Muzzy With Insomnia

[thedeadlyhook]

Having one of those wake-up-at-3:00-am-for-no-reason days. Ended up wandering out to the living to watch horror movies - yes, in the middle of the night, because I'm weird, and somehow when I can't sleep, horror movies are soothing. Dario Argento's Inferno and now, Eyes of Laura Mars, a movie that really made an impression on me when I first saw it as a teenager. Still a very powerful film, with lots going on in the way of '70s movies - characters you can't predict, mysterious happenings that the filmmakers don't feel a desperate need to fully explain (and thus they maintain their mystery in a satisfying way), a haunting Babs Streisand opening song, and great performances by Faye Dunaway, young Tommy Lee Jones (OMG, the unibrow!), Brad Dourif, Raul Julia, and Rene Auberjonois (yes! Odo with no makeup!) But it's the photography-plus-psychic-powers combo that still gets me - god, talk about a metaphor that really works. The fact that I studied photography myself has... well, okay, it has something to do with it. This is perhaps the only film on record I can think of that actually gets the darkroom stuff right. And if you're curious, Laura Mars's photographs are rather loosely based on the work of Helmut Newton (edited to add: actually, from the credits, Newton actually took the pictures in the film), and although it seems pretty distant now, used to be there was a sort of flap about whether or not that sort of thing constituted "art."

I'm also picking away at the next chapter of my WIP. Toys, on reading through the latest bit, had a reaction to the tune of "wow, you really love to torture Spike, huh." Then looks at me funny, like I'm gonna look at him next and say something like, "well, you only hurt the ones you love, right?" Cue Pyscho music.

Not true. Not true. I mean, Spike is just so... hurtable. Like, there's symbolism and stuff there, about time and injury and forgiveness, and...

Okay, that really didn't come out right. Shit. Maybe I'll just get back to trying to say it through the story. If I start to come off like a big sicko, tell me then.

On a sweeter note, Toys woke up at 7:00 am and wandered out to find me because I wasn't there. Aw. And this is 11:00 am wakeup call boy. Double aw.

OMG, Brad Dourif with a poodle perm and a beard. He's actually kind of cute like that. Wow.

Comments

[shapinglight]

Not true. Not true. I mean, Spike is just so... hurtable. Like, there's symbolism and stuff there, about time and injury and forgiveness, and...

I think a lot of us find this - plus there are all those pictures of him with his sexy wounds. It only encourages us.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it has to do with me being a horror movie buff or what, but I always see deep issues to be explored whenever you deal with pain. It's a primal expression of part of the human experience, albeit extremely magnified.

And yeah, there's the sexy too... although getting into that subject too hard is probably where I'd start to sound like a sicko. I mean, there are whole genres of film based around the idea of gorgeous women being cut up (a large bulk of the Italian horror films I enjoy, for instance), and the whole motivating reason for that is rather less misogyny than simply the erotic allure of showing beautiful women in pain, and... well, one of the things I always found kind of interesting about Buffy is the way that standard "male gaze" was reversed a lot of the time, and it was good-looking men who got hurt and cut up for our pleasure. I suppose either side of that argument is as defensible as the other...

[shapinglight]

I haven't seen any Italian horror films and am not a horror film buff in the slightest. Normally, I don't like anything too bloody or visceral at all - way too squeamish.

But I agree that in BtVS it's as much the reversal of the gender norms that attracts as anything else, along with the fact that no matter how much you hurt Spike (or Angel, I suppose) you know they'll get better. It's kind of playing with characters who really can take it.

[herself_nyc]

I hope there will be a new installment of Spike-torture soon ....

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. Working on it right now, in fact. Although we may be getting closer to the "comfort" end of the "hurt" scale soon.

[herself_nyc]

Well, obviously, that's what I'm REALLY yearning for. And the hot yet tender make-up sex.

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

Spike is infinitely hurtable, and I know exactly what you mean. He's a wounded dude, so physical scars can become metaphorical. Much more entertaining than just beating up Xander. Again.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Poor Xander! Boy, and Toys and I really handed him a kicking in "Bad Trip," too. He really is the punching bag boy, isn't he?

Although... well, at least that's one thing I can point to where I wasn't the one cheering for all the hurtage - I was originally gonna let Xander get off with an injured foot in that story.

