"I'm going to ask you to describe this man in as much detail as you can. What's the most distinctive feature on his face? It would be the eyes. He's called Kristian Hadeland. Twenty years old. Narrow eyes, high cheekbones. He's a photographer, wants to be a photographer. And he is ruthless, obsessive. He wants to be an artist for whatever price it takes. There's something that kind of releases all of that and he's very successful."
"When I was 20, I wanted to be a writer. And I felt like, you know, I could cut off my right arm just to make it happen. And I failed, and I failed, and I failed. And that feeling is kind of the core in him. What does it mean to be without empathy? What does it give you? Well, it gives you freedom. You can do whatever you want because you don't have to care about the consequences."
Kristian Hadeland is a twenty-year-old photographer with narrow eyes and high cheekbones who is ruthless and obsessive in his pursuit of art. He desires success so intensely that he will pay any price, embracing an absence of empathy that allows disregard for consequences. That lack of caring brings artistic freedom and success but also deep guilt as past actions return to haunt him. The figure prompts questions about the origins of cruelty, the possibility of narcissism or emotional absence, and how identifying with such a character forces examination of one’s own unpleasant impulses.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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