One of my favorite parts of True Detective are the philosophical discussions and literary allusions throughout the show. I thought I’d make a thread to talk about the literary – either written or visual – allusions and the philosophical elements in episode 1, “The Western Book of the Dead.”
If you have others that I’ve missed, please put them in the comments and I’ll be sure to add them and give credit. I’ll also use elements of a couple other posts and, again, will give credit and link to the relevant user.


“Never do anything cause of hunger, not even eating.” – Frank Semyon

This is a key point in the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, the French novelist, playwright, essayist, and philosopher. Sartre was one of the primary atheistic existentialists; an outline of his beliefs can be found in Existentialism Is A Humanism.
Existentialism’s core tenet is that “existence precedes essence.” What this, effectively, means is that there is nothing outside of yourself that constrains you. You are not born a coward, you become a coward. Even this formulation, “you become a coward,” would most likely unsettle someone like Sartre. He would probably say “You are not a coward, you act cowardly.” Therefore, at any moment, the coward can turn and, rather than run from the battle, plunge into the fray head-first. We act in “bad faith” when we fail to recognize this truth and constrain ourselves with chains that are of our own making. We say “I can’t do A because I must do B.” But we really don’t have to do B; we have simply chosen that B is, for whatever reason, what we ought to do, even if this reason is not evident. Thus, when someone says “I’m a bad parent, therefore I shouldn’t interact with my child” or what have you, Sartre would step in and say that they have erected a false essence which causes them to act in bad faith. In reality, you have radical freedom to decide how you will act.
In Existentialism is a Humanism, Sartre mentions eating as rarely being a choice. Often, it is simply in response to the stimulus of hunger. For Sartre, this is far too passive of an act to be truly free. (Describing this, it sounds a bit odd, but there is a deeper layer present in the essay.)
Thus, when Frank says “Never do anything cause of hunger, not even eating,” what he is really saying is “Don’t be constrained. Stop acting in bad faith and pretending that you have limitations you don’t. Choose to do everything that you do. Be active, not passive.


Antigone’s father

Though a small part, Antigone’s father (can’t seem to find the character name online), drops some important ideas right off the bat.
First is the glimpse of a Dostoevskyan hippie. I don’t have the episode in front of me and I can’t seem to find a transcription anywhere online, so I’ll have to paraphrase.
“First, you have to recognize that we live in a meaningless world. But this was not how it was meant to be. God did not create a world without meaning. Hold these two thoughts as irrevocable truth.”
This idea is both very Dostoevskyan and very Hegelian. First, Dostoevsky.
With the picture of Ray in the bar with his brown swag going so closely resembling the famous Fyodor Dostoevsky portrait, I was on the look-out for anything FyDo. Dostoevsky, if you haven’t read him, is famous for placing characters who feel a strong moral imperative in such grim situations that the world seems to collapse upon them, draining any sense of justice from their bodies like summer sweat. I think this is what Ani’s father is talking about.
Karl Ove Knausgaard speaks of Dostoevsky’s “ideal” in My Struggle Vol. 2. Though he often depicts terrible things in his work, Dostoevsky is a very moral writer. There are clearly things which Dostoevsky feels are right and good and those he feels are wrong. But examining these situations, FyDo’s characters have difficulties, near impossibilities, distinguishing these. You can see his characters fighting to synthesize the ideal with the real – the heavenly with the earthly – life with death – happiness with sorrow, etc.
As far as Hegel goes, the exercise Ani’s father is leading, though monastic it seems, is actually a pretty Hegelian in nature. Hegel proposed the idea of a synthesis, merging a thesis with an anti-thesis to create something. This is probably one of the most influential pieces of thought in the history of thought. From Hegel comes Marx, Nietzsche, Foucault, Baudrillard, Butler, and a thousand others (obviously, not exclusively).
The second thing Ani’s nameless dad drops is the Ginsberg reference. This is not referring to the nipple-less MadMen ad man, but to Allen Ginsberg, an American beat poet from 1950-2000s. Ginsberg is famous for a number of reasons, one large one being the obscenity trial which occurred following the publication of Howl and other poems. Ginsberg was a Beat (friends with Neal Cassidy, Jack Kerouac), a group of writers who came out of the American Transcendentalist tradition (Emerson, Thoreau, Walt Whitman) and led to the hippie movement of the late 60s and 70s. (The Merry Pranksters were originally Beats, iirc.)
Ginsberg was an interesting poet, very mystical in nature. I think Ginsberg would have loved the Yellow King stuff in season 1 and would have adored that Santa Muerte skeleton at Casper’s house. Howl, his most famous, though probably not his best, poem, is set largely in an asylum where hallucinations run rampant. Ginsberg also experimented with a good deal of LSD. Here’s him reciting a LSD poem on William Buckley’s The Firing Line. Listen to that fucking meter flow so goddamn naturally. Don’t care much for Ginsberg, but the guy can write a line of meter very well, especially in free verse.
I think this goes to show us that Ani and her father have a deeper foot in the mystical pond than we may suspect.


