Spuffy & Cangel Forum
Vous souhaitez réagir à ce message ? Créez un compte en quelques clics ou connectez-vous pour continuer.

Spuffy & Cangel Forum

Pour tous les fans du couple Buffy/Spike (mais aussi Cordy/Angel), ainsi que tous les fans de BTVS et ATS, ce forum est fait pour vous.
 
AccueilAccueil  S'enregistrerS'enregistrer  Connexion  
Le Deal du moment : -50%
-50% sur les sacs à dos pour ordinateur ...
Voir le deal
19.99 €
Le Deal du moment : -20%
-20% sur le Lot de 2 écrans PC GIGABYTE ...
Voir le deal
429 €

 

 Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS

Aller en bas 
AuteurMessage
Miss Kitty
~ Out of this World ~
~ Out of this World ~
Miss Kitty


Féminin
Nombre de messages : 60535
Age : 34
Date d'inscription : 07/01/2009

Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Empty
MessageSujet: Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS   Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Icon_minitimeVen 12 Nov - 20:23

Je vous propose de retrouver ici des analyses, essais, metas ou autres textes de ce genre sur les personnages d'ATS.

_________________
Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Bann
Merci Sophie Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS 682513
Source icon : inacatastrophicmind

~ Sens Critique ~ Tumblr ~
Revenir en haut Aller en bas
http://misskittyspuffy.tumblr.com/
Miss Kitty
~ Out of this World ~
~ Out of this World ~
Miss Kitty


Féminin
Nombre de messages : 60535
Age : 34
Date d'inscription : 07/01/2009

Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Empty
MessageSujet: Re: Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS   Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Icon_minitimeMer 16 Mar - 1:23

Un article entièrement consacré au personnage de Chanterelle/Lily/Anne et son évolution :



Citation :
The Three Faces of Anne: Identity Formation in 'Buffy' and 'Angel'
By Don Tresca

Of all the characters that have appeared throughout the 12 seasons that together make up Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, one of the least understood and examined characters is Anne Steele (played by Julia Lee). As far as screen time goes, she was a relatively minor character, appearing in only five episodes total, two on Buffy (“Lie to Me” 2.7 and “Anne” 3.1) and three on Angel (“Blood Money” 2.12, “The Thin Dead Line” 2.14, and “Not Fade Away” 5.22). Such a minor character can easily be dismissed on most shows, but the fact that the writers kept returning to the character of Anne, even years after her original appearance, demonstrates something about the character that continued to fascinate both the writers and the audience.



Anne is an intriguing character because, although she is tangentially touched by the supernatural occurrences that are regular events on both programs, she maintains her identity as a “regular” individual throughout. This ability to live a normal life (despite her first-hand knowledge of the existence of vampires, demons, and zombies) demonstrates her strength of character and also allows the writers to explore the elements of an important psychological concept outside the supernatural realm that permeates the series, the concept of identity formation. Naturally, all of the characters on both programs have strong identities that form as the shows progress, but Anne is different in that, while many of the other characters develop identities that are very much determined by their experiences with the supernatural, Anne’s identity develops outside the supernatural realm (the way the identities of those young people watching the show develop).



Modern theories about identity formation began in 1963 with Erik Erickson’s groundbreaking work Childhood and Society in which he first coined the phrase “identity crisis.” According to Erickson, identity is “a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image” (as quoted in Cherry 3). An identity crisis frequently emerged during the teenage years as a “time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself” (as quoted in Cherry 2) during which individuals struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.



In 1966, James Marcia expanded on Erickson’s initial theories in an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled “Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status.” He posited that the identity crisis discussed by Erickson eventually leads to an identity commitment, which occurs when the individual makes a firm commitment to an identity (social role or value) that he or she has chosen for himself or herself. After interviewing numerous adolescents and young adults for his study, he concluded that there are four separate “identity statuses” that make up psychological identity development:



Identity Diffusion

The status in which the adolescent has not yet experienced the identity crisis. They have not yet explored any meaningful identity alternatives and have not made any commitments to identity.


Identity Foreclosure

The status in which the adolescent has made a choice to a commitment but has still yet to undergo an identity crisis. The adolescent has not yet had the opportunity to experience alternatives. The adolescent accepts what others (frequently parental figures) have chosen for him. These same adolescents identify greatly with the same-sex parent and typically try to emulate the choices that he or she has made (i.e., if a young boy’s father is a mechanic and owns his own business, then the boy will become a mechanic as well and take over the business when his father retires).


Identity Moratorium

This status is a brief period in which the adolescence is on the verge of his or her identity crisis; however, the adolescent still is undetermined about making a commitment. It is a period of delay. It is during this time that adolescents will experiment with a variety of different identities and roles and explore different life philosophies in the hopes of finding a compatible one on which to commit.


Identity Achievement

This status occurs after the period of identity moratorium and after the adolescent has undergone the identity crisis. This status indicates that the adolescent has made his or her decision for life identity. These individuals have explored all the different roles and opportunities and have come to conclusions and made decisions on their own.



Marcia was very adamant that these four statuses were not stages that every individual went through in a strictly sequential process and that people throughout their lifetime would fluctuate within the statuses as new circumstances arose to challenge the commitments they have made in their lives. Numerous decisions and commitments are made throughout an individual’s life to help determine who that individual will be (Breaux 2-6).



A third psychological researcher, Raymond Lloyd Richmond, challenged both Erickson’s and Marcia’s claims about identity formation in a 1997 article in Psychology Guide titled “Identity and Loneliness” in which he argues that all identity is a “fraud” (Richmond 7), that an individual’s identity is only “whatever you ‘think’ you are [but] is, ultimately, nothing but a vague approximation of what you really are. And what you really are is revealed [only] in discrete moments of genuine encounter with your inner life” (Richmond 9). Richmond stated that people only reveal their true identities during moments of the “unexpected,” when they are less concerned with what will “look good” than what is truly in accordance with the nature of the individual’s “inner identity” (Richmond 13). Richmond believed that individuals created “false public identities” to avoid facing their “inner identities,” which are frequently dark and ugly and that many psychological conditions (such as depression and phobias) are nothing more than symptoms of a person’s fear and rejection of their true identities (14).



