Tag: visual storytelling

There is something peculiar in a small boat upon the wide sea. Over the lives borne from under the shadow of death there seems to fall the shadow of madness. When your ship fails you, your whole world seems to fail you; the world that made you, restrained you, taken care of you. It is as if the souls of men floating on an abyss and in touch with immensity had been set free for any excess of heroism, absurdity, or abomination. Of course, as with belief, thought, love, hate, conviction, or even the visual aspect of material things, there are as many shipwrecks as there are men, and in this one there was something abject which made the isolation more complete – there was a villainy of circumstances that cut these men off more completely from the rest of mankind, whose ideal of conduct had never undergone the trial of a fiendish and appalling joke.

Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

And finally, I think I get why that little boat was there outside the church at the end of season 8.  They took the lifeboat.  (And then in the next season, Sam struggles with having taken it and we see him next to this book.)

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Source: larinah

dustydreamsanddirtyscars:

11×12 “Don’t You Forget about Me”
The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Not going to lie, as beautiful as these shots were. There was something very unsettling about them too – and that even though it was in birght daylight, no shadows, no creepy corners. Maybe it’s the way the lights pave a clear path, sheer endlessly, guiding the way. In the other shots of Sam and Dean together we had the big bright EXIT looming in the background every time. It’s missing here and yet I personally cannot shake the feeling this is a little like this moment from 11×07 “Plush” with Sam in the hospital. Dean, walking down this corridor, it just brings me back to the moth. Nocturnal creature always striving for the light even though it may mean death… So yeah, somehow this twistedly this feeds to the thoughts of Dean not making it out alive, just to the light at the end of the tunnel…

It makes me think of The Empty.

Source: dustydreamsanddirtyscars

The state of the soul, whose hand’s on the wheel?

I’ve seen lots of speculation about the state of Dean’s soul.  What does the bond with The Darkness mean who’s in the driver seat of his destiny.  Like Castiel and the Attack Dog curse, he is a “puppet” under someone else’s control?  I have to wonder if no soul among the members of Team Free Will is untouched.

We saw this:

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and then this:

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Souls escaping from a cage, huh?  We’re definitely being teased with something.  There’s the definitely the threat of Lucifer and Michael escaping from the imprisonment.  

But I had to ask myself, when was the last time we saw snarky Sam, without a filter?

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Was it here?

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When was the last time we saw Sam indulge in a one-night stand?

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Numbers were exchanged, or at least the attempt was made.

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So, whose chain is being yanked, and who is doing the yanking?  

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elizabethrobertajones:

iwatchthepie:

No Colors Anymore?

I was struck by the similarity between the windows in the old distillery and the wheelwright’s workshop.  Colorful in the distillery, black and white where the angels have taken Cas to torture him and mess with his programming.  Reminds me of the punchcard-esque motif in Naomi’s office.

We know from the psychic in 10×17 that Cas’s very nature is colors.  The angel minions’ black and white ties (rather similar to the stunt demons’), the windows, and the black hood all emphasize that they’ll be attempting yet another assault on Cas in the name of punishment and correction.

Also look at those old caged halo lights in the background – they’ve been associated with him for a looong time. Especially to symbolise when he’s trapped and controlled: 4×21 was huge on them.

Hmmmm…  Kinda reminds me of this:

Source: iwatchthepie

A Purple Point of View: The Story became the story

The Darkness personified is distinctly purple.  Contrast Sam’s POV inside the Darkness versus Dean’s in the opening scenes of Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire.

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Supernatural makes vigorous use of visual imagery, including thematic use of color.  Purple didn’t show up often in the early seasons, but it’s use has become more and more marked.

Here we have the infamous purple nurples in Tall Tales.  If ever there was an episode about the power of point of view, this one was it.  Was Starla “just trying to keep her liquor down?”  Or was she a “class act?”  I supposed it depends on who’s telling the story.

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In Season 9′s Bad Boys, “the story became the story.”  First love’s kiss or just another “bad boy?”  “Delinquent” or a young boy desperate to feed his little brother?  What was the story?  Dean was away on a hunt?

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And then we have Season 10′s Fan Fiction, in which “I have my story and you have yours.”  

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Sam takes a very purple point of view looking at his newly returned brother in Paper Moon.  Everything’s all right here, right?  We’re back to normal?  Two brothers kicking back and enjoying the life?  

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But sometimes what we see is an illusion.  A figment of magic and willful perception. (Executioner’s Song)

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I’ve said before that flowers in Supernatural hint at secrets, at things yet to be revealed.

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So, what is being hidden here?  What is yet to be revealed?

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The story became the story, a tale told by Death.  The victor gets to tell the tale.  But what story might the vanquished tell if she were given a voice again?

No Exit:

Exit signs have been used to hint at a character’s death before.  I first noticed them in Season 2, In My Time of Dying, hinting at the fact that Dean was between worlds.  His death loomed behind him.  So did it appear behind Dean off and on early in Season 10, after his death and resurrection.  

Now, here they are again, looming behind Sam presaging his sacrifice and imminent death in Season 11.1.