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On Superspies and La Femme Nikita
Jul. 12th, 2005 09:54 amI couldn’t sleep last night, so I watched a couple eps of La Femme Nikita. I loved it muchly. It’s a lot like Alias--which I also love in spite of much silliness--but more artsy, grittier.
These days, when I watch anything, I analyze in terms of STORY. So I watched Nikita, and I learned. The show contains an element of realism I find fascinating, but not to the exclusion of its Big Outrageous Plot. The perfect combination. This is how I want to write.
For example, when her nose bled, the blood coagulated and turned dark. When she sucked on her hair, the strands stuck together in a slightly viscous base. After an explosion threw her to the ground, her nylons ran and she skinned her knee. Even her apartment, which is profoundly cool, expresses something about her rather than being a mere accessory to the show (because if one is a spy, one must have cool digs.) There is a subtle, underlying theme of Nikita decorating the place in soft colors and pipe-cleaner sculptures, and it becomes a symbol of the other Nikita, the one who hates her job and just wants to be a normal girl. (This is a cliché of course, but the subtle, subtexty presentation makes it feel like anything but.)
So, yeah. *learns from Nikita*
BUT. My original assertion, the one that inspired Elisa’s Belly still stands. Hollywood can’t make a realistic spy show, because real spies are not 6-foot Icelandic beauties. Real spies blend in, never garnering a second look. (I mean, the Discovery Channel says so, so it must be true, right?) And real spies use their brains more often than fast-forward spin kicks.
Sydney and Nikita may be hot fighter chicks, but Elisa could take both their skinny @$$3$. Now, I just need figure out how to have her do it using all those lovely, Nikita-esque details.
These days, when I watch anything, I analyze in terms of STORY. So I watched Nikita, and I learned. The show contains an element of realism I find fascinating, but not to the exclusion of its Big Outrageous Plot. The perfect combination. This is how I want to write.
For example, when her nose bled, the blood coagulated and turned dark. When she sucked on her hair, the strands stuck together in a slightly viscous base. After an explosion threw her to the ground, her nylons ran and she skinned her knee. Even her apartment, which is profoundly cool, expresses something about her rather than being a mere accessory to the show (because if one is a spy, one must have cool digs.) There is a subtle, underlying theme of Nikita decorating the place in soft colors and pipe-cleaner sculptures, and it becomes a symbol of the other Nikita, the one who hates her job and just wants to be a normal girl. (This is a cliché of course, but the subtle, subtexty presentation makes it feel like anything but.)
So, yeah. *learns from Nikita*
BUT. My original assertion, the one that inspired Elisa’s Belly still stands. Hollywood can’t make a realistic spy show, because real spies are not 6-foot Icelandic beauties. Real spies blend in, never garnering a second look. (I mean, the Discovery Channel says so, so it must be true, right?) And real spies use their brains more often than fast-forward spin kicks.
Sydney and Nikita may be hot fighter chicks, but Elisa could take both their skinny @$$3$. Now, I just need figure out how to have her do it using all those lovely, Nikita-esque details.
