"I'm beginning to see some interesting contradictions."
Well, you know how I feel about the ep. And part of why I love it is that I never got the impression that anything was a done deal. Epiphany schpiphany! Nothing is a foregone conclusion. Every action or line that appears to be a step forward is matched with a step backward or more.
Angel says "I am Angel. I beat the bad guys," to Lindsey, in the heat of battle and applying the smackdown on the Tiny Texan. But he tells Cordy, "Lindsey wasted a lot of energy trying to make me doubt myself. I know it's not even close to over." So, he's got a glimmer of confidence back, but as soon as he admits that, he pays the price for it. He loses Cordy. He's just been bitchslapped with the reminder that everything comes at a price. And when you're dealing with TPTB/SP, those are sucker's rates, with interest rates that the Mafia could only dream of.
It's deliciously complicated and all designed to make Angel the tool of his own destruction. Or salvation. Where's the fun in just offing the guy? Nope, gotta make it hurt and make it his own doing.
David Fury has posted at the Bronze about whether it's Cordy's body in the bed when "Cordy" pulls the curtain over her: "You can interpret it anyway you want, honestly... But my intent was that that was Cordy's body." Interesting that he's leaving the interpretation up to the viewer. See, I don't think ME wants anything to be too obvious, but it's natural for some fans to jump to certain kinds of conclusions. But does the text/show bear out your conclusions? Or are there built-in contradictions designed to confound your expectations?
And here's where your film studies background might help ('cause I ain't ever had that kinda schoolin'). How do we differentiate between information we receive via dialogue (which is explicit but not always true) vs. the visual and narrative story told (which is implicit and maybe truer to the storyteller's intent)? How do we process those kinds of information and how does that affect our interpretations? We all have different reactions to these shows, but sometimes the reactions seem so extreme to me that I wonder how some people got from A to B when we're watching the same show.
Have you ever done psych tests to see if you're more verbal or visual? Somebody made me do one of those in college and most people are usually skewed towards one or the other. I can't even remember what it involved, but it'd be interesting to see how different posters test as.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-02-06 01:03 pm (UTC)Well, you know how I feel about the ep. And part of why I love it is that I never got the impression that anything was a done deal. Epiphany schpiphany! Nothing is a foregone conclusion. Every action or line that appears to be a step forward is matched with a step backward or more.
Angel says "I am Angel. I beat the bad guys," to Lindsey, in the heat of battle and applying the smackdown on the Tiny Texan.
But he tells Cordy, "Lindsey wasted a lot of energy trying to make me doubt myself. I know it's not even close to over." So, he's got a glimmer of confidence back, but as soon as he admits that, he pays the price for it. He loses Cordy. He's just been bitchslapped with the reminder that everything comes at a price. And when you're dealing with TPTB/SP, those are sucker's rates, with interest rates that the Mafia could only dream of.
It's deliciously complicated and all designed to make Angel the tool of his own destruction. Or salvation. Where's the fun in just offing the guy? Nope, gotta make it hurt and make it his own doing.
David Fury has posted at the Bronze about whether it's Cordy's body in the bed when "Cordy" pulls the curtain over her:
"You can interpret it anyway you want, honestly... But my intent was that that was Cordy's body." Interesting that he's leaving the interpretation up to the viewer. See, I don't think ME wants anything to be too obvious, but it's natural for some fans to jump to certain kinds of conclusions. But does the text/show bear out your conclusions? Or are there built-in contradictions designed to confound your expectations?
And here's where your film studies background might help ('cause I ain't ever had that kinda schoolin'). How do we differentiate between information we receive via dialogue (which is explicit but not always true) vs. the visual and narrative story told (which is implicit and maybe truer to the storyteller's intent)? How do we process those kinds of information and how does that affect our interpretations? We all have different reactions to these shows, but sometimes the reactions seem so extreme to me that I wonder how some people got from A to B when we're watching the same show.
Have you ever done psych tests to see if you're more verbal or visual? Somebody made me do one of those in college and most people are usually skewed towards one or the other. I can't even remember what it involved, but it'd be interesting to see how different posters test as.
punkinpuss