Epiphany

[wren_kt7oz]

This is something that I posted to the bj spoilers board, and now I'm putting it here as well.

It's my interpretation of what I think that last scene in Babylon means.

Open to all comments (even the rude ones).


Was thinking again about what we've been hearing about the
ending and I had an epiphany that I thought I'd share.

It struck me that the problem for me (and I suspect many like me) is
that we've become so bj focused, that the larger issues that C/L
might be trying to address have sort of slipped by.

I asked in an earlier post what the message from the last scene was
meant to be, and totally missed the obvious.

It's not about bj.

It's not even about Brian.

It's about the fact that, despite Stockwell and his ilk, despite
bombs and hatred and violence, Babylon and all it represents are
alive and well.

Brian, from what we have heard, comes close to despair in the final
episode. He considers not rebuilding. He's on the verge of letting
the haters win.

But he doesn't. As once before when he fought Stockwell, he comes
through. He takes up the challenge, and Babylon, his culture, his
way of life, is rebuilt, young and beautiful forever.

I think that's the point that C/L are trying to make with the last
scene.

It's not about Brian being alone and lonely and doomed to permanent
isolation.

It's about Brian (and the unapologetic gay lifestyle he represents)
being triumphant against all the odds.

Did they have to split bj up to do that?

No, of course not.

But, in a sense, that's part of the message too.

Justin is the new generation. He also has survived hatred and
violence, and he's emerged stronger than ever, ready to spread his
wings and take on the world.

He's now "the best homosexual he can be" and he's gone off to live
his life to the full, despite all those who would like to see him
fail, to see him fall, to restrict and reduce him (think the
Hollywood honchos kowtowing to the Bush-ites).

And yes, there are probably ways that all this could have been
achieved without the split.

But I don't think that C/L place the same sort of focus on the bj
relationship that I do.

I think, for them, getting this amazing gay love story to the screen
was almost an end in itself. It doesn't have to have a
conventionally happy ending for them to feel it was all worth it.

For me, looking at it from a character-centric viewpoint, not from a
general, politicised stance, it seems that Brian especially has been
sacrificed. But I suspect that they simply don't see it that way.
That they see both Brian and Justin as representing the triumph over
the forces of bigotry and hatred and Bushism.

I think that's the message we are supposed to get from Brian dancing
alone at a restored Babylon.

Which simply leaves it for us to know the characters well enough to
understand that from here, they can only move on to bigger and better
things. That Brian is no more stuck in limbo in Babylon than Justin
is stuck forever in a garret in the East Village.

And that they are not forever doomed to being apart.

Comments

[sandid.livejournal.com]

Wren, long time. Hope all is well.

It was interesting reading your assessment of the end of my dream. lol

True, I did not consider the ending from that angle. I missed it. And like so much else that CL didn't say and I missed. Other's will miss it too. Still it was somehow soothing to me.

I'm going to go read SF, the BJ/LJ and then read your comments again. A little digestion is in order.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Hi Sandi!

To be honest, I missed it totally myself.

And then I found myself thinking about the scene where Babylon is magically restored, and it occurred to me to start thinking about why it needed to be restored. (I know ... duh!)

And that made me think about the whole thing from a totally different angle.

I mean ... it's so easy (especially not having seen the episodes) to focus in, even in the bombing, to what it meant for bj.

But people died in that bomb blast. In a bomb blast that targeted a fund raiser for fighting the anti-gay marriage lobby.

That's a huge thing to have happened.

We saw celebrating in the streets when the gay community were saved from Stockwell, who was benign compared to this.

I think people just aren't getting it.

But I'm hopeful that more will when they see the whole of the episodes, and not just focus in discussions on the details of the bj stuff.

We'll see.

I might feel totally diffent about it myself when I actually see the episodes.

[sandid.livejournal.com]

It gave me hope when I felt like I had none. I've been giving it a lot of thought since then.

Yes, it will still be a huge disappointment not to have big lovey scenes with my favorite boys. But, I'll live as long as I feel they could still be together. I think? lol

Rebuilding- I guess that's what everyone has to do every time we are knocked down.

I've always had a hard time with gay bashing. How someone can so easily cross that line and hate enough to become a criminal themselves? Hate is awful. Mini rant....sorry

Still thanks for the differing assessment. It helped ease my upset stomach.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Yes, it will still be a huge disappointment not to have big lovey scenes with my favorite boys. But, I'll live as long as I feel they could still be together. I think?

I think this is how I feel about it too.

(Although, I have to admit, I'm still relieved about the wedding being called off. I was never comfortable with that.)

But the way I look at it is that if I feel that it's all over because Justin is going to be a few hours drive away, then I don't have a lot of faith in them at all, really.

So either they have this great enduring love, or they don't.

Who was it said that "absence to love is like wind to a flame. It extinguishes the small and enkindles the great".

Maybe that's what we have to remember.

Damn! And now I've had another "Danny" moment where I'm seeing all sorts of symbolism ...

Remember when Justin got back from Harrisburg? Remember him sitting at the bar watching that tiny flame? That was when he "lost" Ethan. That flame was extinguished. Well, this time round, Brian and Justin found each other again in the huge flames that engulfed Babylon. So the large flame, the great, represents ...

Oh no! I am thinking about this stuff way too much. lol.

Off to have breakfast now.

Hugs

[elaere.livejournal.com]

Sorry to put in, but I just need to say this:

What you write here is true:

"if I feel that it's all over because Justin is going to be a few hours drive away, then I don't have a lot of faith in them at all, really."

I lived for five years like that. My husband had a job in our home town, I had a job 800 km away. Sunday nights I travelled to work and back again Friday afternoons, ten hours each trip. We love each other. We lived through it because there was no option.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Yes - exactly. I had a relationship for a few months with someone who lived over 600 miles away. One weekend I would bus up to see him in Canberra, and bus back on Sunday night (then go straight to work on Monday - yugh!), and then next weekend he would come down to see me.

We did break up, but it wasn't the distance thing. (It was to do with the fact that he actually liked boys more than girls, but that's another story lol.)

As you say, you live through it.

I'm sort of bemused by the anti-Justin stuff that's floating around.

I just don't see that in the ending, not at all.

Mind you, I don't LIKE the ending. I'd write it completely differently.

But then, the only season that had an ending that was even vaguely enjoyable for me was S3, and even then Brian had lost almost everything, so it wasn't exactly unalloyed joy.

I actually found the ending of S5 less objectionable than S4, because at least this time round it's something they have decided together. Not something that Justin just leaps into without, apparently, a single thought for his partner.

PS Will try to respond to your other posts tomorrow. At the moment I need to go cook some dinner and feed the cat or we might both collapse from low blood sugar. lol

[elaere.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the season finales of QAF. They are never easy to digest, but you end up remembering them. I think there is something good about the writing that you don't forget right away.

Season 1 finale made me anxious. Finale of the second made me mad. The third finale made me triumphant. The fourth made me sick. Strong emotions. The fourth is the interesting one: in every other finale I remember the last picture, but in this case I had to really think to remember those stupid hands with rings. I saw Brian's struggle to finish that stupid race. That is what made me sick. The sweet real end was totally forgettable.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

It was Brian opening his heart to Justin, who already knew he was going to California, and just hadn't got around to mentioning it to his partner yet, that I remember.

I hated it.

Deeply.

That was a Justin I didn't like much at all.