There was a moment when I felt Buffy had transcended being great genre TV and was actually becoming great art. It was sort of a David Lynchian moment.
David Lynch came from a fine art background, I believe. "Eraserhead" (was there anything before that one?) was sort of an experimental art film. A surrealistic horror film. "The Elephant Man" certainly had horrific elements too. It seemed like a tribute to the Frankenstein movies, the misunderstood man-child monster.
I remember sneaking into "Blue Velvet" with my friends. It was one of the most visceral, horrifying things I'd ever seen. It was sort of a small town, noir detective story. It seemed to suggest that this repulsive evil underbelly was just below the idyllic American small town veneer. I still have mixed feelings about it. The happy, robins-in-the-backyard ending seemed like a weird mockery of goodness and innocence after all the sickness that had preceded it. Was small town innocence just a complete sham to him? I think evil and innocence are both a genuine part of America. Just am not sure what he was getting at there.
Twin Peaks was riveting that first season. Another small town. Strange, surreal, nonsensical. The more things they ended up explaining, the less interesting it became. Lynch is brilliant in setting a mood but doesn't always seem interested in telling a story. He seems first and foremost a visualist.
Joss comes from a literary background, right? He's very strong with characterization, dialogue, engrossing stories and interesting metaphors. I'd never found anything particularly compelling visually with his direction. I think it's always improving and I'm sure it's a collaborative process with other folks on the set.
Both Lynch and Joss have made use of horror, small towns and monstrous characters. Lynch seemed interested in exploring the culture of small towns, the isolation, the weirdness. And just the human psyche itself. Joss didn't seem interested in small towns per se, it was just a setting. His monsters were the metaphor for the horrors of adolescence.
Back to the transcendent moment. I don't know that Joss has cited Lynch as a reference, but "The Body" seems utterly Lynchian to me. Pure, visual storytelling. The true horror of mundane, everyday human death. When Buffy is staring at that phone pad, it's a very slow, sickening close-up as the camera moves in on those numbers. In her shock and grief she can't concentrate, and this is a brilliant technique to get that feeling across. It's also a classic Lynch technique. Great for setting mood, building tension.
It's very bright in Buffy's house that day. She opens the back door after puking and and it's a bright shiny day, the sound of kids playing off in the distance. Yet there's this kind of sickly yellowish cast to it all. Again, the contrast between the idyllic and the horrific.
Something I hadn't mentioned is Lynch's very skillful use of sound. Very often, there is none. No music. Suddenly he'll "cut" to a loud scream or wind or a mechanical noise. Some sound that's completely out of context with what you're seeing on screen. It's jarring and effective in depicting the fear, disorientation of a character. Joss very much made use of these techniques in "The Body". No music. People suddenly yelling at Buffy: the EMT guy, Giles. A weird sort of underwater sound as Buffy stares that phone pad. And the silence during Dawn's breakdown. Counterintuitive, but effective.
My love for David Lynch's work was cemented with "The Straight Story". He didn't write the script, but it proved he could tell a straight-forward story with beautiful characters and great compassion. He could do this without compromising his brilliant visual and sonic style. He was a complete artist/storyteller in my eyes. "The Body" demonstrated to me that Joss could write a great story and tell it with visual flair. He was becoming a complete storyteller/artist.
* "The Body" was the key episodefor me because I hadn't seen "Hush" at that point in time. What do you guys think? What directors or artists do you suspect influenced Joss?
David Lynch came from a fine art background, I believe. "Eraserhead" (was there anything before that one?) was sort of an experimental art film. A surrealistic horror film. "The Elephant Man" certainly had horrific elements too. It seemed like a tribute to the Frankenstein movies, the misunderstood man-child monster.
I remember sneaking into "Blue Velvet" with my friends. It was one of the most visceral, horrifying things I'd ever seen. It was sort of a small town, noir detective story. It seemed to suggest that this repulsive evil underbelly was just below the idyllic American small town veneer. I still have mixed feelings about it. The happy, robins-in-the-backyard ending seemed like a weird mockery of goodness and innocence after all the sickness that had preceded it. Was small town innocence just a complete sham to him? I think evil and innocence are both a genuine part of America. Just am not sure what he was getting at there.
Twin Peaks was riveting that first season. Another small town. Strange, surreal, nonsensical. The more things they ended up explaining, the less interesting it became. Lynch is brilliant in setting a mood but doesn't always seem interested in telling a story. He seems first and foremost a visualist.
Joss comes from a literary background, right? He's very strong with characterization, dialogue, engrossing stories and interesting metaphors. I'd never found anything particularly compelling visually with his direction. I think it's always improving and I'm sure it's a collaborative process with other folks on the set.
Both Lynch and Joss have made use of horror, small towns and monstrous characters. Lynch seemed interested in exploring the culture of small towns, the isolation, the weirdness. And just the human psyche itself. Joss didn't seem interested in small towns per se, it was just a setting. His monsters were the metaphor for the horrors of adolescence.
Back to the transcendent moment. I don't know that Joss has cited Lynch as a reference, but "The Body" seems utterly Lynchian to me. Pure, visual storytelling. The true horror of mundane, everyday human death. When Buffy is staring at that phone pad, it's a very slow, sickening close-up as the camera moves in on those numbers. In her shock and grief she can't concentrate, and this is a brilliant technique to get that feeling across. It's also a classic Lynch technique. Great for setting mood, building tension.
It's very bright in Buffy's house that day. She opens the back door after puking and and it's a bright shiny day, the sound of kids playing off in the distance. Yet there's this kind of sickly yellowish cast to it all. Again, the contrast between the idyllic and the horrific.
Something I hadn't mentioned is Lynch's very skillful use of sound. Very often, there is none. No music. Suddenly he'll "cut" to a loud scream or wind or a mechanical noise. Some sound that's completely out of context with what you're seeing on screen. It's jarring and effective in depicting the fear, disorientation of a character. Joss very much made use of these techniques in "The Body". No music. People suddenly yelling at Buffy: the EMT guy, Giles. A weird sort of underwater sound as Buffy stares that phone pad. And the silence during Dawn's breakdown. Counterintuitive, but effective.
My love for David Lynch's work was cemented with "The Straight Story". He didn't write the script, but it proved he could tell a straight-forward story with beautiful characters and great compassion. He could do this without compromising his brilliant visual and sonic style. He was a complete artist/storyteller in my eyes. "The Body" demonstrated to me that Joss could write a great story and tell it with visual flair. He was becoming a complete storyteller/artist.
* "The Body" was the key episodefor me because I hadn't seen "Hush" at that point in time. What do you guys think? What directors or artists do you suspect influenced Joss?
E
eponinethen
I agree with you on Lynch.. though I see it more in Restless but yeah.. interesting post..
