Spike: The Classic
Existentialist Hero (or alternatively Angel: the limpdick determinist who
sports Nancy Boy Hair Gel)
WARNING: philosophical
discourse ahead...
1.
Free Will and
Existentialism
- Jean-Paul Sartre
Firstly, for those unfamiliar with the term, existentialism is a
philosophy concerned with the nature and meaning of human existence, more
specifically the condition and existence of man, his place and function in the
universe and his relationship (or lack thereof) with God. It emphasizes the creative role of the individual in forging their own destiny,
fashioning their own purpose, thus the individual (free of any external aids
whatsoever) must accept complete responsibility for his/her own actions.
I’ll start by explaining Sartre’s famous phrase which
I’ve quoted above (it basically sums up what existentialism is all about), what
the Frenchie is saying is that each individual
human being is a free and active agent born without a fixed
‘essence’ (i.e. purpose, destiny, fate – all bollocks) which he must fulfill
(contrast this to Aquinas and Natural Law as well as Aristotle and final
causes), rather individuals in what they do and the choices they make, have the
power to shape their own lives. In
short, go your own way, you and you alone are responsible for shaping your
destiny and finding your purpose in life simply through the choices you make
from day to day. Each individual, by
the choice of what he does or does not do, gives essence to their existence and
selects their own destiny. Life is a
challenge and a project, the existential task is to develop and take in new
experiences, and in the process find one’s own essence. This modern vision of existentialism is
atheistic by nature as God (a purposeful Creator) would presuppose that essence
precedes existence and thus would mean that each individual agent is not free
to forge their own destiny through the choices they make as their destiny has
already being determined by the Almighty.
In short, no God folks.
Now, before I relate this back to Spike (and if you
haven’t worked it out by now I suggest you stop reading) I’ll touch briefly on
Heidegger and Kierkegaard (the guy credited with founding existentialism). Kierkegaard was a very devout Christian who
saw the relationship between the individual
and God as paramount. He insisted that
God had given people complete freedom to
make their own decisions. Kierkegaard
being the perceptive and intelligent bloke that he was recognized that this was
not only a new way of looking at man’s position and function in the universe –
but a FUCKING TERRIFYING way of looking
at man’s position and function in the universe. In a time of tremendous respect for authority (both moral and
heavenly) and the rigid application of societal norms and conventions,
Kierkegaard was saying no one could escape from their freedom of choice which
represented an act of faith, a leap in the dark as there were no guarantees, no
easy way out, one could no longer just stay on the straight and narrow path
dictated by society and organised religion and then claim to have acted morally
and demand entrance into heaven.
Kierkegaard regarded those (e.g. Hegel) who formed abstract schemes of
thought in order to comprehend (simply) life and give to every tiny action some
place in a purposeful overall pattern, as escapists.
Insert
Rant: See Season Two of Angel when the Dickless Coward Whose Name Will Not Be
Uttered went AWOL after coming to this precise realisation – faced with the
apparent meaningless of events on a cosmic scale the Broodmeister lost all hope
and went on a killing spree (standard response of the weak willed and
cowardly). Just what has the mentally
defective moron being reading for the past two centuries? Nora Roberts? I mean they show him reading
French literature but they just skipped over that little period in the 20th
Century featuring Sartre and Camus? Actually in all likelihood The Poof
probably did read them – just too thick to learn anything. Alternatively he was too busy rotting in
some filthy gutter with his precious soul and/or condemning a hotel full of
people to almost certain death at the hands of maniacal demon in LA. Yes, gotta love that “Noble,
Self-Sacrificing Hero”™ that is Angel.
Angel
fits the definition of a cowardly escapist perfectly, he clings desperately to
outdated and discredited notions like destiny and fate, he regards himself as
fortune’s knave, the servant of the All-Wise, All-Powerful and All-Good Powers
That Be who have even gone to the trouble of writing him his very own
prophecy. As a card-carrying
existentialist let me tell you this: the prophecy, the supposed instrument of
his salvation is the very thing which ensures Angel will never ever be truly human.