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

Well, I mean, Xander- suh he gets hurt. He's human, for God's sake, and in over his head. Spike...not so much.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

I'm probably funny in that I always expected to see Xander get hurt more. I mean, seven years before he loses an eye? Pretty good, considering.

Hm... now I sound like I really have it in for Xander. Uh... (whistles innocently)

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

Well, in all reality, he should have been hurt more. No powers, nothing but heart, going in and fighting the apocalypse year after year? I mean, Glory at the very least should have kicked his ass.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Or at the very least, way more pulled muscles and minor injuries. I'd have gotten a big larf if they'd had him claiming workman's comp from his construction job for a demon-related injury.

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

Dude. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. That's brilliance.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

Spike is just so... hurtable. Like, there's symbolism and stuff there, about time and injury and forgiveness, and...

Okay, that really didn't come out right. Shit. Maybe I'll just get back to trying to say it through the story.

Ohhh, please do. I didn't get a chance to FB, but the starvation-in-darkness chapter just sent me. Pretty much perfect. Spike suffers well, it's his particular skill, and you're doing a fantastic job. It'd be a waste if you went soft too soon. :)

Hm, that also sounded a little bent. You know what I mean. Spike's best qualities are brought into relief by adversity and all that. And Buffy's best qualities are brought into relief by Spike's adversities. Yeah.

OMG, Brad Dourif with a poodle perm and a beard. He's actually kind of cute like that. Wow.

I watched Eyes of Laura Mars centuries ago, long before Brad Dourif shot to the top of my personal pantheon. Poodle perm? Beard? I would turn aside and see this great sight.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Spike's best qualities are brought into relief by adversity and all that. And Buffy's best qualities are brought into relief by Spike's adversities. Yeah.

There we go! That's what I was trying to say. Like that.

I still plan to follow my muse through on this story, never fear. It was just this kind of unsettling moment, when it was pointed out to me that I have this kind of running theme of Spike hurt in both this story and "The Dead Walk" (not so much hurt/comfort as "hurt/feed," as Toys put it). And thanks too, for the supportive words! : )

I watched Eyes of Laura Mars centuries ago, long before Brad Dourif shot to the top of my personal pantheon. Poodle perm? Beard? I would turn aside and see this great sight.

Oh, he is sooo young in this movie, too. Tough boy with a switchblade who works as Faye Dunaway's driver. It is quite the great sight.

[kassto.livejournal.com]

Spike's best qualities are brought into relief by adversity and all that. And Buffy's best qualities are brought into relief by Spike's adversities.

Great insight!

And also, anything that musses up Spike's new clothes in this story is fine by me! ; )

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think I can oblige you there. ; )

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

also, anything that musses up Spike's new clothes in this story is fine by me

Oh, tell it, sister. I'm all for Spike having short hair and moving forward, but the dapper duds are a real burr under my saddle. He wants a bit of scuffing.

[tesla321.livejournal.com]

Man, how can I have forgotten that movie? That movie haunted me for years.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

I'm now jonesing for a downoad of the song. You'd think Babs, right? How obscure could it be?

But yeah, for some reason, that was one of my weird landmark films. So many interesting ideas, and geniuinely touching and creepy. Disturbing. Maybe the fact that I like it is explaining a lot about me.

[elisi]

I have to go and be snuggly with husband and children now, but just felt like responding here. Also I'm terribly interested in what-happens-next of course, and yes, Spike is very hurtable indeed. How many times has he been beaten, tortured etc?

On a sweeter note, Toys woke up at 7:00 am and wandered out to find me because I wasn't there. Aw. And this is 11:00 am wakeup call boy. Double aw.

Aw indeed! (I was feeling all tired and horrid the other day, and my husband made me a lovely bath with lots of candles around etc... Sometimes he's too sweet for words! :)

I posted part 7 of my fic and have now started (posting) a series of short post-NFA vignettes... and now my house is a mess! Sigh - I have to prioritize better!

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Eee! I must get caught up. I'm addicted to vignette fics.

[elisi]

I'm guessing your favourite writer is Colleen then (does she have an LJ? I'm awfully clueless sometimes).

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

I've read tons of her stuff on The Sandlot, but I don't know if she has an LJ. And yeah, god, I snapped up her stuff like candy when the seasons were on the air. Kept the addiction going like nothing else...

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay then. Just so we're clear. ; )

Hm. I do not have an icon that suits this topic. Must fix.