Some thoughts on "Harmonic Divergence"

[maggie2]

 

    

A really great and thought-provoking issue. Lots of layers and harmonic convergences. It’s also likely to be one of those episodes that take on a different shape depending on how the story unfolds afterwards. But here are some preliminary thoughts:

     First,  the surface of the story is a brutal critique of modern media. Any story can be spun in any direction. It’s not just “reality” TV that does this, it’s the journalists as well (see Anderson Cooper calling it “keeping them honest” when he brings in the person who’s spinning the story to come in and keep spinning.) 

     But one layer down we have to ask how this story is being spun. Harmony, recall, was a borderline figure in the battle between good and evil. She tried at W&H to be one of the good guys. And while she failed, she could rightly argue that nobody gave her a chance. Is it a coincidence that her first line here is “But I want in”? Or that the bouncer, who is suspiciously drawn to resemble Angel, tells her that he can’t help her and that animals are not allowed in the club? A lot of people have wondered about whether or not there wasn’t a tinge of racism to the idea that vampires are just evil (and slayable) while humans are not slayable no matter how horrible they can be. Surely a Warren is less redeemable than a Harmony. The point is underscored when we observe that in this issue Harmony goes on to embody the kind of “ambiguous evil” that Giles doesn’t think is worth fighting in Into the Woods. She’s sucking on people but not killing them; making them weak but it’s a weakness they choose. Definitely not a good thing. Maybe even an “evil” thing. But does it merit the death penalty? Cause that’s what La Cuchilla tries to impose on her. We are spun through Buffy’s POV, so it is natural for us to be horrified when Harmony kills her would-be assassin. But was it murder? Or was it self-defense? Or a bit of both? 

     We can also look at the scene when La Cuchilla breaks out of the gang. Her heroic escape. But it’s not clear from the picture whether she just knocked the girls in the gang unconscious, or whether she killed them. How many of us even pause to ask what happened to those girls? Or consider, what does Andrew tell La Cuchilla to convince her that vampires should be expunged from the world? They aren’t nice people, he says (no empathy or connection); they prey on the weak.   Plenty of humans meet those descriptions.  Buffy has at times met both those descriptions in the past, with the lack of connection part being a live issue in this series. We don’t think humans should be slain for having hard hearts and a bit of ruthlessness; yet we are to cheer when La Cuchilla leaps from Andrew’s description to the conviction that vampires should be exterminated. If she went after a garden-variety vampire it wouldn’t be so jarring. But she goes after Harmony, who is the very representation of the ambiguity of vampires in the ‘verse. We are meant to wonder about this, I think.

     Don’t get me wrong, though. I don’t think we are meant to seriously think that the slayers are villains. But I do think we are meant to see (a) why it’s plausible for some people to take them as villains and (b) that ambivalence is, perhaps, the appropriate response to those who use lethal force against characters who are “persons” in every meaningful sense of the word. That ambiguity has always been at the heart of the series. Espenson nails it beautifully here.

Comments

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Good review, and your last paragraph really hits it. Vampires are evil; Harmony does behave ruthlessly. The Slayer she kills is in self-defence, and for that matter it's an accidental death, not dissimilar to Gigi's earlier, but she does look to have killed Andy Dick. But yeah, there are humans out here who are worse than her... arguably including the MTV executives who are simply delighted that Harmony killing and draining a 16-year old girl on live TV was a ratings sensation. And if genuine villains like vampires can be spun into heroes, it does make you wonder about the power of the press to distort reality in either direction.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Great review - I had to reference it in mine. ;-) I agree with most of what you say, and I'm so glad someone picked this angle... it was definitely the most thought-worthy issue in some time.

[shapinglight]

I liked this issue a lot, Maggie, enough to want to review it properly myself, which hopefully tells you something. Great review, though I'm not convinced we're supposed to question Soledad's actions in quite the way you suggest. Yes, we all like Harmony, but there were plenty of hints in the book to remind us that she's still a vampire and still evil. In fact, she reminds us in person when she's pitching her idea for a TV show.

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Andy Dick in the alley who looked like a heinous, bootleg William.

I'm actually working on an essay myself on "real" evil in the Buffyverse. Also, what of the slayer earlier in the Faith arc, who was killing slayers for practice or whatever the hell she was doing. The initial purpose of the slayer was to protect people from vampires who aren't necessarily evil, per se, but hunters of someone lesser on the food chain. But now that there is a significant number of these super human females, who will keep them in check? Clearly their view of good, bad or evil is skewed, and now they are something to be regulated--more so than vamps, because they are more apart of humanity. A lion who kills a human for whatever reason is less reprehensible (or not at all, really) than a human who viciously murders another human.

Also, it probably looks way worse since this is post Angel (the seemingly) vampire and his band of demons saved the day for LA.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Great review.

consider, what does Andrew tell La Cuchilla to convince her that vampires should be expunged from the world? They aren’t nice people, he says (no empathy or connection); they prey on the weak. Plenty of humans meet those descriptions.

Interesting observasion. I haven't noticed it.

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

Here via Beer_good_foamy.

Great post. Your last paragraph really nails the ambiguity of the status of the vampire-characters sufficiently developped to be perceived as persons, or with visible human sides. One has to remark that Buffy was never never shown killing one of these (Dru escapes, Dalton is killed by the Judge, Spike... we know), except for the vamp prostitute, but then it was shown as problematic (and perhaps Holden, but the comedic aspect of the scene brushes any seriousness away).J Espenson's interview makes clear that it is also an angle that has to be taken into account.