The Witch-- B 1.03
Okay, I'm way behind fajrdrako-- but now I'm watching The Witch and here are my thoughts:
Actually, I was asked on a blog when it's good to start a book with dialogue, and my first answer (very seldom) wasn't elucidating, so I started thinking about one example (not a book) where a dialogue opening spectacularly works, and it's here in this episode, when a pan shot of the high school is voice-overed by Giles, deep in a conversation (with Buffy, natch).
This Giles opening is a good example of dialogue openings that work, at least for comedy, as it's immediately undercut by not-dialogue (a quick cut to her in a cheerleader outfit). (Transcript is from www.buffyworld.com.)
This is madness! What can you have been thinking? You
are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you! (begins pacing) I make allowances
for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and
instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this... (stops pacing)
Cult?What's fun about this opening? Well, first, it's not our first encounter with Giles, so we know it's him by his voice. We already know he's a bit pompous. But even if we didn't know about his character, we can glean from his speech pattern -- "What can you have been thinking?"-- whoa, buddy, what a sexy tense! Most of us would say, boringly, "What WERE you thinking?" But not Giles. He is precise-- using the modal (can) and the present perfect continuous (have been thinking). So notice that the dialogue is more than just the conveyance of a quick hook or of information-- it is in his voice, and tells us a lot about him. It's also not just one stray line-- there's plenty there to give us some information about the "sitch," as Buffy would say. So... what do we know from this passage of opening dialogue?
We know Giles is a man (of course, we can hear his voice on TV), and we know he's a bit pompous. We know he sees himself as in charge here (I make allowances) but we can tell he's not really in control (she's done something he disapproves of). We know he is not a tyrant. He rants at her-- he doesn't behead her. We know he's talking to the Slayer, who is young. We know lives depend on her, yadda, yadda, again to quote Buffy. We know a central conflict for him is between her youth and her responsibility, and another might be his sense of powerlessness both to protect her youth and to make her accept her responsibility. He's not really in charge, and he senses that.
And of course the dialogue sets up the big joke, that this terrible cult he's worried about is... cheerleading. And that punchline is NOT in dialogue but a sight gag-- on the word "cult," the camera cuts to show Buffy in a cheerleading uniform. (And it actually, later, transpires that he's sort of right.)
So the cut to Buffy finally....
"I just want to do something normal... something safe!"
Joss is always having characters say things like that, and then immediately showing how this (whatever it is) isn't safe at all. Boy, see how this sets up (are you getting bored with this? :) Spike's entrance, which starts with Xander:
Xander: It's no biggie. You'll have a nice soire'e. The parents will
love it. As long as nothing really bad happens between now and then,
you'll be fine.
Buffy: Are you crazy? What did you say that for? Now something bad is
gonna happen!
Xander: Whadaya mean? Nothing's gonna happen.
Willow: Not until some dummy says, 'as long as nothing bad happens.'
Buffy: It's the ultimate jinx!
Willow: What were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all?
(Notice Willow saying "What WERE you thinking?")
And then we see Spike driving his ugly deSoto and knocking down the Welcome to
Sunnydale sign... the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" entrance. :)
---
And so... we see the evil in The Witch-- a cauldron! It looks all scary and
cavelike, but I think it's actually a basement. And we then see the witch, whoever
it is, using a Barbie cheerleader as a voodoo doll... and cutting it down.
--
Xander is all hormones, but who could blame him? Lots of "scantily clad women
in revealing poses," as Willow says. He gives Buffy a good luck gift that
shows his love/lust for her-- notice Willow's upset.
We meet Amy! Elizabeth, Amy will come back several times in the series.
She's so young here!
We get the notion that cheerleading is WAY serious, and a lot more serious
than Buffy imagined. She doesn't get it-- this is supposed to be fun. The other
girls working out are much, much more adept than Buffy, and she's got to
feel sort of bummed by this. I mean, isn't she the Slayer, the Chosen One?
And yet all these girls are crazy good-- splits, flips, cartwheels, sexy
"Laker Girl" numbers.
Notice that Willow's the one who sees Amy and greets her, says she lost a
lot of weight-- "Had to," Amy says grimly. Buffy seems much more like Amy's
type, but her connection to Willow suggests that maybe she used to be more
intellectually attuned.
Amy shows this-- making a literary allusion, "Oh, how do I hate this?
