No Human is an Island essay - Part II

[shadowkat]

IV. Why is no man an island? LMPTM compared to Inside Out

Okay this part somewhat rambly and has lots of questions – still looking for the patterns.
Getting back to that poem by John Donne. Which may in a sense by the crux of the whole thing.

“No man is an island, entire of it selfe; every man is a peace of the Continent, a part of the maine; if Clod be washed away by the Sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of they friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

Compare the comic book heroes Batman to Spiderman – both pretty agile guys. Both very bright. But some huge differences. Batman’s alter ego is a multimillionaire who hides out at a huge mansion, spends very little time with people or humans and operates out of a bat-cave. Any romantic involvement he has is short lived, because he can’t connect to others. The closest he comes to connecting is to his ward, Robin, and to his butler Alfred. He remains apart from the world partly due to a deep-seated anger towards the people who killed his parents. Spiderman – gets his powers by accident. He is also an orphan. But has no memory of his parents. His uncle, who is like a father to him, is killed before his eyes and this changes him in a positive way. He realizes he must take responsibility for his powers and help others. At the same time he stays very connected to life. He is a photographer. Befriends and eventually marries model Mary Jane. His main struggle is with the power inside him and how to use it for good. There are times he wishes he never had it. One superhero is connected to the world, even if that world does not respect his alter-ego and considers his alter-ego a freak, the other superhero is not connected to the world, yet his alter-ego is in league with the police and respected.

First an examination of a few episodes from Buffy and Angel that focus on the need to connect to others, to have your own will and to feel important, not an outcast or zeppo.

1. The Zeppo S3 is about Xander’s feeling of not belonging or being weak, not a part of the group, not important. There’s one major point in that episode that fits in with all the others, it’s what it has in common with The Replacement, Go fish, The Pack, and that one element also flows through all the other episodes and is not specific to the character of Xander. What does Xander want most? And how does he try to get it? Does he get it? Also pay attention to the person (Cordelia) who calls Xander a Zeppo – the meaningless party – what if anything does this character contribute to the group? Is Cordy connected to anyone? Who is the true Zeppo in the story? Is what Cordy tells Xander what she really fears about herself?

2. Another key episode is Who Are You S4 – Faith in this episode is in the same place as Xander in a way. She wants something desperately but is lying to herself about it. When it hits her in the face, she gets discombobulated and changes course. What is it? What happens to Faith when Riley makes love to her? Also how does Faith’s feeling of being disconnected reflect on Buffy? In the episode, Faith comments to Joyce how Buffy hasn’t been around much. Giles can’t tell the two have switched. Only Tara sees it, someone Buffy doesn’t know and has never met – in fact Buffy first meets Tara while in Faith’s body. Both Riley and Spike mistake Faith for Buffy. Buffy spends most of the episode outcast, disconnected from her friends, from her life. When she and Faith finally meet in the church – Faith beats up herself – hating herself for becoming so disconnected and Buffy at the end of the show is left with the bitter taste of what it felt like to be cast off from everything. To be nothing.

3. Superstar – what is the most ironic thing about Jonathan’s actions and desires in this episode and how does it reflect Earshot and what Jonathan tells Andrew in CwDP? Why is it so sad? And what does Jonathan ironically have in common with Cordelia? Jonathan wanted to be a Scooby. He mentions this as his dream to Andrew in CwDP. Andrew goes along with it for a time. Until they stand above the seal and Jonathan tells Andrew how connected he now feels to everyone, his high school buds etc. Andrew says, somewhat cruelly, that these people don’t think about Jonathan and don’t care about him. They probably don’t even remember him. But Jonathan doesn’t care – he feels the connection and that is all that’s important, it makes him feel whole. That’s when Andrew kills him and wakes up the seal. In Superstar – Jonathan desperately wants that connection but instead he just elevates himself above everyone and makes them his minions or loyal subjects. He’s not connected. Ironically it’s not until he is standing on the seal giving his speech to Andrew that he finally feels the connection he’s been hunting all along. Andrew doesn’t feel it until Buffy forces him to relive Jonathan’s murder and to participate in the action, not stand separate from it watching – when Andrew is finally in it – he feels connected and cries, his expression of connection and his remorse for taking out a link in that chain is what closes the seal.

