Let the Dead Be Dead

The woman named Tomorrow

sits with a hairpin in her teeth

and takes her time

and does her hair the way she wants it

and fastens at last the last braid and coil

and puts the hairpin where it belongs

and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?

My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.

What of it? Let the dead be dead.  (Carl Sandberg)

Reel One: In the film class, we explored the "mad scientist" trope with one of those rare sequels that comes off better than the original - James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein.  Drs. Frankenstein and Pretorius just can't let the dead be dead.  Science is used to re-animate a bride for the monster, without bothering to consult the young woman on whether or not she'd like to come back from wherever she's been.  (She also could use a hairpin or two.) About 70 years later, Buffy's friends will make the same choice, albeit for arguably less-selfish reasons, but with equally dire consequences.  

Reel Two: Over at the Rewatch, we've entered the dark country of Season 6.  Buffy's dead.  For real.  There's even a headstone. Haunted by the idea that their friend sacrificed herself and was sent to some sort of hell dimension, Actions Are Taken and Buffy is brought back from the afterlife.  This will have major, major consequences as this journey is supposed to only have a one-way ticket.  Still, it's hard to let the dead be dead.  It's a shocking, violent  start to the UPN years and when you consider that Season 6 began broadcasting about a month after 9/11, it seems a shade darker.  Elizabeth Rambo, who co-edited a book on these final two seasons, writes this week's post and it's good stuff!  Check it out.

Project Countdown:  I have a blog post to finish on part of Season 6 of Buffy.  It's my solo contribution for the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011 that I've been posting links to all year.  It won't go up for several weeks, but we're all asked to get ours in early.  I've done my rewatch and have my notes, but still have to turn those into a post.  Then my attention needs to get focused on my presentation for the conference in New Orleans in early October.  More on that as it gets closer - the research is nearly done and I'm getting excited about the drafting part, as well as the prospect of seeing old friends, including Nikki Stafford of the Rewatch (she's a keynote speaker at the Lost conference that's being held as part of the larger conference) and a host of those who have written for the Rewatch this year.

Coming Soon:  The Charlotte area Browncoats are holding their annual "Can't Stop the Serenity" shindig this Sunday.  Free admission, plenty of food and auction items with all the funds going to support several good causes.  C'mon - watching Serenity on the big screen while surrounded by like-minded folk?  You know you want it!  Details can be found here.  And the film class dives into deep space and Freud with Forbidden Planet.