tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post3591118895012152080..comments2024-01-15T02:19:13.716-08:00Comments on Fragments Of My Imagination: WTTH/The HarvestMark Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-56010707683974225542015-08-24T19:00:12.134-07:002015-08-24T19:00:12.134-07:00I'm guessing that it is Noam because a lot of ...I'm guessing that it is Noam because a lot of what he writes about that is often called "politics" is really just modern American history. He's not an historian by title, but he does a better job writing about history than some historians whom I've read.Noahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-805016691109658962015-08-24T18:33:18.113-07:002015-08-24T18:33:18.113-07:00I think that's a good take on the metaphor asp...I think that's a good take on the metaphor aspects and I agree, both as to Buffy and as to the Hellmouth. MikeJer runs an excellent site, so I'm sure your metaphor takes will be well-received there.<br /><br />I did catch the name Chomsky, but wasn't sure it meant Noam because he's a linguist by training and a political analyst/philosopher, but I'm not sure he's ever taught history. Still, I don't know of any other Chomsky so maybe Joss meant him anyway.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-26983399927511920662015-08-24T18:26:40.085-07:002015-08-24T18:26:40.085-07:00I agree with your take on the metaphorical aspect ...I agree with your take on the metaphorical aspect of the show. I'm reviewing a Tim Minear show called The Inside over on MikeJer's site, and I compare the show to Buffy and some of the stories of the saints in that the reversal of outside and inside reveals the metaphor. For example, in the first episode of The Inside, the lead character, Rebecca, faces a serial killer who kills women who are new in town, as she is. I interpret this as her having to deal with her own internal problems with adjusting to life in a new place and her fears of what that might entail. Buffy's demons are often similar to Rebecca's serial killers: something that comes from her, rather than at her.<br /><br />(SPOILERS)<br />It's true that Buffy's demons were there before she became the slayer, but she and most of the rest of humanity refused to recognize their existence because they couldn't handle it. I see this as representing the fact there there are all sorts of things in this world, fears, problems, and actions, that we refuse to acknowledge, but which come from us even so. Being chosen is like being compelled to acknowledge the evil, and, critically, a metaphor for rebelling against it because of who you are. It's a certain way of experiencing the world. Buffy gets chosen during her parents' divorce, a painful experience that forces her to deal with its effects on her (or the problems that it creates for her, in metaphorical form: vampires). It makes her feel depressed, isolated, and wanting to revert to childhood. She wants to be lied to, and to believe it, that the world is a clear, easy place where nothing bad ever happens. All of us do. The early seasons focus a lot on demons that represent her wish to not accept the reality of the world and the responsibility that that reality places on her; the later seasons often focus on her struggle to fulfill this responsibility without losing herself in the process. In either case, the demons are of her.<br />(END SPOILERS)<br /><br />I see the hellmouth as the gateway to the unconscious, except that it works differently. Instead of being a barrier to things entering the conscious mind (dream distortion, denial etc.), it's a projector that projects Buffy's unconscious fears, desires, hopes, and dreams into the visible world and makes them corporeal.<br /><br />A trivia note: When Willow and vampire Debarge are walking into the Graveyard together and she's asking him about why she hasn't seen him at school, she asks him if he has Mr. Chomsky for history! This is, of course, an allusion to Noam Chomsky.Noahhttp://www.criticallytouched.com/profile.php?id=6noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-26294850483764984322011-11-17T16:50:48.123-08:002011-11-17T16:50:48.123-08:00For some weird reason your comment got caught in &...For some weird reason your comment got caught in "moderation", which shouldn't have happened.<br /><br />Interesting point about Nosferatu. I always assume one of the writers knows this stuff, and it may have been a source.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-15034401196030747322011-11-15T23:14:35.351-08:002011-11-15T23:14:35.351-08:00Just a short late note about the relation of lesso...Just a short late note about the relation of lesson to theme: <br /><br />In Herzog's Nosferatu, Dracula's ship brings rats, and the<br />rats bring the plague...<br /><br /><br />PS I like your magical realism reading—not sure I agree, <br />but I will definitely think on it as I join you on this <br />repeat through the series (have some catching up to do... )StateOfSiegenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-7563728765655451232011-11-01T08:54:43.624-07:002011-11-01T08:54:43.624-07:00The symbiotic relationship makes sense to me.The symbiotic relationship makes sense to me.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-78033223090541297222011-11-01T08:45:15.841-07:002011-11-01T08:45:15.841-07:00In terms of who came first, the vamps or the slaye...In terms of who came first, the vamps or the slayer (to Sunnydale, that is), I don't think it has to be one or the other. The Hellmouth is there, so it attracts evil. Because there is such a concentration of evil there, the Slayer is pulled towards Sunnydale. Because there's a slayer in Sunnydale, that's where the action is for certain elements who would take on the Slayer. Etc.<br /><br />For me it works both logically and metaphorically, and neither case cancels out the other. I've always sort of assumed that Giles was waiting for Buffy in Sunnydale, that he knew she'd be coming because . . . well, because he had ways of knowing such things (via certain councils and covens).<br /><br />But metaphorically speaking, being "called" to adulthood happens - puberty, civic responsibility, bills, etc. all force it on us. Yet, at least when one is Buffy's age, that call can bring out the "demon" in anybody, causing us to act out, push limits, date the wrong "guy" (or girl), etc. <br /><br />So it seems like the Hellmouth's pull on Buffy and Buffy's pull on evil might coexist in a symbiotic type of relationship. Or something.aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09511776738005115468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-41977444753354823312011-11-01T07:22:27.218-07:002011-11-01T07:22:27.218-07:00V, that's an excellent point. Thanks.
