Between the Shadow and the Soul: A Film Analysis of Beneath You

[angearia]

I've been wanting to analyze a BtVS scene ever since I took a film analysis course and Marta's Meta Comment-A-Thon finally inspired me to give it a try.  So here's my brief analysis of some of the technical elements of the final scene in Beneath You.  (Here's a good reference for film analysis terminology.)

Comments

[zippoluv]

OMG. I'm blown away. My mind is just fizzing with connections while simultaneously silenced with jaw dropping awe

[zippoluv]

To get back to the awesomeness of your Meta though - and therefore end on something heartrending and filling me with glowy feelings of warm enlightenment ( ha, seems like I'm swinging between poncy academic pretentiousness and fangeeking - but enlightenment was the best word I could find for the Feels, this meta gave me !! :) ) - instead of squickyness:

"To be human for Spike means to die as an immortal vampire consumed by fire - his humanity is the fire which consumes him from within. It's not enough for Spike to simply have his soul, to suffer and burn within from guilt. The cool tones in Beneath You (from moonlight) of Spike's self-involvement and self-recrimination as he grapples with his newly restored soul will eventually give way to the warm fire of his soul in Chosen (lit by the sun) when he becomes a force for the good of others. The soul may be a source of light within, making way for conscience and guilt, but love is the source of warmth, bringing forth forgiveness and redemption."This conclusion of where your film

[zippoluv]

SO love the post above here from lynnenne
Whedon's church is the church of humanity, of humanism. There is no loving, all-powerful deity looking out for us. The best we can ever hope to do is look out for each other.THIS ! THIS

[angearia]

Except I've just gone on a bout a load of religious stuff, but it's just made me realise that Joss wrote Spike and Angel as TOTAL products of their time and culture, stereotypical examples.

YES. I love this, too. They're both living symbols of their times, displaced by supernatural means. A bit like how Buffy's the living symbol of the Valley girl, only displaced by her Slayerdom. And beneath all of this, they're so very human. We can see their cultures in broad strokes, but they're still unique, quirky, human.

Anyway, hope you don't mind such a humongous post . :-s

I don't mind at all! I love it. I know exactly what you're feeling as I tend to get excited about this stuff, too, and how your mind just races and you write hurriedly to get it all down. It's very fun for me to read! :)

P.S. Friending you. <3