It's always a treat to read
Angearia's meta. Thanks for posting this.
A few comments on her writing:
Season 8 makes sense to me as a follow-up to Angel's narrative.
Couldn't disagree more. The Angel in Season 8 is nothing but a shell of his former self.
As a vampire cursed with a soul, Angel is an incredibly dark figure. The dead air he exhales is ripe with tragedy and despair. He is cursed, he is trapped, yet he fights and continues to hope for a better world despite all evidence to the contrary.
Nice words.
Moscow, I think it's interesting that you see Angel as an existensalist figure. I always saw him as the ultimate tragic hero. I've never bought his image as a Hero. I know Joss (and many fans) see him as such, but Angel is so
incredibly flawed - and a Hero is supposed to be perfect, after all. This doesn't mean he's not special. He is. The Buffyverse is full of imperfect, extraordinary individuals.
...for Angel to know joy is to destroy all that is good within him.
This is a compelling point, and one I think we often forget. People are always going on about how self-sacrificing Angel is (why, oh
why can't he be happy, god dammit!?). To find happiness for himself is to sacrifice his humanity, and as a result, to give up his ability to help others - his life purpose.
Based on her theory - that Angel could lose his soul saving lives and souls surrounded by friends who love him - do you think Cordelia could have caused him to lose his soul? His fear of that happening could explain how difficult it was for him to admit he was in love with her.
...he cannot become too wise, too kind, too successful, or too close to others"”but there is no such limit on how evil he can become.
*nods thoughtfully*
Nice. Angel can never win, really. No matter how much good he does, the scales will never tip, he will never he able to be as good with a soul as how bad he was without one. Does that make sense? In other words, Angel can never reach the potenial "good" as he could evil. He is better bad. Many tragic heroes are.
I like what she has to say about souled vampires showing they care through violence. I see this in Spike as well. For instance, allowing Fred to die. Spike and Angel knew that was what she'd want, so out of love and caring for her, they allowed Illyria to take over her body, an invasive and violent act. Violence for love.
Angel the Series is a tragedy and "Not Fade Away" is the exclamation point on Angel's tragic end"”disconnected from the people who ground him in humanity (Cordelia is dead, Connor is held at a distance, his other friends are busy being swallowed by W&H), he loses his way and loses hope in redemption, leading to the ultimate failure of his mission to save souls"”in his despair, he forces a physical battle and settles for killing cogs in the wheel which will be easily replaced (cut off the hydra's head and three more grow in its place) because he's given up on winning the war of soul redemption.
Angel being the "bringer of his own destruction" is so typical of the tragic hero, who traditionally has a "tragic flaw", something that holds them back from making important deciisons and what eventually leads to his downfall. Also, her comment that "Angel the Series is a tragedy" only affirms my theory. The show is a tragedy starring a tragic hero.
This is how I see the way the BtVS and AtS narratives intertwine: Buffy's smile juxtaposing Angel's death wish, a death wish that Buffy is also prone to because Angel and Buffy are so very alike, both dependent on their human connections to keep them grounded, both in danger of losing sight of what's important when they fly too high, when they become isolated from their humanity, from their souls.
God, this essay just gets better and better.
I agree with this completely. This is how I see the two endings, too, and I definitely think that was the purpose, for one to be the opposite of the other. Angel is the dark and Buffy is the light.
Season 8 is a tragedy, not because a higher power hijacked his body, but because he listened to the devil whispering in his ear and mistook it for an angel.
And once again, Angel has been made Destiny's Bitch, and his idealism has damned him. I don't see Angel as a victim in all this, but I understand her viewpoint. How much of a choice did Angel
really have, anyway? I'm not contesting Angel's intentions in Season 8 (I believe they were good) but there is a huge truth in this statement;
If you do not recognize him, it's because Angel is lost.
Angel deserves more then our pity - he deserves our understanding. We don't need to be happy with the choices he's made, but for those of us who feel we know his character well? We'd be lying if we said we didn't understand why he did it.
This story is the culmination of Angel's fall"”because it's not the demon that needs killing, it's the man. Angel's right: it's the man who's weak, but killing him isn't the answer. The man needs to be rescued.
Exactly. No Bangel fuzzies here. It's all an illusion prepping us for the big bang tragedy. It's going down from here, kiddos.
But the question is; can he pick himself up? He's fallen very far this time.
Despite my hatred for Angel lately, this essay made me think, and reminded me, no matter what he's done lately, what an interesting character he was and still is.
