NARCISSIST VS. NARCISSIST
The ENDING is revealed in these comments. Consider yourself warned.
In “There Will Be Bl00d,” we have two miserable men, both struggling to make it in the world by living through larger-than-life masks. Both survive by convincing people that they are special and deserving of the awe of others. The oilman, (Daniel Day Lewis character) only feels alive when he is making deals, proving to himself that he is smarter than others. Success doesn’t quench the thirst, because he is not looking for money or rest, but constant admiration. His fraudulent “psuedo-self” is revealed painfully when he bullies an associate into “taking back” a comment he’d made about the oilman. The associate complies mostly because he is embarrassed for the oilman’s reeking show of insecurity.
The preacher of the Church of the Third Revelation feels alive when he seen as special and gifted with the power to call on God and win hand-to-hand combat with the devil. He preys (and prays) on the members of an isolated congregation he views as lesser beings than himself. His true character is revealed in his interactions with his parents and his sisters whom he despises for their naivety and “stupid compliance.”
These two are locked in a war of false egos. The oilman must treat the preacher badly to “prove” his superiority and the preacher, in turn, humiliates the oilman to prove himself better. The two likable characters are the oilman’s young son (adopted) who lives as an extension of his father, more like an extra arm that he controls, until a rig accident causes him to go deaf. The boy’s deafness only infuriates the oilman. He sends him off to a special school (by lying and tricking him). The other likable character is a man (Henry) who shows up impersonating the oilman’s half-brother in hopes of getting work. When the oilman realizes he’d been duped, he murders Henry.
Two of the more interesting elements of narcissism come to a head as the story closes. The son tells his father that he is leaving for Mexico with his wife to start his own company. The oilman makes sneering remarks about his son’s use of an interpreter in speaking with him . . . though he has not, in all these years, made any attempt to learn signing. For him, his “extra arm” was damaged goods. He could love what he wasn’t puffed up proud about. In true narcissist fashion, when the son tells him of his decision, the oilman throws the son out of his life. After all, for him, his favor only lasts as long as you make decisions with which he agrees, and by the way, it works even better if you just let him apply his superior mind and decide for you.
The final scene shows the endgame for the narcissist. The two of them alone and empty, fighting like little boys until the oilman “proves” he’s the “better” man by killing the preacher. I hope you’ve seen this movie, with me telling the ending and all, but if not, remember you were warned.
Writers’ Note: The theme of the movie is a part of every scene, no wasted scenes. Good theme carrying sentences: “I never want any one else to succeed.” “I don’t like people very much.”
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