ceiling you
just keep raising the bar." "You are like the Michael Jordan of being
a son of a bitch." Throughout the series, Hart serves to show
Cohle that there are other ways to look at life. "You're funny, Marty." "The shit you get soft about." But it's not necessarily the partner's job
to convince the main character that their beliefs are wrong. In fact, the main character's beliefs should
be so strong that words alone won't move them, and Hart's definitely do not move Cohle. "I just want you to stop saying odd shit." "Like you smell a psycho-sphere or your in
someone's faded memory of a town." "Just stop." "Given how long its taken me for to reconcile
my nature, I can't figure I'd forgo it on your account, Marty." It's only by truly overcoming the antagonist
that the protagonist changes. And True Detective demonstrates this in an
interesting way. It gives the characters a false victory. Cohle and Hart think they've gotten the killer
in 1995. And afterward, they each have a period that
Marty describes as... "Pretty good, for awhile." But it's not happily ever after, because their
journeys aren't complete yet. The real killer is still out there. Both Cohle and Hart have gotten what they
wanted, but not what they needed. By 2012, Hart even seems to realize this,
as he says... "You know, I cleaned up." "But maybe I didn't change." "Not the way I needed to." This false victory is one of the great benefits
of the limited series format. Se7en takes place over seven days, True Detective
takes place over seventeen years. Se7en is a two hour film, True Detective is
a story told over eight hours. This extra time allows for the two characters
to have a falling out, go their separate ways for a decade, and then reunite to finish what they began seventeen
years ago. And in order to finish it, they must overcome
the antagonist. As Nic Pizzolatto, writer of True Detective,
says of the finale, "I thought we could make room for one more
point of view, the dark mirror to our characters." On the spectrum of thematic orientation, Somerset
and Cohle's partners are the opposite of them. But the beliefs of the antagonists—the serial
killers they are chasing— are in many ways similar to the protagonists. "We see a deadly sin on every street corner,
in every home, and we tolerate it." "We tolerate it because it's common." "It's trivial." "We tolerate it morning, noon, and night." Both Somerset and John Doe are disgusted by
what they see in the city, and people's apathy toward it. Similarly, the serial killer in True Detective,
Errol Childress, has shades of Cohle in him. He's not a dumb, out-of-control murderer. He's self-educated and seemingly well-versed
in philosophy. "My ascension removes me from the disc in
the loop." This is a reference to the flat circle idea
first introduced in the series by Reggie Ledoux back in 1995... "You'll do this again." "Time is a flat circle." COHLE: "What's that, Nietzsche?" "Shut the fuck up." In regards to this flat circle idea, Nic Pizzolatto
explains that... "Childress believes the murders ritually enacted
over a period of time, upon his death, permit him an ascension that removes him from
the Karmic wheel of rebirth." Childress wants to ascend and escape this
existence. And Cohle has always been struggling with
the virtue of existence, and by the end of the series there are moments
that suggest that he's ready to die. "My life's been a circle of violence and degradation
long as I can remember." "I'm ready to tie it off." Both Rustin Cohle and Errol Childress believe
that existence, on its own, is not enough, and want to escape this life, one way or another. Having the protagonists come face to face
with what is, in some ways, an extreme version of themselves, is a way to force them to re-evaluate their
beliefs. So as they go into act three, there is only
one thing left. The final battle. Se7en has, in my opinion, one of the most
suspenseful climaxes of all time. As Somerset and Mills drive out into the middle
of nowhere, it seems impossible to guess how John Doe
could win given his situation. And what happens next leads to one of the
most famous scenes in film history. "What's in the fucking box?" "He just told you." While the scene is masterfully crafted for
suspense, it's the last decision made by Mills that
allows Somerset to complete his arc. There were actually several different versions
of this ending. For example, in one draft I read, Somerset kills John Doe before Mills can pull the trigger. This, apparently, was done to try to make
Somerset feel more active during these final moments. But I feel this would have robbed the film
of the true completion of Somerset's arc, which occurs in the final scene where Mills
is driven off. The captain asks Somerset... "Where are you gonna be?" And Somerset, despite all he's experienced
with Mills and witnessing John Doe's scheme go exactly as planned, says... "Around." "I'll be around." In fact, it's not despite what he's experienced,
but because of what he's experienced that Somerset is changed. His beliefs have been moved, not even toward
total optimism, but simply to the point where he won't give
in to apathy. And with his arc completed, the theme is fully
