THE BLACKLIST: An insight into the personality of Raymond Reddington

 

THE BLACKLIST

An insight into the personality of Raymond Reddington

 

Blacklist is a crime drama with action that was created by Jon Bokenkamp. It was originally released in 23^rd September, 2013 and has been on till now with 152 episodes that runs for about 42mins in seven seasons. Blacklist is a thriller movie that have won several awards

The movie features characters like Raymond Reddington, Dembe Zuma, Elizabeth Keen, Harold Cooper and the many others. Raymond Reddington (James Spader ) being our central focus has a lot to teach from which we shall be making an extract, particularly on friendship.

This write up was born at a period when the writer can be said to have had many experiences as regards friendship. It was written to counter the pre-conviction of the present day youths on friendship in particular reference to the Nigerian youth. We shall also have a little insight to Aristotelian concept of friendship

Raymond Reddington

Raymond Reddington according to the movie is a crime fugitive who has been on the USA federal government list of most wanted criminals who submitted himself. He did this and was able to secure an agreement with the government by saying that he has a list of criminals which he can help the government to with. With this he gained immunity and worked with a secret FBI task force.

Raymond has a lot of qualities such as intelligence, bravery, foresight, loyalty, self confidence, trust, true to friendship, oratory and calmness. As a result of these qualities, Raymond was able to sell this movie to an international level. Raymond on another level has some deficiency in personality which we can see in his selfishness, greed and desire to gain wealth. We can also see that he has issues with trust which appear to be in contradiction to our earlier stand on trust. We shall however look deeper.

Raymond on friendship

Throughout the movie (up to the recent episodes acted) we can see Raymond say he has friends in different places who helps him to run his businesses both legal and illegal. There are so many salient qualities that came to play in the life of Raymond as a friend. This we shall do in bits

Personality of Raymond Reddington

Raymond was portrayed to be a crime fugitive with government immunity although was later discovered to have been a secret government agent. Raymond as a person have self worth an can also identify his value hence he said “I am exactly who I am and I can assure you, I am a far more better and interesting person.” He is one who knows exactly who he is and what he wants despite pressures and external force. This plays a role in his calmness of life that responds fast to very important things and at the shortest time. He can make a difference because he knows exactly who he is. We can therefore say that Raymond is in the second level of authentic existence according to Kierkegaard. This is because the society does not dictate his being and according to Heidegger he is living in his own existence.

As a person who knows what he wants at different occasions in life, you can see the absolute absence of fear in whatever he does. Although in government custody, Reddington still went about his business and a result of personal conviction. This then paints a perfect picture of his brave personality who believes that the leaders are the cause of the fear that exists among the people, hence he believes in freedom with responsibility. As a foster parent to Elizabeth Keen you can notice the freedom he gave to her because for him “People are afraid because the leaders taught them to be.”

Reddington is a man of carefulness, intelligence and foresight. This can be perfectly seen in his life of well preparedness. Every part of him thinks about today and tomorrow with total negligence to the past. This you can notice when he said “I have always believed that who you are should define you not who you were. I don’t know anyone who should be more at peace with who they are than you. Whatever decision you make going forward, I hope can grant you peace”.

His carefulness and choosey character can tell you that although he makes and made a lot of friend across the globe he respects loyalty and true friendship. As a character in the movie you can hear him say that he admires loyalty as a rule. As a person also who lives in the world where there are no rules he had to make some for himself for survival purposes. Thus one can see his carefulness and hard work in the statement, “I leave nothing to fate but I am perfectly comfortable with chaos that is why I trust that whatever happens is probably meant to be”. This can be seen to be the reason why he is selective of his friends and goes a long way to put them to trial because he abhors betrayal. He selects people of same interest and probably of like minds. There are others who he met and they proved to be of true friendship

When your life as a person is good enough for you then it will be for others. You don’t expect people to trust you and love you when such lacks in your personality. This can be seen in the words of Harold Cooper, “Reddington is not the person you think he is. He is a much better person than I give him credit for.  I on the other hand am not”.

Friendship; an extract from the life of Reddington

The Nichomachean Ethics divided friendship into three which includes pleasure, utility and virtue. This can be seen in the reason and way we relate to someone who we say is a friend. The Christian ideology also had their own division which can be seen in eros, philia and agape type of friendship. Whatever be the reason, one usually has a particular need for a person. Hence, Reddington friendship can be one which by the end of write up we will discovered there is no reason but that it lives in you.

Trust: Raymond is a character that is portrayed to have issues with trust yet he trusts people. This goes in total contradiction to the normal idea of trusting no one. Raymond has a lot of friends though he was a criminal. His friends ranges from Dembe, Elizabeth Keen, Harold and the many others. One thing common about all of them is that he trusts all of them. One can also see that there were periods which can be said to be periods of betrayals but Reddington did not count so much on it. For him, “people rarely changes and when they do they are not to be trusted.” An example of a changed friend can be seen in the person of Katerina.

Trust as a quality is one that must exist in every friendship. It involves making ourselves consciously vulnerable to our friends and for our friends. It is not just sharing of personal information that makes close friends if not banks will be our closest friends. It involves sharing what friends care about, values that are essential. It involves trusting your friend’s goodwill towards you. Trust among friends shoud be deontological.