Human beings do not have the luxury of what essentially amounts to a
binding contract: stay on the straight and narrow you Braindead Fuckwit and you
shall have the ultimate reward. Life
doesn’t work like that folks, not for us, we have no guarantees, no external
aids or props in the form of the PTB instead we, as free and active agents are
fully responsible for shaping our own lives (except for Communists and
Socialists) and until Angel learns to do the same without the aid of a “Get Out
Of Jail Free” Card every time he screws up (e.g. boning a 17 year old
schoolgirl, killing a cellar full of humans), until he faces what Kurtz called
“the horror” in Heart of Darkness,
until he knows what it is like to live from day to day having to face the
terrifying thought that he and he alone must take responsibility for his
choices and for forging his own existence, then Angel can never know what it is
like to be a human and consequently can never be human.
In
short, Angel is a determinist, he rejects free will and he believes that every
event happens for a purpose (his turning, the Gypsy curse etc.) directed by the
PTB towards some ‘final good’. He
believes that essence precedes existence, that he has a divine purpose (to help
the helpless) and is destined to receive a fitting reward (Shanshu –
humanity). If you believe that rot,
then reader you belong in an asylum for the intellectually poverty
stricken. Fate, Destiny, Fortune and
Prophecy are but escapist fantasies for the cowardly and weak willed who lack
the courage and fortitude to just live from day to day simply making the
choices which determine their essence.
2.
Spike
If, reader you possess
anything resembling an intellect you will realise where I’m going with
this. Spike embodies the existentialist
precepts I have outlined above. Let’s
move in chronological order, starting with Spike’s turning in 1880. Spike tells Buffy in Fool For Love, that he was “tired of living by society’s
rules...decided to make a few of my own.”
Spike’s conscious rejection of societal norms and conventions
corresponds precisely to what Heidegger was saying that in order to live “an
authentic existence”, one must escape the expectations of others by refusing to
meekly accept the roles (and values) that society allocates. In short, don’t merely conform to society’s
expectations, exercise your free will and be your own man (or woman or
vampire...). Initially as a creature
with no conscience naturally orientated towards evil Spike ‘breaks the mould’
so to speak by rejecting Angel’s (the gang leader, the experienced “Yoda”)
advice. Spike is from his birth as a
vamp, a Rebel Without A Cause, reckless and impetuous he seems to be seeking,
grasping at something just beyond his reach.
He
rejects Angel’s advice about the “artistry” of “a clean kill, a good kill”
(i.e. psychological torture of victims must come before the actual killing) and
risks the safety of the entire gang by going with his “fist and fangs”
approach. He asks Angel pointedly,
“Don’t you ever get tired of fights you know you’re gonna win?” Angel is the absolute apotheosis of an evil
vampire, he embodies what all vamps aspire to, a cunning demon utterly devoid
of humanity who revels in the suffering of all that is clean, pure and good
(Exhibit A: Druscilla). Although a mere
fledgling, Spike is already rejecting Angel’s advice and choosing his own (far
riskier) path. Admittedly, Spike is not
striving towards anything particular noble at this stage, as he aims to achieve
status and prestige with the demon underworld, but he is already shaping his
own individual destiny, free of any external aids and constraints. The path Spike has chosen is one fraught
with danger, in order to attain power and respect within (demon) society he
will confront the latest in a long line of mystical warriors whose sole design
is to kill his kind – unarmed in one-to-one combat. It is most definitely not the quick and easy path. In a supreme act of will (and a fair dose of
luck) Spike does the unthinkable, he confronts and kills two Slayers and in the
process attains his goal: tremendous power, respect and authority within the
demon world.
Spike
like any good existentialist clearly regards life as a challenge and a project,
that’s precisely the reason he heads for Sunnydale in 1998 to confront the
latest Slayer (and of course to cure his injured lover – a decidedly
undemonlike thing to do especially when you consider the way Darla treated
Angel, leaving him for dead in a barn and the way Dru treated Spike when he was
in the wheelchair). Although he himself
is unaware of it, this essentially marks the end of the path he has been
following for 120 years, he will soon voluntarily choose to embark on an
entirely new path which will reshape his existence.
