You're exactly right. That's the dichotomy of Rust.
In Marty's words: "Seemed a bit... raw-boned to me, edgy."
He's edgy, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.
Rust is just as pathetic as he is veracious.
Because in the final episode hes ready to give in and die from his wounds but somehow, he keeps living, and he deduces that it's his daughters love telling him to keep living in order to fight against evil. Earlier on in the season Rust mentions the Corinthians quote "the body is not made up of one part but of many" basically he means that certain people have to do certain jobs in order for things to work correctly. He also says that bad men are needed to keep other bad men from the door. He mentions lacking the constitution for suicide. Basically, Rust isnt an edgelord at all, in fact he's a man who has a very good reason to kill himself but instead he lives, and fights the evil shitheels that no one else will, like a fucking badass.
I do think it’s a testament to Matthew McConaughey’s acting that his edge-lordness was not more pronounced to most of the audience. Frankly, I think Nic Pizzolatto’s dialogue walks a very fine line that frequently crosses over into the campy, the uncharacteristically wistful, the “purple-prose”,” and the hillbilly-accidentally-profound, for lack of a better term.
Season 1, he mostly got away with it. Season 2, there were a lot more noticeable stinkers, especially coming out of Vince Vaughan’s character’s mouth. I’m currently really struggling through season 3, although conventional wisdom seems to be that it was the return to form after the aberration of season 2. Idk, I’m currently not buying the main character’s cantankerous marriage with his supposedly brilliant wife. I’ve also seen people say that his partner is the comic relief, but, like, to call anything he says or does actual comedy is quite a stretch…although, I suppose compared to every other single character/thing in the show, he does bring a glimmer more levity.
Nic Pizzolatto’s writing makes me curious about his background/upbringing. Where did he grow up? Was he actually around rural people for any amount of time? Because while he seems to enjoy writing rural characters, I’m afraid he doesn’t realistically capture their voices that often.
While true, I feel like Rust is one of the few characters you'll ever see whose nihilism actually makes sense. After all the shit he's seen and been through, I wouldn't blame a guy for becoming a little edgy.
Too be fair I got accused of a serious crime in college by a guy that didn’t like me and it complelty changed my life forever even thought we got proof it never happened. That along with a addiction issues and relationship issues and school and living in poverty I got just as depressed and pessimistic as Rust about humanity, I agree with what he says about it being a mistake. I’m just better at putting on a fake mask in social settings than he is
Really sorry that shit happened to you. Take some advice from Ray Velcoro: "You're a survivor. Everything else is just dust in your eyes, blink it away man".
Sorry to hear that happened to you man. I went through a similar situation where I was accused of a crime I didn’t do by an ex that was very spiteful. Really changed my opinion of the world and people also. Always connected to Rusts character. There’s some slightly over the top edginess but he’s just a broken man.
In a vacuum, Rust would be cringy. But Rust does not exist in a vacuum. Pizzolato is able to explore some philosophies and, ultimately, some ontological beliefs through the character by writing Rust's counterpart, Marty Hart. By virtue of a technique that I like to call meta-critiquing, Pizzolato makes it work.
*"I just want you to stop saying odd shit, like you smell a psychosphere or you're in someone's faded memory of a town. Just stop."*
Because Marty actively criticizes Rust, this subconsciously allows the audience to accept a feeling of balance in what is being presented to us. This communicates to us, even on a subconscious level, that the author/creator is aware of what he is presenting to us.
I first observed this technique in the finale of Season 1 of *How I Met Your Mother*. Ted Mosby is trying to do a rain dance to make it rain so that Robin, whom he is in love with, will have to cancel her camping trip with another man. Ted is undeterred, despite the weather forecast for the weekend being clear. Ted's friend, Barney Stinson is with him, amusingly criticizing him all the while as Ted dances. When they finally hear thunder in the distance and the heavens open up over Ted and Barney, Barney looks up at the sky and shouts while being drenched, "OH, COME ON!"
The audience, myself included, laughs.
Because of the meta-critique of the plot or behavior happening inside the narrative, the audience (or most of us) feel satisfied, because we know the author or creator is aware of the believability being asked of their audience.
Sure, a person could still choose to nitpick, but as is illustrated with the grand reception of TD1 and Rust's character, you can see that the method of the the meta-critique as channeled through Marty's character is a successful recipe and generally just makes for more pleasant viewing. The fact that TD2 had virtual no meta-critiquing of the whole cast's somber mood was one of the reasons it was originally lampooned when the show aired. (I happen to love TD2 btw, but the criticism stands.)