Let me count the ways," when she's watching the auditions.
Actually, I was asked on a blog when it's good to start a book with dialogue, and my first answer (very seldom) wasn't elucidating, so I started thinking about one example (not a book) where a dialogue opening spectacularly works, and it's here in this episode, when a pan shot of the high school is voice-overed by Giles, deep in a conversation (with Buffy, natch).
This Giles opening is a good example of dialogue openings that work, at least for comedy, as it's immediately undercut by not-dialogue (a quick cut to her in a cheerleader outfit). (Transcript is from www.buffyworld.com.)
This is madness! What can you have been thinking? You
are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you! (begins pacing) I make allowances
for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and
instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this... (stops pacing)
Cult?What's fun about this opening? Well, first, it's not our first encounter with Giles, so we know it's him by his voice. We already know he's a bit pompous. But even if we didn't know about his character, we can glean from his speech pattern -- "What can you have been thinking?"-- whoa, buddy, what a sexy tense! Most of us would say, boringly, "What WERE you thinking?" But not Giles. He is precise-- using the modal (can) and the present perfect continuous (have been thinking). So notice that the dialogue is more than just the conveyance of a quick hook or of information-- it is in his voice, and tells us a lot about him. It's also not just one stray line-- there's plenty there to give us some information about the "sitch," as Buffy would say. So... what do we know from this passage of opening dialogue?
We know Giles is a man (of course, we can hear his voice on TV), and we know he's a bit pompous. We know he sees himself as in charge here (I make allowances) but we can tell he's not really in control (she's done something he disapproves of). We know he is not a tyrant. He rants at her-- he doesn't behead her. We know he's talking to the Slayer, who is young. We know lives depend on her, yadda, yadda, again to quote Buffy. We know a central conflict for him is between her youth and her responsibility, and another might be his sense of powerlessness both to protect her youth and to make her accept her responsibility. He's not really in charge, and he senses that.
And of course the dialogue sets up the big joke, that this terrible cult he's worried about is... cheerleading. And that punchline is NOT in dialogue but a sight gag-- on the word "cult," the camera cuts to show Buffy in a cheerleading uniform. (And it actually, later, transpires that he's sort of right.)
So the cut to Buffy finally....
"I just want to do something normal... something safe!"
Joss is always having characters say things like that, and then immediately showing how this (whatever it is) isn't safe at all. Boy, see how this sets up (are you getting bored with this? :) Spike's entrance, which starts with Xander:
Xander: It's no biggie. You'll have a nice soire'e. The parents will
love it. As long as nothing really bad happens between now and then,
you'll be fine.
Buffy: Are you crazy? What did you say that for? Now something bad is
gonna happen!
Xander: Whadaya mean? Nothing's gonna happen.
Willow: Not until some dummy says, 'as long as nothing bad happens.'
Buffy: It's the ultimate jinx!
Willow: What were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all?
(Notice Willow saying "What WERE you thinking?")
And then we see Spike driving his ugly deSoto and knocking down the Welcome to
Sunnydale sign... the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" entrance. :)
---
And so... we see the evil in The Witch-- a cauldron! It looks all scary and
cavelike, but I think it's actually a basement. And we then see the witch, whoever
it is, using a Barbie cheerleader as a voodoo doll... and cutting it down.
--
Xander is all hormones, but who could blame him? Lots of "scantily clad women
in revealing poses," as Willow says. He gives Buffy a good luck gift that
shows his love/lust for her-- notice Willow's upset.
We meet Amy! Elizabeth, Amy will come back several times in the series.
She's so young here!
We get the notion that cheerleading is WAY serious, and a lot more serious
than Buffy imagined. She doesn't get it-- this is supposed to be fun. The other
girls working out are much, much more adept than Buffy, and she's got to
feel sort of bummed by this. I mean, isn't she the Slayer, the Chosen One?
And yet all these girls are crazy good-- splits, flips, cartwheels, sexy
"Laker Girl" numbers.
Notice that Willow's the one who sees Amy and greets her, says she lost a
lot of weight-- "Had to," Amy says grimly. Buffy seems much more like Amy's
type, but her connection to Willow suggests that maybe she used to be more
intellectually attuned.
Amy shows this-- making a literary allusion, "Oh, how do I hate this?
Let me count the ways," when she's watching the auditions.