expressed. "Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is
a fine place, and worth fighting for.'" "I agree with the second part." COHLE: "On your knees, now!" "No." In the final battle of True Detective, Cohle
pursues the killer into the tunnels and is invited deeper into the twisted mind
of Childress. "Come on inside, little priest." Cohle is stabbed by Childress and a fight
ensues, in which Hart saves Cohle's life... ...and Cohle saves Hart's. The horrific journey that these two men have
been on was littered with suffering for many people, but in the end they did what they needed to
do and they found some kind of catharsis. And through this catharsis, Cohle changes. "It's just one story." "The oldest." "Light versus dark." "It appears to me that the dark has a lot
more territory." And in the last lines of True Detective, Cohle
corrects Hart in a manner that suggests a dramatic shift in belief, and fully expresses the theme. "You know, you're looking at it wrong, the
sky thing." "How's that?" "Well, once there was only dark." "If you ask me, the light's winning." Examining True Detective and Se7en shows how having a clear understanding of your theme can guide the decisions you make when creating
your story. And that when the design of the characters,
arcs, and setting serve the the theme, it provides a cohesion that makes for enjoyable
and powerful narratives. I sometimes step back and think about the
value of stories like these. I wonder why I enjoy films and shows that
explore the absolute worst parts of humanity, the atrocities we can inflict on each other. But I think that True Detective and Se7en
use these awful experiences to tell a tale of profound optimism. They show us that someone can be subjected
to the worst of humanity, and rather than fall victim to it, come out the other side with an even stronger resolve to keep fighting. To not give in to apathy. To make sure the light keeps winning. Hey guys! You may have noticed that I've mentioned the
book Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland a couple times now. I've been really enjoying it. She does a great job of explaining how to
make sure your characters and plot structure and theme are all intertwined. And because this video has been sponsored
by Audible, you can get the audiobook for free by going to audible.com/LFTS and starting a free trial. What is great about Audible is that they a
ton of books to choose from, including several of the other books I've
mentioned in previous videos. So if you want a free audiobook, and you want
to support this channel, go to audible.com/LFTS to begin a 30-day
free trial and start listening today. I also want to say a big thank you to all my patrons
on Patreon. When I started this channel, I didn't know
how long I'd be able to do it for, but because of you guys it has been a
year since my first video. So, thank you! If you want to support this channel on Patreon,
you can by clicking on the link below. I hope you guys enjoyed this video, and thanks
for watching.
Lessons always has a good videos about films and this might just be his best one yet. Taking two grim, dirty, suspense filled, nihilistic cop based film and show and who the similarities plus taking it from the direction of optimism, which is probably harder, and making it into what he did was brilliant. He is one of the channels on Youtube that don't have a lot of content, and is spaced out, but the stuff he has is always great and its a joy to see when he does put something out.
It never occurred to me to look at the character arcs of the two movies from an optimistic perspective. Both have horrific endings where none of the characters live their life in a better way or even the same way as before.
I think I'm most impressed with how LFTS is able to both see similarities in disparate works (same with his Whiplash vs Black Swan video), while using comparing and contrasting to look deeply at story telling.
Also True Detective and Se7en are fucking amazing.
Man, I'd be really be interested in knowing their breakdown of True Detective Season 2. That season was just... so hard to even think about.
I find it funny that right after I finished watching season 1 of true detective this video was uploaded, which then prompted me to watch se7en, glad I did!
You know I never realized the Antagonist from True Detective was doing it fir those reasons. I really need to re watch it.
I'm subbed to this channel and saw it this morning. What a great video. Probably his best yet.
As a struggling amateur writer myself (though not specifically for film), I was surprised to see that so many elements of what this video talks about was already intuitively known to me and put into practice in what I'm working on. I've been heavily influenced by the works of fiction that I have experienced, and it seems that from just viewing/reading them I have taken lessons to heart that I didn't even realize. This video really opened my eyes to how much one can learn from simply experience the work of others, but that analyzing and picking apart what you've learned from that can really cement it and deepen your understanding of what you've learned.
more LFTS! Yay!!!!!!
Really great video! Never thought of this comparison! Thanks!