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Same Ol' Schtick
Sep. 16th, 2014 02:45 pmWhile reading this Q&A with Starz Tobias Menzies on the mindset of his Outlander character(s) 18th Century "Black" Jack Randal (and 20th Century Frank), it suddenly struck me why Black Jack's speech about the way that brutalizing and torturing Jaime was "an artform" was the familiar old Angel/Angelus schtick.
Both characters came to view destruction and torture (of something good) as being an 'art form'.
Then again, both characters are essentially sociopaths, so I guess that makes some sense.
Excerpt:
Q: Speaking of that interrogation from the "Garrison Commander" episode, you have this really intense monologue where Black Jack reveals a darkness inside of himself and he's almost lamenting that the terrible things that he's done in his past cannot be undone. It's exposing, but eventually false. How much of that speech was real to Captain Jack, and how much of that was him just delivering BS to Claire to lower her guard?
Menzies: I very much approached it as though it was real. That he meant what he said. But he's not adverse to using the truth as a weapon against someone else. {...} my suspicion is he may well have said this to other people in the past {...} Jack isn't just a sociopath, someone who just behaves incredibly unpleasantly. We get to see someone who is shaped by his experience of war. That is the root of why he does what he does [but not in the way that Claire thinks]. But in a way, that the pathology is the reveal, that is the way that he will use that. He's sort of shameless about using it against someone else, using it as a tool. {...} But yeah, I think he's quite precise. I don't think he's a constant violent person. He has weird 'artistic' standards.
Both characters came to view destruction and torture (of something good) as being an 'art form'.
Then again, both characters are essentially sociopaths, so I guess that makes some sense.
Excerpt:
Q: Speaking of that interrogation from the "Garrison Commander" episode, you have this really intense monologue where Black Jack reveals a darkness inside of himself and he's almost lamenting that the terrible things that he's done in his past cannot be undone. It's exposing, but eventually false. How much of that speech was real to Captain Jack, and how much of that was him just delivering BS to Claire to lower her guard?
Menzies: I very much approached it as though it was real. That he meant what he said. But he's not adverse to using the truth as a weapon against someone else. {...} my suspicion is he may well have said this to other people in the past {...} Jack isn't just a sociopath, someone who just behaves incredibly unpleasantly. We get to see someone who is shaped by his experience of war. That is the root of why he does what he does [but not in the way that Claire thinks]. But in a way, that the pathology is the reveal, that is the way that he will use that. He's sort of shameless about using it against someone else, using it as a tool. {...} But yeah, I think he's quite precise. I don't think he's a constant violent person. He has weird 'artistic' standards.
