When I saw the movie, then read the script, a name from the past blasted into my mind: Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He wrote a book called "The Power of Positive Thinking" which sold millions of copies worldwide a few decades back. Three prime tenets: • How to eliminate that most devastating handicap — self doubt • How to free yourself from worry, stress and resentment • How to climb above problems to visualize solutions and then attain them Two of these - 1 and 3 - apply to Lou in Nightstalker to a tee. "Eliminating all the negative thoughts that prevent you from achieving happiness and success, The Power of Positive Thinking is an inspiring program that will help you create a positive change in your life." Sounds like Lou. What's interesting in Nightstalker is there is this whole positive thinking theme crossed with some deeply 'negative' behavior: theft, physical violence, extortion, interfering with police investigation, manslaughter (how Lou takes out his news gathering rivals), and assassination (how he deals with his partner Rick). Of course, Nina lives in a similar morally confused world, an A-type personality driven by ratings success and willing to do pretty much anything to get there, making a career off violence meted out against an endless stream of victims. Another theme: Masks. Lou wears the cool, calm mask of professionalism and positivism. But then there is a moment where we see the unbridled reality of madness coursing through his psyche: here. Similarly local TV 'news' stations. The mask they convey through their promo ads, a family of reporters we can trust, then stripped away to see Nina and her unbridled lust for ratings - if it bleeds, it leads. What we are left with is an impression of the madness of our time, an obsession with success and a willingness to do pretty much anything to achieve that success, morality be damned.

I, too, took Lou's mouthing of positive thinking clichés as an ironic contrast to his negative behavior. All his relationships are negotiable transactions. I'll give you this in exchange for that. He gives nothing to nobody out of mere good will because he has none. He's "pure id" -- a sociopath. I also saw Lou and Joe -- and Nina -- has media vultures feeding their careers off the carrion of other people's suffering. The disunity ---> unity trajectory in Lou that I saw is that he finally finds an occupation -- a lawful occupation -- that is a perfect match for his sociopathic tendencies. Because the business of chasing after sensational news stories is itself pathological, a ferociously competitive business driven by insatiable demands of the market, the never-ending need for ratings. What bleeds, leads. Lou, at last, has found his calling.

"Lou, at last, has found his calling." Exactly. Which just goes to show a character can have a Disunity to Unity arc that doesn't fall into a 'positive' category, at least if we want to judge it from a moral standpoint. His ascent to power is a 'positive' to Lou. Existentially... not so much.