Some writers like omnipresent pov, some prefer first person. Lynch is most comfortable with first person, close, where there is a narrator and he is telling us the story and that narrator is the protagonist or lead character. In a few exceptions - such as First Night - the character telling the story is a character watching and hearing the action, unable to take part in it directly. But mostly it's the lead.
Compare this to Buffy S8 - which is told in an almost multi-character pov. And is third person. Only occassionally, like Buffy's dream or The Long Way Home are we in the lead's head, hearing their thoughts, seeing what they see through their eyes. Mostly we are looking at the action from a third person perspective, so know more than the lead character does, yet at the same time feel distanced from them because we don't know what they are thinking. Some readers and writers hate third person narratives for that reason. Others hate first person narratives - because we are limited to the perspective of the narrator, whose head we are currently in, and their thoughts and their views. We can't see outside it. We may on occassion for plot reasons - jump outside to see something they shouldn't and can't know about, but usually it's something that they had been told about later, after the fact - so what we are getting is how they imagined it. Either that or the writer just leaped out, and came back again. I've seen both done in these series. Lynch is appearing to take the former tack.
In the comics - Angel:After the Fall, Spike:After the Fall, and First Night. We have different points of view.
1. Angel:After the Fall is told entirely or almost entirely, I should go back and check but too lazy, from Angel's pov. It's his story. Everything we know and are told is from Angel's perspective. It's how Angel feels and thinks about things. And from the series, we already know that Angel is well, a bit melodramatic. And a tad self-important, not to mention egotistical and vain. (I like Angel a lot by the way, especially his flaws, he's the classic noir anti-hero. He wants to do good, but is a control freak and obsessed with power. A beautiful soul with a ruthless survivor who is selfish to the bone and obsessed with power and control.)
2. Spike:After the Fall - is told entirely from Spike's perspective. And takes place before and during Angel After the Fall - issue one.
3. First Night is told entirely from Betta George's perspective - he's been networked in by Gunn to see what everyone else is thinking. And he's telling us what certain characters are going through - acting as a sort of omnipresent narrative voice. We aren't really in their points of view. When we are it's brief. Lorne's is brief as is Connor's - so what we get isn't that much.
Also, bear in mind, that Lynch didn't write all the stories in First Night - it was a collaboration. And personally? I don't think it worked as well as they thought it would. They were trying to do a Citizen Kane technique - which is explore the lesser characters, the man on the street claiming the world will end (who I think is the same guy in issue 16 of Angel After the Fall getting his photo taken with Angel.), Connor, Gwen, Kate, and Lorne. As well as Gunn - who's the other central pov outside of Betta George and a bit on the delusional side.
All our narrators are unreliable narrators. No one more so than Angel. Angel tends to look at everything in regards to himself. WRH seems to know that. They are to an extent playing Angel. Manipulating him through his wants, desires, and flaws. We don't really know what WRH wants, but neither does Angel. They are the devil tempting him. They tempt him with humanity. They tempt him with a better life for his son. Etc. And Angel rationalizes it, it's turned out okay. He doesn't see all the angles, his pov is rather limited, and somewhat myopic in scope.
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Point of View
Date: 2009-01-24 04:47 pm (UTC)Compare this to Buffy S8 - which is told in an almost multi-character pov. And is third person. Only occassionally, like Buffy's dream or The Long Way Home are we in the lead's head, hearing their thoughts, seeing what they see through their eyes. Mostly we are looking at the action from a third person perspective, so know more than the lead character does, yet at the same time feel distanced from them because we don't know what they are thinking. Some readers and writers hate third person narratives for that reason. Others hate first person narratives - because we are limited to the perspective of the narrator, whose head we are currently in, and their thoughts and their views. We can't see outside it. We may on occassion for plot reasons - jump outside to see something they shouldn't and can't know about, but usually it's something that they had been told about later, after the fact - so what we are getting is how they imagined it. Either that or the writer just leaped out, and came back again. I've seen both done in these series. Lynch is appearing to take the former tack.
In the comics - Angel:After the Fall, Spike:After the Fall, and First Night. We have different points of view.
1. Angel:After the Fall is told entirely or almost entirely, I should go back and check but too lazy, from Angel's pov. It's his story. Everything we know and are told is from Angel's perspective. It's how Angel feels and thinks about things. And from the series, we already know that Angel is well, a bit melodramatic. And a tad self-important, not to mention egotistical and vain.
(I like Angel a lot by the way, especially his flaws, he's the classic noir anti-hero. He wants to do good, but is a control freak and obsessed with power. A beautiful soul with a ruthless survivor who is selfish to the bone and obsessed with power and control.)
2. Spike:After the Fall - is told entirely from Spike's perspective. And takes place before and during Angel After the Fall - issue one.
3. First Night is told entirely from Betta George's perspective - he's been networked in by Gunn to see what everyone else is thinking. And he's telling us what certain characters are going through - acting as a sort of omnipresent narrative voice. We aren't really in their points of view. When we are it's brief. Lorne's is brief as is Connor's - so what we get isn't that much.
Also, bear in mind, that Lynch didn't write all the stories in First Night - it was a collaboration. And personally? I don't think it worked as well as they thought it would. They were trying to do a Citizen Kane technique - which is explore the lesser characters, the man on the street claiming the world will end (who I think is the same guy in issue 16 of Angel After the Fall getting his photo taken with Angel.), Connor, Gwen, Kate, and Lorne. As well as Gunn - who's the other central pov outside of Betta George and a bit on the delusional side.
All our narrators are unreliable narrators. No one more so than Angel. Angel tends to look at everything in regards to himself. WRH seems to know that. They are to an extent playing Angel. Manipulating him through his wants, desires, and flaws. We don't really know what WRH wants, but neither does Angel. They are the devil tempting him. They tempt him with humanity. They tempt him with a better life for his son. Etc. And Angel rationalizes it, it's turned out okay. He doesn't see all the angles, his pov is rather limited, and somewhat myopic in scope.
TBC