4. Beneath You – what does Anya tell Xander in the Bronze and what does Spike tell Buffy in the Church that is similar? What one thing do they say that tells us why both characters act the way they do? What made them seek each other out in Entropy and why does Anya seek Spike out? What does this have in common with Where The Wild Things Are? Or Selfless? Or Fool For Love? What does it have in common with the Zeppo? Superstar? Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Anya tells Xander that before he dumped her she had friends connections. Now she is just connected to the demons and it’s rather empty. Spike tells Buffy in the church that he sought the “spark” so he would fit. So that everyone could forgive and love. He would be loved. Both Anya and Spike desperately want to feel connected, they always have, even when they were human.

Moving over to Angel the Series and what it means to be connected to be human.
This is all from Angel Season 1:

1. What does the half-demon Doyle tell Angel over and over again in City of ? And how does this echo Whistler’s speech to Angel in Becoming? You have to be a part of the world – to understand and appreciate it. Not hide away from it. Hiding from it only isolates you and leads you to evil.
2. Why is Cordelia a victim in City of? Why does she join AI and stay with AI? What is it about AI that she needs most and had before with SG, but can’t admit to herself? And what does she do wrong? She goes off alone with the nasty vampire, who offers her fame and fortune. Her desire for fame and fortune doesn’t connect her, it continues to set her apart. Just as it sets apart the famous actress in Eternity who seeks out a vampire to maintain her youth. The actress is growing old, is surrounded by people, but feels completely cut off. Her only asset her looks. A reflection of who Cordy may have become.
3. What does Angel do wrong in IWARY? Angel gives up his humanity. Or his chance at it. Letting the oracles turn back time. Once again he goes with a higher power’s words. Believes them. He does not discuss his choice with anyone and as a result is disconnected from Buffy and the world at the end. Each act while seemingly good on the surface, has the price of re-enforcing Angel’s choice to remain above and outside the human world. Its champion.
4. What does the visions do for and against Cordelia? What does she do wrong concerning the visions?? And how does this comment on Cordy’s fatal flaw and what she’s done wrong all along? Cordy’s visions give her purpose and direct the actions of the team, but they also set her apart from others. Every time she tries to make friends or relate to people outside of AI, her visions get in the way. They in a sense isolate her. At the same time they make her feel others pain. Often the visions mislead the team into doing the wrong thing. To Cordy, the visions make her feel important. She hides the pain the visions cause from the others and over time becomes increasingly dependent on what the visions reveal. When given the opportunity to let go of the visions – in Pylea, Cordy refuses, wishing to hold on to them. The visions ironically disconnect her.
5. What did Doyle do that was right and what did he try to convey to Cordy and Angel that both have ignored? Doyle’s final act was to reconnect to the part of himself he despised, to see the humanity in the half-demons that were hiding from an evil exterminator. By seeing that humanity, he is able to sacrifice himself. Prior to this Doyle is struggling with his connection to the world. He keeps hiding from it. Doing the Angel Investigations ad forces him out of hiding. Forces him to reconnect to the world.

What happens in Lies My Parents Told Me and in Inside Out that is similar? In both episodes the characters have a sort of epiphany. In both they are told lies by people they either trust or have no reason to trust.