Anne’s first appearance on Buffy is in the episode “Lie to Me” (2.7) in the show’s second season. At the time of this episode, she is calling herself “Chanterelle.” Here, Chanterelle is trapped between two different identity statuses, foreclosure and moratorium. Although we in the audience do not know it at the time,” clearly the identity of “Chanterelle” represents one in a long series of identities that she is experimenting with in an attempt to find an identity to which she can commit a clear sign of identity moratorium. (Later, as “Lily” she tells Buffy that “Chanterelle” was part of her “exotic phase” and before that she was known as “Sister Sunshine” while following “this loser preacher.” The audience never learns her true name since she refuses to answer Buffy’s question of “What do they call you at home?” However, the shooting script of “Lie to Me” lists her original name as “Joan Appleby” [Ozzman 2]).But this identity is also one of foreclosure, one which she does not choose so much as desperately seize in the hopes of gaining a permanent identity commitment and that will make her part of a larger social group rather than a lonely, isolated individual.



Here she is concerned more with what will look good to the others (the very definition of a “fraud” identity, as described by Richmond) than in making an informed decision. Even when Angel attempts to force her into seeing the true nature of the identity she is seeking, she refuses to listen, telling Angel he “doesn’t have to be so confrontational about it. Other viewpoints other than yours may be valid, you know.” In the aftermath of Angel’s conversation with Chanterelle, Willow seems to parrot Richmond’s theory about identity choice in her response to Angel’s comment about the vampire wannabes (“they’re children making up bedtime stories of friendly vampires to comfort themselves in the dark”), adding, “Is that so bad? I mean, the dark can get pretty dark. Sometimes you need a story.”



The subsequent vampire attack on the Sunset Club at the end of “Lie to Me” and Chanterelle’s near-death at the hands of Spike (only to be saved by Buffy) breaks her free from the foreclosed identity of vampire-wannabe, and she runs away from Sunnydale to the streets of Los Angeles. When Buffy next meets her in “Anne” (3.1), Chanterelle has changed her name to Lily (again a name/identity that was chosen for her, this time by her boyfriend Rickie). She is still floundering in search of a committed identity (her homelessness is symbolic of this lack of direction in this regard). But she is beginning to show signs of committing—the tattoos she and Rickie get indicate her willingness to commit and connect with another individual—one of the key components of Marcia’s functional identity (along with occupational role and fundamental beliefs and values [Cherry 4]).



When she loses Rickie, she seeks out the help of the one person she knows who helped her through her previous “identity crisis,” Buffy. During this time, however, Buffy is undergoing an identity crisis of her own. Since Anne is actually Buffy’s middle name, however, it indicates that her new identity and old identity are still tied together.


Buffy makes a choice

As Anne, Buffy spends her days drifting between her menial job as a coffee-shop waitress and moping in her apartment. When she eventually meets Lily, she denies her former identity when confronted and seeks to avoid Lily since she serves as a reminder of that life. But, when Buffy finds herself trapped in a hell dimension and confronted by a demon threatening to strip her of any identity whatsoever, Buffy makes a choice. She chooses to accept fully her identity as the Slayer and refers to herself, for the first time in the episode, as “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” Unlike earlier in the series when Giles forces her to accept her identity as the Slayer (a clear indication of a foreclosed identity), here Buffy herself makes the choice during the moment of crisis (moving her identity as “Slayer” from a foreclosed identity to a committed identity).



Lily also makes a choice at the conclusion of the episode. She chooses to take on the identity of “Anne” (although she does ask Buffy’s permission to do so, indicating her continued search for validation in her identity). Ironically, not only did Anne take her name from Buffy but in the episode “Tabula Rasa” (6.8) Buffy briefly and unwittingly took Anne’s original name: Joan (which is indicated in the “Lie to Me” shooting script [Ozzman 10]) The identity of Anne offers Lily another element of functional identity (as described by Marcia), that of an “occupational role” (in this case, Buffy’s job at the diner). For the first time (seemingly since we are never given a complete view of Anne’s background prior to “Lie to Me”), she has an identity that she has chosen for herself. How well she commits to that new identity will be seen in subsequent episodes of Angel.



In “Blood Money” (Angel 2.12), the audience learns that Anne is now running a homeless shelter, the East Hills Town Center. This new incarnation of the character is much stronger and forceful than the one initially seen on Buffy. Anne has now found something to commit to, an ideal: the protection of the runaway teens of Los Angeles. This commitment to an ideal is the final functional aspect of the committed identity (Cherry 4). Anne’s commitment to this new identity and all that it entails is evident throughout the episode. The first scene of her in the shelter shows the strength of her character. Unlike the meek girl in “Anne,” here she is confrontational, refusing to jeopardize the safety of her charges by allowing a drunk teen into the center. However, her identity is not yet as fully established as she would believe.



When Angel confronts her with his accusation about Wolfram & Hart’s plans to steal the fundraising money from the charity ball they are organizing for the shelter, Anne reacts in much the same way she does to his accusations against the vampires in “Lie to Me.” She is so naïve (despite her claim to Lindsey that she is not) that she believes (initially) in the good nature of those using her, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary. Unlike “Lie to Me,” where she almost literally has to die before her eyes are opened to the darkness of the world around her, here she makes a conscious decision not to trust blindly and she accepts that people may not always have her best interests at heart. In this episode, we see the conflict between Marcia’s theory of identity (with Anne being representative of that theory) and Richmond’s theory of fraudulent identity (with Lindsey and Wolfram & Hart being representative of that theory).



Despite Wolfram & Hart’s best efforts to keep the dark nature of their identity secret from Anne, she is able to see through their deception and do the right thing (despite the inherent danger to both herself and her committed identity as operator of the homeless shelter). This seems to indicate the strength of Marcia’s theory of committed identity over Richmond’s theory. Anne has her commitment tested further when she discovers that Angel has betrayed her as well, having forced her to make the choice to risk herself and her shelter for his own personal vendetta against Wolfram & Hart. Her and Angel’s confrontation directly after the charity ball indicates the strength of her commitment to her new identity. Her anger with him over his willingness to destroy her identity and the well-being of those in her care shows how committed she is to her chosen identity. His comment to her that “that’s the difference between us—you still care” indicates that he knows that she will continue to remain committed to her ideals despite all that has happened to her. The final scene of the episode, where Angel delivers the “blood money” to Anne, reinforces this notion. When she notices the actual blood on the money, she tells him, “It’ll wash,” showing that she has come to accept the darkness that comes with her committed identity. She is fully dedicated.



In the next episode in which she appears, “The Thin Dead Line” (Angel 2.14), Anne’s commitment to her new identity is complete. She refers to the teens in the shelter as “my kids” and the staff of the shelter as “my regular staffers.” She demonstrates her “true identity” (according to Richmond) when she engages in “genuine encounter” with dangerous outside forces. Richmond argues, in his essay, as stated earlier, that an individual’s “true identity” is revealed when he or she faces a confrontation during which he or she is more concerned with personal safety and life preservation than what “looks good” to others. Anne confronts the street gangster Jackson when he muscles his way into the shelter without any concern for her own personal safety, only backing down for fear of his starting trouble within the residence. She later uses a baseball bat to beat off the zombie cops attempting to enter the shelter, despite the inherent danger of the situation (only a timely intervention from Cordelia saves her).



