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I think I have a moment...
I'm almost on my way out the door, but thought I'd post this for you all to peruse. I've been following the (still continuing) discussions in AOQ's FFL thread, but decided that it was pointless arguing over tiny details. So instead I wrote my own post (which I'm going to post over there in a day or two) trying to look at things in a wider perspective and show where some of us are coming from. Since there are people who fail to understand Spike's 'Every Slayer has a death wish' (which I didn't think was possible, my mind is still reeling from that) I began by pointing out how that was relevant for the season arch, and then tried to explain why 'Buffy quitting' would never really be an adequate solution to being fed up with her Slayer duties (or having a death wish, what ever). So lots of musings on the nature of the Slayer!
If you can see any faults in my reasoning, please point them out - I'd much rather be discussing this with you than some rabid Spike-hater! *g* (Addressed to that news group, in case you're wondering, since I don't have time for editing to look good for LJ. Also, the lack of HTML is frustating!)
Death Wishes and quitting.
I’m new here, but I hope it’s OK to post this - I got fed up of the very very long threads in the FFL post.
In the few months I’ve been here, I’ve noticed a trend in the discussions: Very often people pick a detail and start to discuss it as though it is completely separate from the rest of the show - which of course makes discussing rather complicated, since with a show like BtVS nearly everything is connected. And then the arguments end up miles from where they started - such as the ‘death wish’ thing that became a convoluted and rather pointless discussion of whether Buffy could quit if she wanted. I’ll deal with that later.
Anyway, in the part of fandom where I usually hang out a very different approach is predominant. (That’s not to say that there are not discussions of ‘why did Spike say ‘Sire’ in School Hard’ and the ‘I’m only 126’ versus Spike actually being sired in 1880. But these are trivial points - the basis for fanwank, which is fun, but not all that important.) What I mean can better be described by this quote:
From 10 Questions for Joss Whedon:
I think it’s always important for academics to study popular culture, even if the thing they are studying is idiotic. If it’s successful or made a dent in culture, then it is worthy of study to find out why. ‘Buffy,’ on the other hand is, I hope, not idiotic. We think very carefully about what we’re trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we’re writing it. The process of breaking a story involves the writers and myself, so a lot of different influences, prejudices, and ideas get rolled up into it. So it really is, apart from being a big pop culture phenom, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode. I do believe that there is plenty to study and there are plenty of things going on in it, as there are in me that I am completely unaware of. People used to laugh that academics would study Disney movies. There’s nothing more important for academics to study, because they shape the minds of our children possibly more than any single thing. So, like that, I think ‘Buffy’ should be analyzed, broken down, and possibly banned.
BtVS has to be looked at structurally, thematically, emotionally etc. to get the most out of it. (Which is why choosing to get annoyed over one bit of bad continuity is so pointless - what about the overarching analogies, the character’s journey, the repercussions of the scene, the emotions that are at play? All these are important too and can’t be ignored.)
So, let’s look at Fool For Love and the ‘death wish’ speech. I saw someone contemptuously referring to it as ‘death wish my shiny metal ass!’ which (apart from the nifty Futurama reference) is a great insult to the writers, the characters and the show in general.
First of all season 5 is thematically all about The Slayer. We see this from beginning to end: The first episode features none other than Dracula himself - _the_ vampire of mythology. He might be portrayed as a bit of a comical figure, but almost every word he utters is full of darkness - he refers to Buffy as ‘a killer’ and ‘kindred’, he wants to teach her what she is capable of - inferring that the Watchers are not the holders of all knowledge when it comes to Slayers. It spurs Buffy into delving deeper into her ‘slayerness’ (especially in ‘Intervention’, but I’m not dealing with that aspect of it today). By FFL Giles has already run out of answers more or less, so Buffy turns to someone else - Spike. A vampire.
So - ‘Fool For Love’. The 7th episode of the season. We know that the 7th episode is always special (Angel, Lie To Me, Revelations, The Initiative, FFL, OMWF, CWDP), collecting and expanding all the themes of the season and also pushing the action forward. So the message in this episode is bound to be important. And what does Buffy explore? Her own mortality - why do Slayers die? (Do they just slip up, like she almost did? Is there more to it?)
