Between grief and nothing, I'll take grief.

[ever_neutral]

Comments

[samsom]

The Body is an incredibly difficult episode for me to get through. Even looking at the screencaps are enough to start rousing those emotions. But I wanted to say, good damned choice.

I loved what you pointed out - the other kids looking through the glass, knowing - feeling - that something has happened to one of them, something that could have happened to any of them. Their empathy, especially Kevin's, is what gets me, almost more than Dawn collapsing.

The other moment during this ep that cuts me up is when Buffy briefly opens the kitchen door and all you hear are the sounds of life that keep going in the midst of the end of her world. It's a great detail that doesn't get enough attention when death and loss are dealt with.

[blackfrancine]

The other moment during this ep that cuts me up is when Buffy briefly opens the kitchen door and all you hear are the sounds of life that keep going in the midst of the end of her world.

Me too. That kills me. I think it's a moment that shows one of the weirdest things about grief--that the rest of the world doesn't stop. It's horrifying to realize that, and I think it's one of the hardest things about grieving. And the show covers it so perfectly without even so much as a line of dialogue. ♥

[samsom]

*nods*

It's almost obscene. You expect the world to stop and bow with you in your loss, but it doesn't. It, life, keeps going.

[ever_neutral]

Even looking at the screencaps are enough to start rousing those emotions.

Oh, me too. I kept having to compose myself while writing this up.

Also: Absolute agreement with the rest of your post.

[ever_neutral]

I know. Me neither, bb.

[blackfrancine]

This scene is gut wrenching.

First, the discussion of negative space in Dawn's art class. Negative space. Is there more perfect imagery for human grief? I don't think it exists.

Word. And I love that this scene is pretty much a little key that unlocks the entire episode--because students are told to draw the negative space around the body. And that's exactly what this episode does. Death isn't the subject; grief is.

They're all cut off from Dawn by that glass barrier. They are worried for her. But it doesn't matter. Dawn is really, utterly alone out in that corridor. (Well, with Buffy.)I love this too. I love that Dawn and Buffy are alone in the hall. And I love that we, as viewers, are placed in the position of the other people in the art classroom. We don't get to hear how Buffy tells Dawn the news. That's something that they are utterly alone in. That strikes me as such a beautiful storytelling choice--excluding the viewers from that moment. Because it underlines the privacy of their grief. And it points out,

[ever_neutral]

Precisely. We are on the same page.

And it is SUCH a beautiful storytelling choice. It leaves me gasping.

[penny_lane_42]

This post is perfection. Just like this scene. Wow.

[ever_neutral]

♥ ♥ ♥

[local_max]

Oh man, this scene. Seriously. Negative space. The muffled screams. And how the whole thing is set up around negative emotional space. The opening of the act, where Dawn is crying and her friend insists that it's not that bad, because, as it turns out, it isn't--we see how devastating ordinary life, the lack of acute trauma can be, so that the trauma hurts that much more. Wow.

[ever_neutral]

Absolutely. Absolutely.