It’s my day! o/
Title: Buffy as Artemis, Spike as Actaeon
Creator: thenewbuzwuzz
Pics (worksafe, but warning for canon visuals of Spike getting mauled by love):
Commentary:
These are inspired by two things! ‘ gorgeous “Carnival Dream“, where Wiggins makes this mythology reference in passing when mentioning a painting. And ‘s lovely Summer Solstice Free-for-all promo banner, which made me consider Buffy as the Moon.
While skimming Wikipedia for this, I noticed a number of neat details about Actaeon that sounded relevant to Spike.
So, the way I remembered the myth, Actaeon was a hunter who basically watched the goddess Artemis skinny dipping in the woods, right, so she turned him into a stag, & his own dogs tore him apart. This version of the myth gave me immediate Into the Woods, “are you naked under there??” vibes. :D
But I found out there are other versions too, including one where Actaeon’s offence was that he bragged about being a better hunter than Artemis (Slayer of Slayers, anyone?). And I think there was also one where they hunt together and, in the workplace, feelings develop (and then Artemis is all, no! No feelings! Die gruesomely.)
For the manip, I guess I was heavily influenced by the below two ways of interpreting the symbolism (quotes from the Wikipedia article on Actaeon):
(1) “In Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Orsino compares his unrequited love for Olivia to the fate of Actaeon. “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,… That instant was I turned into a hart, and my desires like fell and cruel hounds e’er since pursue me.” Act 1 Scene 1.”
(2) “The myth is seen by Jungian psychologist Wolfgang Giegerich as a symbol of spiritual transformation and/or enlightenment.” (As in, you see something or someone that makes you want to tear down your current self and be reborn as someone else?? Late season 6 Spike AF.)
It escaped my notice until this very moment that Artemis and Actaeon aren’t actually an iconic pair of lovers. They’re an iconic murderer and victim. But the parallel still seems to be so fitting because of the way Spike talks labout love as this violent overpowering force throughout much of the series. So. Hounds.
Also, later I noticed that Fallowdoe uses an extended parallel between Buffy and Diana/Artemis in chapter 8 of “Spiegel im Spiegel” (also available on FFN). It’s dark and beautiful. There’s graphic animal death.
Ah, and as for Buffy’s hand… let’s say it’s Like That because of my clever, totally intentional plan to post imperfect art so that others will be encouraged to do the same.
Credit for materials:
caps from captoit.flaunt.nu
Hounds by psi_mon
This dog photo by Adam Muise
Gray Concrete Gravestone by mali maeder
dust texture by me
Full Moon by jpstanley
uh, PROBABLY this was the crescent moon image that I ended up using, I think
Crescent Moon through scope by Mark Mathosian
or possibly this?
Crescent moon tonight. by slworking2
And because of some of the images I used, I believe I have to license these manips with Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike BY-NC-SA
Originally posted at https://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/673660.html
