I'm completely sure that Madonna reference was deliberate--I mean, that halo is REALLY obvious, and the edges are really clear--my husband, who sometimes looks at me funny when I get all excited about this kind of stuff, took one look at that shot and said, yep, that's a halo. That kind of precise lighting is something you can't get without preparation.
I've been doing community theater for thirty years, and my husband is the tech director for a local college theater department, so I can tell you from experience that the lighting guys had to set that up so that the light was in a pretty tight focus to get that much containment, and it probably had to be a special kind of instrument in a particular place so that the light isn't so bright it puts her into silhouette or so dim that we can't see it or so diffuse that the edge is indefinable.
And even if that kind of light source happened by accident, the director still put the actor's mark directly in front of it, which means he had to line up the shot so that he'd get her and the light source in the frame.
I agree that for a dream world, that's pretty weird, especially the way the timeline with the dog's injuries doesn't seem to match up with what Amelia is saying about the antibiotics. That dog was completely healed when he ran into her room, and if he was healed, he wouldn't have needed the antibiotics.
I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Amelia's butt-ugly plaid wallpaper means...
Oh hey! I've done community theatre for about that long too. :) I know that every thing is planned for every shot and I love the way you've matched the two images. the heart necklace is particularly curious (and makes the image of her being madonna more convincing).
I just wonder what they are trying to say with it. I feel so weary of speculating, so I'll just be patient and wait. It does give me more hope that there's more than meets the eye with Amelia.
And re the wall paper - there's always something that's "off" in all the flashbacks. It's only every small details but I wonder if it's there to feed into that feeling. Like spaghetti and hotdogs. If Amelia was this perfect person in Sam's "dream world" she wouldn't be a grumpy vet who lives in a strange looking motel room and makes awful dinners. Ack...I just don't know. IT'S ALL GOT TO MEAN SOMETHING! (and it's thoughts like this that I think make each episode so disheartening. I keep hoping for some clever piece of information that will confirm any of this stuff we saying.
Well, lk737 said in an earlier comment that Amelia could be pregnant, and since we usually see a mother associated with the image, like the picture on the wall behind Ellen in "Good God, Y'all" and the statue on the mantelpiece in "Sex and Violence," I think it's possible, especially since they've been establishing parity between the brothers in all sorts of things this season--"normal" year off, demon friend the other brother wants to kill, brother went to other dimension and the other one didn't go look for him (lk737 talks about that in this thread). I don't know how to feel about that, actually...
And I hadn't noticed that kind of wrongness in every flashback, but now that you mention it, yeah. Maybe that's why they're making us all twitchy.
I think we'll start seeing some payoff for all this setup sometime after midseason--looking at the season as a whole, from a narrative point of view, we're just getting into the second act, and nothing ever gets resolved in the second act.
Speaking of, yay! Another theater geek!
I just really, really want you to feel better about this season, because you do such cool meta!
I have to be honest and say that if Amelia announces she is pregnant that might possible be the end for me. *sniff* I just...the whole relationship has been one big soap fest and a pregnancy will just compound that for me. I suppose if the whole thing had been manipulated somehow then maybe...maybe I could buy into it but in the end nothing good can come from it so...ack! I just don't know.
It certainly is a mother image and if anything I'd love to see it relate to Mary (actual mother) somehow. No idea how of course. Maybe e Mary Winchester sent someone to look after Sam maybe. But nah.. that doesn't make sense. That whole scene with him with Amelia's dad is just to awful (in terms of it being so awkward and very "real"). If Amelia was sent to watch over or look after Sam she wouldn't be so messed up and Sam's flashbacks wouldn't be so weird. I keep wondering why Amelia isn't created to be someone we like. I am pretty sure she's deliberately unlikable. (I seriously HOPE they've thought about that. If Carver thinks he has created a perfect match for Sam then he clearly doesn't understand Sam OR us).
There probably really isn't "wrongness" is all the flashbacks. They all just feel rather...um.. contrived, which (I think) gives us the feeling that something is "off" about them. But then again...it might just be us looking really hard to find something because we desperately want to believe that a) Sam really did look for Dean - or at tried to and b) if he didn't we want a damn good reason why. So far they haven't given us that. They've told us that his world imploded but all we've seen is him looking pretty happy and trying to live a "normal" life. I think we need (or maybe its me) to actually see Sam at his absolute lowest to buy that he dropped out of the hunting life to pursue a romance.
I'm sorry....I've just blabbed about the issues I'm personally having. I'm still trying to reconcile it all. I also (desperately!) want to feel better about this season because I just love the show too much to enjoy being annoyed with it. I just want it to make some sense and for them to show us that they understand Sam. And I need it to be more than just relationship drama - which, in all honesty, is the way I see it going. Both brothers will, at some stage, have to make a decision to actually stay with the other one. Sam will have to chose between Amelia and Dean and Dean will have to chose between Benny and Sam. Lots of angst before anything is even remotely resolved. I hope, at least, they continue to give us awesome visuals.
