I'm sorry I didn't get to experience this episode with all of you! I'm sure it would have been more fun! Unfortunately, I had to watch it on my own. I will say that 8 minutes into the program I had the impulse to turn it off. It was right after the guy (with a back up chorus) was in the street singing, "They got the mustard out!" As I was about to press the stop button I remembered that I HAD to watch this episode...and so I did. All I can say is that I don't know what drug Joss Whedon was on when he conjured up the idea of making"Buffy" a musical but he needed to "Just Say No!"
Okay, let's move on. The characters are very honest about their feelings when they sing. Xander and Anya sing about their fears within their relationship. Tara sings about how much Willow completes her (as she rises off the bed like the exorcist girl). Giles sings about worrying he's standing in Buffy's way and Spike just wants to "rest in peace". Then there are the wooden-headed dudes. What do they represent? They have wooden heads and are the only characters who don't sing in this episode. That had to be intentional but why? If singing is honesty then not singing would result in lies. Maybe the wooden-headed dudes are like Pinnochio...they both have wooden heads and lie.
I'm reaching and reaching for symbolism in this episode but coming up empty...I think I just got lost inside the corny music!
7 comments:
I must say your post made me laugh several times. I thought the episode was good, and I thought it was funny how singing was like a curse. Also, I didn't think about the symbolism of the bad guys and I, like you, have no idea what they represent. I do think that there is something going on with being honest though. Since the main bad guy was from hell maybe it has something to do with good vs. evil, heaven vs. hell, lies vs. truth type thing. However, that still wouldn't make sense because why would he cause them to tell the truth when he's bad? I'm just not sure.
We need to talk about *why* this is a musical episode. It is supposed to be a bit cheesy (or a lot cheesy) and over the top. That's intentional. The mustard part is *supposed* to make you laugh and groan. (And the mustard singer is, by the way, David Fury, one of the show's writers/producers. Similarly, the "parking ticket" lady is Marti Noxon, another writer/producer. We'll see both of them in "Dr. Horrible," too.)
The wooden dudes were kind of freaky, weren't they? No idea what was going on there...I'd love to hear your theories.
Yeah, I wasn't sure about the wooden headed dudes myself. However, in light of them all looking almost identical, I think I kind of wrote them off like I did the lackeys in "Hush". They seemed like the unimportant small fry who do the dirty work for the big guy (Sweet).
I do think there's something going on with the puppet/marionette idea (ugh, I hate puppets). But again, not sure *why* the writer (Joss) made this choice.
Hmmm. I was thinking about the puppet characters, too. Perhaps since puppets have to be controlled by outside forces to dance (and sing, which is so creepy) puppets/marionettes seem like a good fit for Sweet's go-to guys. The cast basically turns into puppets when they sing and dance out of their control, even if what they sing about is specific to their feelings.
It would make sense that the wooden-headed dudes could represent puppets. When Buffy starts dancing uncontrollably she does resemble a puppet with too many strings being pulled. Pinnochio was a puppet and Spike makes reference to the wooden-headed dude becoming "a real boy someday" which is a line directly from Pinnochio. This leads me to think that perhaps this is why the wooden-headed dudes are the only characters who don't sing. They aren't real yet so they only have some abilities (like dancing). They are just puppets controlled by the singing demon.
I'm sure most of the "Buffy" lovers know the history and background that fueled this episode being made. I do not know all these "little extra" tidbits that assist analyzing Joss Whedon's intention. I guess that is why I end up applying the New Criticism approach in my viewing of the episode. I just view the content, not writer's history or intent. Obviously, that leaves my experience a bit dryer than yours. This is the disadvantage of New Criticism. It is kind of like buying the necklace but forgoing on the matching earings, it can be done but is it the best choice?
1) David Fury and Marti Noxon?? No way!! haha
2) This post also gave me much needed giggles, thanks for that ;)
3) I agree with Hannah. I thought these wooden-headed dudes (which is now what I will call them) represent puppets because every "Big Bad" has to have minions! And what better way than to have creepy puppet dudes to do the dirty work?
4) As most of you know, I watched Buffy from the beginning, so I've definitely a big fan. However, I still have no idea why Joss made a musical...I'm just glad there wasn't one on Angel.
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