Links and a thought.

[elisi]

ETA: How could I forget? moscow_watcher made me an icon! *points and giggles* Very sharable! :)

Of course there is also this very clever manip by sueworld2003 which should be made into icons and banners with the words 'There could be some kind of oil involved' across them!

Lots of S8 issue 3 links:

Review by shapinglight!!!
Review by moscow_watcher
Review by yourlibrarian.
Review by thedeadlyhook.
Review by aycheb.
Review by stormwreath.
Review by powerofthebook.
Review by ruuger.
Review by molly_may.
nightchick tries to identify the people in Buffy's 'dreamspace'.
Musings on the title and what it might mean for the direction of the story by stormwreath.
Musings on *that character's* boyfriend by qkellie.
Drabble by st_salieri.

So far most of my thoughts have been on the issue of canonicity (totally a word!) which there will be a post on tomorrow, but this morning something else struck me...

I’ve been thinking a little about comic!Buffy. Mostly though - why did she cut her hair and why are most of her clothes so ugly? What happened to our Buffy who could (weekly!) put together new and gorgeous outfits on Doublemeat vages? The prettiest thing she’s worn so far is the nightie, and that is for sleeping in - i.e. where no one will see it. OK, so she asks one of the other slayers for hair fashion tips, but still... why is her hair so boring to begin with? It’s a comic - long hair won’t take longer in make-up... sure there’s the issue of not turning her into a sex object (in which case - what’s up with the nightie?), but ‘The Bond Issue’ does come into play with Buffy: Women (girls) should want to be her, men should want to be with her. She’s the type of girl who’d wear cats strapped to her feet after all... the one who patrols in pretty halters. The one who makes sure that her makeup looks nice before going into battle. Practical, sensible clothes tend to say that she’s depressed (no overalls so far thank goodness!). Is this the case, or is it just that the artist is a man? *sigh*

Here follows the outfits Buffy has worn so far:





ETA?: Thanks to stormwreath for pointing out that I'd missed this one. And dream!Buffy has nice boots, if an appaling taste in men!


The 4th one is the only one that’s slightly interesting. Thoughts? Comments?

ETA2: Most depressing of all, I doubt that any of it actually means anything. Whatever thoughts/notes Joss made re. Buffy's clothes I doubt they were particularly deep (or symbolic). *sigh*

There's all the talk of an 'unlimited budget', but without a director, camera man, set manager, costume department, props-people etc to actually give their expert input, it seems a little... wasted? Sorry 'bout the negativity, but I'm feeling a little 'meh' today.


ETA3: Another thought, partly brought on by AOQ's re-watch of WSWB (amongst others). Buffy season openers are never *great* episodes, but they usually tell us where Buffy's head is at, or point towards her development during the season: S1 - she was running away from her calling. S2 - she was running away from her fears. S3 - she as running away from her life. S4 - she was worried about her new life. S5 - spurred on a quest for deeper understanding of her powers. S6 - "Is this hell?". S7 - something BIG is coming and girls are going to die! So far in S8 we've established that she misses her home and sex. As molly_may says:

How does she feel about having all these new slayers? Does she ever worry that she did the wrong thing with the spell? How are she and Giles handling reinstituting the Council together after the friction they experienced in S7? Does she ever think about quitting, about a "normal" life, now? Buffy's a rich character whose always had an interior life that went a lot deeper than just wanting to get laid.

Yes there is that one line about things having been difficult/different since 'they changed the world', but one line ain't enough. Sorry. I was never into Buffy for the stories, I was there for the characters. And where is my Buffy?

Comments

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

I think her outfit in #1 is pretty S7!Buffy outfit. The second one is the same as her look when's she's training. I'm not sure there's any symbolism behind her outfits, at least they're better than Willow's Tara outfit.

[elisi]

Not sure 'symbolism' was the best word really... maybe it's all the shiny back trousers that get me. Where are the jeans?

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

LOL, yeah she could use more jeans. Her PJs look comfortable. Honestly, Xander's outfit annoys me the most. I know he'd think it's cool, but for me, I rather like him more in his unmatched baggy clothes. Willow should really move on and get over Tara.

[elisi]

The duckie pajamas were cute. ;) And yes to the rest!