We
are immediately presented with clear and unambiguous evidence of Spike’s
(unconscious or otherwise) existentialist inclinations – he rejects the vampire
religious ceremonies (and indeed vamp religion in general) and hastily kills
the one vampire (The Anointed One) which prophecy has foretold will lead them
to victory. It is nothing less than a
supreme rejection of authority and the conventions of the society which he
inhabits. Spike is cast clearly as a
free agent who rejects the idea of determinism, destiny, fortune etc. from the
outset. Spike has zero respect for
convention and prophecy, which is the hallmark of an existentialist hero. However it is true that Spike also proclaims
that he is a demon and “demons don’t change”, a sign that whilst Spike is
already on the existential path, he is yet to fully embrace the existentialist
life as he regards some choices (i.e. being a White Hat) as closed where as a
fully committed existentialist (which he essentially becomes in Season Five)
would do no such thing.
Spike
does his utmost to kill the latest Slayer but fails for a variety of reasons
(plain bad luck, skill of the opponent etc.).
It is important to note not just what The Judge tells Spike and Dru
(that they “reek of humanity” because of the affection they share for one
another) but Spike’s reaction to it, he is incensed and immediately reminds The
Judge who’s in charge, the opinion of his fellow demons means little to Spike,
he doesn’t mind reeking of humanity (its his choice after all) and above all he
remains faithful to himself and makes it clear that he will do as he sees fit. Also note Angel’s complete lack of humanity
sans soul and the way his relationship with Darla was characterized in
flashbacks (on Angel) – clearly not
genuine human emotions.
After
Buffy drops a church organ on him thus rendering him temporarily paraplegic and
confined to a wheelchair, Spike is plunged into an existentialist crisis. Angel has taken his lover, his power,
authority and leadership, all the things Spike values are rapidly slipping from
his grasp (and Angel, bless his petty vindictive heart is more than willing to
remind Spike of it). Spike is now in a
dilemma but like any good existentialist, he never shirks from the choice he
has to make (no matter how unpalatable it may seem), he reasserts control over
his own destiny by choosing once again to ‘break the mould’, screw convention
and do exactly what (demon) society prohibits him from doing – cutting a
pragmatic deal (and that’s all it is at first) with his mortal enemy – the
Slayer. Spike is once again following
Heidegger’s advice by refusing to meekly accept the role allocated to him by
society and in the process make the necessary choice to reclaim what is he
believes to be his existence.
However,
Spike is also developing a certain amount of respect for the Slayer, a respect
which he seems to have had for all his adversaries, unlike Angel, Spike does
not go after the Slayer’s friends and family (even though there is no doubt the
he could if he actually wanted to murder Xander, Willow or Joyce at nearly any
stage in Season Two). Spike leaves the
family out of it and this makes his brand of evil much more tolerable than
Angel’s (but make no mistake Spike was a monster – he would eat you or I in
heartbeat if he were feeling peckish during Season Two). He doesn’t even hold a
grudge against Joyce for braining him with a fire axe during their first
meeting (and foiling his plan to slay the Slayer), rather he holds a certain
amount of respect for a parent who cares so much for their child. Strictly speaking, as a demon Spike should
not even be having these thoughts for human beings, they are after all no more
than “happy meals with legs.” Perhaps
the biggest clue as to Spike’s emotions are his final words in Season Two,
“Bloody hell...he’s gonna kill her” as he is about to turn to leave Sunnydale. A strange thing for a demon whose purpose is
to kill the Slayer to say, Spike is already unsure as to whether he actually
wants his mortal enemy to die! Of
course, he shakes his head as if to clear these treacherous thoughts from his
mind and abandons her to her death but even an existentialist hero with a will
as formidable as Spike’s could not make such a radical, life altering choice
(saving his mortal enemy when his own self-interest is not at stake) at such an
early stage (after knowing her for just a year).
When
Spike returns in Lover’s Walk, we see
first hand that the “humanity” (which Spike voluntarily cultivated through his
relationship with Dru) which The Judge spoke of is alive and well. The poor bloke is heartbroken when his
lover terminates their century old relationship for reasons not fully explained
until Season Five. Spike has always,
even as a monster, chosen to open himself to love, something which other
vampires do not (note the cleansing rituals The Annoying One makes his minions
perform). During Lover’s Walk, Joss Wheadon (intentionally or otherwise) makes what
is perhaps the most overt reference yet to Spike’s existentialist inclinations.