Anonymo...V, that's an excellent point. Thanks.<br /><br />Anonymous, I certainly wouldn't insist on the magical realism view, and I don't plan to mention it again except to footnote it here or there. I just think the series does toy with the concept a few times and that it can be read that way. I don't think it at all necessary to see it that way though.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-79506048222126870282011-11-01T02:37:31.430-07:002011-11-01T02:37:31.430-07:00Hey Mark, just had to mention I kinda agree with A...Hey Mark, just had to mention I kinda agree with Aaron up-thread about the vampires getting Buffy there. Even if they only represent aspects of herself, part of growing up is accepting responsibility, and her responsibility as an adult vampire killer would have brought the her to the hellmouth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-89895714923192381732011-11-01T00:44:16.505-07:002011-11-01T00:44:16.505-07:00Hi, Mark! Long time fan of your posts on Noel'...Hi, Mark! Long time fan of your posts on Noel's reviews (I lurk).<br /><br />I love that you pointed out that the class lessons are always related to the goings on outside of school. One of the great things about the show is that as the decisions for Buffy get harder in later seasons, she no longer has that road map (?) to help her try to work through it. And neither do we.Vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07672868860164723191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-44729853668626663432011-10-31T18:18:50.101-07:002011-10-31T18:18:50.101-07:00Some additional thoughts on the magical realism is...Some additional thoughts on the magical realism issue. SPOILERS THROUGH S7:<br /><br />Here are 3 additional passages which hint at the basic concept:<br /><br />From OOM, OOS: "Giles: (hits the table) Of course! (gets up) I've been investigating the mystical causes of invisibility when I, I should have looked at the quantum mechanical! (gets looks from them all) Physics.<br /> <br />Buffy: I think I speak for everyone here when I say, huh? <br /><br />Giles: (gets a book) It's a rudimentary concept that, that reality is shaped, even, even... created by our perception.<br /> <br />Buffy: And with the Hellmouth below us sending out mystical energy...<br /> <br />Giles: People perceived Marcie as, as, as invisible, and, and, and, and she became so."<br /><br />From WSWB: "Xander: Well, it's been a slow summer. I mean, that's the first vampire <br />we've seen since you killed the Master.<br /><br />Buffy: It's like they knew I was coming back."<br /><br />From Storyteller: "BUFFY (shakes her head) There’s this thing that happens here, in this school, over the hellmouth. Where the way a thing feels—it kind of starts being that way...for real."Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-1180198252281152122011-10-31T15:38:45.846-07:002011-10-31T15:38:45.846-07:00Formatting: I'm still learning how to use the ...Formatting: I'm still learning how to use the blogger editing tools, so my formatting is a bit rough. You should have seen the first version. :)<br /><br />Magical realism: I agree that it could go either way. I lean slightly to the "Buffy causes it" because the show hints that way sometimes (it will again in WSWB). In addition, since all the vampires and demons are metaphorical to some degree, there will always be a sense in which they are internal to her. <br /><br />The other side of this, of course, is that I can find myself too far down the path of Normal Again (I think that's coy enough to not be a spoiler).<br /><br />In short, you could be right, but I thought it deserved discussion.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-9235244069713601672011-10-31T14:58:39.422-07:002011-10-31T14:58:39.422-07:00Hey, great post. About the bit at the end, where y...Hey, great post. About the bit at the end, where you speculate that the vampires might be in Sunnydale because Buffy is there - isn't the opposite just as likely? That Buffy's been called there because that's where she's needed? I think this could still gel with your metaphorical reading in that, if the vampires are "adulthood," and Buffy is "all of us," well, we are called to face those trials and dilemmas that lead to adulthood just about the same time Buffy is.aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09511776738005115468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-21445238443427329482011-10-31T13:46:57.379-07:002011-10-31T13:46:57.379-07:00Thanks so much for reposting these! Though some fi...Thanks so much for reposting these! Though some fixing of the spacing between words would make the reading a bit easier.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com