I love the back-and-forth contradictory chorus - "I'm your only friend / I'm not your only friend / But I'm a little glowing friend / But really I'm not actually your friend / But I am" - which is pretty much Dean & Castiel's relationship in a nutshell. Affection, judgment, and duty keep changing the tides, especially on Castiel's part. And though the song is quite bouncy and upbeat, the lyrics have that edge that's essential to this pairing. (The bit about Jason and the Argonauts? Brr.)
Yes to all this! I imagine a video in which Castiel being endearing flashes back and forward to Castiel being creepy and/or a ruthless fucker. John Linnell's weird nasal voice probably helps contribute to the unsettling atmosphere in this imaginary vid.
(When I was in high school, They Might Be Giants was the first band I really loved - to this day, I own more albums and singles by them than by any other band. I haven't kept up with their more recent releases, but my friends and I went to their concerts, sometimes fifteen or twenty of us at once. It was pretty awesome, even if TMBG has always been totally geek rock. But I love their goofy and upbeat aesthetic, with those frequent notes of the surreal/disquieting.)
"Above and Below" made me want to watch "A Charming Man" again, so I did. (I think I just don't have the capacity to appreciate longish stretches of Dean and Sam's emo faces.) I liked "A Charming Man"; as you predicted, it incorporated exactly the type of editing and musical accompaniment I enjoy. Also it encapsulates a vision of Castiel as he would be if the character were significantly more of a mastermind, and more efficient, than he's written - quasi-repentant serial killer is about right for this. It's not a bad pairing with "Low Red Moon."
Now - and as usual, whenever I think about it - I miss Anna. I want more for her character than post-discipline Castiel having the angel police arrest her, presumably to be followed by her reprogramming/imprisonment/torture/execution, aaaaargh. Yet I'm simultaneously afraid to want more, because right now I can imagine she gave her guards the slip, whereas if we see Anna again I fear the show will pull an Ellen&Jo on us. I really like[d] Ellen and Jo. (I like Rufus too. Why bring the Harvelle women back only to kill them??? [Rhetorical question. I know the answer, and there's the usual rage again.] Non-rhetorical question: Have we ever seen a daughter avenging, or attempting to avenge her mother on SPN?)
I think the writers mostly just don't understand how to think or write about Otherness, and I honestly wouldn't hold onto much hope that they'll figure it out. See 'It's not murder, it's a metaphor,' (http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/331964.html?mode=reply&style=mine) re: the almost total failure of SPN to understand how to conceptualize or allegorize racism, which opens with a quote of Eric Kripke congratulating himself on how 'Bloodlust' supposedly explores racism. (http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/profile)coffeeandink (http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/)'s thesis has, unfortunately, only been proven more true by what's happened on the show since the essay was written, e.g. Uriel. There are spoilers in the essay re: Buffy's similar failure throughout its seven seasons, albeit somewhat less of a failure than SPN's; while Buffy's relationship to supernatural - that is, imaginary - Otherness is a lot more complex and warmer than SPN's, Buffy's relationships to actual real-world Others of race and sexual orientation are significantly shakier (but still way better than SPN's, I have to say).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
Not to put too fine a point on it / Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Date: 2010-01-11 06:20 am (UTC)Yes to all this! I imagine a video in which Castiel being endearing flashes back and forward to Castiel being creepy and/or a ruthless fucker. John Linnell's weird nasal voice probably helps contribute to the unsettling atmosphere in this imaginary vid.
(When I was in high school, They Might Be Giants was the first band I really loved - to this day, I own more albums and singles by them than by any other band. I haven't kept up with their more recent releases, but my friends and I went to their concerts, sometimes fifteen or twenty of us at once. It was pretty awesome, even if TMBG has always been totally geek rock. But I love their goofy and upbeat aesthetic, with those frequent notes of the surreal/disquieting.)
"Above and Below" made me want to watch "A Charming Man" again, so I did. (I think I just don't have the capacity to appreciate longish stretches of Dean and Sam's emo faces.) I liked "A Charming Man"; as you predicted, it incorporated exactly the type of editing and musical accompaniment I enjoy. Also it encapsulates a vision of Castiel as he would be if the character were significantly more of a mastermind, and more efficient, than he's written - quasi-repentant serial killer is about right for this. It's not a bad pairing with "Low Red Moon."
Now - and as usual, whenever I think about it - I miss Anna. I want more for her character than post-discipline Castiel having the angel police arrest her, presumably to be followed by her reprogramming/imprisonment/torture/execution, aaaaargh. Yet I'm simultaneously afraid to want more, because right now I can imagine she gave her guards the slip, whereas if we see Anna again I fear the show will pull an Ellen&Jo on us. I really like[d] Ellen and Jo. (I like Rufus too. Why bring the Harvelle women back only to kill them??? [Rhetorical question. I know the answer, and there's the usual rage again.] Non-rhetorical question: Have we ever seen a daughter avenging, or attempting to avenge her mother on SPN?)
I think the writers mostly just don't understand how to think or write about Otherness, and I honestly wouldn't hold onto much hope that they'll figure it out. See 'It's not murder, it's a metaphor,' (http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/331964.html?mode=reply&style=mine) re: the almost total failure of SPN to understand how to conceptualize or allegorize racism, which opens with a quote of Eric Kripke congratulating himself on how 'Bloodlust' supposedly explores racism.