The answers she gets from Spike are not exactly what she was hoping for I’m sure. The first one she knew already - I’m not going to expand on that. But the second one... the second one is _significant_! The whole episode builds to it. It _means_ something: “Every Slayer has a death wish. Even you.”
“But she doesn’t!” I can hear you all shout. Well of course she doesn’t - she’s happy and in better training than ever before. She _loves_ slaying! It’s good to be Buffy. Still that doesn’t mean that Spike is talking out of his ass as some of you seem to think. Spike is only the messenger - Joss is the one who gave him the message. The writers *use* Spike to put this idea across to us. Because - as we will see by the end of the season - even Buffy can develop a death wish. From The Gift:
BUFFY: “I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much. But I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point.”
“Sooner or later, you're gonna want it...” Spike said.
And he was right. When Buffy stands on that platform with a portal opening underneath her feet she sees a way out - a way to save her sister, a way to save the world and a way to find peace - and she takes it. (I don’t think that she would have in any other circumstances btw)
Every Slayer has a death wish. Sooner or later. If the circumstances are right.
Spike’s speech is foreshadowing. Not quite along the lines of ‘Restless’, since that was a dream, but one planted by the writers for us, the audience. One of those touches that shows so clearly that they had a plan all along, we just couldn’t see it until afterwards (“Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0.”). Because when we get to The Gift and Buffy’s sacrifice, we can look back and see the logical path to the end, clear and satisfying on every level.
And that is one of the reasons I love Buffy - because of the layers. I can keep watching and seeing something new every time, another line here, a scene there, all throwing a new light on what we know. It’s mesmerising. And if the writers here and there slip up - or decide to do a little ret-con, quite frankly I think it’s worth it. But that’s me. :)
Now, about the whole ‘quitting’ deal. First of all, I think we were all at cross purposes, talking about the same thing, but from different angles.
If I remember rightly, it all started with someone saying “Well if she has a death-wish, why doesn’t she just quit?”
Which is a perfectly reasonable question, but one that sort of misses the point, because it doesn’t take into consideration Buffy’s character and the story lines of the show. Buffy would never quit because of a death wish. She would not even act on it, unless the circumstances were exceptional. We only have 2 (maybe 3) instances of seeing her acting on a death wish:
1) The Gift. And as I said before, she only does it because it simultaneously combines a lot of different factors. She only follows her wish because it is a way to save Dawn - and without Dawn she knows she can’t live.
2) OMWF when she nearly dances herself to death. At this point quitting isn’t something she has the energy for - she doesn’t want a different life, she wants no life at all. Getting up in the morning is just as much a chore as Slaying.
3) ‘Normal Again’. This one is tricky. It isn’t about a death wish or quitting, although those factors play into it - this is the episode where Buffy hits rock bottom and finally starts to live again. (I’ve read a theory where it was put forward that Buffy came back a metaphorical vampire in ‘Bargaining’ and didn’t become ‘human’ again until this episode. Food for thought.)
So, Buffy would not respond to a death wish by quitting - the first two times quitting quite simply wasn’t an option, and the third time she finally overcame the impulse.
But we’ve seen her quit several times, so what has prompted this? Let’s look at when she’s quit (or threatened to):
1) Pre-series. It’s almost the first thing we ever learn about her - she quit. Slaying cost her all her friends and she was kicked out of school. She wants to start over. And yet she gets pulled right back in because of she cares and because she can make a difference.
2) Prophecy Girl. “I’m Sixteen years old. I don’t want to die!” And yet, when it comes down to it she does her duty. She might be a teenager, but she manages to act completely selflessly here - no death wish (the opposite in fact) but a very, very strong sense of responsibility.
3) Becoming II. Yet again she has done her duty - but this time the outcome was far from happy. She kills Angel, but that’s as much as she can manage. She quite simply does not have the strength to go on. So she runs away, like so many teens have before her when life got unbearable. But you can’t run forever and after her meeting with Lily she goes back home.
4) Graduation Day. Not sure about this one, but it’s where she stops working for the Council. She still continues to battle the forces of evil though, but she’s old enough not to need a Watcher to tell her to go out patrolling. Another step towards adulthood.
5) The Gift. “It doesn't matter. If Dawn dies, I'm done with it. I'm quitting.” This isn’t a heartbroken teen just wanting a life. It’s a young woman finding out exactly what her limits are. Don’t know what would have happened if Dawn *had* died.