These are two primary examples of how Anne is much more concerned with the safety and well-being of her charges than in her own personal safety. In Richmond’s essay, he discusses what he calls the pride-love dichotomy. He states that many individuals in the helping professions (medical, teaching, social work, psychology, etc.) are motivated less by the need to help those less fortunate and more by the “need to project a certain image of oneself into the world, an image such as a ‘peacekeeper’ that in itself might derive from a childhood role within a family system of conflict. In such cases, the caretaking becomes not much more than an exercise of authority and power over the patient…In other words, many persons ‘give’ in order to advertise an identity and to maintain a position of power. This is pride, not love, because love empties itself of worldly desires through service, in order to give selflessly. Pride, however, makes giving into a form of bribery, in order to get something bigger in return” (Richmond 18-19, italics in original).



Clearly we see in Anne’s willingness to put herself in harm’s way to protect the teens in her shelter that she is acting from a vantage point of love and not pride. She, in fact, acts more heroically in this episode than the show’s supposed “hero,” Angel, did earlier in “Blood Money.” He acts more with pride than love since it is clear that Angel is helping Anne not out of compassion or a desire to “help the helpless” but instead simply because helping Anne would allow him to gain some measure of revenge against Wolfram & Hart. Anne even references this in her comment to the Angel Investigations team at the beginning of this episode when she tells them that Angel tried to help her a few weeks earlier although it turned out he was only doing it “to screw over this law firm.”



Anne’s strength of identity is further intensified in the final episode of Angel, “Not Fade Away” (5.22), in which Gunn seeks her out on what he believes will be his final day. During the final season of the show, Gunn has literally sold his soul to the dark forces by allying himself with Wolfram & Hart and allowing them to manipulate his self/his identity in order to gain advanced legal knowledge and prove himself to be more than just “the muscle” of the team. Unlike Anne, whose identity is governed by “love,” Gunn has allowed himself to be ruled over by “pride,” by his mistaken belief that his role as protector is not enough to validate his existence, that he will get more recognition as a valued member of the team if he is viewed by others in a more “respectable” position. This pride (and the fear of losing this new “identity”) leads to Fred’s death.



In the scene with Anne, Gunn tests her commitment to her “identity” by suggesting a scenario in which her “locus of control” (a psychological concept proposed by J.B. Rotter that refers to the psychological “place” in which a person puts responsibility for the outcomes of various life situations [Richmond 20]) is external—determined by forces outside of her control—rather than internal (determined by her own personal actions and life philosophies) (Richmond 20):



“What if I told you it doesn’t help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it’s all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive, and they will never let it get better down here. What would you do?”



Without skipping a beat, Anne replies, “I’d get this truck packed before the new stuff gets here.” Anne does not allow an external locus of control to determine her life, for those who have an external locus of control “live in a perpetual feeling of victimization, always blown about by the whims of the world around you” (Richmond 21) and instead lives by an internal locus of control in which “you love [and] you lay down your life for others” (Richmond 21). Anne has now fully committed to her “identity.” She is no longer dependent on others (as she was in the Buffy episodes) to determine her value and is not willing to be downtrodden and victimized by others. She is fully her own person now.



The development of Anne’s character from “Lie to Me” to “Not Fade Away” represents an everyday, nonsupernatural identity formation not unlike that of many of the show’s more supernaturally-related characters, such as Buffy, Angel, Spike, and Wesley. Each of them moves away from identities largely defined by others towards identities forged by their own beliefs, personalities, and life philosophies. The character of Anne shows those young people in the audience that they each have the strength of character to form their own identities and become committed to those identities fully in their own lives. Anne’s chosen surname, Steele, symbolizes the power and strength of that commitment. And with that powerful and strong commitment to identity should come an equally powerful and strong commitment to one’s fellow man, to a love of humanity unblemished by personal pride. In that way, and many others, Anne Steele becomes Joss Whedon’s prime example of humanity at its very best.
situations (Richmond 20).


* * *


Works Cited

Breaux, Jarred James. “James Marcia and the Four Identity Statuses Theory.” Helium (2002). Citations noted parenthetically in text.
Cherry, Kendra. “Identity Crisis—Theory and Research.” About Psychology (2005). Citations noted parenthetically in text.
Ozzman. “Anne Steele.” Buffywiki (December 30, 2010). Citations noted parenthetically in text.
Richmond, Raymond Lloyd. “Identity and Loneliness.” Psychology Guide(1997). Citations noted parenthetically in text.

_________________
Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Bann
Merci Sophie Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS 682513
Source icon : inacatastrophicmind

~ Sens Critique ~ Tumblr ~
Revenir en haut Aller en bas
http://misskittyspuffy.tumblr.com/
Miss Kitty
~ Out of this World ~
~ Out of this World ~
Miss Kitty


Féminin
Nombre de messages : 60535
Age : 34
Date d'inscription : 07/01/2009

Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Empty
MessageSujet: Re: Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS   Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Icon_minitimeJeu 17 Mar - 15:31

Un essai sur Wesley, qui le qualifie de véritable héro tragique du Whedonverse :


Citation :
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: Joss Whedon’s True Tragic Hero
By Nick Bridwell

Joss Whedon has created some of the most impressive characters in television history. From the iconic Buffy Summers to the redemptive Angel to renegade Captain Mal Reynolds, his protagonists are uniquely recognized as extraordinary, fully realized creations, and are acclaimed by critics and fans alike. Whedon’s characters are often used as vehicles to explore facets of life and the human condition. His super-powered heroes, like Buffy and Angel, always serve a greater metaphor or overarching message, and while Whedon creates fantastical realms in which to enact his perceptions of the world, his characters nonetheless echo the human plight. Through these characters Whedon explores love, loss, friendship, betrayal, vengeance, redemption, empowerment, familial relations, purpose, hope, failure, triumph, and sacrifice.



While some these themes may be realized, individually, in a number of characters, one character encapsulates them all. He is neither Slayer, vampire, nor futuristic space captain, but rather an ordinary human: Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Former watcher, rouge demon hunter, loyal ally to the good fight, and morally mellifluous hero, he is the most intensely actualized character in all of the Whedonverse, and one of the few characters whose journey is most fully explored within the confines of the series. Whedon and his team of writers, such as Tim Minear and Steven S. DeKnight, write Wesley as the Biblical Job of the Whedonverse, repeatedly pushed to the brink of darkness, only to rally time and time again behind the forces of good. Wesley, portrayed brilliantly by Alexis Denisof, undergoes the greatest transformation of any character Whedon has written, facing challenges that mirror the enduring and conquering spirit of humanity, and in doing so becomes perhaps the best developed character of not only Whedon’s work but also television as a whole.



When Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is first introduced to the Whedonverse, he is little more than a comic foil for Rupert Giles, allowing the seasoned Watcher an opportunity to appear less stuffy, even progressive, in comparison to his “by-the-book” younger, less experienced counterpart. It is soon apparent, however, that even in his early appearances on Buffy he is willing to separate himself from the group for the greater good. He does this initially, however, because he sees the world as black and white. In his second episode, “Consequences” (3.15), he not only ignores Giles’s warning that Faith is in a fragile emotional state but tries to capture her in order to force her to return to the Watcher’s Council for rehabilitation. He is, in this episode, completely uncompromising in his role as a watcher.



The subterfuge and hard choices that he displays in the episode reveal, however, even in the earliest stages of his development, a duality in his morals that will continue through the remainder of his life. Wesley is initially equal parts annoying and awkward. He commands no respect from his Slayers and continually alienates himself by failing to recognize the dynamics of the group. He makes plenty of mistakes in this regard, such as suggesting that Willow be left with the Mayor so that the villain can’t receive the box of Gavrok (crucial for his ascension as a demon) or failing to help Buffy save Angel once he is poisoned by Faith, causing Buffy to quit the Watcher’s Council.



He is stiff and uncaring because he believes that that is what the situation calls for. He represented a rational option for any person that existed outside of the clique. This was an interesting role for Wesley, because by separating the character from the group, while simultaneously making us sympathize with Buffy, he was able both to make the viewer feel closer to their favorite characters and present to them a clear perspective on how internally flawed all of them were.



Throughout Wesley’s tenure in Sunnydale, he fumbles through existence. His first romantic entanglement shows his apparent lack of experience with women, when he is totally smitten by Cordelia. While he manages to charm her, their actual chemistry ends with their first kiss, which is a mess, much like Wesley’s life. His failures are, naturally, intentional on the writers’ part; it was essential that Wesley appeared to be an insecure human, yet to find his footing in the world.



It is known that Whedon and Denisof have a unique relationship in regards to Whedon’s writing of the character. At the end of Buffy Season Three, Whedon asked Denisof whether he would like Wesley to fight courageously or wimp out. Denisof suggested that Wesley be knocked out before he could do any real good. This is most likely because Denisof understood that the character had to be the one guy whose intentions were not realized in the finale. Little did Denisof know that the future of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce’s character would almost perfectly parallel the old adage: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”



Wesley’s good intentions slowly transform him from a babbling orator of textbook nonsense to the most competent of Angel’s allies. While he faces various instances of development throughout Season One of Angel, there are a few episodes that resonate more assuredly. In “Eternity” (1.17) Angel is drugged by a gorgeous, aging TV star who wishes to become immortal. The drugs, which induce synthetic happiness, break his curse and make him go evil. When Angelus attacks Wesley and Cordelia, Wesley steps up to bat—pummeling Angel and knocking him down an elevator shaft. This is the first instance in which we see that Wesley is not afraid to stand up to or even kill Angel if it means saving other people.



A telling example of Wesley’s character is in the pair of episodes “Five by Five” (1.18) and “Sanctuary” (1.19). When Faith brutally tortures him, we see how much more vulnerable he is than Buffy and Angel. When Wesley is beaten, he bruises and when he is tortured he acts in truly human fashion. He doesn’t have the luxury of attempting to redeem Faith, because he can be killed. When Faith taunts him to the point of near death, he doesn’t try to reason with he calls her, but instead merely called her a “piece of sh—”. When he later finds Angel coddling her after she shows remorse for her actions, Wesley is shocked and horrified. He sticks up for himself with wit and candor, telling Angel that he doesn’t see the point in Faith’s redemption, and that he is deeply dishonored by Angel’s prioritizing Faith’s rehabilitation over his and Angel’s relationship. All of these instances further show Wesley’s growing confidence. He is able to set his own agenda and not merely seek the approval and praise of others.



In Season Two of Angel, Wesley becomes a trusted colleague and the voice of reason for Angel. When Angel is plagued by the reincarnated Darla, sent to drive him mad by Lilah Morgan and Lindsey McDonald of Wolfram & Hart, Wesley confronts Angel about his actions and is soon fired along with the rest of the crew. The circumstances force Wesley into the role of leader, and he does a fairly decent job. His allegiance to the good fight is obvious when he takes a bullet for Gunn and his friends. He remains strong and vigilant throughout his recuperation, a far cry from the buffoon who lay babbling in a stretcher at the end of Buffy Season Three. He even confronts Angel, rising in defiance from his wheelchair, causing his stitches to rip out, when Angel attempts to steal from the new office. Later, when Angel seeks to reconcile with the gang, Wesley resumes his role of leader and seems finally to be poised for a good position. This of course is undermined by his continued degrading interactions with his father.



Season Three of Angel shows Wesley’s further development and it is in this season that Wesley begins to embrace the shades of gray. This season sets him down a path that is arguably the greatest story arc of any Whedon show. Near the beginning of the season, in the episode “Billy” (3.6) we see Wesley develop feelings for Winifred “Fred” Burkle. Just as he realizes these feelings, a demon takes him over, and all of his insecurities are manifested.



The demon is Billy, a chauvinistic woman-hater, whose mere contact with another man causes that person to experience a hatred of women that can only be expressed in violence. When Wesley comes in contact with Billy’s blood, he becomes extremely hostile and chases Fred through The Hyperion, intending to make her pay for his feelings for her. This total transformation of his persona is no doubt in direct relation to his constant need to bottle up his feelings. He has endured lifelong verbal abuse from his father and he constantly represses his feelings for Fred; by intelligently using his mind to maneuver through difficult situations, he has much more repressed rage than Angel and Gunn. Denisof’s harrowing portrayal of Wesley in this episode marks a clear turning point for Wesley’s character, breaking him down to show that he is far too human simply to get the girl and be happy. His feelings for Fred go on to define his character later in the series, just as his insecurities caused by his demanding father go on to plague him for the rest of the series. It is only when these two humans in his life seemingly interact with him simultaneously (in Season Five) that we see Wesley conquer his feelings for both Fred and his father.



