Bookend Imagery in BtVS

[lostboy_lj]

Hailing from a background in painting and commercial art, I think I tend to pay a lot of extra attention to the composition of shots in films and TV shows.  I don't think the attention is either undue or completely subjective - I've worked with art directors, and have a good sense of the kinds of conversations that lead to visual decisions - but I

Comments

[rebcake]

Neat! I love your presentation of "Buffy as Myth" (and I don't think you're myth-taken). While I would never discount the contribution of the auteur to really great works, and think that "art by committee" often becomes too dilute, BtVS is a prime example of how great stories become even more great through synergy.

And while I feel that the text of the series (actual words) is plenty complex and open to interpretation, I also sometimes feel that I've pretty much digested them all by this point. Yet, as you point out, the text is only one aspect of the whole. There's still so much to discover. (I can't tell you how many times I watched School Hard before noticing that Spike and Buffy had matching red smears on their cheeks, for instance.) So much Buffy to love! Thanks for pointing out another interesting facet.

[lostboy_lj]

Neat! I love your presentation of "Buffy as Myth" (and I don't think you're myth-taken).

Thanks! And thank you for the pun. :)

While I would never discount the contribution of the auteur to really great works, and think that "art by committee" often becomes too dilute, BtVS is a prime example of how great stories become even more great through synergy.

Just from my own career, I've seen a certain magic that happens in a group setting under the duress of harsh deadlines, and sometimes even a weirdly creative violence and chaos. I can imagine all kinds of laughter, angst, outbursts of rage, group hugs, fear, loathing, jealousy, insanity, hope and love among the pool of writers, directors, producers, editors, prop artists, set designers, costumers, actors and other artists involved in making this train go down the track.

There's still so much to discover.

Yep. Once you go down this rabbit hole, it is hard to resurface.

[local_max]

It's really hard to stop once you start. Off the top of my head, I love how Helpless begins with the Buffy/Angel fight, which seemingly is irrelevant to the episode, but which establishes:

1) this is an episode about the eternal slayer/vampire and woman/man struggle;

2) the fuzzy line between love and fight; a reminder of the last major betrayal of Buffy by a man on her birthday;

3) a reminder of the cost of the last Buffy/Angel tussle: which is Jenny Calendar, presumably part of the reason Giles is willing to let himself be talked into giving Buffy up.

[local_max]

A few more quick thoughts (I really do love what you've written here):

1. The vampire running away in the season six premiere is also a sign of the complete change of the show's moral landscape. Buffy is dead; childhood is over; and it is no longer clear that the vampires can't be victims or heroes themselves. Spike plays both abuse victim and hero this season and next, after all, as well as villain. The image of Spike pursuing a woman running away from him is meaningful, non? I like how the season six opening also calls back to Willow as the Buffy substitute, since she is the one who is ultimately running the show far above.

2. The image of an angel in the season four opening also suggests Angel, the character. Angel the character is not there to save Buffy (if he ever was), but the season particularly makes note of his absence from Buffy's life, and Buffy is living her life, at least a little bit, with the idea of Angel casting a shadow over her. Angel is on her mind.

[lostboy_lj]

(I really do love what you've written here)

Thanks!

1. The vampire running away in the season six premiere is also a sign of the complete change of the show's moral landscape. Buffy is dead; childhood is over; and it is no longer clear that the vampires can't be victims or heroes themselves.I think this is an interesting thought, because this is the season where Spike, in certain ways, becomes Buffy's "victim", even as she is saving him by giving him hope. But the reason I don't connect this theme to the scared vampire in the Season Six premiere is because, throughout the series, most vampires are scared of Buffy. She is, in a sense, the Batman to their Gotham city crooks, the "thing that monsters have nightmares about." ("Showtime

[lostboy_lj]

Also, just to tease out a little more about your second thought, there are two more elements in the frame which I probably should have mentioned in the post itself - two "lights". One is bright and close, and the other is distant and blurry. They are two souls: Buffy's is the closer light, and Angel's is the one far away.

[lynnenne]

The composition here is Knowledge, Faith and Love.

Oh, very nice analysis! I hadn't recognized that before, but I totally buy it.

[lostboy_lj]

Thanks!

[bone_dry1013]

Ha, this was linked on r/Buffy. Was surprised when I was clicking through and randomly ended up here.

Awesome!