6) Dead Things. Another instance of Buffy reaching her limits - and considering that she looks upon a life in prison as preferable to what she has to go through in daily life, there is a lot of running away at this point. But it’s being responsible for Katrina’s death that send her over the edge. When she finds out the truth, she pulls herself back together again.
I think that’s all of them. At least I can’t think of any more. We can see that she only considers quitting when she’s in extraordinary emotional trauma. But not when she wants to die - except for The Gift in some measure. And here we have the central thing: The times she maybe _should_ walk away she can’t because she’s involved herself. She even tries to run away with Dawn, which of course doesn’t help - Dawn is the key to the whole thing. (pun unintended)
In S7 we have another situation which could be considered ripe for Buffy just leaving - except of course that The First Evil is targeting her *specifically*. She can’t quit if the fight follows her where ever she is.
Which is another point, and one I think people have (so far anyway) failed to address: She’s _The Slayer_ and that’s not just a job title, it’s who she is: It makes her a target, a prize, a symbol, a champion... her mystical qualities are as important (if not more) than her physical abilities. To quote Caleb:
“So, you're the slayer. The slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind—the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful.”
Why does The First target the Slayer line? Why is it not bothered about the military, or Angel, or any of the other freelance Champions roaming the earth? Because the Slayer is important - the Slayer is more than just one girl fighting evil on a nightly basis. The Slayer is somehow woven into the fabric of ‘goodness’ (for lack of a better word), a mystical barrier against the darkness - her mere existence somehow helps tip the scales in favour of humans over demons.
Which is where the whole notion of ‘someone else’ doing her job becomes a problem. I agree that it would not be too hard to find a replacement of some kind, if you could talk people into that sort of job for life. Excluding Faith (for the obvious reasons), who were the candidates?
1) Angel. Hmm, I can see where you’re coming from, but I can’t see him going to Sunnydale on a nightly basis to patrol. Also his life is very busy - in S2 he is preoccupied with Darla (even leaving his own mission to fight her) and in S3 he has a baby to look after. In S4 he has The Beast and a ‘happy’ apocalypse to stop. (Also there’s the whole redemption thing and the PTB, but we can leave that out if you like.) After S4 the question is obsolete.
2) Wesley, Gunn, similar people. This is actually by far the best bet. I’ve read fanfic set in an AU post-S6 where Buffy decides to stop as a Slayer after having fought for 10 years or so, and The Council sets up a team to look after the Hellmouth. Certainly doable, with funding, and working slightly outside canon. (I know Buffy looked after 30-odd Potential Slayers for a few months. She could not have done this indefinitely, which is what we’re talking about.)
3) The Initiative/The Army. I’m not sure about this. First of all, the Initiative wasn’t set up to save people, but to utilise the demons somehow. I’m not sure that similar ideas wouldn’t resurface from time to time. Basically I don’t trust them. Also they are apparently oblivious to the magical aspects of the demon world, and therefore would not be well equipped to deal with anything mystical. Take f.ex. our Dawn problem in S5. How would a high ranking army person react to a request by Buffy about keeping her sister safe? He’d either think she was lying or insane - or if he believed her, he’d kill Dawn to eliminate the threat. The military doesn’t believe in Hell gods.
That said, in ‘As You Were’ Sam mentioned that the group she and Riley were part of had some shamans attached. This might bode well, but considering that both were lost to dark magic, my guess would be that the army would be incredibly sceptical of anything similar. It would be considered too risky I should think - too difficult to control.
Hmmm, that sure was a lot of speculation. I’m not sure I have any sort of final round up or anything. Basically I think that it’s perfectly possible to find a replacement for the Slayer when it comes to the physical aspect. But since that is not all of her function, and since evil is always likely to search her out where ever she might be, the notion of retiring is not so very straight forward. Also taking into consideration Buffy’s temperament and sense of duty, and all it ends up as is an awful lot of speculation: A big ‘What if?’ And since that is the spark that leads to fanfiction, I think that that would be a far better outlet for exploring the possibilities. I’m not saying this disparagingly, but just pointing out that fanfic is a much better way of delving into such topics. Some of the best thoughts about Buffy that I’ve ever read came from fanfic.
Also, I write too much. Sorry about that - I hope I didn’t bore you.
