STORYTELLER
Created | Updated Apr 29, 2005
After last week's hectic, Storyteller felt like a welcome intermission. A step back to sort things out and see what's goiing on beneath the surface. To do this properly, we need an omniscent narrator, who can talk directly to the viewers, comment on what we see and explain what we might not understand. We need...Andrew?! Yes, it's the geek who does the talking, meaning we get to see the buffyverse through his eyes, and isn't it entertaining and educating? Omniscense, in this case, means we join a voyage of the mind; we take a trip through Andrewworld, as our gentle guide speaks the speak. Instantly, we drift off in the land of pop-culture, where our storyteller isn't an insignificant houseboy/hostage, but talks to us from his library, clearly the study of a man of stature. A learned man, who not only earns an impressive collection of books, but also posesses a number of scientific instruments confirming his status as a scholar. But what are those comics doing her, and is that an action-figure?? Yes, gentle viewers, we're in Andrew's mind, where every vision is deeply rooted in what it's bee fed over the past twenty-odd years. Even his explanation of what's going on to innocent viewers "Let's explore the world of our story" sounds exactly like the manga/superhero stuff he has always been reading. Therefore, the image of the robe-dressed narrator is the well-knownpicture TV, movies, and comic books have been projecting of a revered man. Which is, of course, exactly what Andrew dreams of being. For a shy and bullie dpushover, fantasies of greatness are a natural escape. So, within the Trio he becomes the mastermind, the other two admiring his workshop, unable to understand his technobabble. Instead, they talk like Sunnydale-Andrew: "It smells funny" "I know, kinda sweaty". Again, the 'evil' plan to defeat the slayer they all cheer for is just typical: apparently the worst thing Andrew could concieve was making her magnetic. His unsuitability for being truly evil is even reaffirmed by his vision of the 'gods': instead of being all-powerful rulers, the divine troika is frolicking through the pastures playing harps in a technicolour world.
But it's not only his self-image getting glossy and hero-esque/ Buffy becomes a beautiful, powerful (even when eating) kind of demi-goddess, who will always win and is never afraid.Anya is "A feisty waif with a fiery temper and a vulnerable heart", Dawn "Bubbly and sweet with a hunger for fun and a smile that lights up the room", Xander "THe man who is at the heart of the slayer machine." Every image is soft and colourful, every comment crammed with comic- and soap-opera formulas.
Just like his fantasies about himself serve as an escape that halps him cope with his role in the real world, his fantasies about the others are the only way he can deal with the situation in Sunnydale. The overcrowded Summers' residence becomes 'command central", the upcoming apocalypse willbe "a story of ultimate triumphtainted with the bitterness for what's been lost in the struggle". Getting lost in a story is more than an amusing pastime, for Andrew it's what keeps him from breaking down. He just can't take facing an uncontrollable reality as harsh as the buffyverse. He needs to have some kind of control, and so he promotes himself director. Behind his camera, he doesn't have to partake, instead he can create and orchestrate reality. (Notwithstanding, of course, his:"I'm not part of this. I document, I don't participate.") Now he Does have all the power he has dreamt of for so long: he is the one who selects the images and tells his 'actors' what to say or do. Surely everyone has an ego willing to be flattered, and by telling the scoobies what they would really like to hear, he is able to frame them exactly the way he wants: Xander is as important as all the supergirls, Anya provides a fresh perspective on things, Spike even does a double take of his bad boy act. (And let's not forget that hilarious and oh-so-significant relation therapy-session, wher Dr.Andrew's first question to the couple is "I understand that exactly one year ago today you left Anya at the altar. Any comment on that?" Followed by a typical "Interesting. I think we're getting something here." Again, this is a scene we recognize from countless popular images, especially with the hausse in therapeutic TV-shows.) There's only one person who doesn't fall for his manipulations: Buffy. What does that tell us about her ego? Especially considering the words of her chafed refusal: "What I do is too important to show the world."
She will be the one dragging him out of his dreamworld into the most brutal of realities to face his own actions and recognize his responsibility. Because there was a third reason for his escapism: he killed his best friend. As he can't deny it happened, his only way to live with it has been redefining his own role like a little boy trying to escape punishment: he made me. The First is the real killer who tricked him into thinking Warren was back. He has lost Jonathan, because he was played like a puppet. Now Buffy forces him to stop mentally rewriting the event. As it turns out, there was no question of seduction on the spot to perform a sudden and horrible act. A whole train of events preceded the killing, Andrew even went to a demon trader to get the right knife. It was all planned well before they went back to Sunnydale.
And when our guide takes down his camera,
lets down the fences of imagination,
no stories left to lose himself in,
facing the world, and us, whatever comes.
As always, this tale didn't end without leaving a few questions unanswered.
Did Andrew already have the graveyard-sequence on tape and was he filling in his opening words on the toilet, or was the fighting only an idea at the time he films later in the first act? What comes first?
Is what we see really what Jonathan and Andrew dreamt? Because we don't hear any voice, but see events that at that time hadn't happened yet.
How does Andrew know Tawarick ("The blood which I spill I consecrate to the oldest evil"), or isn't this real?
Admittedly, it was quite funny seeing Andrew admire his carpenter-skills and completely ignoring Willow and Kennedy's snogfest, but given the situaton, shouldn't we be just a little upset about the way he's clearly taking a shine to Xander? ("He's extraordinary.")
