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A thought on B/A and B/S in music.
These are some thoughts that've been in my head for a while. I'm not sure they are particularly interesting, I just felt like sharing. It's all about music...
Both B/A and B/S have a theme. The Bangel one is 'Close Your Eyes', the Spuffy one 'The Final Fight'. Now just going by titles, they say so much about the relationships they relate to:
- Buffy says: "Close your eyes" before she kills Angel. He is the victim - his own victim, in that he has to pay for Angelus's crime. It is a heart-wrenching, soul-destroying moment for Buffy, left bereft and alone, deciding that she cannot cope anymore and runs away from home. Buffy tried to pretend that everything was going to be ok when she started seeing Angel - she knew they had no future, but she was drawn in and closed her eyes to the harsh facts.
"When I kiss you, I want to die."
- Now the Final Fight... Buffy and Spike were always about the fight. "Do we really need weapons for this?" "I'd rather be fighting you anyway!" They were dancing for years, before Spike finally 'went down fighting'. His last words: "I wanna see how it ends!" He was not a victim, but a champion, his own actions having brought him there. Buffy was left stronger, ready to start a new life - proud of her lover. Because Buffy and Spike hardly ever pretended. She tried to deny what he felt - what she felt - but she never made it more, never tried to say that it would end well.
"This isn't real, but I just wanna feel."
The other point is the music itself:
- 'Close Your Eyes' is a beautiful, sad piece of music. You can hum the tune after hearing it once. It fits perfectly with the tragic, doomed love of Buffy and Angel... it is Romeo and Juliet set to music.
- 'The Final Fight' on the other hand is complicated. It's big and powerful and sweeping. It is not easy to remember, but much more satisfying to listen to. It could even be argued that it reflects the story of Buffy and Spike. It starts out slow (s2), and then builds and builds (s4-5) until it suddenly comes to a climax (s6) and then quiets down (s7). The last few movements are slow and lush and rich, reflecting the beauty and understatedness of s7 Spuffy. I love this piece of music far, far too much.
Both B/A and B/S have a theme. The Bangel one is 'Close Your Eyes', the Spuffy one 'The Final Fight'. Now just going by titles, they say so much about the relationships they relate to:
- Buffy says: "Close your eyes" before she kills Angel. He is the victim - his own victim, in that he has to pay for Angelus's crime. It is a heart-wrenching, soul-destroying moment for Buffy, left bereft and alone, deciding that she cannot cope anymore and runs away from home. Buffy tried to pretend that everything was going to be ok when she started seeing Angel - she knew they had no future, but she was drawn in and closed her eyes to the harsh facts.
"When I kiss you, I want to die."
- Now the Final Fight... Buffy and Spike were always about the fight. "Do we really need weapons for this?" "I'd rather be fighting you anyway!" They were dancing for years, before Spike finally 'went down fighting'. His last words: "I wanna see how it ends!" He was not a victim, but a champion, his own actions having brought him there. Buffy was left stronger, ready to start a new life - proud of her lover. Because Buffy and Spike hardly ever pretended. She tried to deny what he felt - what she felt - but she never made it more, never tried to say that it would end well.
"This isn't real, but I just wanna feel."
The other point is the music itself:
- 'Close Your Eyes' is a beautiful, sad piece of music. You can hum the tune after hearing it once. It fits perfectly with the tragic, doomed love of Buffy and Angel... it is Romeo and Juliet set to music.
- 'The Final Fight' on the other hand is complicated. It's big and powerful and sweeping. It is not easy to remember, but much more satisfying to listen to. It could even be argued that it reflects the story of Buffy and Spike. It starts out slow (s2), and then builds and builds (s4-5) until it suddenly comes to a climax (s6) and then quiets down (s7). The last few movements are slow and lush and rich, reflecting the beauty and understatedness of s7 Spuffy. I love this piece of music far, far too much.
no subject
Another thing I though when reading this post is the other significance of Close Your Eyes. Neither Buffy nor Angel ever truly saw the other. They both had idealized "views" of what and who their loved one was. Anything that didn't fit the "good hero Angel" mode was either ignored, attributed to Angelus or Angel wanting someone to think he was Angelus. Angel was capable of, and often did, lie, he was also quite ruthless when needed (not to mention manipulative). Now I don't mean to imply he was "bad" because of these characteristics, merely they were there and Buffy never saw them. After all, would Buffy have ever accepted ANGEL as having locked Dru and Darla in with the W&H Lawyers? Notice that Angel never told Buffy how he had fed off of "bad people" for years after the Curse (vs. her comment to Spike that showed she thought such a plan was evil). He always needed her to close her eyes to part of him.
Angel never saw beyond the girl with Buffy. Any of her darker side or more complicated side confused him. He closed his eyes to much about her.
This IMHO is one reason they could never make it the distance. They hid too much and rejected parts of the other.
B/S on the other hand knew each other totally and could fight the fight together, accepting.
Kathleen
no subject
Exactly. Which is why I can't imagine Buffy and Angel 'living happily ever after'. I forget who wrote this, but I remember someone saying, that the Angel we see on BtVS is very much 'the mysterious stranger' - an intriguing boyfriend for the teenage heroine. But Angel on his own show is not a suitable boyfriend for a young girl - at all. He's often morally ambiguous and can be extremely ruthless. If they ever tried to get back together it would end baaaadly!!!
B/S on the other hand knew each other totally and could fight the fight together, accepting.
*Nods vigorously*