The Ominous Silence

Hush presented to the viewer that intensity does not have to come from non-stop actions or naked sex scenes it can come from silence. Besides the introduction, the rest of the Hush episode was all filmed in silence, where people’s ability to speak was taken away. When the silence falls, the intensity of the film started to build up. The characters in the episode got tensed. If it was a badass Vampire, Buffy could find a way to stake the Vampire and be done with it. However, this was something that Buffy never experienced before. Unlike the usual, the goal of the bad guys in this episode, the Gentlemen, was not targeted at Buffy. Buffy was confused and worried. The audience was confused and anxious to find out what’s going on. Because all the characters were muted, audience could only hear the background music, which makes the audience to pay extra attention to the scenes to figure out what the sound cues meant, intensify the atmosphere. Silence gave the show an uneasy feeling. We don’t know when something might pop out like when Gile’s girlfriend lift up the blind and saw the face of the Gentlemen turning towards her. Or we can’t hear sounds of torture but forced to fill the gap with our worst imagination like when the Gentlemen were cutting open a student’s chest to take his heart.

In Dracula, silence was again causing uncomfortable feeling that intensified the atmosphere. At the beginning of the novel, when Jonathan was traveling towards the Count’s castle, he was muted due to his lack of knowledge of the local language. The audience, too, suffered with him. Since Jonathan couldn’t understand what the locals were quarreling about, he, like the audience watching Hush, must pay extra attention to people’s body language and speculate what they meant. Jonathan noticed people looked at him with sympathy and fright, which brought an ominous feeling, heightening the atmosphere. Although there wasn’t much talking between Jonathan and Dracula during his stay at Count’s castle, those were the most frightening times that Jonathan experienced due to the lack of communication. Dracula revealed very little about him and gave Jonathan strict and strange rules for his stay at the castle without giving any reason. After finding out the horrid truth about the Count, Jonathan was forbidden to write letters about his experience at the castle, silencing him from the outside world. The silence sentenced Jonathans ominous fate.

Folklore and Fairy Tales in “Hush” and Dracula

First off, apologies (again, sorry!) for the late post.

What strikes me most about “Hush” is the line, or rather written scrawl from Giles describing The Gentleman, explaining that “They are fairy-tale monsters.” While in reality Joss Whedon created The Gentlemen, he designed them to be reminiscent of the Grimm fairy tales and was, in my opinion at least, very successful. There is something about the idea of a folklore or fairy tale monster coming to life that is so horrible no one wants to believe it. (When I say fairy tale here, I mean it in the historic and strictly non-Disney sense.) This happens to Jonathan Harker in Dracula when he completely writes off all of the warnings the peasants give him as he travels to meet the Count the first time. In "Hush", the local news station has a similar reaction to the Gentlemen - they report that a laryngitis epidemic has broken out in Sunnydale. Buffy and the Scoobies immediately believed in the existence of the Gentlemen, but they deal with the supernatural every day. This is similar to Van Helsing in Dracula who, immediately upon becoming aware of the circumstances surrounding Lucy's illness, goes to look up folklore surrounding vampires. Ultimately, it is Van Helsing's and Giles' respect for and knowledge of the folklore surrounding their respective enemies that allows the groups of humans to defeat the monsters. We talked about this in class with as a representation of old and new world knowledge, and Sydney talked about it in her post as well. Along with the different reactions to folklore showing the differences in old world and new world knowledge, I started to think about how, outside of the worlds of the novel and the show, the "old world knowledge" is actually myth. Requiring the reader or viewer to suspend disbelief is clearly a tenant of the Gothic, but it occurs to me that it is interesting that old world knowledge seems to be equated with myth. I'm not sure if this makes old world knowledge seem more reputable or less, because even though the old world knowledge is being equated with myths, it is also the only correct knowledge that the protagonists have about the monsters they are fighting. Thoughts?

The Belated Blogger: Hush (Imagine if you were blind!)

We saw in this episode how a mass loss of voice could effect society/our main characters. They relied on each other differently: in person, with gestures and touches (one could argue, more personably). They (Riley and Buffy mostly) found other uses for their mouths (finally kissing). When their relationships were “all talk” (Buffy describing her and Riley) they kept more secrets from each other than when there was no talk (granted they were battling a crisis, so they couldn’t really focus on creating or concealing secrets – but nor could they explain them away, such as when Riley and Buffy finally saw each other battling demons). 

It’s weird, typing this in a voiceless room, devoid of other people or my own voice (no reason or inclination to talk aloud). It’s actually sort of normal: but because of the nature of this blog post, I’m oddly conscious of it. But I digress.