Skip’s big reveal:
1. What did Lorne do that was wrong in Pylea and at the end of Tomorrow that gets him in trouble in House Always Wins? What is the one thing Lorne wants most? Why does Lorne empathize with Angel?
2. Why did Fred open the book? Why is she alone? Why doesn’t anyone appear to miss her? And why does she stick with AI afterwards? What does she do wrong in Pylea that comments on how she got there?
3. Why does Wesley join AI? What is Wes’ biggest mistake in Loyalty- Sleep Tight? What does Fred accuse him of in Forgiving?
4. Why did Gunn lose Alonna to the vampires? What does Gunn do that’s wrong? What mistake does Gunn keep making? What makes him vulnerable? What does Alonna’s death have in common with what happens in Double or Nothing? How do they resolve it? Why does the problem almost get out of hand?
5. What does Cordy do wrong with the visions? What does she do wrong in Pylea? What happens in Shanshu in LA and how does the demon turn Cordy’s visions against her – what almost drives her mad? What causes Wes to almost die in the explosion? What mistake did Angel make? What mistake has Angel made since he got a soul?
6. What is wrong with being a champion? What does the Champion term have in common with Buffy’s speech to Holden Webs in CwDP? What is it about this one thing that makes our characters vulnerable?
7. What does Connor do wrong in Tommorrow? Deep Down? Inside Out? Spin the Bottle? Orpheus? Apocalypse Nowish?
8. Why is the play Othello mentioned in Soulless? What does Angelus do in Soulless that is similar to what he’s always done?
9. Why is Angel always framed outside of things? What is important about the dinner scene in Deep Down?

Back to Buffy and Lies My Parents Told Me :

1. What does Giles do wrong in Lies? IS Giles connected emotionally to anyone in this episode, outside of maybe Wood? Has Giles felt connected in any way since BoTN? Why did the gang think Giles was the first evil? Why did we? Why do Giles actions serve the FE?
2. What did Anya want in the marriage with Xander in Hell’s Bells, why does she go back to vengeance? What do we learn in Selfless about Anya? What does Anya say in Lies? How do the others react?
3. What does Willow do in Lies and why?
4. Why did Spike go for a soul and not to remove the chip? Was it really just about Buffy ? Why is Spike tormented in Lies? Why does Spike let Wood live? Why doesn’t Spike reveal what happened in his dream to Giles? What did Giles do that makes Spike hold back?
5. What does Spike tell Wood about Slayers that is right and that is wrong? According to the shooting script and the show – he first states Nikki went out every night to fight the fight to protect Wood. He states Slayers fight alone, no matter how many people around them, they are always alone. Wood wasn’t the center of her world. What was the lie in that speech and more to the point it wasn’t a lie to Spike, Spike believes it’s the truth, why is he wrong? Why is Spike wrong about the fact that the Slayer always fights alone? (Think back to School Hard and Fool for Love.)
6. How do Giles and Xander save the world in Grave? Why use the song of St. Francis at the end? And how do Giles actions in Grave contrast with his actions in S7 and in S5? What does he do right in Grave and Lessons and wrong in Lies and The Gift?
7. Why are vengeance demons evil in these shows– what do they do that is wrong and causes problems? Why was it important for Anya to give up being a vengeance demon and why is her statement in Lies so interesting?
8. What happens in Weight of The World? Why did it happen? And how does this reflect what is happening in Lies with Buffy?
9. What does the key do? Why didn’t Buffy kill Dawn in The Gift? And why is it mentioned in Lies?
10. In Restless – what does Buffy tell the First Slayer? I sleep, I sneeze, I eat, I do not sleep on a bed of bones? Where are my friends?? The dreams are all connected by the cheeseman and the First Slayer. The cheeseman is harmless, asking questions relating to each character’s role, the First Slayer attempts to disrupt each characters connection to the other characters.

V. What is the whole soul thing about? Restless vs. Shanshu in LA

Both series have stated that souls provide us with three key things: 1. Moral compass or free choice (this is reiterated by both Darla in Inside Out and Buffy in Potential to Andrew) 2. Connect us to each other and the source of life (mentioned by Spike in Beneath You, Darla in Lullaby, Giles in Grave, and the FE in Lessons – regarding Sparky which Warren calls Jonathan when he attempts to stop Warren from hurting Buffy in Seeing Red.) 3. Gives us the ability to feel remorse and empathy for others outside of those we love.

