Is It Art? blog

I thought that Gary Moeller did a nice job on this article with pointing out some things that definitely would have gone unnoticed the first time somebody saw this episode. The spotting of Saint Francis was one that I had personally missed the first time and was glad that he had pointed it out. Saint Francis is an important part to this episode since he is the “protector of those who cannot speak.” I thought the author went too in depth with the history of Saint Francis and added seemingly unnecessary parts about how he was portrayed in the Italian Renaissance and other things along those lines. I found it intriguing about how the author compared the Blue Meanies of the Yellow Submarine to The Gentleman of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Just as how The Gentleman stole the towns voices so they could kill people without anyone hearing them scream, the Blue Meanies stole their towns color, music, and joy as well. Since I wasn’t living when Yellow Submarine was created, I didn’t think to reference it to as how Whedon got the idea for The Gentleman. I also liked the author’s comparison of the straight jackets to The Wizard of Oz’s flying monkeys. “These monkey’s were so incredibly creepy; some aspects of their creepiness relate directly to The Gentleman’s minions” (Moeller, 100). This was another comparison that went over my head, and I’m glad that the author made the connection.