Actually I just read an excellent meta from someone who is not a shipper and far more objective - but I can't link to, because he flocks his journal.
What he said - was this: Whedon is discussing the reliance on a higher being. Trusting a God to tell us what to do. God tells us to do it and it makes it okay. Not knowing who or what this God is or the source. The Bible says so. Or it's "gospel".
Remember Whedon is an angry athesist. And to an extent his series is in some respects politically and religiously focused.
So, no, I don't think you read that correctly - it was NOT meant to be an attempt to excuse Angel's actions - so much as explain them. And they are in character. Angel needs a higher power to tell him what to do, be it the devil or the PTB. He trusts in visions, tea leaves, and gods talking through oracles. It makes sense that he would - he's a man of his time - 18th Century. Bible and Brimstone.
A big deal is made in this episode about "trust" and placing trust in items or things that aren't real. Trust is something that has to be "earned". The comparison of Riley/Sam who discuss and consider the angles, and don't blindly trust anything and have earned one another's trust...to Angel who blindly trusts in gods, or Whistler who haven't earned it, yet does not trust those who have earned his trust such as Buffy (who certainly has.).
Then Buffy - who gives her heart blindly to Angel, but clearly can't trust him =metaphor for "faith" perhaps? This is a writer who is an angry athesist remember. Buffy who doesn't trust those who have earned her trust from Xander to Willow.
And it is also about power...becoming godlike - as Angel and Buffy have become and treating those beneath you as midgets you can step on.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-09-06 10:18 pm (UTC)What he said - was this: Whedon is discussing the reliance on a higher being. Trusting a God to tell us what to do. God tells us to do it and it makes it okay. Not knowing who or what this God is or the source. The Bible says so. Or it's "gospel".
Remember Whedon is an angry athesist. And to an extent his series is in some respects politically and religiously focused.
So, no, I don't think you read that correctly - it was NOT meant to be an attempt to excuse Angel's actions - so much as explain them. And they are in character. Angel needs a higher power to tell him what to do, be it the devil or the PTB. He trusts in visions, tea leaves, and gods talking through oracles. It makes sense that he would - he's a man of his time - 18th Century.
Bible and Brimstone.
A big deal is made in this episode about "trust" and placing trust in items or things that aren't real. Trust is something that has to be "earned". The comparison of Riley/Sam who discuss and consider the angles, and don't blindly trust anything and have earned one another's trust...to Angel who blindly trusts in gods, or Whistler who haven't earned it, yet does not trust those who have earned his trust such as Buffy (who certainly has.).
Then Buffy - who gives her heart blindly to Angel, but clearly can't trust him =metaphor for "faith" perhaps? This is a writer who is an angry athesist remember. Buffy who doesn't trust those who have earned her trust from Xander to Willow.
And it is also about power...becoming godlike - as Angel and Buffy have become and treating those beneath you as midgets you can step on.