When Buffy pins him to kitchen bench, holds him at stake point and tells him
pointedly that he shouldn’t have come back, Spike replies evenly, “I do as I
please.” This is the classic
existentialist’s response, that no matter what society expects of us, the
individual is free to do as he or she likes and must make their own choices
thereby fashioning their own existence.
Spike as usual is supplying anyone who asks with the stainless truth, he
is his own man and will determine his own choices free of external
interference.
Now we move onto Season Four. Whilst James Marsters was terrific in
the Harsh Light of Day and the Angel episode featuring his famous
monologue and most agree that his intervention rescued what was to that point a
very ordinary season simply through his presence and charisma, Spike really
does very little for the rest of Season Four.
He only goes to the Scoobies for help because he believes the US
Government’s chip prevents him from harming anything, demon or human. Yes he later chooses to help them but the rationale the writers supply us for
him doing so is murky at best. During
the latter part of Season Four I was deeply puzzled as to why when he
discovered he could pummel non-humans Spike didn’t simply reclaim (or at least
try to reclaim) his former position within demon society rather than act as a
paid mercenary for people he claimed to hate and suffer beatings at the hands
of his fellow demons as a result. It really came as no surprise when he betrayed the
Scoobies to Adam, but I was even more surprised that Spike didn't do something
similar earlier, after all he kept reiterating he hated the Scoobies. Of
course, Spike's murky motivations were only properly addressed in Season Five,
which vies with Season Two for the title as the Year of Spike.
Spike
comes to the realization (due admittedly in part to the chip which was implanted
against his will) that he has fallen
in love with that which he should most hate, the Slayer. However, how he acts and the choices he
makes subsequent to this discovery are all an exercise of free will. Spike remains in complete control of his own
actions and the choices he makes are entirely his own. Spike (not the chip which only makes him
passively evil, not actively good) chooses
to stay in town and explore these new found feelings. It is completely within his power to skip town and journey to the
opposite end of the earth where he could (as he demonstrated so clearly in
Season Two) seize control of the demon underworld in an entirely different city
where no one has heard of his weakness and treachery. But that would be the coward’s response and Spike like any true
existentialist chooses to face his feelings and thus enrich his own existence.
The
second major decision which Spike makes is that he no longer wants the Slayer
dead and thus he chooses to help her,
the chip does not compel him to do so, his long since dead soul does not compel
him to do so, it is just Spike, a vampire yes but a free and active agent like
you or I who chooses to save the life
of his mortal enemy. When Harm informs
him that an attempt will be made on the Slayer’s life he immediately rushes off
to help. Now, in all likelihood Buffy would’ve beaten the demons off anyway but
Spike has already begun to turn his back on demon society and his former way of
life. Fool For Love is the episode which demonstrated to doubters everywhere
(myself included because at this stage I honestly had no idea how genuine the
writers wanted to make Spike’s feelings) that Spike made the monumental choice
to turn his back on the life which he had successfully crafted for himself, to
turn his back on the one feat which gave him fame and power (i.e. killing
Slayers), to shatter completely and once and for all the chains of societal
conventions and to crush beneath the weight of his formidable will the role
allotted to him by his native (demon) society.
I am speaking of course of the famous last scene where Spike is
presented with what he once craved above all else, another opportunity to bag a
Slayer, a means to further his status within demon society (this is the path
which Spike had previously chosen for
himself) but Spike chooses not to
kill his mortal enemy when she is at her most vulnerable. Spike has made the most terrifying choice
imaginable, he is voluntarily throwing away 120 years of existence, an
existence which he freely choose, an existence which he once classified as
happiness – all for a girl whom he repeatedly acknowledges will “never” love
him back.
Most
importantly of all Spike made that choice completely on his own, he and he
alone is responsible for his own actions, there are no external aids assisting
him in any way, shape or form.
Remember, the chip is a restraining device, it made him passively evil
in Season Four but it is not a device which forces its wearer to be actively
good. This is very important for Spike
to be classified as an “existentialist hero” as it demonstrates that all of
Spike’s actions in Season Five are an exercise of free will by an individual
free agent.
