True Detective is an all American crime series drama produced by Nic Pizzolatto. Season one stars two Vermilion Parish, Louisiana State Police Detectives, Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson as Marty Hart. Masculinity is a leading theme the first season of True Detective. The show objectifies women, portraying female characters only as objects to be rescued or as trouble for the men. True Detective reels the audience into the world of criminal justice with a style, vision and direction that makes it hard for viewers to turn away. The murder investigation’s twists and turns, coupled with the drama of the detectives’ family lives, make the episodes attention grabbing. You cannot wait to watch …show more content…
True Detective aligns the audience with the lives of Rust and Marty, who have the qualities and mannerisms traditionally associated with manly men, especially strength and aggressiveness (Rosenberg). Instead of only showing them doing detective work on the street like many other popular crime shows, this series follows the detective’s home and shows you their personal lives. All the way through the season, Rust and Marty struggle to fight with their internal demons. They take their problems on in separate, but similarly harsh ways. For instance, when Rust’s marriage fails and his daughter dies, he dedicates four years to an undercover drug unit. Rust and Marty’s struggles with problems such as alcohol and cheating captures the reality that cops have to juggle difficulties in their home lives sometimes more than the average person. Alcohol is a great example of a strong theme thorough out the series. Alcohol is used to measure the manliness and strength of the male characters …show more content…
For Rust, the young girls on the ranch are just things to be used. Rust is not as obvious as being a misogynist as Marty. He knows that he is not a good man and he believes this is necessary to keep the other bad men away from the innocents. Marty asks Rust, “You wonder ever, if you’re a bad man?” Rust responds, “The world needs bad men, we keep the other bad men from the door.” Even though Rust doesn’t have any significant women or children in his life, he views himself as the guardian of them. Rust is a hard and dangerous man