Even more upsetting: Wood's attempt to stake Spike. Would he have said it was one of the crazed kids?
Is the fading girl the only reference to earlier school events, as Buffy says "I've seen all these things before? What about
The girl crying "The mirror said I was fat!"
The stressed-out boy "I feel like I'm gonna explode"
Kids throwing rocks at Wood?
By the way, Buffy's foot rub-joke was totally out of line and not exactly a testament to her counselling-skills.
Since when is the seal there? And isn't it odd that with it's influence Andrew's fantasies stay exactly that while Jonathan's superhero-dreams became real when there was a lot less hellish energy?
Funniest moments?
Andrew zooming in on the bunch of keys introducing Dawn:"She used to be a key. I don't really know what that means."
His explanation of what's going on between Spike and Wood:"Sexual tension you could cut with a knife."
Is Dawn's "That's nice. Second-hand stinkiness" all retribution Spike will get for smoking again?
But it's not only his self-image getting glossy and hero-esque/ Buffy becomes a beautiful, powerful (even when eating) kind of demi-goddess, who will always win and is never afraid.Anya is "A feisty waif with a fiery temper and a vulnerable heart", Dawn "Bubbly and sweet with a hunger for fun and a smile that lights up the room", Xander "THe man who is at the heart of the slayer machine." Every image is soft and colourful, every comment crammed with comic- and soap-opera formulas.
Just like his fantasies about himself serve as an escape that halps him cope with his role in the real world, his fantasies about the others are the only way he can deal with the situation in Sunnydale. The overcrowded Summers' residence becomes 'command central", the upcoming apocalypse willbe "a story of ultimate triumphtainted with the bitterness for what's been lost in the struggle". Getting lost in a story is more than an amusing pastime, for Andrew it's what keeps him from breaking down. He just can't take facing an uncontrollable reality as harsh as the buffyverse. He needs to have some kind of control, and so he promotes himself director. Behind his camera, he doesn't have to partake, instead he can create and orchestrate reality. (Notwithstanding, of course, his:"I'm not part of this. I document, I don't participate.") Now he Does have all the power he has dreamt of for so long: he is the one who selects the images and tells his 'actors' what to say or do. Surely everyone has an ego willing to be flattered, and by telling the scoobies what they would really like to hear, he is able to frame them exactly the way he wants: Xander is as important as all the supergirls, Anya provides a fresh perspective on things, Spike even does a double take of his bad boy act. (And let's not forget that hilarious and oh-so-significant relation therapy-session, wher Dr.Andrew's first question to the couple is "I understand that exactly one year ago today you left Anya at the altar. Any comment on that?" Followed by a typical "Interesting. I think we're getting something here." Again, this is a scene we recognize from countless popular images, especially with the hausse in therapeutic TV-shows.) There's only one person who doesn't fall for his manipulations: Buffy. What does that tell us about her ego? Especially considering the words of her chafed refusal: "What I do is too important to show the world."
She will be the one dragging him out of his dreamworld into the most brutal of realities to face his own actions and recognize his responsibility. Because there was a third reason for his escapism: he killed his best friend. As he can't deny it happened, his only way to live with it has been redefining his own role like a little boy trying to escape punishment: he made me. The First is the real killer who tricked him into thinking Warren was back. He has lost Jonathan, because he was played like a puppet. Now Buffy forces him to stop mentally rewriting the event. As it turns out, there was no question of seduction on the spot to perform a sudden and horrible act. A whole train of events preceded the killing, Andrew even went to a demon trader to get the right knife. It was all planned well before they went back to Sunnydale.
And when our guide takes down his camera,
lets down the fences of imagination,
no stories left to lose himself in,
facing the world, and us, whatever comes.
As always, this tale didn't end without leaving a few questions unanswered.
Did Andrew already have the graveyard-sequence on tape and was he filling in his opening words on the toilet, or was the fighting only an idea at the time he films later in the first act? What comes first?
Is what we see really what Jonathan and Andrew dreamt? Because we don't hear any voice, but see events that at that time hadn't happened yet.
How does Andrew know Tawarick ("The blood which I spill I consecrate to the oldest evil"), or isn't this real?
Admittedly, it was quite funny seeing Andrew admire his carpenter-skills and completely ignoring Willow and Kennedy's snogfest, but given the situaton, shouldn't we be just a little upset about the way he's clearly taking a shine to Xander? ("He's extraordinary.")
Even more upsetting: Wood's attempt to stake Spike. Would he have said it was one of the crazed kids?
Is the fading girl the only reference to earlier school events, as Buffy says "I've seen all these things before? What about
The girl crying "The mirror said I was fat!"
The stressed-out boy "I feel like I'm gonna explode"
Kids throwing rocks at Wood?
By the way, Buffy's foot rub-joke was totally out of line and not exactly a testament to her counselling-skills.
Since when is the seal there? And isn't it odd that with it's influence Andrew's fantasies stay exactly that while Jonathan's superhero-dreams became real when there was a lot less hellish energy?
Funniest moments?
Andrew zooming in on the bunch of keys introducing Dawn:"She used to be a key. I don't really know what that means."
His explanation of what's going on between Spike and Wood:"Sexual tension you could cut with a knife."
Is Dawn's "That's nice. Second-hand stinkiness" all retribution Spike will get for smoking again?