3. Angel
Now,
contrast this to Angel’s supposed heroic journey of redemption (which as an
existentialist I detest – Angel embodies the definitive anti-existentialist
life). Firstly, we have the question of
choice, did Angel ever made the active
choice to be good of his own free
will without external aids? Short answer: no. Ergo Angel is not a
hero in my mind. Let’s start at the
beginning, Angel’s turning, Darla found him drunk in a dark alley on the way
home to steal money from his father (whom he had treated with undeserved
contempt) to spend on prostitutes (he tells the owners of the fine
establishment to keep the girls “warm”).
Add to this the strong implication that he had raped or at the very
least forced himself on one of his family’s servants (reason for his father
ejecting him) and you have the sort of man who represents the absolute detritus
of human society – driven entirely by his basest urges and lacking anything
resembling self-restraint. It is no
surprise then that he makes a fine vampire – immoral, cold and inhuman a
creature whose first order of business is to eviscerate his own flesh and
blood.
The
soul is what you call a form of external interference – it is forced upon him
by the mysterious Powers That Be (i.e. Fate, Destiny, Fortune). Angel at no
stage made the conscious choice to actually be good, as a human he was an
arseclown, as a vamp he was just pure evil and as a vampire with a soul he was
a mess, an aimless vagrant with no will to shape his own life, too weak to make
the conscious choice to be a hero. Even
with the extensive aid of external powers who have provided him with a
conscience he remains unable to accept responsibility for his own existence by
choosing to do good. And seriously
folks, what kind of decent, compassionate human being does NOT want to do good
after committing the kind of sins Angel has?
Well, it seems Angel (soul or no soul) is neither decent nor
compassionate because his first reaction was to rejoin Darla and his second to
spend about a century rotting in filthy gutters alienating himself from the
very people the PTB want him to help (or alternatively as I mentioned earlier
condemning an entire hotel full of people to near certain death at the hands of
a maniacal demon).
Once
again, Angel proves incapable of forging his own destiny and requires external
aid in the form of an immortal demon, a messenger from the PTB named Whistler
in 1996 (oh yeah and the sight of a scorching hot blonde 16 year old
schoolgirl) to finally convince him that to do good isn’t such a bad idea. But sadly it is not Angel’s own choice to be
good, it is largely the work of the PTB not Angel’s own will thus making his
actions rather worthless from an existentialist viewpoint. He is a passive
rather than an active agent in the existentialist mould. Now, in addition to the not insubstantial
assistance lent to him by the PTB Angel also has the love and devotion of an
incredibly beautiful, incredibly courageous girl to spur him on to do good
works but still – he struggles. In Prophecy Girl Xander has to literally
drag him down into the caves to help save Buffy (my two cents: Angel couldn’t
be bothered because in his mind Prophecy and Fate mean more than the power of
the human will – which do you reckon to be the better bet? I know which I’d
choose....)
It
is Xander who demonstrates the strength of his will, he is able to make the
choice to risk his life (no superpowers remember) for a girl who has just dealt
him a cruel blow, rejecting him for a creepy stranger she hardly knew whereas
Angel who has the added incentive of Buffy love is rendered immobile.
Angel’s
next big mistake comes when he bones a 17 year old schoolgirl and loses his
soul as a result. Not only is that
immoral, I’m fairly certain its illegal in several states but as per usual he
is handed a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card by the PTB (rescued from Hell). Once again Angel is the beneficiary of
external aid.
The
series premiere of Angel is a clear
reminder of just how little Angel has come in the past century (even with all
the help from the PTB, Buffy and the soul) and just how lost Angel is without
external aid. Angel needs another
messenger from the PTB (Doyle) to put him back on the straight and narrow, to
tell him that in order to reclaim his humanity he needs to actually empathize
and connect with the people he saves.
Rant:
This is really getting to be tiresome (listing all the times the Limpdick
Determinist has needed external aid is a time-consuming task folks). OK, nearly there.
