There are always (or usually) multiple motives in play. We usually tell ourselves or others that we are acting on a good motivation. But maybe something else is driving us. And maybe its driving us so much so that we deceive ourselves about why we are doing what we are doing.
Angel is in despair. Angel's back is against the wall. Angel's understanding of himself as a champion is compromised both by his own choices and by the sheer fact of Spike (the soul-getting, world-saving hero). Angel likes to think of himself as someone who makes a difference. Somehow I'm thinking it's not hard to think that that stuff had an influence both on how he interpreted the vision and on how he decided to act on it. NFA gives us an alternative answer to the question of how we should respond to unconquerable evil in the guise of Anne, who just loves the people she encounters ever day as best she can. But that's small and quiet and not really the classic picture of a champion whose destiny is to play a decisive role in the apocalypse.
But however dark some of that is, there's that shining commitment to opposing evil. The ambition to be a champion is not hardly a bad ambition. The willingness to die for the cause demands respect. Ergo: mixed motives. My theme of the week is just how great it is that NFA is both totally inspiring and totally horrifying. At the same time.
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Date: 2009-01-27 04:57 am (UTC)Angel is in despair. Angel's back is against the wall. Angel's understanding of himself as a champion is compromised both by his own choices and by the sheer fact of Spike (the soul-getting, world-saving hero). Angel likes to think of himself as someone who makes a difference. Somehow I'm thinking it's not hard to think that that stuff had an influence both on how he interpreted the vision and on how he decided to act on it. NFA gives us an alternative answer to the question of how we should respond to unconquerable evil in the guise of Anne, who just loves the people she encounters ever day as best she can. But that's small and quiet and not really the classic picture of a champion whose destiny is to play a decisive role in the apocalypse.
But however dark some of that is, there's that shining commitment to opposing evil. The ambition to be a champion is not hardly a bad ambition. The willingness to die for the cause demands respect. Ergo: mixed motives. My theme of the week is just how great it is that NFA is both totally inspiring and totally horrifying. At the same time.