Apr 25
Mirrors in The Terror
#there are probably more examples (and better ones: see fitzy in the tent)#but i wanted these three together for nefarious purposes#there's a weird level of analysis in the hickey one. he's kind of obscured and shuffling#like light reflecting through a prism#he's trying to hide from us. but james is just. laid bare#his shots are oddly voyeuristic. a bit like we're spying on an otherwise private moment of his#so he has nothing to hide because he is otherwise totally alone. hickey seems like he's being scrutinised#we don't See the franky reflection because we don't need to. privacy has already been totally eroded. also we're sort of along for the ride#in a way we aren't with the other two what with crozy being the protagonist#mirrors are also really important for these three i think bc francis faces up to himself a lot in the middle of the show.#so we almost act as a reflection in that way#hickey keeps dipping out of the mirror because facing up to what he is (a greasy rat) would be too painful to fully do#and is also dangerous info to know. so he hides from literally everyone until hes about to straight up die. hmmmmmmmm#sounds like a certain Fake i am aware of. maybe. like a bad pun. etc.#the two times we see fitzy in the mirror are rlly crucial#1. Captain Identity Problems (Fig 3) where he thinks himself alone (and he is) and so bares his soul a little bit#2. Trauma Fitztrauma (not pictured) once again alone so unpicking his stitches to look himself in the eye#and i think that's fascinating. to make a character's identity intrinsically tied to the lies they tell.#James makes up grand stories (great gilded life etc.) Francis fibs to himself and others in an attempt to feel better about a situation#that he feels responsible for and grits his teeth all the while. E.C. literally covers up a murder. and tells everyone he's Hickey#mfer lies to anyone and everyone at every turn just to get what he wants. is that not what crozier does? is that not james' whole deal? mat#the terror#francis crozier#james fitzjames#cornelius hickey#they piss me off#fitzhickey#hickeycrozier#fitzhickeyzier#very roundabout way of expressing basically nothing but whteva