Many of Whedon’s characters have either parental issues, or a lack thereof. Wesley’s issues are perhaps most difficult to watch because they are the product of a disapproving, disappointed father. Much of the role of a male in literature is usurpation of paternal boundaries, the outshining of one’s father, and much of the satisfaction in life as a man on earth is gaining the approval of one’s parents. Whedon shows how the lack of such a relationship can hinder a man’s growth, putting a damper on his confidence and leaving him emotionally insecure. From early on, we find that Wesley’s relationship with his father is one of muddled formalities, where the son’s continual degradation leads into an adult life wherein extreme effort is placed to gain approval; so much so that Wesley in essence fights literal demons in order to secure himself a place in the annals of history as a fighter for good. Whedon creates this background to give a relatable reason for Wesley’s early incompetency. Wesley’s biased opinions of fathers and sons therefore come into play when he finds a false prophecy about Angel and Angel’s son, Connor.



“The Father will kill the Son” are the words that lead Wesley into a downward spiral. Whedon’s theme of betrayal is never more confrontational, more interpretive, than in the case of Wesley stealing Connor from Angel in an attempt to save him from death. Again, there is a good intention, but a bad outcome. The audience is made to sympathize with Wesley. He believes himself to be doing the right thing, and yet what happens is heart-wrenching. He has his throat cut and is left to die alone, as Angel Investigations frantically searches for his whereabouts. When they finally find him, Angel tries to kill him for taking his son, who has now been dragged into a hell dimension by Holtz. Wesley is alone, alienated by the very people he hoped to protect, only to find all of his actions were in vain because the prophecy was a fake.



This whole series of events is Shakespearean in scope, a term that could be used frequently in reference to Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. We see once again that he is a flawed human. He betrays Angel in hopes of saving his soul, but becomes the victim of his own betrayal. When Wesley makes a horrific mistake, there is no welcoming him back with open arms, but instead condemnation and anger. Separated from his friends, he changes. No longer opting to suppress the darkness inside, he instead uses his pain and anger to transform himself. Without a support group to lean on, he is left in the dark, and surprisingly finds purpose in his pain. Whedon shows that even the most noble of efforts can be two-sided, as between Wesley and Angel there is no real good guy or bad guy in the situation.


In Season Four, Wesley fully embraces his inner-badass.

In Season Four, Wesley fully embraces his inner-badass. He is no longer even vaguely reminiscent of the Wesley first seen in Sunnydale. He has traded his glasses for contacts, a clean shave for a perennial five o’clock shadow, and his genuine if unrequited love for Fred for a sexual “relationship” with Lilah. Wesley’s relationship with Lilah goes to demonstrate his complete turn in character. Where he was completely loyal to Angel before, he now goes genuinely rogue and fights the good fight on his own. There is no room for regrets with the new Wesley. He runs his own crew, and is now in complete control.



The only problem is that he has sacrificed his morals. Where his ambiguity assisted him when he was still on the good side of the fence, his actions have left him bitter and alone, and much darker than before. Wesley spends his time with Lilah because he needs to be in control, he hates that the man he was before wasn’t good enough for them, so he goes out to prove he doesn’t need Angel or their rules. Lilah will do things for him that Fred never would, namely entice his sexual desires. He doesn’t have to feel for her initially, because he has everything that he could want out of her. He doesn’t have to risk all of the feelings that Fred blew off, the friendship Gunn took for granted, or the loyalty that Angel couldn’t fully understand.



Wesley eventually leaves Lilah to face his feelings for Fred and salvage his relationship with Angel Investigations. He understands that in order truly to be happy in life it isn’t enough being fulfilled in mind and body, he needs the fulfillment of the heart. It is then that his darkness starts to fade and we come to see a more confident, yet shaded, character. Wesley faces his inner turmoil.



Wesley is nonetheless saddened by Lilah’s death, primarily because he knows that their relationship was one of passion and lust that could never become one of love. He hates himself for what happened to Lilah because he wishes she could have made it out alive, could have done better for herself. He even believes that their interactions might have been the purest thing in her life, however wrong they were. He moves on because he must, because as always, he will go for the greater good. While Whedon certainly explored the torrential depths of sexual, lust driven relationships (Buffy and Spike for example) in other aspects, Wesley and Lilah resonated because both of their characters were, again, human. In a show rife with the supernatural, the moments that hit closest to home are the ones that most closely resemble daily life. Wesley compromised his inner morals for satisfaction, and it isn’t good enough.



The awesome transformation that we see in Season Four shows how Wesley is now capable of seeking exactly what he wants, no matter the cost, which means he is ready to fight for Fred. Fred, like Wesley’s father, is one of the key relationships that define his character. It is Wesley’s love for Fred that initially causes him to reintegrate himself into the group, and her obvious feelings for him that lead him finally to kiss her. When this leads to an all out brawl with Gunn, Wesley actually takes the upper hand, landing the last shot. Naturally, in full Whedon fashion, Fred is put off by Wesley’s resorting to violence, despite the attraction that she seemingly has to his new persona.



Starting with the final episode of Season Four and throughout Season Five, Wesley’s relationship with Fred is slowly explored. The whole group has had their mind wiped, leaving everyone void of memories involving Connor. Therefore, all of the horrible things that happened as a result of Wesley stealing Connor are gone, making him part of the group again. While it is unclear how much of Season Four is actually known to the group, Wesley still remembers Lilah, as she introduces him to Wolfram & Hart. His only reason for joining the tour initially is to release Lilah from her contract with Wolfram & Hart, which turns out to be binding even after death. Wesley’s defining moments in Season Five are all a result of his relationship with Fred. The pair interacts flirtatiously throughout the season, until finally in the episode “Lineage” (5.7), his true feelings are finally revealed.



It is in “Lineage” that Whedon finally places Wesley’s love for Fred and need for approbation from his father at odds. Both of these things are highly symbolic of Wesley’s inner turmoil and personal progress, and also of the human need to find one’s own path in life apart from the “lineage” created by one’s father. For Wesley, the series of events in this episode symbolizes many things. When Wesley shoots a cyborg that he believes to be his father in order to save Fred, it is clear that his love for her outweighs anything, and that he has finally faced his father. By instinctually, without hesitation, murdering what he truly believed to be his father, he finally faces the man that had tormented every aspect of his life. He was willing to brush off the negative impact of Roger Wyndam-Pryce for years, until it directly impacted the one thing he truly wanted in life. He could have faced years more of torment as long as there was some hope that he would find love with Fred, proving that he was worthy of someone’s love that he could in fact love back; so when she was threatened, he did what he had to do to keep that future secure. At the end of the episode, however, he attempts to call his father and is again disapprovingly brushed off. Happy that he had not killed his father, he reaches out to the real man, and is once again rebuffed. He loves Fred, but until he can finally have her, he cannot prove his father wrong.