Oh and the party went very well yesterday, and I'll do my very best to catch on comments tomorrow! *smooches*
If you can see any faults in my reasoning, please point them out - I'd much rather be discussing this with you than some rabid Spike-hater! *g* (Addressed to that news group, in case you're wondering, since I don't have time for editing to look good for LJ. Also, the lack of HTML is frustating!)
Death Wishes and quitting.
I’m new here, but I hope it’s OK to post this - I got fed up of the very very long threads in the FFL post.
In the few months I’ve been here, I’ve noticed a trend in the discussions: Very often people pick a detail and start to discuss it as though it is completely separate from the rest of the show - which of course makes discussing rather complicated, since with a show like BtVS nearly everything is connected. And then the arguments end up miles from where they started - such as the ‘death wish’ thing that became a convoluted and rather pointless discussion of whether Buffy could quit if she wanted. I’ll deal with that later.
Anyway, in the part of fandom where I usually hang out a very different approach is predominant. (That’s not to say that there are not discussions of ‘why did Spike say ‘Sire’ in School Hard’ and the ‘I’m only 126’ versus Spike actually being sired in 1880. But these are trivial points - the basis for fanwank, which is fun, but not all that important.) What I mean can better be described by this quote:
From 10 Questions for Joss Whedon:
I think it’s always important for academics to study popular culture, even if the thing they are studying is idiotic. If it’s successful or made a dent in culture, then it is worthy of study to find out why. ‘Buffy,’ on the other hand is, I hope, not idiotic. We think very carefully about what we’re trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we’re writing it. The process of breaking a story involves the writers and myself, so a lot of different influences, prejudices, and ideas get rolled up into it. So it really is, apart from being a big pop culture phenom, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode. I do believe that there is plenty to study and there are plenty of things going on in it, as there are in me that I am completely unaware of. People used to laugh that academics would study Disney movies. There’s nothing more important for academics to study, because they shape the minds of our children possibly more than any single thing. So, like that, I think ‘Buffy’ should be analyzed, broken down, and possibly banned.
BtVS has to be looked at structurally, thematically, emotionally etc. to get the most out of it. (Which is why choosing to get annoyed over one bit of bad continuity is so pointless - what about the overarching analogies, the character’s journey, the repercussions of the scene, the emotions that are at play? All these are important too and can’t be ignored.)
So, let’s look at Fool For Love and the ‘death wish’ speech. I saw someone contemptuously referring to it as ‘death wish my shiny metal ass!’ which (apart from the nifty Futurama reference) is a great insult to the writers, the characters and the show in general.
First of all season 5 is thematically all about The Slayer. We see this from beginning to end: The first episode features none other than Dracula himself - _the_ vampire of mythology. He might be portrayed as a bit of a comical figure, but almost every word he utters is full of darkness - he refers to Buffy as ‘a killer’ and ‘kindred’, he wants to teach her what she is capable of - inferring that the Watchers are not the holders of all knowledge when it comes to Slayers. It spurs Buffy into delving deeper into her ‘slayerness’ (especially in ‘Intervention’, but I’m not dealing with that aspect of it today). By FFL Giles has already run out of answers more or less, so Buffy turns to someone else - Spike. A vampire.
So - ‘Fool For Love’. The 7th episode of the season. We know that the 7th episode is always special (Angel, Lie To Me, Revelations, The Initiative, FFL, OMWF, CWDP), collecting and expanding all the themes of the season and also pushing the action forward. So the message in this episode is bound to be important. And what does Buffy explore? Her own mortality - why do Slayers die? (Do they just slip up, like she almost did? Is there more to it?)
The answers she gets from Spike are not exactly what she was hoping for I’m sure. The first one she knew already - I’m not going to expand on that. But the second one... the second one is _significant_! The whole episode builds to it. It _means_ something: “Every Slayer has a death wish. Even you.”
“But she doesn’t!” I can hear you all shout. Well of course she doesn’t - she’s happy and in better training than ever before. She _loves_ slaying! It’s good to be Buffy. Still that doesn’t mean that Spike is talking out of his ass as some of you seem to think. Spike is only the messenger - Joss is the one who gave him the message. The writers *use* Spike to put this idea across to us. Because - as we will see by the end of the season - even Buffy can develop a death wish. From The Gift:
BUFFY: “I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much. But I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point.”
