Half Life - Buffy vid

[big_n_happy]

Song: Half Life - The Sneaker Pimps
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Vidder: cvalda
Summary: Slayer mythology filtered through trip hop.
Notes: Wanky response to latest Buffy rewatch. My second fanvid to this song (first was a Who vid). Took forever due to various computer issues.

Comments

[rbfvid]

I feel a bit silly leaving such a bland comment, but I already rewatched it 3 times and I love your vid so much! I think I love it more and more with every rewatch.

[big_n_happy]

thanks! I'm glad it rewards rewatching, I like to pack things densely (not in the sense of tight editing necessarily, just like dense referentially) and hope they make any sense at all. Anything in particular stand out, if you don't mind my asking? Good to have a sense of how people respond

[rbfvid]

Depends on the definition of "stand out" =) It's very well-paced video, so there are no parts that would stick out. Though there are some wow-moments, like that transition around 2.22, from whitout of Buffy's death to the white sheet.
But if you ment it as "how did you interpret this vid"... For me it is about making a choice even in the circumstances that don't allow any choice. NOT being a Slayer is not an option, it was forced on them. But they all still make choice - between different aspects of slayerhood. Being a slayer is just a part of them.

[big_n_happy]

thanks! I was looking for both any technical and any thematic feedback.

Intention was actually bleaker than that - slayerhood, particularly singular slayerhood, as a form of alienation from self and community. The way that alienation also involved a hierarchy between Buffy and others (Faith, the Potentials, Nikki & Robin Wood). Very S7, with Chosen as the resolution. But what you say makes sense - slayerhood as a part of various people with different trajectories

[big_n_happy]

(warning more wanky meta, this is my jam)

I like your idea of 'choice without a choice.' Guess I'd also say there's other things imposed on the slayers than slayerhood - obviously gender, but also race and class. So Faith didn't just make different choices to Buffy, she also didn't have the same support networks and resources - I thought Who Are You showed that quite well, hence zeroing in on that episode. Not sure I conveyed that well, but then, also went pretty hard on the ambiguity

[rbfvid]

Yeah, none of the canon slayers got as good deal as Buffy did. Not that hers was particularely appealing... but Faith, Kendra, Nikki, Xin Rong and many potentials didn't even have that chance.
"Minor character's fate" curse (if you are not a main character in supernatural show, you are screwed). Ones are naturally entitled to become the lead, others are not. Being a chosen one without actually being The Chosen One is a tough deal...

[big_n_happy]

yeah after a certain point you can't help feel the narrative logic is heavily guided by the "the" in the title (Chosen of course addresses that in one big dramatic gesture)