The Head and Heart Controversy - Parts 1 & 2
I’ve seen lots of mixed opinions on the whole head vs heart analogy in relation to Bellarke and I realized that, for someone whose Tumblr URL is literally “head-and-heart”, it’s kind of pathetic the lack of meta I actually have on this topic. I do reference the analogy quite often in my posts, as many of you would know, but I’ve never actually dedicated a post simply to discussing this analogy and analyzing it and pulling it apart to point out the reason that it’s important to me, why I love it, what I find intriguing about it, and how it continues to be a major theme from season to season.
Often when I see people who aren’t quite as fond of this analogy, they talk about how they think that it oversimplifies Bellamy and Clarke, and makes it seem as though Bellamy is dumb and reckless whereas Clarke is stoic and heartless - neither of which are true. For me, that’s never how I have viewed the analogy (nor what I think was intended by Jason when he first mentioned that particular dynamic) and whenever I think about it, it seems much more complex than just those two ideas.
The original quote (in fact, the first post ever posted on my blog, fittingly enough) is as follows:
“Without Clarke, Bellamy doesn’t function as well. Clarke doesn’t function as well without Bellamy. The complete each other in a really nice way. She’s the brain and he’s the heart. Without one, the other doesn’t survive. Together, you’re awesome. Together, you’re going to be okay. But individually I think they’re not as strong as they are when they’re together.”
I like this quote, I do, but for me, when I think about the head and heart analogy, it has expanded far beyond whatever Jason was ever thinking about when he said these words. This quote is … what - two years old now? Since then the metaphor seems to have developed a life of its own and evolved into something far deeper and complex than whatever it’s initial meaning (at the time it was said) was ever meant to be. It is built into the fabric of the show, in fact, it has almost become the core of the show - 4x13 made that clearer to me than ever before. So maybe I’m not a year and a half too late to make this post, maybe I’m right on time.
Clarke being “the head” doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have a big heart, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel - it means a whole lot more than that (which I am going to explore in parts in this post). And Bellamy being “the heart” doesn’t mean that he is only capable of following his emotions and acting impulsively, it doesn’t mean that he never thinks. In fact, I would even argue that it’s the opposite, but that will all make sense in time.
Clarke being the head and Bellamy being the heart as core characteristics of who they are has to do with a lot more than just the way that they make decisions. It affects all sorts of different aspects of their lives and extends itself into areas of gray that are far more complex than the black and white discussion a lot of people like to make it into, in my opinion.
In order to explain my personal interpretation of this analogy - which is to delve way deeper than Jason ever did in his original quote - I’m going to split the head vs. heart analogy into four main parts regarding how it translates itself into Bellamy and Clarke’s unique intuition, the way they lead, how they apply themselves to each of their personal relationships, and - the one people seem to talk about the most (both when praising and critiquing the metaphor) - what it means for each individual character’s internal struggle throughout the show.
(Please note that this meta became far too long for one post so I had to split it into two. In this one I will cover the first two sections I mentioned - intuition and leadership - and in the next post I will talk about the remaining two parts).
If any of that sounds of interest to you at all, please feel free to keep reading under the cut.
