Spiritualism

[thedeadlyhook]

Rewatching the first few eps of Season 5 Angel, a couple things occurred to me about the whole "ghost-Spike" arc. First, that the repeating image of him facing the wall is borrowed from Blair Witch, and second, that he becomes increasingly transparent until Fred takes a real interest in his cause, after which he comes back into focus. Thematically, this is quite a lot like the Marcy the Invisible Girl story from Buffy Season 1... or the way Tinkerbell's light fades when people stop believing in fairies. Huh.

Comments

[rahirah]

I remember back then people were speculating that Spike would have to be 'believed' back to life, or that he'd eventually will himself back...which did seem to be happening, as he gradually got more control over his environment, but it might have taken years...

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

That would have been a really interesting idea to see implemented, but as-is, we only really got a glimmer of an implication. Even so, it's kinda of neat to notice how that sets up a polarity between Spike, totally ineffectual in his phantom state, who has to learn to influence his immediate environment through careful concentration, and Angel, who has all sorts of temporal power at his fingertips, but his range and reach is so great his own effectiveness becomes diffused. Hmm...