But a soul is useless – if you separate yourself off from the world and operate in a cave or bubble, disconnected from life. The soul’s purpose is to grant us the connection but by the same token, we have the choice whether or not to acknowledge the connection, the spark, that resides in us.

Restless and Shanshu in La aired at the same time. What do both episodes talk about?

Buffy in Restless

TARA: The Slayer does not walk in this world.
BUFFY: I walk.
(Side shot of the three of them.)
BUFFY: I talk. I shop, I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods
roll back.
(Shot of the First Slayer lifting her chin in anger.)
BUFFY: (offscreen) There's trees in the desert since you moved out. (The
First Slayer shakes her head) And I don't sleep on a bed of bones.
(Shot of Buffy's face.)
BUFFY: (firmly) Now give me back my friends.

While over in Angel on Shanshu in LA: Wes is discussing what is revealed in the Shanshu prophecy and why it may not work with Angel. The Shanshu Prophecy comes from a region in Africa and is about a vampire with a soul who after many trials and tribulations eventually becomes human. (The gang interprets human = redemption, but the prophecy doesn’t state that exactly.)

Wesley: "Angel's cut off. Death doesn't bother him because - there is nothing in life he wants! It's our desires that make us human."
Cordy eating her doughnut: "Angel is kind of human. - He's got a soul."
Cordy goes for another doughnut.
Wesley: "He's got a soul - but he's not a part of the world. (Gets up) He-he can never be part of the world."
Cordy: "Because he doesn't want stuff? - That's ridiculous. (Wesley takes her doughnut away from her) Hey! I want that!"
Wesley: "What connects us to life?"
Cordy: "Right now? I'm going with doughnuts."
Wesley: "What connects us to life is the simple truth that we are part of it. - We live, we grow, we change. - But Angel..."
Cordy: "Can't do any of those things. - Well, what are you saying, Wesley? - That Angel has nothing to look forward to? That he's going to go on forever, the same, in the world, but always cut off from it?"
Wesley: "Yes."
Cordy: "Well, that sucks! We've got to do something. We've got to help him."
Wesley: "I'm not sure we can."
Cordy: "What is your deal? You go around boring everyone with your musty scrolls and then you say there is nothing we can do?"
Wesley: "He is what he is."
Cordy: "He's Angel. He's good. And he helps the helpless and now - he's one of them. - Well, he's gonna have to start wanting things from life, whether he wants to or not!"
Angel comes up the elevator and Cordy and Wesley go into his office to greet him.
Angel: "Morning."
Cordy: "Morning. - Want some coffee?"
Angel: "No, thanks."
Cordy: "How about a doughnut? Chocolate..."
Angel looking through a book: "No."

The odd thing about both Restless and Shanshu – is Buffy is reaffirming her connection to humanity and Angel appears to be dismissing it. The writers in both episodes ask the question: what makes us human? Why do we live? What connects us to others and how does that connection make life worthwhile? It is a question that reverberates through both series.

What does it mean to be human?

What does Whistler tell Angel in Becoming, Btvs Season2? What does Gunn tell Fred in Inside Out, Ats S4? What does Darla tell Connor? Why oh why did Spike get a soul in Btvs S6?

The contrast between Spike and Angel’s vampire behaviors has always struck me as odd. Spike throughout the series is portrayed as enjoying food and human companionship, heck he seeks them out even before he falls for Buffy. Angel in contrast does the opposite. He’s called on it by Faith, Whistler and Doyle. Why?

Here’s what Whistler tells Angel in Becoming Part I:

Whistler: Look, you're skin and bones
here! Butcher shops are throwing away more blood in a day than you could stand. Good blood. (they reach the far side) You lived in the world a little bit, you'd know that.

Whistler: Nobody understands me. That's my curse. (chuckles)
Whistler: Dog me. Mustard. (He watches the vendor get out the hotdog and squirt on some mustard. Angel realizes at this moment he’s not a vampire because he eats.)

