Though the title of the episode is "Hush" it never occured to me that all the characters would be silent for over half of the show. Prior to seeing it, I immediately thought that this specific episode had something to do with Buffy's being a slayer secret getting exposed. Boy was I wrong! I thought this episode was great though. I have never watched a television program where all the characters were silent, but it made me wanna go watch old silent films. I liked how all of the characters were more in touch with feeling their emotions instead of saying them. A great example of this was when Buffy and Riley almost kissed when they had their voices, but they actually kissed once they were silent. The characters all had to find a new way to express themselves, besides the obvious writting things down. They each had their own way of getting people's attention, and the characters used their facial expressions a lot more because it was their main form of communication. Also, the music did a great job of telling the story. It was loud and each piece specifically went along with the scene. The music allowed for me to know when things were about to get creepy and when something big was about to happen which I really enjoyed. Through the soundtrack of their actions, I was able to experience television in a whole new way. I payed more attention to the charaters and their every move because anything could have been communication.
In the article for this episode by Wilcox she quotes Whedon saying in his commentary, "As soon as you say something, you've eliminated every other possibility of what you might be talking about." I think this is something to think about.
4 comments:
The unique methods of silent communication were great! More clever execution on Whedon's part!
I like how you pointed out that Buffy and Riley only kissed once they got their voices taken away from them. It's like the only barrier to them communicating their true feelings was their needing to constantly lie to each other.
Yeah, Riley ad Buffy should not talk and just get busy. :p
I'm glad the kissing wasn't as loud as the first episode we watched. That along with the sappy over-romanticized music would have been cheesy gag worthy.
Joking aside though, I do agree the use of music fit in accordance to the plot perfectly in a stereotypical way that demonstrates how much we rely on sound to sound in visual entertainment. It would be interesting if books came with a soundtrack, imagine a Stephen King book scariness with creepy music in the background. Eep!
I must admit I especially enjoyed the use of the nursery rhyme at the beginning. I'm not sure if it was an ode or rip-off to Nightmare on Elm's Streets use of the nursery rhyme. Either way I don't mind. I'm all about the borrowing of ideas.
This episode made me want to revisit the Freddie Krueger series. The bad guys reminded me of Freddy in that they were sort of silly, resembled the dried out look of the masks Freddy has and the use of razors.
I think there are definitely some shout-outs to the "Freddy" world going on in this episode--especially the little girl's song. And I love that Holly's all about the "borrowing of ideas." That's re-writing, after all!
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