Antigone herself

Antigone is, obviously, an odd name. It took an odd couple to name their child Antigone. One, the mother, an actor – this makes sense seeing as Antigone was a play written by Sophocles and performed in Ancient Greece as part of the Theban cycle. The other is a mystic teacher, which can make sense, seeing as Antigone exists in a world where the gods routinely reach their hands into the earth and play around with humans. However, the narrative of Antigone, the whole Theban Cycle in fact, is important.

It's well-pointed out some similarities here. It may be necessary to go a bit further.
The ultimate conflict of Antigone is one of radical choice (see the Sartre part above). Antigone’s brother is killed in battle and lies in scorn outside of the city, open to the scavenging animals. The victorious king, Creon, has forbade anyone – under pain of death – to bury the brother, wanting to make his death an example. However, Antigone feels she cannot allow her brother to die in such disrespect and sets out to bury him herself, knowing this will mean her death. Eventually, Creon is convinced to let her free but not before she kills herself. Then, Creon’s son, who was Antigone’s fiancé, kills himself. And Creon’s wife, who just lost her only remaining son, kills herself as well.
This being said, I cannot imagine that our Antigone will have a happy character arc.
The parallels are definitely not exact between the stories, which is a good thing. Casper, seeing as his eyes have been put out, would parallel Oedipus, who is Antigone’s father (in the Theban Cycle). Casper, as far as we can tell, is not Ani’s father (unless TD gets very soap opera-y).



Mulholland Drive

As a car goes up an entrance ramp to a highway, there is a sign that says “Mulholland Drive.” MD is, obviously, a street in LA, but is also the name of a David Lynch film.
Lynch is a very unique filmmaker. Many people are familiar with Twin Peaks, Lynch’s TV show. I’ll be honest and say I’m not a Lynch afficienado. I’ve read a great essay on Lynch by David Foster Wallace. There’s also an interview with DFW about Lynch on Charlie Rose.
Lynch often mixes realism with things that are so damn far from realism, they are hard to understand. Here is where I think NicPizz is prepping us using the nude-Asian-woman-in-a-milk-bowl.
From If others would like to add things here, I’d be happy to see them.



Santa Muerte


Inside of Casper's destroyed apartment, the only item found there that isn't sex / phallic related is a skeleton with an Egyptian like crown on it. The skeleton is a Santa Muerte icon. You can see the picture on wikipedia[1] . I believe she's even holding a globe, which is common for icons of Santa Muerte. I've seen her a lot in folk Catholicism around LA, veladoras and so forth. As far as her significance, it could mean: - Casper is a member of the church of Santa Muerte (seems unlikely) - Casper's practicing some kind of folk Catholicism, curanderia/brujeria, or similar rituals (fits with the Season 1 Yellow King themes) - they just threw it in to look badass and creepy (disappointing, but seems most likely)
From there, it gets a bit less clear.


Mrs. Seymon

I’d wager that Mrs. Seymon will turn out to fit the Lady Macbeth trope pretty accurately. Firstly, we see her being supportive and talking down to the one henchman for being a dumbfuck. Secondly, she’s a redhead. I can just about count on one hand how many female redheads in TV and film that aren’t evil.



The Book of the Dead


First, the title of the episode is Western Book of the Dead. This drew my attention to two popular texts. First, the Egyptian book of the Dead. Second, the Necronomicon. I like the allusion to the Necronomicon more because it's largely attributed to HP Lovecraft, the same style author related to the King in Yellow from Season 1.
I'm not very familiar with either books, so if others would like to chime in, I'd be happy to add your comments.


One more that was missed:

In Casper's apartment, one of the only non-explicit paintings depicts the death of Ophelia, from Hamlet. Ophelia, as you may recall, fell into the waters of a river and was so grief-stricken that she did not fight to stay afloat - she resigned herself.
Sounds very familiar to Ani Bezzerides' mother who committed suicide by walking into a river and letting it sweep her up.


Thoughts?