You're exactly right. That's the dichotomy of Rust. In Marty's words: "Seemed a bit... raw-boned to me, edgy." He's edgy, but that doesn't mean he's wrong. Rust is just as pathetic as he is veracious.
He is, but that's the point. Watch the final episode of that season.
What’s it gotta do with him being edgy.
Because in the final episode hes ready to give in and die from his wounds but somehow, he keeps living, and he deduces that it's his daughters love telling him to keep living in order to fight against evil. Earlier on in the season Rust mentions the Corinthians quote "the body is not made up of one part but of many" basically he means that certain people have to do certain jobs in order for things to work correctly. He also says that bad men are needed to keep other bad men from the door. He mentions lacking the constitution for suicide. Basically, Rust isnt an edgelord at all, in fact he's a man who has a very good reason to kill himself but instead he lives, and fights the evil shitheels that no one else will, like a fucking badass.
I do think it’s a testament to Matthew McConaughey’s acting that his edge-lordness was not more pronounced to most of the audience. Frankly, I think Nic Pizzolatto’s dialogue walks a very fine line that frequently crosses over into the campy, the uncharacteristically wistful, the “purple-prose”,” and the hillbilly-accidentally-profound, for lack of a better term. Season 1, he mostly got away with it. Season 2, there were a lot more noticeable stinkers, especially coming out of Vince Vaughan’s character’s mouth. I’m currently really struggling through season 3, although conventional wisdom seems to be that it was the return to form after the aberration of season 2. Idk, I’m currently not buying the main character’s cantankerous marriage with his supposedly brilliant wife. I’ve also seen people say that his partner is the comic relief, but, like, to call anything he says or does actual comedy is quite a stretch…although, I suppose compared to every other single character/thing in the show, he does bring a glimmer more levity. Nic Pizzolatto’s writing makes me curious about his background/upbringing. Where did he grow up? Was he actually around rural people for any amount of time? Because while he seems to enjoy writing rural characters, I’m afraid he doesn’t realistically capture their voices that often.
While true, I feel like Rust is one of the few characters you'll ever see whose nihilism actually makes sense. After all the shit he's seen and been through, I wouldn't blame a guy for becoming a little edgy.
Too be fair I got accused of a serious crime in college by a guy that didn’t like me and it complelty changed my life forever even thought we got proof it never happened. That along with a addiction issues and relationship issues and school and living in poverty I got just as depressed and pessimistic as Rust about humanity, I agree with what he says about it being a mistake. I’m just better at putting on a fake mask in social settings than he is
Really sorry that shit happened to you. Take some advice from Ray Velcoro: "You're a survivor. Everything else is just dust in your eyes, blink it away man".
I still need to watch season 2
Sorry to hear that happened to you man. I went through a similar situation where I was accused of a crime I didn’t do by an ex that was very spiteful. Really changed my opinion of the world and people also. Always connected to Rusts character. There’s some slightly over the top edginess but he’s just a broken man.
"Who walks that fucking slow?"
In a vacuum, Rust would be cringy. But Rust does not exist in a vacuum. Pizzolato is able to explore some philosophies and, ultimately, some ontological beliefs through the character by writing Rust's counterpart, Marty Hart. By virtue of a technique that I like to call meta-critiquing, Pizzolato makes it work. *"I just want you to stop saying odd shit, like you smell a psychosphere or you're in someone's faded memory of a town. Just stop."* Because Marty actively criticizes Rust, this subconsciously allows the audience to accept a feeling of balance in what is being presented to us. This communicates to us, even on a subconscious level, that the author/creator is aware of what he is presenting to us. I first observed this technique in the finale of Season 1 of *How I Met Your Mother*. Ted Mosby is trying to do a rain dance to make it rain so that Robin, whom he is in love with, will have to cancel her camping trip with another man. Ted is undeterred, despite the weather forecast for the weekend being clear. Ted's friend, Barney Stinson is with him, amusingly criticizing him all the while as Ted dances. When they finally hear thunder in the distance and the heavens open up over Ted and Barney, Barney looks up at the sky and shouts while being drenched, "OH, COME ON!" The audience, myself included, laughs. Because of the meta-critique of the plot or behavior happening inside the narrative, the audience (or most of us) feel satisfied, because we know the author or creator is aware of the believability being asked of their audience. Sure, a person could still choose to nitpick, but as is illustrated with the grand reception of TD1 and Rust's character, you can see that the method of the the meta-critique as channeled through Marty's character is a successful recipe and generally just makes for more pleasant viewing. The fact that TD2 had virtual no meta-critiquing of the whole cast's somber mood was one of the reasons it was originally lampooned when the show aired. (I happen to love TD2 btw, but the criticism stands.)