And yeah - I've been acting since I was a teen. I've also directed quite a few shows. I love it. It's been a while since I've been on the stage and I miss it terribly. Just too busy, but I hope to get back to it some day soon. :)
Thanks for the chat and I'm sorry to keep being negative. I don't mean to be. It's just what comes out when I think about the season atm. :((
I've been doing community theater for thirty years, and my husband is the tech director for a local college theater department, so I can tell you from experience that the lighting guys had to set that up so that the light was in a pretty tight focus to get that much containment, and it probably had to be a special kind of instrument in a particular place so that the light isn't so bright it puts her into silhouette or so dim that we can't see it or so diffuse that the edge is indefinable.
And even if that kind of light source happened by accident, the director still put the actor's mark directly in front of it, which means he had to line up the shot so that he'd get her and the light source in the frame.
I agree that for a dream world, that's pretty weird, especially the way the timeline with the dog's injuries doesn't seem to match up with what Amelia is saying about the antibiotics. That dog was completely healed when he ran into her room, and if he was healed, he wouldn't have needed the antibiotics.
I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Amelia's butt-ugly plaid wallpaper means...
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I just wonder what they are trying to say with it. I feel so weary of speculating, so I'll just be patient and wait. It does give me more hope that there's more than meets the eye with Amelia.
And re the wall paper - there's always something that's "off" in all the flashbacks. It's only every small details but I wonder if it's there to feed into that feeling. Like spaghetti and hotdogs. If Amelia was this perfect person in Sam's "dream world" she wouldn't be a grumpy vet who lives in a strange looking motel room and makes awful dinners. Ack...I just don't know. IT'S ALL GOT TO MEAN SOMETHING! (and it's thoughts like this that I think make each episode so disheartening. I keep hoping for some clever piece of information that will confirm any of this stuff we saying.
Perhaps soon...
xx
Reply
And I hadn't noticed that kind of wrongness in every flashback, but now that you mention it, yeah. Maybe that's why they're making us all twitchy.
I think we'll start seeing some payoff for all this setup sometime after midseason--looking at the season as a whole, from a narrative point of view, we're just getting into the second act, and nothing ever gets resolved in the second act.
Speaking of, yay! Another theater geek!
I just really, really want you to feel better about this season, because you do such cool meta!
Reply
It certainly is a mother image and if anything I'd love to see it relate to Mary (actual mother) somehow. No idea how of course. Maybe e Mary Winchester sent someone to look after Sam maybe. But nah.. that doesn't make sense. That whole scene with him with Amelia's dad is just to awful (in terms of it being so awkward and very "real"). If Amelia was sent to watch over or look after Sam she wouldn't be so messed up and Sam's flashbacks wouldn't be so weird. I keep wondering why Amelia isn't created to be someone we like. I am pretty sure she's deliberately unlikable. (I seriously HOPE they've thought about that. If Carver thinks he has created a perfect match for Sam then he clearly doesn't understand Sam OR us).
There probably really isn't "wrongness" is all the flashbacks. They all just feel rather...um.. contrived, which (I think) gives us the feeling that something is "off" about them. But then again...it might just be us looking really hard to find something because we desperately want to believe that a) Sam really did look for Dean - or at tried to and b) if he didn't we want a damn good reason why. So far they haven't given us that. They've told us that his world imploded but all we've seen is him looking pretty happy and trying to live a "normal" life. I think we need (or maybe its me) to actually see Sam at his absolute lowest to buy that he dropped out of the hunting life to pursue a romance.
I'm sorry....I've just blabbed about the issues I'm personally having. I'm still trying to reconcile it all. I also (desperately!) want to feel better about this season because I just love the show too much to enjoy being annoyed with it. I just want it to make some sense and for them to show us that they understand Sam. And I need it to be more than just relationship drama - which, in all honesty, is the way I see it going. Both brothers will, at some stage, have to make a decision to actually stay with the other one. Sam will have to chose between Amelia and Dean and Dean will have to chose between Benny and Sam. Lots of angst before anything is even remotely resolved. I hope, at least, they continue to give us awesome visuals.
And yeah - I've been acting since I was a teen. I've also directed quite a few shows. I love it. It's been a while since I've been on the stage and I miss it terribly. Just too busy, but I hope to get back to it some day soon. :)
Thanks for the chat and I'm sorry to keep being negative. I don't mean to be. It's just what comes out when I think about the season atm. :((
xxoxo
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I'm not in favor of Amelia being pregnant, either, but it wouldn't come as a shock.
Actually, I think the only way they could shock me is if everything actually did happen exactly the way we've seen it...
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