Season
Two is when Angel reminded us all just what a weak and spineless creature he
really was. After being given the binding contract which I spoke of earlier in
the Season One finale, Angel simply manages to contrive a way to bugger things
up royally. (Refer back to earlier rant
for the full explanation). Now, this is
when the PTB lose all credibility, using their latest messenger (Lorne), they
absolve Angel arbitrarily and completely of the murder of a cellar full of
lawyers (admittedly unpleasant folk but people with souls nonetheless) when in
possession of his soul. Rather than
taking responsibility for his own choices (the existentialist response) Angel
happily accepts this form of pseudo-atonement for his sins being the
intellectually bankrupt prick that he is.
It is only later in Season Two when Angel finally has his epiphany and
adopts something resembling the existentialist philosophy which he needs to
attain atonement (after a century of extensive help from others), the very same
philosophy Spike has been unconsciously adhering to after just two years
(without extensive help from others).
Essentially Angel realizes that there is no cosmic order and purpose, no
balance sheet where he can measure his progress towards redemption, the only
thing which he can do is to make the best possible choices from day to day –
for that is the path towards genuine redemption.
3.
A note on syllogisms and
abuse by Evilistas (just had to jot this down before I forgot...sorry J)
A syllogism is a simple
form of argument commonly used in philosophy.
Here’s the basic structure:
1.
All X’s are Y’s
2.
“B” is a X
3.
Therefore “B” is a Y
And here’s an example:
1.
All men are mortal
2.
Socrates is a man
3.
Therefore Socrates is
mortal
And here’s the “syllogism”
being used by evilistas to argue against Spike’s heroism and ability to attain
some form of atonement (but never complete redemption) for his sins:
1.
All soulless demons are
evil
2.
Spike is a soulless
demon
3.
Therefore Spike is evil
Here’s the problem folks,
in order for a syllogism to work, the first stage (all X’s are Y’s) must be
proven to be true without exception.
Fortunately for Spike, (and this is somewhat ironic), events which have
transpired on Angel have proven
otherwise. The two most pertinent cases
are the “violent” Pakistani demon which Angel went and killed without a second
thought in the Season Two opener (but turned out to be good – the demon had
chosen to act as a guardian for a pregnant woman) and Angel’s own actions in
the episode where Doyle dies. Angel is
ready to die to save an entire boatload of soulless demons – I doubt he would
do so if he believed them to be evil!
4. Ethics
I
want to approach this from a Kantian perspective, Immanuel Kant placed the
‘good will’ at the very centre of his ethics.
He drew a clear distinction between the hypothetical and the categorical
imperative. A categorical imperative is
simply: Do X (without thought to anticipated results) whilst a hypothetical
imperative is: If X then do Y. He saw
nothing moral in a hypothetical imperative as one is simply following a
sequence of actions in order to achieve a result which you selfishly
desire. Moral choice therefore implied
a categorical imperative. The mechanism
which Kant devised to determine categorical imperatives was universalisation i.e. something is right
and should be made a categorical imperative if you are content for it to be
made universal law.
Angel
is clearly acting on a hypothetical imperative (if you want to become human
then you have to do good) therefore as I mentioned earlier the prophecies
devoted to The Vampire With A Soul and Shanshu in particular actually hinder
rather aid his redemption as they prevent him from acting morally (as he is
thinking in terms of anticipated rewards).
Contrast
this to Spike, no prophecy, no promise of humanity and until very recently no
hope that the woman he loved would ever love him back but in the space of two
years he has achieved as much (or even more) than Angel has done in a century
of brooding and sulking. For Spike
there are no rewards and according to Kant, that makes Spike the distinct moral
superior.
Also
think about this, a basic principle in philosophy is that a person who does
something with more constraints has achieved more than a person doing the
identical thing with less constraints (e.g. if a one armed man beat Pete
Sampras in a tennis match it would be considered a greater achievement than if
a two armed man did likewise). Angel
has had far less constraints and more assistance than Spike, whilst Spike has
no soul, no special relationship with the PTB, is never mentioned in prophecy
and was cruelly rejected by the woman he loved, Angel has all of these things,
a soul, the PTB adore him, he has a starring role in prophecies and Buffy
returned his affections almost immediately.
So, just like the one-armed tennis player, Spike is the clear victor as
he has completed the task with more constraints than his opponent.
Demarcation