Perhaps as a nod back to its predecessors, the entire series of True Detective was shot on film.Īs an outsider to the Louisiana area, Rust’s perception of the location is most likely to echo that of the audience, particularly non-American viewers with no first-hand experience of southern American life.

In terms of cinematography, a heavy grey tonality is applied to many of the shots in urban spaces, resulting in a cold, detached, and bleak portrayal, which is not entirely dissimilar to the pathetic fallacy visible in classic gothic cinema.

Through Rust’s dialogue, Pizzolatto reminds the viewer that the setting is fictionalised – that it is a reminiscent, rather than realistic representation of the American south. In episode one, entitled ‘The Long Bright Dark’, Rust states that “this place is like somebody’s memory of a town and the memory’s fading”. Firstly, the story is set in Louisiana, where Pizzolatto spent a childhood obsessed with The Twilight Zone. “Faulkner presents a Gothicised version of the American South, investigating madness, decay and despair, and the continuing pressure of the past upon the present.”Īll four of these points (pictured in red above) are explored within True Detective. Of Southern Gothic author, William Faulkner, contemporary academic authority on the Gothic, David Punter, states: © Generally Gothic | True Detective Stills, HBO Today on Generally Gothic, we will continue our close textual analysis of True Detective, Season 1.īefore diving into Part 2, make sure to read Part 1: ‘Time is a Flat Circle, here. The Gothic aspects of the series are presented as eternal, universal, and contextually realistic, resulting in an affective and lasting portrayal of what the Gothic may mean in a contemporary, Southern setting. Pizaolatto’s literary background is apparent in the complexity, detail, and heavy symbolism in his screenplay. Season 1 follows a pair of homicide detectives, Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), as they investigate a case which begins with the discovery of a murdered prostitute.īefore True Detective, which was his screenwriting debut, writer/producer Nic Pizzolatto’s was a professor of literature and creative writing at Indiana University, and a published fiction author. The initial eight-part mini-series (now known as season 1), which aired in 2014, is set in Louisiana, USA. True Detective is an HBO anthology series made up, currently, of 3 seasons.

True detective season 1 setting