FORKNI-L
Digest - 5 Aug 2013 to 12 Aug 2013 (#2013-123)
Mon, 12 Aug 2013
There is 1 message totaling 71 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. "Last Act" - yet more discussion
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Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:58:03 -0400
From: Greer Watson <gwatson2@r.......>
Subject: "Last Act" - yet more discussion
So far, I have discussed the ethical dimensions of "Last Act". However, if
there is any *common* bone of contention associated with this episode, it is
the question of vampire sexuality. Back in the 17th century, Nick and Erica
are not only actors but lovers, passionately so. Fans often cite their love
scene as evidence that FK vampires are as capable of copulation as mortals.
In particular, they cite Erica's urge that Nick "run her through" again and
again--or words to that effect.
Contrariwise, there are those who insist that FK vampires *cannot* make
human-style love, but do so only by biting/blood-drinking. For them, the
chief evidence is--if I may move ahead in Season One--the episode "Love You
to Death", in which LaCroix plots against Nick's romance with a young
dancer. "Make love to her as mortals do," he says (again, I paraphrase),
"but you cannot. So we move on: take her!"
Yes, well--no one ever said that Forever Knight was a model of consistency.
Clearly, fans are somewhat likely to prefer one or the other approach in
part by the type of story they plan to write. I wonder, though, whether
they are not also influenced by which episode they see first. After all,
most episodes do not provide any evidence one way or the other: Nick's
romances are usually doomed to destruction long before they reach that
point; and, in the present, he and Natalie dance around their mutual
attraction for many, many reasons.
If one's first experience of FK comes from the start of the series,
beginning with "Dark Knight" (and this is true whether one began watching in
1992 or with Sci-Fi/Showcase reruns), then one's first explicit--or fairly
explicit--introduction to vampire sexuality comes with "Last Act". One
first, then, sees Nick and Erica as lovers, passionately consummating their
affaire, with the suggestive wit of the time informing their banter.
If one came into the series later, then one missed all that. Or, at least,
one missed it until the series came back round in reruns.
My first episodes were the tail end of Season One, which CTV showed over
several weeks before belatedly beginning Season Two in the fall of 1994.
*My* first episode was "Father Figure"; and the first episode *I* saw in
which vampire sexuality was discussed was "Love You to Death". I didn't get
to see "Last Act" until Showcase put it on two years after the series was
cancelled (i.e. the 1997-9 season).
I'm sure there are those on list who saw the episodes in order; but there
are certainly also others who came in partway through the series, with
Season Two or Season Three. What do you think? Even bearing in mind that
we are all aware that the show is never consistent in these things, does our
own viewing experience colour our interpretation of vampire love?
Greer
gwatson2@r.......
http://www.foreverknight.org/FK4/
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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 5 Aug 2013 to 12 Aug 2013 (#2013-123)
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