Connection: Marlow and Andrew

As we've been reading Heart of Darkness, we've frequently discussed Marlow's place as the story-teller, thus providing us a need for a frame narrator. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven, Andrew becomes an extremely important point of view for one episode (Storyteller). In this episode, we see Andrew documenting Buffy and her trainee's as they prepare to fight against the ultimate evil. I think that Andrew's role (in this episode particularly) is extremely important.

In parts this episode, we see Andrew embrace the frame narrator. As he gives background information and sets the scene for us, he draws us in with the daily life at the Summers household. As he does this, we see the film through his videocamera, only to have it shut off minutes later and see Andrew in a Marlow-like position; he is in the story while telling the story.

I think that Andrew's role for this episode is very important to helping us understand the need for the frame narrator in Heart of Darkness. In the 42-minute Storyteller, we see how Conrad's idea of a frame narrator has translated to television over 100 years later. The characters are very informative of each other, since they play similar roles in entirely different situations. Andrew is presenting the story to us in order to capture the feelings in the air as a small army prepares for battle, whereas Marlow presents the story to several men on board a ship with him in order to capture the essence of Mr. Kurtz.

Overall, I think that Joss Whedon captured the idea of one character playing as the frame narrator and the character in the story at the same time quite well. It is obvious that Andrew has a place as both a frame narrator and as a main character in the course of the episode, and I think that the way the writers allowed Andrew to play both out is extremely similar to Conrad's intents with Marlow.

(Video watch through 1:15)