Between the Shadow and the Soul: A Film Analysis of Beneath You
I've been wanting to analyze a BtVS scene ever since I took a film analysis course and Marta's Meta Comment-A-Thon finally inspired me to give it a try. So here's my brief analysis of some of the technical elements of the final scene in Beneath You. (Here's a good reference for film analysis terminology.)
( Film Analysis of Beneath You )
( Film Analysis of Beneath You )
Whedon's church is the church of humanity, of humanism. There is no loving, all-powerful deity looking out for us. The best we can ever hope to do is look out for each other.
THIS ! THIS!
Except I've just gone on a bout a load of religious stuff, but it's just made me realise that Joss wrote Spike and Angel as TOTAL products of their time and culture, stereotypical examples.
Mustn't forget William's poetic Romanticism - as though his character trait of being Love's Bitch, of everything being about love, actually stems from a Victorian fascination with Romantic Love - and I always get the feeling that this was growing as a basis for marriage at that time, slowly maybe, rather than the social contract. [Not a historian on this period - stuff I've picked up that could be way inaccurate!!]
Or at least, the Social contract was firmly in place - Cecily ( if you don't see her as Halfrek!!) I often think was rejecting William as an 'unsuitable partner' for her social standing ( guessing she was wealthier or from a family in better standing), whereas William the poet was infatuated with head in the clouds ideas of marrying for love, of being a Knight to Win the fair Lady ( yeah ok, this not being modern, but the Victorian thing for Mythic Medieval romance - bet William loved the Pre-Raphaelites !! :-) There is an academic paper on Spike and Courtly Love:
http://slayageonline.com/Volumes/Slayage_Volume_2.pdf)
OMG !!!!!!!!!!!
This is the most BIZARRE post I've ever posted on LJ, or perhaps on the internet. Cos it's SO BLOODY LONG.
And really, I should do something about starting to use my empty account here. I'm writing all this stuff as it comes to mind. But if I post it over on my LJ no-one will SEE it !! Ghost-town that it is - because I don't write fic, or know how to do manips or vids. Have ever known what to put there. Though recently have thought I should come back to LJ a bit, and put fic recs in my journal. Now I'm thinking - write some meta. But no-one knows me really, so where would I put it on LJ so that the Btvs/Ats fandom would see it??
Anyway, hope you don't mind such a humongous post . :-s
Btw, did I invent the word 'fangeek' today? Fed up with fangirl/ fangirly at the moment - my feminist sensitivities are up towards 'girlishness' !
hey, fangeeks of all genders squee - I know they do! *g*
ALSO I have this 'thing' of nearly always being late to the party on the net - especially in fandom! When everybody else has already left the party, so I can comment, like some kinda party observer, but not have a conversation. Boo :(
So no-one except maybe angearia will probably see this - and sometimes I think writers don't notice comment alerts that are after the 'event is over', so I'll understand if there's no response to this. But at least it's not like when I give feedback on fic that's like 4yrs old!! :)
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YES. I love this, too. They're both living symbols of their times, displaced by supernatural means. A bit like how Buffy's the living symbol of the Valley girl, only displaced by her Slayerdom. And beneath all of this, they're so very human. We can see their cultures in broad strokes, but they're still unique, quirky, human.
Anyway, hope you don't mind such a humongous post . :-s
I don't mind at all! I love it. I know exactly what you're feeling as I tend to get excited about this stuff, too, and how your mind just races and you write hurriedly to get it all down. It's very fun for me to read! :)
P.S. Friending you. <3
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But ohh, my empty LJ .... gonna have to do something about that.
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