“Sooner or later, you're gonna want it...” Spike said.
And he was right. When Buffy stands on that platform with a portal opening underneath her feet she sees a way out - a way to save her sister, a way to save the world and a way to find peace - and she takes it. (I don’t think that she would have in any other circumstances btw)
Every Slayer has a death wish. Sooner or later. If the circumstances are right.
Spike’s speech is foreshadowing. Not quite along the lines of ‘Restless’, since that was a dream, but one planted by the writers for us, the audience. One of those touches that shows so clearly that they had a plan all along, we just couldn’t see it until afterwards (“Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0.”). Because when we get to The Gift and Buffy’s sacrifice, we can look back and see the logical path to the end, clear and satisfying on every level.
And that is one of the reasons I love Buffy - because of the layers. I can keep watching and seeing something new every time, another line here, a scene there, all throwing a new light on what we know. It’s mesmerising. And if the writers here and there slip up - or decide to do a little ret-con, quite frankly I think it’s worth it. But that’s me. :)
Now, about the whole ‘quitting’ deal. First of all, I think we were all at cross purposes, talking about the same thing, but from different angles.
If I remember rightly, it all started with someone saying “Well if she has a death-wish, why doesn’t she just quit?”
Which is a perfectly reasonable question, but one that sort of misses the point, because it doesn’t take into consideration Buffy’s character and the story lines of the show. Buffy would never quit because of a death wish. She would not even act on it, unless the circumstances were exceptional. We only have 2 (maybe 3) instances of seeing her acting on a death wish:
1) The Gift. And as I said before, she only does it because it simultaneously combines a lot of different factors. She only follows her wish because it is a way to save Dawn - and without Dawn she knows she can’t live.
2) OMWF when she nearly dances herself to death. At this point quitting isn’t something she has the energy for - she doesn’t want a different life, she wants no life at all. Getting up in the morning is just as much a chore as Slaying.
3) ‘Normal Again’. This one is tricky. It isn’t about a death wish or quitting, although those factors play into it - this is the episode where Buffy hits rock bottom and finally starts to live again. (I’ve read a theory where it was put forward that Buffy came back a metaphorical vampire in ‘Bargaining’ and didn’t become ‘human’ again until this episode. Food for thought.)
So, Buffy would not respond to a death wish by quitting - the first two times quitting quite simply wasn’t an option, and the third time she finally overcame the impulse.
But we’ve seen her quit several times, so what has prompted this? Let’s look at when she’s quit (or threatened to):
1) Pre-series. It’s almost the first thing we ever learn about her - she quit. Slaying cost her all her friends and she was kicked out of school. She wants to start over. And yet she gets pulled right back in because of she cares and because she can make a difference.
2) Prophecy Girl. “I’m Sixteen years old. I don’t want to die!” And yet, when it comes down to it she does her duty. She might be a teenager, but she manages to act completely selflessly here - no death wish (the opposite in fact) but a very, very strong sense of responsibility.
3) Becoming II. Yet again she has done her duty - but this time the outcome was far from happy. She kills Angel, but that’s as much as she can manage. She quite simply does not have the strength to go on. So she runs away, like so many teens have before her when life got unbearable. But you can’t run forever and after her meeting with Lily she goes back home.
4) Graduation Day. Not sure about this one, but it’s where she stops working for the Council. She still continues to battle the forces of evil though, but she’s old enough not to need a Watcher to tell her to go out patrolling. Another step towards adulthood.
5) The Gift. “It doesn't matter. If Dawn dies, I'm done with it. I'm quitting.” This isn’t a heartbroken teen just wanting a life. It’s a young woman finding out exactly what her limits are. Don’t know what would have happened if Dawn *had* died.
6) Dead Things. Another instance of Buffy reaching her limits - and considering that she looks upon a life in prison as preferable to what she has to go through in daily life, there is a lot of running away at this point. But it’s being responsible for Katrina’s death that send her over the edge. When she finds out the truth, she pulls herself back together again.
I think that’s all of them. At least I can’t think of any more. We can see that she only considers quitting when she’s in extraordinary emotional trauma. But not when she wants to die - except for The Gift in some measure. And here we have the central thing: The times she maybe _should_ walk away she can’t because she’s involved herself. She even tries to run away with Dawn, which of course doesn’t help - Dawn is the key to the whole thing. (pun unintended)
In S7 we have another situation which could be considered ripe for Buffy just leaving - except of course that The First Evil is targeting her *specifically*. She can’t quit if the fight follows her where ever she is.
