Along with a number of interesting points (I especially liked
the observation of how the PI used to be the outsider friend
to a cop, but now the outsider needs someone even further
outside), Richard wrote:
"I suspect the shady sidekick is often born of the same need
[for the story to get from here to there], not some
philosophical motive."
It can't be both? At any given point, there are always a wide
variety of ways to get a plot from here to there. So aren't
the paths authors choose for their characters indicative of
all sorts of things about the way they view the world,
including their philosophical motives?
And does the author even have to be aware of the
philosophical implications of the choices he makes on how to
get the story from here to there? It seems to me that your
point about the black man doing a white man's dirty work
(with which I agree) probably falls into this category.
Mark
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