A part of Thomas Zane’s tragedy is that he can’t make himself the main character for fear of being vulnerable. In all his works, for all his pride, the closest he gets to his real self is in his poetry. And what did that get him? Trapped in the Dark Place, his lover Barbara lost, only a ring and a pastiche of her as a reminder, never able to fully move on.
And so he turns to film, still in that same moody poetic style of his which leaves much to interpretation. He plays the Diver, the Writer, the Rhymer, vaguely characters loosely based on himself.
But perhaps that’s the problem. They’re loose caricatures. He can puppet them around but they’re not really him. He can’t ever be vulnerable, because vulnerability brought him suffering. Despite trying to be every role, he can’t be true to himself. At best, he pushes his worst traits onto Alan, his analogue, someone LIKE him but distinctly NOT him. It’s easier. It’s less vulnerable. But that’s the same mistake Alan makes in his escape attempts. The mistake Rudolph Lane made until the end. You need to be vulnerable and yourself in your art to transcend. Zane can’t do that.
But you know who is excessively vulnerable on film? Who constantly shows his true colours, good and bad? Casper Darling: Zane’s latest collaborator.
It’s art and science. Maybe, just maybe, this time will be different. But only if Zane takes the plunge too.
WAIT DUH! He can't be vulnerable on film because HE CANNOT BE TRUTHFUL. He is NOT True Thomas the Rhymer. He is the opposite. It's only when he becomes True Tom that he can go beyond the shadows he's settled for.
Also, "Beyond the shadow you settle for, there's a miracle illuminated" and "I'm being sent one more lesson, something wonderful, I think"... they sound like they're analogous, given the context
