Madonnas and Whores

So I like True Detective. Like, a lot. Apparently so does everyone else. I honestly thought it was a show that only a few special, clued-in people were watching, but after the sixth episode this last week (there are only eight this season) suddenly everyone’s talking about it. It’s all over my Facebook feed. All over the media. The DJs on 96.5 the Buzz were even talking about it Monday night when I drove home from work.

The show is very well written and veteran actors Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are so good at what they do it almost hurts to watch them work their craft. (I’ve read several comments about how so many people doubted McConaughey’s acting skills before this part, but I’ve always been a McConaughey fan. Mostly because of his iconic role in Dazed and Confused, but also because of this interview he once did on the Conan O’Brien show. I dare you to watch it and not love him.)

ANYWAY. There has been much discussion about the female characters in the show. There’s been controversy/criticism about how, in contrast to the fully drawn and complex male leads, the female characters seem … thin. And there’s some real analysis and discussion about this. But there’s nothing to discuss. The female characters on True Detective aren’t just uncomplicated, they can be pretty much broken down into two camps: Madonnas and Whores.

Thusly:


Presumed whore.



Whore

Daughter facing camera: Whore.
Daugher with back to camera: Madonna.

First Madonna, later Whore.



Whores, literally.

Does this make me not like the show? Not at all. Am I sure what it means? No. True Detective creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto has hinted that next season’s season might feature female leads. If so, it’ll be interesting to see how he writes women. It has been pointed out, correctly, that True Detective does what The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo does: it illustrates how some men put women in boxes (Madonna or Whore) and otherwise dismiss, belittle, demean and abuse them. But The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo also shows the women’s side of things—how and what they think as well as their complexities. True Detective doesn’t do that at all. Rust is complex to a degree that’s both fascinating and comical. Even Marty in his stereotypically male simplicity is complex—he has himself fooled into thinking he’s a great family man, when in actuality he’s a huge failure.

Whether or not the show is yet another shitty Hollywood representation of women remains to be seen.

Perhaps the most apt comment I’ve read written about all the hullabaloo surrounding the misogyny of the show came from an African American woman who added her two cents to a True Detective discussion thread:

“White people problems.”

Heh.

What do you think about the show? I'm curious.