David Duchovny stars in the TV series, “Californication” as a blocked writer with a variety of interpersonal and emotional challenges. The first season of this series depicts a talented, successful author with impulse control issues who hasn’t written for years despite the agonized pleas of his agent, ex-lover and others. Instead of writing he spends his time drinking, screwing, getting into fights, trying to be a parent, and desperately trying to win back the affections of his ex, who is about to marry a less colorful but more stable man.
The ‘blocked writer’ is a common theme in movies and literature, and is generally a metaphor for an unresolved inner conflict that the hero must resolve before the ink flows again. In Duchovny’s case, his breakup accelerated a spiral of self-destruction, which includes abandoning his art.
The show is funny and depressing. One suspects that the script writer(s) has had some personal experience with writing blocks.
