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Apr. 2nd, 2004 03:56 pmWhen I watch due South, I'm often taken off-guard by how pretty Benton Fraser is, no matter how often I've seen that episode. Such a beautiful man.
Apr. 2nd, 2004
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Apr. 2nd, 2004 10:40 pmWe were amazingly busy today, so I ended up working an hour and a half over.
I am also sporting a painful cut on my finger. Cleaning grease traps is not my idea of a good time.
Classes, on the other hand, were tons of fun. There was explaining and reading of Faust (which I don't like as much as Rousseau's Confessions, who may have been narcissistic, but was very interesting about it) and the very cute writing teacher remembered my name and told me that I stood out. In, you know, a good way. And she is very cute indeed.
I am also sporting a painful cut on my finger. Cleaning grease traps is not my idea of a good time.
Classes, on the other hand, were tons of fun. There was explaining and reading of Faust (which I don't like as much as Rousseau's Confessions, who may have been narcissistic, but was very interesting about it) and the very cute writing teacher remembered my name and told me that I stood out. In, you know, a good way. And she is very cute indeed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and due South
Apr. 2nd, 2004 11:08 pmRecently, I've been thinking about due South and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In a way, the shows are strikingly similar -- each centers around the emotional journey of the main character. Every episode forwards that emotional journey. The end of each series has the hero leaving the place that they spent all of the show time in -- we see the entirety of their existence in that place, because the show is about how that place shapes and changes them.
More than that, Buffy and Fraser are very similar characters, especially in one very important aspect -- both of them inspire and empower others. And both Buffy and Fraser bend the rules of the universe in ways that others of that universe don't. Their power of belief causes shifts in reality. Because they will it, reality bends and the impossible is quite possible. Both of them believe in people as opposed to institutions. Each fell in love with someone on the wrong side of the moral spectrum and took the right steps to stop that person from causing evil.
But they had different emotional journeys -- Buffy's story was one of a girl becoming a strong woman, while Fraser's was of a loner learning to make lasting connections. Still, both shows were a mix of humor and pathos (though dS leaned more towards humor), with BtVS adding the element of horror and dS using the cop show element.
And both did a wonderful job at creating believable people. People that you not only knew but wanted to know. People worth caring about, warts and all. They had relationships with thorns and emotional pains that didn't just disappear. And they had a driving emotional focus. Most shows don't have that, don't have a single emotional journey that resonates above anything else in the series. I really enjoyed Angel, but I've never felt the same kind of continual forward motion from it -- Buffy and Fraser were traveling on a set emotional journey, exploration of person in place. We saw the completion of their journey in that place and we saw them move on from it. Will Angel move on from L.A. when Angel is over? When all is said and done, AtS might end in the same fashion. We don't know that yet.
More than that, Buffy and Fraser are very similar characters, especially in one very important aspect -- both of them inspire and empower others. And both Buffy and Fraser bend the rules of the universe in ways that others of that universe don't. Their power of belief causes shifts in reality. Because they will it, reality bends and the impossible is quite possible. Both of them believe in people as opposed to institutions. Each fell in love with someone on the wrong side of the moral spectrum and took the right steps to stop that person from causing evil.
But they had different emotional journeys -- Buffy's story was one of a girl becoming a strong woman, while Fraser's was of a loner learning to make lasting connections. Still, both shows were a mix of humor and pathos (though dS leaned more towards humor), with BtVS adding the element of horror and dS using the cop show element.
And both did a wonderful job at creating believable people. People that you not only knew but wanted to know. People worth caring about, warts and all. They had relationships with thorns and emotional pains that didn't just disappear. And they had a driving emotional focus. Most shows don't have that, don't have a single emotional journey that resonates above anything else in the series. I really enjoyed Angel, but I've never felt the same kind of continual forward motion from it -- Buffy and Fraser were traveling on a set emotional journey, exploration of person in place. We saw the completion of their journey in that place and we saw them move on from it. Will Angel move on from L.A. when Angel is over? When all is said and done, AtS might end in the same fashion. We don't know that yet.