Story Telling: Contextual Research [Luther – An exploration into conflict through character]

Luther – An exploration into conflict through character.

A look at how the opening sequence of ‘Luther, Season One – Episode One’ creates builds drama through the use of main character John Luther.  

 There are very few modern TV series that have more drama and conflict than BBC’s crime drama ‘Luther’. As such, I thought it the perfect place to look for inspiration in finding the drama in my ideas. I have decided to focus only on the

 From the very beginning, Luther is filled with tension as we see a scared man running through a factory setting, being chased by a much larger man (whose face is obscured by a hood.) The hooded man walks quickly, immediately displaying a physical prowess that the scared man does not, even when the hooded man speeds up he seems to only need take larger strides in order to catch up. Once the frightened man is cornered, audiences discover that the imposing, hooded man is protagonist, John Luther and the man he is chasing is Henry Madsen, a serial kidnapper and murderer. The show immediately defies audience’s expectations by defying two major crime drama conventions: hoods being worn mainly by criminals and the scared, running character is normally the victim.

 Henry Madsen immediately finds himself in a situation where his life rests in Luther’s hand. Without hesitation, Luther begins taunting and questioning Madsen without mention of saving him. This very subtly establishes Luther as a character who may not always play by the rules in order to get results and foreshadows towards his character’s later moral dilemmas. After obtaining an answer from Madsen, Luther continues to question him further, showing his character’s distrust as well as a past with Madsen’s character. Luther’s dark side is revealed further; he violently shouts “You lied. And lied and lied” hinting at his anger issues which becomes one of the journeys Luther’s character undergoes throughout the season. The sense of tension is also built trough camera work, using a harshly differently angled tilt shot on each repetition of the line “you lied.”
 Luther continues to leave Madsen’s life in his hands until he is assured that Madsen’s recent victim, a young girl, is alive. At this point it becomes more clear that although John Luther’s character is the protagonist (and as a police officer we should believe he is a high standing character) he is morally ambiguous to the point he is willing to play god.

I believe that one of the most subtly defining moments of John Luther’s early introduction comes through a reaction shot of DCI Ian Reed, who is at the scene where the victim is and conversing to Luther via mobile phone. Reed hears Madsen’s character screaming at Luther, begging him to help through the phone and hangs up. There is an implication here that Madsen’s character may be used to Luther’s reckless behaviour.

 From here, Luther continues to stubbornly refuse to help Madsen, questioning him further despite him being on the brink of death and even seeming to begin his power. Luther mentions that he dug one of Madsen’s victims out with his own hands and audiences begin to sympathise with Luther’s character. This is contrasted by a shot of Madsen’s slipping hands and Luther’s shoe inching closer. Madsen’s character loses his grip and falls to his death. Editing plays a big hand here in further increasing the tension as Luther begins to break down. Through a few choppy cuts, audiences become disorientated, similar to how John appears to feel. This forces audiences into sympathising with Luther through editing alone.

 It was very insightful to see how scripting, camera work and editing can display a large amount of information about a character in such a short amount of time and in such subtle ways.