In Dracula we also saw the importance of communication. The whole story is communicated to us through diaries, either spoken or written, normally or in short-hand, telegraphs, and memos, which were then typed up by Mina, so that in the end it is all, also, non-vocal communication. Without this communication, the story would not exist. It is the framework within which Stoker has set his story, as something that was and is communicated. (And thus achieving an element of scary-ness and empirical realism, as well as a sure way of switching perspectives, in a way listening to characters’ dialogue cannot. Though they eventually knew that the rest of the crew would read their diaries, did not censor them the way dialogue inevitably is. Back to that whole secrets-when-talking thing.)

And of course, Northanger Abby explores communication, specifically proper Victorian communication. (Again, though, the story is communicated to us, this time via an outside [if not impartial] observer.) What to say, what not to say, how and when to say it—if we have our voices, how do we use them? Catherine learns to become a little more discerning as the story progresses, and not speak all that she has learned how to speak; as well as how to interpret to an extent what others are saying. And though often characters in the book say things that mean or are other than what they appear at face value (her whole being at the Abby was a product of exaggeration and false/faulty communication), and Catherine learns to understand this, she, our heroine, retains her inability to speak lies.  [Hey look, more relation to speaking and secrets in Northanger Abby – only with a twist! Catherine, who doesn’t know the nuances of speech or how to speak properly all the time, exhibits and retains virtue of being unable to conceal fully (a.k.a. lie) via speech, like those around her.]

While this episode of Buffy is the most obvious exploration of communication, it certainly keeps showing up everywhere. That aside, while I was watching the episode I was wondering what I would be like for a blind person in Sunnydale. I guess you could arrange baby tomatoes into brail sentences… if tomatoes were in season….

To Speak, Or Not To Speak: That Is The Question

Let me preface this blog post by saying that “Hush” is my all-time favorite Buffy episode. I love its spookiness, and the beautiful, eerie fairy-tale feel. For me, this episode epitomizes what I love most about the gothic: it’s a little bit familiar, a little bit scary, and a little bit “uncanny” as Alex described. As someone who talks far more than she should, I also appreciate an episode that speaks to the significance of language in our culture. As Kromer states in her article, “language structures reality.” We often use language as our primary method for asserting our opinions and beliefs.

As we see in this episode, interactions between people become less superficial when we are forced to use our bodies instead of our minds. I believe our personal experiences shape our understanding of the world. Kromer suggests that language is essential for understanding our surroundings, and without it we confront “the inability to shape experiences effectively.” I think this episode supports the idea that the body can communicates in ways that are independent and untainted by the mind. Although our minds can perceive our surroundings, shape our internal experiences, and analyze them in ways that the body cannot; the body simply exists, producing sincere communication.

However, silence can also have its drawbacks. In her article Kromer also states that the episode “taps into common childhood fears through its portrayal of The Gentlemen.” In their blog posts, both Lauren and Alex emphasized how The Gentlemen represent distorted adult qualities of refinement with their appearance, grace, and polite manners. Kromer also emphasizes how these qualities “tap into childhood fears of adults and old age, medicine, surgery, and the unwanted penetration of one’s body.” As children, we shy away from sickness, old people, and hospitals because we associate all of these things with pain and vulnerability. When you become sick, you no longer have control over your body, you feel pain, and must rely on adults to take care of you and fix you. You are weak and vulnerable, just as the people of Sunnydale are vulnerable to the cruelty and violation of The Gentlemen.

Since children don’t have the physical strength to resist adult influence, language is of paramount importance. When you are a child without language, you are unable to assert yourself. You, quite literally, have no voice. When Buffy takes back her voice from The Gentleman, she is reclaiming her authority and the right to express her thoughts and desires.

Kromer, Kelly. "Silence as Symptom: A Psychoanalytic Reading of "Hush". Nineteen: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies. 07 Mar. 2007. Web. 03 Oct. 2011.

Miss Communication

So for all her witty repartee and valley-girl banter, Buffy is terrible a communicating her true feelings. By giving Sunnydale the literal silent-treatment, Joss Whedon offers her and the rest of the Scooby Gang an alternative to conversation. This gimmick acts in two very distinct ways. It’s an excellent device because it makes the viewer stop to think if their own speech is essential to communication, which as “Hush” shows, are two very different things.

Firstly, the Buffy and Riley relationship. Unless they are building a relationship between OPEC nations, their actual discourse is useless. Each is so preoccupied with keeping their secrets, that nothing ever gets said. But when nothing can be said at all, their emotions take center stage. This is obvious when the two bump into each other on patrol and share their first kiss. The scene is not cluttered by deceiving dialogue, and its amazing what can happen without all the Buffy babble.

The second is what makes the Gentlemen so terrifying. As humans, we fear what we don’t know. The Gentlemen are aesthetically eerie, but for the majority of the episode the Scooby Gang is in the dark to the terrible truth. What’s worse, is because they can’t discuss the problem, it only perpetuates the darkness.

As an aside. We have had several class discussions about technology, and how much easier things would be for Buffy and her friends if they had cell phones. But when they are reduced to “texting” in its most literal sense (writing messages on white boards/projectors), they struggle. Thoughts?