Wesley’s final tragedy occurs with the death of Fred. As soon as he finally expresses his love for her, she is gone, taken over by an ancient primordial force, the hell goddess Illyria. It is rewarding to the audience to see Fred finally fall for Wes, and the viewer is rewarded a temporary moment of hope for the couple. Then, before they could even begin their romance, she is gone. Wesley’s life is now aimless. He cracks, stabbing Gunn for his inadvertent involvement, before he kills Fred’s assistant Knox for choosing Fred as the vessel for Illyria. He clings to Illyria, because she looks like Fred. Later, he finds that Angel has wiped his mind, and smashes the Orlon Window, a device that built the reality. When things go racing back to him, he sees the things he has done, and retreats into his old self, ready to fight alongside Angel.



Whedon never allowed Wesley a happy ending, because the character is made continually to struggle. He had, for fleeting moments, perfect bliss with the love of his life. That was his happy ending. Everything afterwards was an Epilogue. However, by guiding Illyria, he finds a new purpose. He wishes to teach her how to interact with the world, but only on the condition that she never take on the persona of Fred. This shows that he is trying to deal with her death.



Finally, when the last fight comes, he is there to do his part; by taking on the demon Cyvus Vail, the man who created the false memories he had for a portion of his time at Wolfram & Hart. Whedon again, upon finding that Angel was being cancelled at the end of Season Five, asked Denisof if he wanted Wesley to live or die. Denisof chose death, giving the audience a sad ending to the character, but an ending nonetheless. Denisof’s choice was wise. By allowing the audience to see Wesley’s complete transformation from beginning to end, the audience is allowed to see the true tragic scope of the man’s life.



Wesley is fatally stabbed while taking on Vail, and in his dying moments Illyria arrives. Asking him if he would like for her “to lie” to him by transforming herself into the Fred that he loved, he replies, “Yes, thank you, yes.” His last moments are spent looking into the face of the woman he loves. Whedon gives us the perfect tragic hero through Wesley’s death.



Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is one of the best developed characters in the Whedonverse. His choices go to prove that even the best of men are often not rewarded for their actions. There is no shanshu for Wesley, and while Angel fights for the eventual rewards, Wesley does because he must, because somewhere in time he became the badass demon hunter he once dreamed of being. There are no big open questions about Wesley; the audience sees all of his development. With Angel, there are hundreds of years of unexplored backstory (the most obvious being What happened when he was in hell for 100 years?), but with Wesley, the viewer witnesses his complete rise and fall.



Where it was often difficult, yet feasible, to cope with Angel’s redemption due to his being a supernatural creature, an anomaly, Wesley was far more interesting because he was in fact completely human. When his throat is slit trying to save his best friend’s son, or when he begins sleeping with his worst enemy, or battles the emotional wounds of his father, he shows problems that while arguably hyperbolic are nonetheless representative of human possibilities. He doesn’t have an invulnerable body or Angel’s tortured soul; he has a shotgun and a purpose. His journey is painful because he doesn’t get everything he wants. Whedon only allows him to be with Fred end because he knows that soon she will die and Wesley will again be brought back to square one.



From “Head Boy” to badass, Wesley shows true human growth in Whedon’s work. If Wesley had lived, he would have continued fighting the good fight, despite the tragedies that plagued him; not because he is superhuman, but because he is man, and good men will always fight for what he believes in. Joss Whedon blessed the pantheon of pop culture with his creation of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, and television will be hard pressed to find such a deep, evolving character. From keeping a girl in a cage in his closet, to weeping over his dead lover in his arms, the dynamic, chilling emotional portrayal of Wesley should be recognized as one of the greatest contributions Whedon has made.



Wesley is a man with issues, who ultimately dies. However cynical that may be, he is a perfect example of the human condition. He loves, hates, screws, kills, suppresses, fights, cries, and dies. He never receives the approval of his father, doesn’t end up in a white picket fence with his soul mate, and ultimately dies before his time. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is Whedon’s truest tragic hero, always wanting, seldom rewarded, and eventually dead.

_________________
Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Bann
Merci Sophie Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS 682513
Source icon : inacatastrophicmind

~ Sens Critique ~ Tumblr ~
Revenir en haut Aller en bas
http://misskittyspuffy.tumblr.com/
Miss Kitty
~ Out of this World ~
~ Out of this World ~
Miss Kitty


Féminin
Nombre de messages : 60535
Age : 34
Date d'inscription : 07/01/2009

Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Empty
MessageSujet: Re: Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS   Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Icon_minitimeJeu 17 Mar - 17:07

Essai sur Illyria : http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/138276-touch-me-and-die-vermin-the-psychoanalysis-of-illyria/

Citation :
"Touch Me and Die, Vermin!": The Psychoanalysis of Illyria
By Nikki Faith Fuller

The events in the Angel Season Five episode “Time Bomb” (5.19) unveil former hell goddess Illyria’s humanistic development. Her path toward becoming more human is tedious, much like the path humans face in their daily struggles. While her dreams are more grandiose than those of mere humans, she becomes a relatable character experiencing a very humanlike existence. Angel, which captures the culture and language of present day Los Angeles, meets the important criterion for using psychoanalysis (the study of psychological behavior) to evaluate a text: it conveys the sense of a lived experience (Parker, p. 314). The psychoanalytic theory developed by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan offers a framework for understanding the process Illyria undergoes. Lacan posits that “all individuals are fragmented: No one is whole” (Bressler, p. 129). His theory focuses on “understanding the human psyche” by looking at the individual’s “divided self” (Ibid, p. 131).



Lacan’s theory is specifically relevant to Illyria’s experiences as she endures the two key elements to his theory, lack and fragmentation. According to Lacan, lack stems from a desire to return to the Imaginary Order. In fiction, the Imaginary Order is typically represented as a place where an individual feels whole. Illyria’s Imaginary Order is the world as it once was when she ruled it eons ago. The desire for the unattainable Imaginary Order results in fragmentation (a breakdown of the psyche) in the Real Order, which consists of the physical universe and all the things within it (Bressler, p. 129). The Real Order is the reality in which any person exists, whether he or she wants to or not. For Illyria, the Real Order is modern day Los Angeles, which to her is both limiting and suffocating. She must reconcile her loss in order to overcome lack and fragmentation in the Real Order.