Angel: I just wanna be left alone. (starts away)

Whistler: Well, yeah, you've been left alone for, what, ninety years already. This isn't gonna be easy. The more you live
in this world, the more you see how apart from it you really are.

Back to Spike – what does Spike say in Becoming Part II and how does this contrast with Whistler and Angel in Part I?

Becoming part II – Spike is explaining to Buffy why he has decided to help her save the world. Whistler has made a point up to now of telling us Angel was the one prophesied to make the difference.

Spike: We like to talk big. (indicates himself) Vampires do. 'I'm going to destroy the world.' (looks at the officer) That's just tough guy talk. (steps over to the car) Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. (sits on the hood) The truth is, I like this world. (pulls the cigarette pack from the officer's shirt pocket) You've got... dog racing, Manchester United. (pulls one out and drops the pack on the officer) And you've got people. (exhales) Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. (lights the cigarette and takes a drag) But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real... (exhales) passion for destruction. (takes another drag and looks at Buffy) Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Picadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I'm saying?

What else do we see Spike do in future episodes? In Where The Wild Things Are – he considers helping them but talks himself out of it. Throughout Season 4 we see Spike fighting with himself – if you watch closely. He gets thrown out of the demon bar and set apart from demon society because he kills them now. He tries to be part of human society via the gang but isn’t. He, Spike, denies that he wants to be any of part of them. Yet he keeps interacting with the gang and stays in town. What does Adam say to the vampires and to Spike? Vampires aren’t part of demon world or human world. They are cut off? Why is that important? What did the chip do? Poor Spikey? Can’t be a vampire or a human, where do you fit in??

The on-going joke on Btvs regarding Spike has been how he likes to eat, drink, play poker, and do all these human like activities. Spike wants coffee. He steals Xander’s money to buy a beer. He not only likes these things, he’s picky about them. In Hush, we even catch him eating carrots and peanut butter at Giles apartment. In Where the Wild Things Are – he’s grooving to the frat party, sipping beer. He can’t eat a soul. Just likes the interaction. Enough that he’s willing to risk the fact that the Initiative might catch him.

Hush
Spike: "No.We're out of Weetabix."
Giles: "We are out of Weetabix because you ate it all - again."
Spike: "Get some more."
Giles: "I thought vampires were supposed to eat blood."
Spike: "Yep. Well sometimes I like to
crumble up the Weetabix in the blood -
give it a little texture."

Pangs

Buffy : About half a stick and a quarter cup of brandy. (To Giles.) You do have brandy, don't you?
Giles : What? Oh, yes. Um, on the bookcase.
Spike : I wouldn't say no to a brandy.

Fool For Love

SPIKE
You know, there quite a few American beers that are highly underrated. This unfortunately is not one of them.

SPIKE
since I agreed to your little proposition, we can do this my way. Wings.

BUFFY
What?

SPIKE
Spicy buffalo wings. Order me up a plate. I'm feelin' peckish.

Up until now, I thought they were just being inconsistent making Spike have human wants and Angel apparently having none. Angel seems more vampirish with his blood cravings and super-strength and photographic memory and super-hearing and senses. Spike seems just super-human. Why? I thought it was bad writing. Now I'm wondering if I just missed something that was there all along.

What is the most ironic thing about Spike’s situation right now? Why did Spike get the soul? And what has Spike wanted that he still doesn’t have? And why is that? Why did Angel leave Buffy? Why does Giles leave?What is the one thing these characters want? Yet keep slipping up on and how does this one thing make a huge difference in each apocalyptic battle they fight? How is the FE using Spike against himself and the others? What for that matter has the FE been doing with all the characters? Why did the FE tell Andrew it’s not time for Spike yet – it tells the girls taping him that it only says what it wants them to hear? So why reveal that? How did revealing it possibly help the FE and hurt Buffy? Why did the FE tell Wood who Spike is? And why did it pick that precise moment to do it? And why didn’t it send more harbringers after Giles? How is Buffy playing along with it? How are the others? What one thing have they all done wrong? What was Giles biggest mistake in BoTN – LMPTM? How has he played directly into the FE’s hands? What did he do wrong here that fits what he did wrong in The Gift and in Bargaining and in Tabula Rasa?

