new vid - Smallville - "Change (in the house of flies)" - Clark/Lex

[obsessive24]

Change (in the house of flies)
Fandom: Smallville
Song/Artist: Change (in the house of flies) by Deftones
Duration: 4:15 minutes

Summary: Clark. Lex. Between the tightrope and the abyss.
Spoilers: Seasons 1 to 3, plus additional graphics.

Click to view

Thanks to nessreader for compiling nifty list of fic recs, bananainpyjamas for the beta and help with DC canon, and the ever-patient bradcpu for betaing and, more importantly, weathering through my many neuroses, bitching sessions and panic attacks with unbelievable good humour and kind encouragement.

Additional graphics are not by me; they're culled from all over the place and no infringement is intended.


I watched you change into a fly
I looked away
You were on fire.

I watched a change in you
It's like you never had wings
Now you feel so alive
I've watched you change.

I took you home
Set you on the glass
I pulled off your wings
Then I laughed.

I watched a change in you,
It's like you never had wings
Now you feel so alive
I've watched you change.

I look at the cross, then I look away
Give you the gun
Blow me away.


Notes
First time trying xvid for web distribution (thanks to charmax's excellent pointers) and also first time simultaneously providing a streaming version. Please let me know if the Imeem playback is bad; may need to re-encode.

The key underlying assumption in this vid is that Lex knows Clark is Superman, if not always on an entirely conscious level. This point is where I've deviated from canon the most, and Lex's POV segment tends to fall apart if the assumption is not clearly stated. So work with me here. ;)

On POV switch: "Did it ever occur to you that maybe the hero of this story is Sageeth?" Lex asks at the end of Talisman, and that cuts to the heart of his character. He has never believed himself to be the villain, but rather the counterbalance to the corrupting force of ultimate power, the person who has the responsibility of holding Superman in check. Ergo lots of Clark-disappearing-into-fire images, because that was exactly what happened as far as Lex is concerned.

The central relationship argument is murkier. In the course of making this vid I wrote a lot of wanky, contrived notes about it, and gradually ended up deleting everything as it slowly but surely disintegrated. Traces of the original argument remain, although much simplified in order to retain some vestige of real emotion. Slash is intended but not overt nor necessary; bring your own subtext.

A couple of quotes to sum up:

Lex wants everything and he'll have it because the gloves he was wearing the day he died don't fit anymore. They smell like the Kansas river that killed him, like the Kansas son that brought him back, and it has to mean something. Luthors don't die in shitty Kansas rivers. They sure as hell don't survive, because the one thing Lex knows for certain, the one thing he learned watching his mother die and die and die, is that Luthors don't come back.
- Punk Manoeuvrability, Curator of the Life and Death Museum

While you make pretty speeches, I'm being cut to shreds
You feed me to the lions, a delicate balance.
- Radiohead, Like Spinning Plates

Influences:
Fan vid: Without You I'm Nothing by sisabet
Pro vid: Freak on a Leash by Korn
Several fics by runpunkrun