The World of Spectrum

[I feel sick]

I am sure that we are all familiar with Spectrum, but some of us moreso than others, no doubt. My knowledge of it is very limited and rather simple. For example, I know No-Face is a homophobe and seems to be religious, but I don't know why he has a beak.

So I propose we discuss all the different inhabitants and elements of Spectrum known to us so that we can all have a full understanding of the world. As I said, my knowledge of it is rather limited so I need you all to help me. This may include:
-The Book of Butchery
-Cockatrice
-Lewis
-Heartland
-A red sun (mentioned multiple times vaguely)
-Blue Imelda
-etc.

DISCUSS

[An Amateur]

Jan 5, 2010 14:06:27 GMT -5 I feel sick said:

I am sure that we are all familiar with Spectrum, but some of us moreso than others, no doubt. My knowledge of it is very limited and rather simple. For example, I know No-Face is a homophobe and seems to be religious, but I don't know why he has a beak.

I always thought beak was just a manner of saying mouth. If I say I can't wait to get my paws on Heartland, it doesn't mean I actually have paws.

[I feel sick]

I've never heard of someone referring to a mouth as a beak. Beaks are rather different than mouths and have rather different qualities. That being said, I really don't know what was intended, that's the point of this thread.

[nocturn]

Is No-face a cockatrice? I'm sure someone mentioned that before. Again.... when you guys all talk about the backstory and Spectrum and stuff, I realise how much of it has just gone right over my head. In what song does it mention that No-face is a homophobe?

[JackAltman]

If Owen is the Butcher, then "The Book of Butchery" would be "The Book of Owen." As far as what it contains, I always liked to think that lyrics of "The Butcher" were taken directly out of it, God singing a Psalm about the demands of an indifferent God. (That probably isn't what's going on, but that doesn't stop me from thinking that would be pretty cool...)

As to the No-Face/beak question, there was mention in theaiproject's analysis in the "Heartland, question" thread that the reference possibly reveals that No-Face is a/the cockatrice in Spectrum. That theory has been brought up in a couple of other threads, too, but I'd direct you to that one ("Heartland, question thread") for a bunch of different posters' thoughtful opinions on a lot of Spectrum symbolism. Owen also explains a few things.

I don't have "Heartland" yet, and I'm a little confused about the difference between Blue Imelda, that sad bitch, and just Imelda, who is mentioned as a horse being spurred down the mountainside. Is that right? Then, if it's Lewis asking Blue Imelda to be taken as a friend, do people in Spectrum name their horses after those they're fucking? If "Spectrum" songs are traditional, how much is the 14th Century supposed to pre-date the events of Heartland?

[JackAltman]

Jan 5, 2010 16:51:06 GMT -5 nocturn said:

In what song does it mention that No-face is a homophobe?

I think a few people have read that from the line in "Ballad of No-Face" about the lots swishy friends doing the devil's work. I'm not sure I agree that makes No-Face homophobic, but again, there was a discussion of this in an old thread that I would link to if I could find it. Time moves too quickly burying posts in these boards, but if I get some time to dig around, I'll re-post.

[nocturn]

Jan 5, 2010 17:03:51 GMT -5 JackAltman said:

I'm a little confused about the difference between Blue Imelda, that sad bitch, and just Imelda, who is mentioned as a horse being spurred down the mountainside. Is that right? Then, if it's Lewis asking Blue Imelda to be taken as a friend, do people in Spectrum name their horses after those they're fucking?

This has confused me, too! Imelda in Blue Imelda is a prostitute, or is it his wife? Or both? And would that be Lewis' wife, who he talks about abandoning in Heartland? Does he throw her off the mountain? 'Spur' is usually used when talking about horses (unless I made that up in my head), so is Imelda the horse between his legs, who is all he owns? But how would he be liberating Spectrum by simply riding a horse down the mountain? And by riding down Mount Alpentine, away from Owen, what is he achieving? I guess they're two different Imelda's, because of the huge time difference between the EP and Heartland, but there must be something significant about it...

tl;dr - I'm confused, too.

Jan 5, 2010 17:06:06 GMT -5 JackAltman said:

I think a few people have read that from the line in "Ballad of No-Face" about the lots swishy friends doing the devil's work. I'm not sure I agree that makes No-Face homophobic, but again, there was a discussion of this in an old thread that I would link to if I could find it. Time moves too quickly burying posts in these boards, but if I get some time to dig around, I'll re-post.

Ahh, fair enough. Thanks I think I might have read that discussion before, actually.

[JackAltman]

I had meant to type this in my previous post, but deemed it too long and too insignificant. Now, I can't stop thinking about it. So... (He takes a deep breath...)

I have to think that Blue Imelda is something more significant than just a prostitute, though the line "can't rely on business to keep herself satisfied" could, in a certain reading, tend to suggest that she is. However, I've been understanding that to indicate that she's Queen of Spectrum or the wife of a nobleman (the "Lord" who is being apologetically assured that the farmer can only be as pious as his body will allow could refer to her husband as a landowner, not necessarily the Lord God Owen) who is calling on these simple farm men (not Lewis, but his prototype) who've been hired to work in her husband's fields for their "services" while her husband is satisfied by running his business and so has taken to neglecting his *ahem* "marital role." (When taken out of the context of the song, I know this comes off like a bad historical romance novel, but so I've read a few bad historical romance novels. You wanna make something of it?) If she were important to the past history of Spectrum, that would, to me, help explain why someone would name a horse (the "regular" Imelda) after her. "Queen," or its equivalent in the Spectrum mythos, would be significant.

But, who the hell knows? I'm just typing out loud here. Any thoughts or obvious contradictions?

[neptune]

I think we've been coming at this from the wrong angle. Something Owen said made me think we've been taking all the "characters" and stuff too literally. In the heartland question thread Owen pointed out that "Heartland is the name of an album".

Lewis is aware of his status as a fictional character - he knows the name of the album. In Oh, Heartland, Up Yours. He's saying up yours not just to Owen, or Spectrum, but the album itself.

So, if the album title is accessible to Lewis, why not the other material of this fiction? When Lewis breaks No-Face's beak, liberates Spectrum and fights the cockatrice, isn't he just systematically attacking the tracks of the Spectrum 14th Century EP?

I think it's probably a mistake to imagine a "real" Cockatrice roaming Spectrum. What we haven't really talked about yet is that the Cockatrice could be a figure for imitative art. The cockatrice and the sculptor are one, in a way, in that they turn men to stone. So to Lewis, wrestling with his own status as artistic creation, the sculptor and the cockatrice are aspects of the same idea. Aspects of Owen I guess? Aspects of whatever it is that Lewis tears apart on top of the mountain.

What I'm saying is... Lewis isn't afraid to break out of the constraints of the world and characters of Heartland - he "breaks the fourth wall", for want of a more apt metaphor. To fully understand Heartland we need to do the same. If we try to build up Spectrum as a real world with real characters in it, we miss the point of Lewis' journey, which, by the album's end, has deconstructed and transcended all these things.

[JackAltman]

Jan 5, 2010 18:29:42 GMT -5 neptune said:

I think we've been coming at this from the wrong angle. Something Owen said made me think we've been taking all the "characters" and stuff too literally. In the heartland question thread Owen pointed out that "Heartland is the name of an album".

That's a really interesting point, the meaning of which I just kind of glossed over when I read it in the original post.

"I am a liar, feeding facts to a false fire."

I don't think that we can fully discount that Spectrum has a history that we could dissect, even if it is fictitious. Are any other characters aware of their "figment of The Singer's imagination" status besides Lewis? What I mean is, isn't the world of Spectrum real to everyone else in that world? I think of it kind of like if Sam suddenly realized that Tolkein were writing him, but that "fake life" would still be real enough to Frodo and Gimli and Legolas. So, the cockatrice might be real to Spectrum even if it isn't real to everyone looking in.

That said, you are probably right that the real (and more compelling) story is the process of Lewis dealing with his status as a figment of The Singer's imagination (and, if we can agree on the angle that Spectrum 14th Century is a fake document of a fake past, that the whole history of this world is entirely fabricated...), destroying Owen in an effort to be free from the constraints of his "every move guided by the bidding of the singer," and his future life wandering in a world without that God. "Heartland" is making a real play for the subtitle of "A Bible for Atheists."

*Gagh.* My head hurts. God damn, I can't wait to hear this album.

[neptune]

Yeah, I totally agree that Spectrum as a world with a history can be discussed at great length (and I plan to do so). I guess my point this time was that it's important to remember the broader scope of the album, and that not everything that's mentioned in Heartland the album takes place literally in Spectrum the country, if "literally" is a word we can even use meaningfully in relation to such a metafictional world.

Incidentally - has anyone ever read any of Alan Moore's Promethea? It takes place partly in a realm where all imagination and fiction is real, and there's a bit that really makes me think of Heartland: They go to the universe of these crappy fantasy novels, where the pseudonym used by their several hack authors has taken on a life of its own in the fictional world as a sort of tyrannical deity with a huge glowing angry face in the red sky. Makes me think of Spectrum's red sun

[Dave]

Jan 5, 2010 17:03:51 GMT -5 JackAltman said:

If Owen is the Butcher, then "The Book of Butchery" would be "The Book of Owen." As far as what it contains, I always liked to think that lyrics of "The Butcher" were taken directly out of it, God singing a Psalm about the demands of an indifferent God. (That probably isn't what's going on, but that doesn't stop me from thinking that would be pretty cool...)

I always assumed the Butcher was just a priest-like figure and the Book of Butchery was just a nickname for whatever religious texts there are, sort of like "instructions for the Butcher" or the doctrine that the priest follows and preaches, if that makes sense. Either the priest is abusing his role (power through religious leadership), or he's just really evangelical. But why he's "the Butcher", I don't know.

[JackAltman]

Jan 6, 2010 5:49:48 GMT -5 Dave said:

I always assumed the Butcher was just a priest-like figure and the Book of Butchery was just a nickname for whatever religious texts there are.

That makes a lot of sense, actually, especially with the lines about listening to confessionals.

It's hard for me to think that "Owen" is a "Heartland" character himself and his voice as the lowercase-"s"-singer isn't always properly his own.

[gammonize]

Although Owen will always be the creator, perhaps the singer is just whoever sings the song at that given time.