Discover Top Posts Tagged with #going down fighting

"I can't leave the city now of all times!" said Vimes desperately. "There's so much to do!"

"That's exactly why Sybil says you ought to leave the city," said Vetinari. [...]

Vimes knew that he had lost. He had lost as soon as Sybil was involved, because she was always a reliable siege engine against the walls of his defenses. But there was such a thing as going down fighting.

Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant

#samuel vimes #sybil ramkin #havelock vetinari #the fifth elephant #discworld #terry pratchett #marriage #relationships #manipulation #negotiation #strategy #vacation #a reliable siege engine #going down fighting

Nile Freeman Week 2021

Day 7 - Free Choice ↳ Art History Nerd Nile

#nileweek2021 #nile freeman #the old guard #togedit #theoldguardedit #oldguardedit #kiki layne #filmedit #filmgifs #moiveedit #moviegifs #women in film #netflixedit #*#and then booker over there #'probably biblically'#going down fighting #fandom event

Music used in a film can make or break a movie for me. The Old Guard is no different. I am flat obsessed with the perfection of the use of music in TOG. Julia Michaels, the music supervisor, is simply one more goddess involved in this project. Because, holy hell, her level of ability to tie character, situation and music together is off the charts. I’ll plan to break down a few different songs/scenes. But, I have to start with Nile’s songs.

I could start by waxing poetic about the beautiful score that underlies our first glimpse of Nile, how it emphasizes her kindness and her glow. But I won’t. Because that’s not what I’m talking about. There are 2 songs we can really associate with Nile; Godspeed by Frank Ocean and Going Down Fighting by Phlotilla featuring Andrea Wasse and Topher Mohr. Each plays at a pivotal moment for Nile and for the Team. Each is so rooted in who and where Nile is in those moments. One, we barely get a glimpse of. But the tie to and meaning for Nile are unmistakeable if you listen. And even the fact that our experience of the song and it’s meaning are cut short feel so intentional to me. And it is no mistake that the full playing second song is also intentional.

Godspeed by Frank Ocean is the song that Nile begins to play on her phone after she’s told she’s being sent for more testing and is confronted by the coldness of her sisters in arms in her tent. If you’ve listened to the song, you know that it’s kind of a contemporary take on a traditional homegoing gospel song, the kind that might be played at a progressive church in a Black community. We know from Nile’s cross necklace, her praying on the plane, her conversation with Andy, that Nile is a Christian believer. It isn’t a leap to think that Nile’s upbringing, both before and after her dad’s death involved a lot of time at church. In terms of song placement, it plays after Nile’s first death. The lyrics speak directly to a spirit who is leaving this world for the next, reminding them to “look down on where you came from sometimes, you’ll have this place to call home always.” The chorus repeats time and again, “I will always love you til the time I die”, speaking to Nile’s deep love of her family, and her need to be connected with them. It’s the song of her transition from this mortal world to their immortal one. Essentially, Andy becomes Death, there to bring her home.

Then there is Going Down Fighting by Phlotilla. I have absolutely no chill when it comes to this song. It is my absolute favorite of the soundtrack. More importantly, it has absolutely perfect placement in the film. The song kicks when Nile steps on the elevator at the Merrick Building. It’s her pump music, in a way. There’s no intro. It goes straight in with that hauntingly beautiful voice proclaiming “If it’s the end of the world, I’m going down fighting.” And isn’t that right where they are? Sure, they’re pretty much immortal. But Nicky & Joe are being tortured, Book betrayed all of them, and Andy’s immortality is gone. This feels so much like the end of what Nile’s world has become; her found family. And Nile’s ready to fight for it. She’s a Marine, ffs. You’re godsdamned right she’s going down fighting. There’s a line in the song that repeats over and again; “‘Cause this world is all that we’ve got.” Nile has accepted her place in this family, in this world. Even Andy said in to her at the church, we’re all you’ve got. This is her choice, so she’s fighting for them. Even the imagery Gina decides on with that line... the closeup on Nile’s face in the elevator as she centers herself for whatever is coming, and then again fixing on Nile as she preps her second gun after taking out the assholes in the hallway. They are not taking her world form her. And as the scene develops, as the song progresses, it begins to pull the rest of the team. Songs that continue under dialogue, to me, should anchor or push the story. And fuck me if this doesn’t do it perfectly. The song continues as a haunting melody underneath Nile pushing Andy to hold up her promise of Whatever It Takes, tells her about the good she’s done. As the song crescendos with the driving lyrics , “With my fist to the wall like a cannonball, I’m gonna take ‘em all out, gonna take ‘em all”... And then it drops almost completely away. There’s very subtle orchestration, but you can still hear that haunting driving voice. It echoes under the silence of that moment of reckoning as Andy releases and then silences Joe, and then calls Booker out for their shit job of living, echoes as Andy makes the proclamation, “we’re walking out of this like always; together” Because of Nile, they are going down fighting together. Fucking. Chills