Smallville: Seven Basic Plots (Part II)

[bop_radar]

Part I of this series of essays on plot structure in Smallville is available here

Spoilers through to Season 5 Reckoning.

2. Rags to Riches

Comments

[mskatej]

Chloe's mother could be considered a Dark Mother, maybe?

Also, small thing. You've got spoilers through to Reckoning (Jonathan's death), not Lexmas. *g*

You rock!!

[bop_radar]

I did think of Chloe's mother. And then I thought it would be distracting to list her as I was concentrating on Clark and Lex, and then I forgot about it! So thanks.

Thanks for the spoiler pick-up. Eep! I try to be good, but I forget.

[frelling_tralk]

Awesome!

[bop_radar]

Thank you! :)

[norwich36]

I love how the "Dark Other Half" reinforces the slashy readings of SV.

[bop_radar]

Trust me, it was better when I had that realisation as I read through the book! They fit *every* characteristic of Dark Other Half except sex/gender. (Booker sticks to conventional tales for the most part, although he does explore subversions later on, so he said that Dark Other Halves have to be of the opposite gender. Remove that sentence and his passage on them fits Clex perrrrfectly.)

[norwich36]

Well, I assume the origin of Booker's "Seven plots" is Jungian archetypes. (At any rate, *most* similar types of analysis come from Jungian archetypes). And there the Dark Other Half would be the Shadow, which in Jungian analysis is literally your other half--the parts of yourself you fear/hate/are ashamed of that you project onto other people.

[bop_radar]

Cute icon!
You assume correctly, insofar as it is one of his main origin's, though he also discusses Jungian limitations.

[bop_radar]

That's a really interesting argument. I agree that Lillian is an ambiguous character. My personal reading of the Lillian plot is somewhat different. I don't think Lillian's actions are solely responsible for the rift between father and son. I think there are many indications that things were very unwell in that house before then. For example, in the Pilot, we saw Lionel bullying Lex into being 'brave'. We know Lionel had affairs. We see glimpses or hints that he was emotionally abusive to Lillian (and Lex!) and that this is what drove her to 'protect' Julian at all costs. The act of a mother killing their child most often happens when they feel that they are threatened. The implication is that Lillian felt this from Lionel. Yes, she suffered from psychosis, but even if it was pure projection on her part (and I don't think it was! after all, he'd already killed his parents!), why didn't Lionel get her proper help

[amandajane5]

The essential absence of the dark mother figure here makes me think of the Buffy/Angel, and, well actually Firefly too. Okay, so Jossverse where no one has a good father. It seems here, only Clark has a good mother, and that's why he becomes the hero. Or something.

Also? This is much fun!

[bop_radar]

Yes, it's interesting. It's certainly very different to Jossverse. Fathers play a much more active role in SV.

I've thought about this a bit and I think that having both father and mother active in parenting him, does make Clark 'special'. It's as if the balance of forces is right. Whereas in other character's lives, there is some essential imbalance resulting in the mother having less role in their lives:
- Lex lost his mother young and both parents had 'dark' aspects
- Lana lost both parents
- Chloe lost her mother to mental illness
- Lois lost her mother.

I really enjoyed the start of S4 when they explored the influence of mothers. And I think it's exciting to see how Clark's relationship with his mother unfolds now Jonathan is gone.

I'm glad you are enjoying the essays! :)