In literature, both language and profound experiences such as death are often used to depict fragmentation. Both of these devices illustrate Illyria’s fragmentation throughout the episode “Time Bomb”. Language is used as a “symbolic system which provide(s) a communicational bridge” between individuals, allowing them to make sense of things after events have occurred (Parker, p. 307). This helps the characters and the viewers process the events around them as the actions in the episode force Illyria through a painful physical and mental fragmentation that will lead to her death.



In the earlier episode “Shells” (5.16) Illyria initially sought her Imaginary Order by visiting her ancient temple, which is now empty and desolate. With her army gone, she resides at Wolfram and Hart as a lost god without a kingdom or followers. Wesley Wyndam-Price has accepted the task of being Illyria’s guide to this world, the Real Order. As author Jes Battis discusses in his book Chosen Families in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, when Illyria first asks Wesley to be her guide, she is not concerned about “human attachments”. Her initial interests are “entirely clinical” (p. 127). However, in “Time Bomb” Illyria’s powers become unstable, and she is on the brink of destruction. As she enters the state of mind that Lacan identifies as fragmentation, she starts to demonstrate human emotions.



In the opening of “Time Bomb”, Illyria has left this dimension to retrieve Angel’s colleague Charles Gunn, imprisoned in another dimension. When Wesley informs Angel of her act, they agree she is unpredictable, and Angel concludes she is not doing this for the benefit of their team. As they argue over their attitudes toward Illyria, Wesley explains that she has the “power of a god” while Angel claims all she has now is the “ego of a god”. Wesley reminds him that she was once ruler of the world, and acknowledges that she will never accept any of them as peers. Angel concludes that Illyria remains at Wolfram and Hart only because it “reeks of influence”.



The statements both men make reflect the very struggle Illyria is experiencing in her divided self: she is forced to live in the Real Order while longing to return to the Imaginary Order. Upon her return with Gunn, Illyria calmly holds him by the throat, acknowledging that he is precious to the others. Considering her understanding of the world, Wesley agrees they owe her a debt for returning him safely. Illyria accepts this and releases Gunn from her deathly grip. She never requests repayment, as she is satisfied by the power she holds in attaining indebtedness. Despite the fact that she has no kingdom to rule, she is still a god demanding authority. As Wesley reflects, everyone looks “so tiny to her” and she is “monumentally self-possessed”.



During a sparring session with Spike, Illyria reflects on the powers she once held and believes she still holds. In theory, Spike is testing her skills, though Angel later comments that she is testing all of them. As they spar, Illyria tells Spike “adaptation is compromise”. Reflecting on her ancient history, she tells Spike that the world “shuttered, groaned, [and] knelt at [her] feet” when it met her. She concludes that “to never die and conquer all” is winning. Illyria’s desire to return to the Imaginary Order is fierce. She refuses to accept her fate of existing as a lesser being in a world so changed. However, the dialogue Illyria continuously uses to voice her purported power clearly shows how she is desperately struggling to hold onto it. If she still had such power, it would be unnecessary to remind people of it. Her language demonstrates how adamant she is against adapting.



The stage Illyria is experiencing is much like the mirror stage children reach when they begin to identify parts of themselves with what is reflected in a mirror (Olivier, p. 3). Though Illyria is centuries old, her human development is in very early stages. This mirror stage is representative of a promise of wholeness and unity, though it actually has the effects of alienation (Ibid, p. 4). Metaphorically, Illyria’s memory of the power she used to have is her mirror, and the only way she sees herself. Individuals lack improvement beyond the mirror stage until they grasp the Real Order and no longer seek the Imaginary Order (Ibid, p. 6, 15). In order for Illyria to avoid fragmentation and fulfill the lack she is experiencing, she must accept the Real Order.



As Spike and Angel discuss Illyria after the sparring session, she suddenly experiences her first shift in time. Initially, the other characters are unaware of this occurrence, and neither Illyria nor the viewers understand what is happening. In a later conversation, Wesley explains to Spike and Angel that Illyria is unstable and overloading. The fusion that exists between her demon essence and her host body is deteriorating. The human part cannot hold the power of the god within and will cause her to self-destruct violently and soon. Illyria continues shifting out of linear progression, becoming more uncertain and concerned about her future. By Lacan’s principles, the future is based on human interaction. If an individual “loses the capacity to make sense of the past and future”, he or she faces a symbolic life or death situation, potentially leading to inner fragmentation (De Grave, p. 436). The events in “Time Bomb” illustrate Illyria’s mental (inner) and physical (outer) fragmentation as she shifts through time and begins to destruct physically. She is trying to make sense of events and hold onto her ancient power as she literally faces death.



Relying on dialogue to make sense of what is occurring, Illyria questions Wesley about some of the constructs of this world such as days and time. Battis describes Illyria as “coldly analytical” with “a strange curiosity for human affairs” (p. 113). However, Illyria’s curiosity begins to demonstrate that she slowly is developing human emotions and attachments. As Wesley explains time to her, she suddenly accuses him of being her betrayer. In the previous episode, “Origin”, Wesley shattered the Window of Orlon, a mystical orb that contained altered elements of the past, in hopes of undoing Illyria’s infection of Fred.



The distinction that Illyria did not viciously murder Fred is important to remember in understanding her character structure. She infected a body, as a virus does, for her own preservation. In “Origin” (5.18), Wesley too acted out of self-interest and a sense of emotional preservation: he explains he was willing to destroy Illyria if it would bring back Fred. When he questions Illyria on whether or not his betrayal stings her, she explains that “betrayal” was once a neutral word that was “as unjudged as water or breeze”. After a pause, she explains that what bothers her is the fact that she is bothered. Wesley explains that her statement “sounds very close to human”.


Illyria is defensive when Wesley compares her to a human.

Illyria is defensive when Wesley compares her to a human. She reflects that humans are merely “motes of dust” that die so quickly after their birth that they might as well have not lived. Battis explains that Illyria’s “outsiderness” concerning humans is not simply a function of her being “icy”, but stems from a sense of “loneliness” (p. 115). Without anything bowing down before her, Illyria is confused and isolated. This cynical moment with Wesley is representative of that hidden feeling. According to Lacan, people find their identities based upon their interactions with others (De Grave, p. 437). Her coldness toward Wesley here is an expression of her inner frustration at developing human traits. She despises the change she recognizes in herself and denies it for sometime, still fixated upon her Imaginary Order and previous state of being.



As the conversation between Illyria and Wesley continues, she informs him that his opinion of her “weighs less than sunlight”. It’s clear by her tone that his betrayal has greatly upset her. When she ruled the world, she would have never considered the opinion of a lesser being. In telling Wesley that his opinion means nothing to her, she is ultimately trying to convince herself of that fact. Her desire for the Imaginary Order is so strong that she continues denying herself any attachment to the Real Order.