One can see a lucid example when Dembe was stock up in a van that is air tight, he and others held hostage in the van has about 2 hours to live before the oxygen expires. He trusted his friend Reddington , he believed Reddington will come before the expiration of the oxygen even to the dying minute and Reddington still appeared as expected he would. Trusted friend mirrors his life in that of his friend. He does for his friend according to the Kant’s categorical imperative (for its own good and not for any reason).

Reddington on the other hand has no room for one who betrays his trust, for him they can never be trusted. He has this to say, “Trust is so fragile, where it exists anything is possible, between people or nations. But when it does not ot worse when a bond of trust is broken there is no greater betrayal.” This then points to the fact that the trust and interest of a friend must be guarded jealously

For Reddington friends are not fungible: wherever you see Reddington you will see Dembe, they share in each other’s being. Reddington cannot easily replace his friend because of the value he placed on them. You can see that when Elizabeth was framed to have died, Reddington saw his world as a shattered world which is without purpose. Another can be seen whenever he notices Dembe or any other of his friends to be either in trouble or held hostage. For him, every other thing can wait if his friend is not comfortable.

Reddington had many issues with Elizabeth and Dembe particularly that warranted Dembe’s withdrawal to follow his own path. He was not fast seeing the necessary change he expected of Reddington but after a while he came back. He returned to Reddington in a period of trouble. He said to him, “I choose to follow my path and my paths still lead me to you.” This is the non fungible nature of friendship.

Special duties: a friend is specially obliged to his friend not for any reason but for the reason of being a friend. He owes a duty to his friend. This then points to a philosophical argument on the morality of friendship. For Reddington, there are no morals once a friend is in trouble. He can do worse than the mind can imagine just saving a friend. He can go to the extent of trading his life. This can only be possible in true friendship. He owed duties to his friends and their families just because of his friends and not for any other reason.

Honesty of purpose and reason: this can be said to be specially related to trust and contradicts selfishness. For him being good for selfish reasons don’t make you good, it makes you good at being selfish. In friendship there is no room for deceit and lies no matter how painful. This can be seen fully in his relationship with Dembe. Dembe always points out the truth of every action to Reddington although he might still back him up if he refuses to accept such truth. There is an absence of betrayal and lies. It is therefore paramount to note vividly that there is usually no secret among friend however he believes that one can be in an honest relationship and still keep secrets.

In friendship most of the time there is no time to think, one feels, one lives in the moment and comfort of his friends company. This is due to the honesty of intention and trust.

Respect of privacy and values: one can notice that in the course of this movie that Dembe was a Muslim who believed that Reddington could change. Reddington on the other hand was not a believer but Reddington respected every aspect of Dembe’s religion, he never looked down on it nor stopped him. Dembe on the other hand respected Elizabeth who was precious in the sight of Reddington.

Intrinsic value: there is a mystery has to what actually relates Reddington to Elizabeth Keen. This is as a result of the intrinsic value that Reddington has added to the life of Elizabeth Keen. Same goes with Dembe. This intrinsic value is founded in love and trust which gives rise to care. Friends always look out for the other friend. The care experience involves both sympathy and action. Any friend who only sympathises with you without action does not attach any intrinsic value to you. In such sympathy,  there is always an ulterior motive and purpose

“If acting out of friendship is composed of purposes, dispositions to have purposes, and the likes, where these are purposes properly so-called, and thus not essentially described by the phrase ‘out of friendship’, there seems... no guarantee that the person cares about and likes, has friendship for, the ‘friend’. (Stocker 1981,756-57)

Exceptions: Reddington does not believe in forgiveness, for him there is a reason why his friend portrayed a particular action. He does not believe in perfection, in fact he believes “you do not have to be perfect to be the best at what you do.” Reddington also has so many other rules and principles guiding him but such are not for his friends. He has a rule for his friends on others as a result he is aggressive when you trod carelessly on the path of his friends. For Reddington there appears to be no morality in friends, they make their own morals.

There was however occasions when his friends erred, he felt betrayed. He felt they deserved death but on the long run he forgave them. For him, “forgiveness is not accepting what you have done but understanding that the line dividing good and evil comes with the heart of all of us.” This then leads us back to his initial saying that people rarely change. Once there is trust in the purity of intention there is always forgiveness.

Reddington as against Aristotle’s concept of friendship

Aristotle’s concept of friendship was summarised into five of which some contradicts Reddington’s

·         A friend is one who wishes and does good things to a friend for the friend’s sake. This could be aligned to Reddington’s. He sees his friend as an end itself and not a means

·         Wishes the friend to exist and live for his own sake: same with the above

·         Spends time with his friend: this is not entirely so in the course of Reddingtons friendship. A friend must not always be with his friend as in the case of Dom

·         Makes same choices as his friend: this not completely true when there is respect of choice whether good or bad. However, with time the choices of friends begins to compliment the other

·         Find same thing pleasant and pain: this is equally not true as in the case of Reddington. We all have our choices to make

Conclusion

The Blacklist portrays a type of friendship that can be workable in the 21^st century. It is one that we can say lives in us, we become a replica of our friend. Through our friend we can see ourselves. Reddington had this to say after a little misunderstanding with Dembe;

Our friendship was born on suffering and desperation, trust and compassion. It grew in crisis and chaos with curiosity and scholarship. Our live together has been peaceful simplicity, our live together has been death defined. I am not sure if the right word is friendship or love, I just know it lives in me for as long as I live and hopefully longer. I ran away to things about you and me and all I can think of is that I miss you, us.

We conclude with the words of Elizabeth, we may not have bigger lives but he have each other.” Let us learn to live in our friends