Which is another point, and one I think people have (so far anyway) failed to address: She’s _The Slayer_ and that’s not just a job title, it’s who she is: It makes her a target, a prize, a symbol, a champion... her mystical qualities are as important (if not more) than her physical abilities. To quote Caleb:
“So, you're the slayer. The slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind—the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful.”
Why does The First target the Slayer line? Why is it not bothered about the military, or Angel, or any of the other freelance Champions roaming the earth? Because the Slayer is important - the Slayer is more than just one girl fighting evil on a nightly basis. The Slayer is somehow woven into the fabric of ‘goodness’ (for lack of a better word), a mystical barrier against the darkness - her mere existence somehow helps tip the scales in favour of humans over demons.
Which is where the whole notion of ‘someone else’ doing her job becomes a problem. I agree that it would not be too hard to find a replacement of some kind, if you could talk people into that sort of job for life. Excluding Faith (for the obvious reasons), who were the candidates?
1) Angel. Hmm, I can see where you’re coming from, but I can’t see him going to Sunnydale on a nightly basis to patrol. Also his life is very busy - in S2 he is preoccupied with Darla (even leaving his own mission to fight her) and in S3 he has a baby to look after. In S4 he has The Beast and a ‘happy’ apocalypse to stop. (Also there’s the whole redemption thing and the PTB, but we can leave that out if you like.) After S4 the question is obsolete.
2) Wesley, Gunn, similar people. This is actually by far the best bet. I’ve read fanfic set in an AU post-S6 where Buffy decides to stop as a Slayer after having fought for 10 years or so, and The Council sets up a team to look after the Hellmouth. Certainly doable, with funding, and working slightly outside canon. (I know Buffy looked after 30-odd Potential Slayers for a few months. She could not have done this indefinitely, which is what we’re talking about.)
3) The Initiative/The Army. I’m not sure about this. First of all, the Initiative wasn’t set up to save people, but to utilise the demons somehow. I’m not sure that similar ideas wouldn’t resurface from time to time. Basically I don’t trust them. Also they are apparently oblivious to the magical aspects of the demon world, and therefore would not be well equipped to deal with anything mystical. Take f.ex. our Dawn problem in S5. How would a high ranking army person react to a request by Buffy about keeping her sister safe? He’d either think she was lying or insane - or if he believed her, he’d kill Dawn to eliminate the threat. The military doesn’t believe in Hell gods.
That said, in ‘As You Were’ Sam mentioned that the group she and Riley were part of had some shamans attached. This might bode well, but considering that both were lost to dark magic, my guess would be that the army would be incredibly sceptical of anything similar. It would be considered too risky I should think - too difficult to control.
Hmmm, that sure was a lot of speculation. I’m not sure I have any sort of final round up or anything. Basically I think that it’s perfectly possible to find a replacement for the Slayer when it comes to the physical aspect. But since that is not all of her function, and since evil is always likely to search her out where ever she might be, the notion of retiring is not so very straight forward. Also taking into consideration Buffy’s temperament and sense of duty, and all it ends up as is an awful lot of speculation: A big ‘What if?’ And since that is the spark that leads to fanfiction, I think that that would be a far better outlet for exploring the possibilities. I’m not saying this disparagingly, but just pointing out that fanfic is a much better way of delving into such topics. Some of the best thoughts about Buffy that I’ve ever read came from fanfic.
Also, I write too much. Sorry about that - I hope I didn’t bore you.
Oh and the party went very well yesterday, and I'll do my very best to catch on comments tomorrow! *smooches*
no subject
Is taking fire so your men can get to safe ground in combat suicide? I think not. Buffy's sacrifice draws mainly on two mythic images: Christ (you all got that) and Ripley in Alien 3. Both sacificing themselves for the preservation of mankind. Buffy had no pattern of despair (yet), though she did shoulder her burdens heavily (as did those other two).
Joss posted about halfway down this very long and diverse thread:
http://whedonesque.com/comments/9102#102883
Its a pretty good dicusssion and not everyone agrees with him.
no subject