Spike and Connor: Differences of Faith
May. 5th, 2003 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyThe Buffy part contains spoilers up to Beneath You.
People have pointed out the similarities between Spike's end speech in Beneath You and Connor's monologue in Peace Out. The three big similarities:
1. Setting: a church.
2. Characters: the speaker and the one he loves.
2. Words: Specifically, the longing to rest.
Connor's speech echoes Spike's, but where Spike asks, Connor rejects. He wants to rest and knows that he can't. Spike's scene ends with his expressed longing, we see Connor leave his church on the urging of his daughter.
Spike's speech is a plea for something to believe in, to hope for, while Connor's is his acknowledgment that his belief and hope was based on a lie.
The similarities only make the dissimilarities all the more glaring, for me.
The setting is a church for both, but Spike stumbles into his church, while Connor purposefully chooses this place. The beloved is in place for Connor, but for Spike, the beloved follows after. Connor gets no response from Cordelia, while Buffy sheds a tear for Spike.
Each scene is an illustration of the shedding of illusion. Spike tells his beloved, and by extension, us, that he was wearing a costume and that he's still lost. Connor tells us that he knew his child was a lie. That he now realizes that his entire relationship with Cordelia only happened to bring about Jasmine.
Both Spike and Connor long to rest. Spike feels the pain of his soul, while Connor feels pain of his lie. Earlier in Beneath You, Spike tries to use fighting as his way out of dealing, while Connor is frustrated at the fact that his father and his father's friends refuse to stop fighting. Seem to look for reasons to keep fighting.
And Spike asks if he can rest. Spike gives himself to Buffy, gives the responsibility for his soul to her. Connor accepts that he can't rest, that he can't let this lie persist, that he has to take responsibility for his actions.
Spike ends his episode by draping himself over a cross. Connor ends his by killing the lie and running off, face blank. Both illustrating numbness, but in very different ways. Spike, though he is a creature of action, always gives himself completely to his loves. Connor, though a creature manipulated all his life, tries and fails to give himself completely.
Earlier in this post, I say that Spike is giving a speech and Connor a monologue. That's something else that struck me about their moments. Spike expects and gets a response from Buffy, Connor knows that Cordy isn't going to talk to him and make it all better.
Connor knows that no one can make everything better. He knows that everyone lies. And in the church, he decides that going along with the lie isn't good enough. He's tried to believe and he's given up on it. Spike's trying to get Buffy to believe in him.
And Connor loves Jasmine, and he kills her. He said earlier in the episode that Jasmine was His ("I know what she is. Mine"). His responsibility. His lie. His choice.
His kill.
Connor: "That one's beautiful. I wish I'd killed it."
Cordelia: "Kind of a funny way to express your affection. I love you, bang, you're dead?"
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem
People have pointed out the similarities between Spike's end speech in Beneath You and Connor's monologue in Peace Out. The three big similarities:
1. Setting: a church.
2. Characters: the speaker and the one he loves.
2. Words: Specifically, the longing to rest.
Connor's speech echoes Spike's, but where Spike asks, Connor rejects. He wants to rest and knows that he can't. Spike's scene ends with his expressed longing, we see Connor leave his church on the urging of his daughter.
Spike's speech is a plea for something to believe in, to hope for, while Connor's is his acknowledgment that his belief and hope was based on a lie.
The similarities only make the dissimilarities all the more glaring, for me.
The setting is a church for both, but Spike stumbles into his church, while Connor purposefully chooses this place. The beloved is in place for Connor, but for Spike, the beloved follows after. Connor gets no response from Cordelia, while Buffy sheds a tear for Spike.
Each scene is an illustration of the shedding of illusion. Spike tells his beloved, and by extension, us, that he was wearing a costume and that he's still lost. Connor tells us that he knew his child was a lie. That he now realizes that his entire relationship with Cordelia only happened to bring about Jasmine.
Both Spike and Connor long to rest. Spike feels the pain of his soul, while Connor feels pain of his lie. Earlier in Beneath You, Spike tries to use fighting as his way out of dealing, while Connor is frustrated at the fact that his father and his father's friends refuse to stop fighting. Seem to look for reasons to keep fighting.
And Spike asks if he can rest. Spike gives himself to Buffy, gives the responsibility for his soul to her. Connor accepts that he can't rest, that he can't let this lie persist, that he has to take responsibility for his actions.
Spike ends his episode by draping himself over a cross. Connor ends his by killing the lie and running off, face blank. Both illustrating numbness, but in very different ways. Spike, though he is a creature of action, always gives himself completely to his loves. Connor, though a creature manipulated all his life, tries and fails to give himself completely.
Earlier in this post, I say that Spike is giving a speech and Connor a monologue. That's something else that struck me about their moments. Spike expects and gets a response from Buffy, Connor knows that Cordy isn't going to talk to him and make it all better.
Connor knows that no one can make everything better. He knows that everyone lies. And in the church, he decides that going along with the lie isn't good enough. He's tried to believe and he's given up on it. Spike's trying to get Buffy to believe in him.
And Connor loves Jasmine, and he kills her. He said earlier in the episode that Jasmine was His ("I know what she is. Mine"). His responsibility. His lie. His choice.
His kill.
Connor: "That one's beautiful. I wish I'd killed it."
Cordelia: "Kind of a funny way to express your affection. I love you, bang, you're dead?"
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-06 04:09 pm (UTC)And yes, I don't care about spoilers.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-07 06:02 pm (UTC)But I can bring it this weekend for rewatching.