Spike in Beneath You: “And she will forgive him. And everyone will love and everyone will forgive.”

Anya in Lies My Parents Told Me: “And forgiveness makes us human, otherwise it’s just blahblahbhla…”

What happened in HIM, which was positive, what happened that was negative? In Him, the jacket splits the gang apart, they all go off on their own, except for two people: Spike and Xander, who work to bring the girls back together again, stop them from hurting others, and destroy the thing that is controlling them. What RJ’s jacket does to the SG isn’t all that different from what the FE is doing to them now. They just don’t see it.

Whistler: bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.

Now in Inside Out:

Darla: You have a choice Connor. That is something more precious than you'll ever know.......It has to be your choice

The soul gives us the choice. Does Connor feel empathy for the innocent girl he saved from a vampire, only to sacrifice her to his own child? Can he spare her life? Which mother will he listen to, Cordelia who he obeys almost without thought or Darla who asks him to choose. Who is lying to him? And does his choice really matter? Is he nothing but a puppet?

Fred: Will it make a difference? If we are really are just pieces being moved around a board.

Gunn: Then we kick it over and start a new game......Look, monochrome can yap all he wants about no-names cosmic plan. ......The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you greased. That last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing......You never know when you're taking it. It could be when you're duking it out with the Legion of Doom. Or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it all like it was up to you. The World in the Balance...cause you never know when it is

The play Othello and the novel by Agathe Christie called Curtain have one thing in common, a villain that can’t quite be caught. Iago. What does this villain have in common with the big bad on both shows? It works for dissension. It isolates people. It turns their strengths into weaknesses. What do the potentials, Giles and Wood state in LMPTM that contrasts with Anya, the former vengeance demon’s speech and Willow’s actions in Orpheus? The potentials see Spike as a threat and this causes dissension, reasons to second guess Buffy. Spike desperately wants the spark so he can fit in with everyone, become a part of them, be connected. The first isolates him through driving him insane, then with the trigger, the first uses his desires against him and twists it, so that instead of being connected to the gang, humanity, the soul separates him. Instead of helping Buffy, he inadvertently causes the gang to pull back from her. Same with Angel, instead of being brought closer to humanity, he feels more separated from it. The soul connects both vampires to humanity, but it also makes them feel how separate they are from it. Giles believes the solution is to kill Spike or have him leave. Why did Buffy ask him to stay? Why does Buffy bring Anya and Andrew in? Why does Buffy give strength to Willow? Why did Willow stop the Angel Gang from killing Angel?

The soul is what connects us to each other. The connection is the important thing. Choice comes with it. Our choices can either renew our connections or severe them.

As John Donne states: no [hu]man is an island entire of itself. When we kill or destroy life we suffer the consequences. It’s like cutting off a piece of ourselves. When we rejoin life and forgive, it’s like coming home again, reasserting our life force. In the song, I’ve Got a Theory – from Once More With Feeling – the gang asks the question: What can’t we face if we’re together, what’s in this place that we can’t weather?

It’s the connections we have with one another, the desires we share that make us human, that make us part of the world. When we severe those connections, we are alone. It’s by reaffirming those connections through love and forgiveness that Buffy saves the day time and again. The ability to connect to the world – to desire what is within it – may be what turns a vampire human. My theory for what it’s worth is that the story isn’t about redemption in the moral Judeo/Christian sense of the word, its more about being human, living in this world and somehow making it work by accepting the things we can’t change, changing the things we can, and having the wherewithal to know the difference. But most of all? I think it’s about love and forgiveness and trust: trusting those things that connect us to each other and the world around us.