Illyria experiences another time shift during this conversation. First, she moves forward to a moment when Wesley and other members of Angel’s team appear to be killing her. Then she moves backward to a conversation with Angel and Spike. Upon returning to the present moment, she angrily tells Wesley that he tried to murder her again and storms out of his office. Her dramatic exit assures viewers of her growing emotional attachment toward Wesley. She is not merely upset that there seems to be a scheme to plot her murder, but that Wesley specifically is a part of it. He has disappointed her again. Lacan’s theory indicates that any expectations of behavior between individuals are grounded in relations that are a distinct characteristic of human interaction. Illyria is closer to human in this moment of anger than she would ever want to admit.



Illyria had never experienced any emotions toward anyone before she met Wesley. This sense of being bothered is a part of being connected to something (Battis, p. 130). Though it seems Wesley is guiding Illyria through this world by teaching her about humans, he is actually showing her how to become human. For reasons neither of them can articulate, he continues to teach her, and she continues to learn (ibid). This relationship, which continues through Wesley’s death in the series finale, is pivotal to her development.



After experiencing her first two shifts in time, Illyria believes Angel is doing something to her and confronts him about it. She explains to him that it is absurd to do anything besides bow to her will. Her verbal attack against Angel differs from the one she just had with Wesley. When she accuses Wesley of betraying her, she takes it very personally. Yet when she believes Angel is trying to kill her, she demands authority by defending her position as a god. With Angel, she is only concerned about her own preservation and displays no concern whatsoever for his attitude or actions toward her on a personal level.



In the final events of “Time Bomb”, Angel, Wesley, Spike, and Lorne meet in order to destroy Illyria before her unavoidable physical self-destruction annihilates all of them and a large part of Los Angeles. Wesley has a generator designed to draw out Illyria’s essence and has falsely informed Angel it will kill her. Illyria and Angel then begin shifting through time together, and she continues to accuse of him of being responsible for what is happening and continues to try to assert her power over him. Though Angel is not responsible for the time shifts, he is tired of hearing her ranting about the days when she ruled, and he definitively declares that this is now his kingdom. Illyria claims that she is “the god-king of the Primordium, Shaper of Things”. As they argue about power, Illyria assuredly declares that “reign persists from victory” and “if you want to win a war you must serve no master but your ambition”, giving Angel something to consider in his war with Wolfram and Hart.



After this series of time shifts, Illyria comes back to the present several times. When Wesley is finally able to explain to Illyria that he is not trying to kill her, she objects to his use of the generator, claiming that she “would rather be [the] titanic crater” that her explosive destruction would cause than to be similar to human. She states that she possesses so much grace and “was the immaculate embodiment of rule”, when her body overloads and she again begins to fragment and die. Angel tells her that holding onto what she used to be, her Imaginary Order, is destroying her. Her final statement through her breaking body is that she blames it on the “weakness” of the human species.



Before Illyria can die, Wesley uses the generator to draw out some of her power. She collapses to the floor, and when Wesley offers her a hand she harshly replies, “Touch me and die, vermin.” Confused and terrified, Illyria unwillingly completes her transformation from a higher being into one resembling human (Battis, p. 129). She is now forced to endure in the Real Order after struggling so greatly against its confines in pursuit of her Imaginary Order. Her physical fragmentation is prevented, but she is left to contend with her newly developing emotional view of the world in a diminished physical form.



As Wesley and Angel discuss Illyria outside of the training room, she lies on the floor motionless where she has collapsed. Through the remaining moments of the episode, she never gets up. Angel decides to let her to live in this less powerful form, telling Wesley that he realizes she may be a resource after all. The comments that Illyria made to Angel as they moved through time together helped him to recognize his position as leader of his team; he begins to see how he must use his own power in order to avert the upcoming Apocalypse (Abbott, p. 68).



After “Time Bomb”, Illyria continues to explore and experience the world around her. Though she will never lose her desire to rule the universe and be treated like a god, she embraces the Real Order and recognizes she will never ascertain her Imaginary Order. In different social interactions, an individual can become anything ranging from a mother, to an enemy, or even to a goddess (De Grave, p. 443). The ability to shift personas is part of what makes people human. This ability is demonstrated with Illyria in the episode “The Girl in Question” (5.20) when she takes on the personality of Fred to explore the relationship with her parents, who do not know their daughter is gone. Until we die, we are always in the process of “becoming” (ibid). While Illyria has an understanding of who (or what) she was and wants to remain, she finally accepts change under new circumstances. Operating within the Real Order offers her the opportunity to become, and not remain simply what she is.



All of these events culminate into what become the final actions of the Angel series. The significant change and development in Illyria is powerful not just for her as a character, but in the ripple effect it has for the closure of the series. Throughout “Time Bomb” and the following episodes, Wesley continues to help Illyria adjust to this world, ultimately instilling a sense of humanity in her. Illyria’s emotional tie to Wesley compels her to fight on Angel’s side in the final battle where she proves a valuable asset.



* * *



Works Cited

Abbott, Stacey, ed. Reading Angel: The TV Spin-off with a Soul, 2005.
Battis, Jes. Chosen Families in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, 2005.
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, 2003.
De Grave, Dieter. “Time to Separate the Men from the Beasts: Symbolic Anticipation as the Typical Human Subjective Dimension.” AIP Conference Proceedings 718 (2004): 435-444.
Olivier, Bert. “Lacan’s Subject: The Imaginary, Language, The Real, and Philosophy.” South African Journal of Philosophy 23 (2004): 1-19.
Parker, Ian. “Psychoanalytic Narratives: Writing the Self into Contemporary Cultural Phenomenon.” Narrative Inquiry 13 (2002) 301-315.

_________________
Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Bann
Merci Sophie Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS 682513
Source icon : inacatastrophicmind

~ Sens Critique ~ Tumblr ~
Revenir en haut Aller en bas
http://misskittyspuffy.tumblr.com/
Contenu sponsorisé





Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Empty
MessageSujet: Re: Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS   Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS Icon_minitime

Revenir en haut Aller en bas
 
Essais/Analyses/Metas sur les personnages d'ATS
Revenir en haut 
Page 1 sur 1
 Sujets similaires
-
» La psychologie des personnages
» Top des personnages
» La psychologie des personnages
» Top 15 des personnages du Whedonverse
» 20 personnages gays

Permission de ce forum:Vous ne pouvez pas répondre aux sujets dans ce forum
Spuffy & Cangel Forum :: Angel :: Les personnages :: Autres-
Sauter vers: