We, The Infected

I think that part of the reason I didn't like LMI is that I didn't like Abby as much as Eli. To me, she already had her chance at a life, at love and the end of her relationship with Thomas marked the end of that life, so she came across as more selfish than Eli did when she continued the cycle, so to speak.

One thing I've been thinking of, did Reeve set up Abby to be the "bad guy" by starting the film at Thomas's death? A sort of message to the audience to watch out for Abby before we even see her. Since the audience is treated to what happens to the object of Abby's affections, are we primed to see her as evil, whereas we were introduced to Eli at the same time as Oskar was, so we get to see Eli as Oskar saw her?

Did anyone (sauvin? Jameron?) "love" Abby, as opposed to merely pity her?

I think that plus the photo strip and us less sympathetic towards Abby and lends the sense that Owen's situation is that much more tragic.

Maybe those reasons can make Abby's existence tragic too, since she can't seem to break the cycle, and maybe with Owen she might.

cmfireflies wrote:I think that part of the reason I didn't like LMI is that I didn't like Abby as much as Eli. To me, she already had her chance at a life, at love and the end of her relationship with Thomas marked the end of that life, so she came across as more selfish than Eli did when she continued the cycle, so to speak.

One thing I've been thinking of, did Reeve set up Abby to be the "bad guy" by starting the film at Thomas's death? A sort of message to the audience to watch out for Abby before we even see her. Since the audience is treated to what happens to the object of Abby's affections, are we primed to see her as evil, whereas we were introduced to Eli at the same time as Oskar was, so we get to see Eli as Oskar saw her?

Honestly, I think Reeves was just going for an 'action hook', to grab the audience and show them they're watching a 'horror' film. Which is misplaced, as no other scene comes close to the adrenalin rush of the shots inside the ambulance, not even when Thomas is driving that car backwards and eventually rolls it down the embankment.

cmfireflies wrote:Did anyone (sauvin? Jameron?) "love" Abby, as opposed to merely pity her?

I didn't "love" Abby, but I didn't "merely pity" her either. I think it has a lot to do with what you mentioned about this love for Owen not being her one and only time to get it right. For me, Eli's situation is far more heartbreaking than Abby's, because Eli had locked those aspirations away, and had given up on the idea of ever 'needing' another person to complete her. Abby had not.

Abby's lot is tragic as well, but different. EEA gets it spot on when she says that Abby is trapped inside a cycle. She is trapped just as much as her companions are. The thing is, they get to stop being trapped when they die, Abby doesn't.

Where Eli has accepted her vampirism, and her life as a 'nobody', I firmly believe Abby is in denial. Eli admits to Oskar that she is a vampire, "I live off blood ... yes", Abby doesn't admit this to Owen "I need blood to live", she omits the "yes" from the end. She doesn't want to admit it in words to Owen, or to herself (this is like book Eli, although book Eli knows she is a vampire but she sees herself as not like any other vampire that she knows about, not twisted and sadistic. So, slightly different also).

Abby has visible emotions; which, although played down, does allow one to view her in a more sympathetic light. Eli's emotions are so constrained, so packed away, that one just wants to wrap her up in a warm blanket and hug her till she's better . I couldn't see myself doing that for Abby.

.

Reeves probably didn't do it intentionally but for me Abby is too selfish to be loveable. She doesn't just, like Eli, destroy enemies and strangers, but destroys Thomas, who has literally done everything humanly possible for her. It's not draining him at the end that is terrible; it's everything that must've happened before. If that's Owen's fate, he would've been better off drowning. But that's just it - with Eli, one feels she'd die for Oskar; I never felt that with Abby - I felt her needs would always come first, and Thomas is living proof of it.

Jameron wrote:Eli's emotions are so constrained, so packed away, that one just wants to wrap her up in a warm blanket and hug her till she's better

Or even adopt her, if and when one is infected enough. But not Abby.

For me LTROI was ABOUT love and the power of it. LMI seems to be about something different like settling for something not ideal but making the best of it.

Jameron wrote:Eli's emotions are so constrained, so packed away, that one just wants to wrap her up in a warm blanket and hug her till she's better .

No small measure of truth here!

She's the best serial killer ever!

@Jameron

I do think Abby might be in denial, not so much about being a vampire, but more about what she is actually doing to her partners, but that may be because she has no way to know what a sacrifice it is for an adult to follow her his entire life. Of course, I tend to think of Abby as knowingly manipulative, because I think if she was being knowingly manipulative, then her existence becomes paradoxically more worth the cost. Also, I've decided to resolve the moral quandary of supporting Eli's existence by blaming Abby for everything. That way, it all balances out because I'm fully for one bloodsucking vampire and totally against the other

I would definitely say Abby is far more chronically despondent.

cmfireflies wrote:She's the best serial killer ever!

Well, Håkan certainly wouldn't be any kind of challenge to that title

cmfireflies wrote:I do think Abby might be in denial, not so much about being a vampire, but more about what she is actually doing to her partners, but that may be because she has no way to know what a sacrifice it is for an adult to follow her his entire life.

Hmmm, interesting.

cmfireflies wrote:Also, I've decided to resolve the moral quandary of supporting Eli's existence by blaming Abby for everything. That way, it all balances out because I'm fully for one bloodsucking vampire and totally against the other

Sounds like a plan

.