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beccaelizabethYou know how you watch things as a kid and certain scenes stay in you mind, and then sink in and become part of the structure?
And you know how rewatching things as an adult you get a whole different perspective on why?
I just rewatched Legend.
The bit of that film that stays with me is Lily and the dark dancer (link goes to YouTube; if the music isn't to your liking try one of the other links to roughly the same clip to get music from a different cut).
I loved that whole sequence, the dress and the sparkle and the dancing.
The thing I notice now?
Darkness is setting out to seduce her - that's the specific word. So there's food (in shades of red and black) and diamonds glittering and skulls and bones in silver and incredible goth dresses.
But mostly there's this glittering darkness, this beautiful dancer, this woman. She's sent to seduce the princess. She dances for her, flickering like the flames and with stars in her face. And first the princess is afraid, running, in rags and tatters, but then she's watching, the dancer cupping her face but not quite touching, watching her dance, and then she dances out with her. The dancer pulls her out, and they dance together, wild, then spin apart, and then the princess reaches out for her, welcoming, wanting her.
Then with a swirl of dress the princess is the dancer, dark and beautiful.
It's very gorgeous, very goth, and very very queer.
It has that tangle between wanting and wanting to be. It's not just about a good girl getting seduced to the dark side, and the power she finds in the darkness. When she embraces the dancer she still rejects the man that sent her. Well, great big horned beast, this not being a subtle film in any other respect. She rejects the stripped to the waist muscular man, and embraces the dark woman. ... so, not exactly subtle there either, except I somehow doubt it was intended.
I know there's a whole film around this scene, but it tends to fade out of my mind.
I just remember the dance.
... sometimes I look back at me as a kid and it makes a lot more sense from here...
And you know how rewatching things as an adult you get a whole different perspective on why?
I just rewatched Legend.
The bit of that film that stays with me is Lily and the dark dancer (link goes to YouTube; if the music isn't to your liking try one of the other links to roughly the same clip to get music from a different cut).
I loved that whole sequence, the dress and the sparkle and the dancing.
The thing I notice now?
Darkness is setting out to seduce her - that's the specific word. So there's food (in shades of red and black) and diamonds glittering and skulls and bones in silver and incredible goth dresses.
But mostly there's this glittering darkness, this beautiful dancer, this woman. She's sent to seduce the princess. She dances for her, flickering like the flames and with stars in her face. And first the princess is afraid, running, in rags and tatters, but then she's watching, the dancer cupping her face but not quite touching, watching her dance, and then she dances out with her. The dancer pulls her out, and they dance together, wild, then spin apart, and then the princess reaches out for her, welcoming, wanting her.
Then with a swirl of dress the princess is the dancer, dark and beautiful.
It's very gorgeous, very goth, and very very queer.
It has that tangle between wanting and wanting to be. It's not just about a good girl getting seduced to the dark side, and the power she finds in the darkness. When she embraces the dancer she still rejects the man that sent her. Well, great big horned beast, this not being a subtle film in any other respect. She rejects the stripped to the waist muscular man, and embraces the dark woman. ... so, not exactly subtle there either, except I somehow doubt it was intended.
I know there's a whole film around this scene, but it tends to fade out of my mind.
I just remember the dance.
... sometimes I look back at me as a kid and it makes a lot more sense from here...