[molly_may]

I'm so with you on Buffy's clothes. Those are not stylish-yet-affordable boots she's wearing in that first panel, those are combat boots! Buffy wouldn't be caught dead in shoes like that. This is the girl who went down into the Hellmouth to fight an army of ubervamps wearing high-heeled, pointy-toed boots! You're probably right that it's just the fact that it's being drawn by a man who probably has no fashion sense, but it's just another small way in which Buffy's characterization feels like it got lost in the translation from TV to comic book.

[elisi]

Those are not stylish-yet-affordable boots she's wearing in that first panel, those are combat boots!
It's the same outfit from the very beginning of the comic, she's just removed the vest thing and added a jacket. *has brainwave* Maybe the boots are a secret sign that she misses Spike?

This is the girl who went down into the Hellmouth to fight an army of ubervamps wearing high-heeled, pointy-toed boots!
That was actually the starting point for this whole thing - or rather that image of Buffy at the end, in her gorgeous jacket and pretty outfit. (Also who sleeps in a teeny skimpy nightie like that in a COLD Scottish castle?)

You're probably right that it's just the fact that it's being drawn by a man who probably has no fashion sense
Sad but true. *focusses on OT3*

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Maybe the boots are a secret sign that she misses Spike?
Now you're abusing sarcasmmeta. *sticks out tongue*

Also who sleeps in a teeny skimpy nightie like that in a COLD Scottish castle?
People who've paid to have underfloor heating installed in their bedroom?

I suspect you're right about the comic artist not being an expert on women's fashions, though... By the way, you missed an outfit - the one Buffy's wearing in her kissing-Xander dream. Denim fringed jacket, white top, more shiny black trousers, fur-lined boots.

[elisi]

Now you're abusing sarcasmmeta.
Indeed I am.

People who've paid to have underfloor heating installed in their bedroom?
Where did the money come from?????

Denim fringed jacket, white top, more shiny black trousers, fur-lined boots.
You're right. I did actually look at it, but - being in a bit of a hurry - I thought it was the same as she was wearing before. Will remedy. Thanks!

[ringthebells]

Thanks for the gathering of the links!

Personally I enjoyed issue 3 (having finally been successful in the decision to not take the whole thing too seriously, and to think of it as just another post-Chosen fanfic).

[elisi]

Thanks for the gathering of the links!
My pleasure. :) And it was the least I could do - I've barely been around LJ this week.

Personally I enjoyed issue 3
Oh I fair skipped through it - the pace was a lot better. It's just that when I try to actually *think* about it, there's this blank wall. I'm not used to blank walls when it comes to Buffy.

having finally been successful in the decision to not take the whole thing too seriously, and to think of it as just another post-Chosen fanfic
Such was my position right from the start! ;) Guess I just wanted a little more, what with it being Joss and all... something to justify the whole 'OMG this is *canon*' thing, even though it certainly isn't canon in my book.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

The clothes, yes, the clothes... in the show I'll agree they meant all sorts of fruitful things, but in comic language it's probably best they're not getting too much focus - utilitarian!outfits are probably the best we can hope for, at least from most American artitsts. Start asking a guy who probably doesn't notice women's clothes to draw them wiht some idea of 'fashion' and you don't want to know what sort of stuff you'll see. Picture her slaying dressed like a Britney. Then shudder.

At the moment - silky nightie aside - she's being dressed in a way that says, "take me seriously." Which I'm pretty okay with.

[elisi]

but in comic language it's probably best they're not getting too much focus - utilitarian!outfits are probably the best we can hope for
Yeah, that's what I thought. I miss stylish-yet-afforable!Buffy though.

she's being dressed in a way that says, "take me seriously." Which I'm pretty okay with.
That's a good point. I was just bored... and thinking about outfits like the one in my icon.

[elisi]

At the moment - silky nightie aside - she's being dressed in a way that says, "take me seriously." Which I'm pretty okay with.
Actually... wasn't one of the points of Buffy that she never 'looked the part' as it were. She was a girly-girl who liked pretty clothes and gorgeous boots and wished she could be Prom queen - and who'd then turn out to be so much more than she appeared to be.

Guess it just ain't possible in comic form.

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Well... it is, but it has to be something that's constantly being addressed. That's why I made the qualification "most American artists" above - in Japan, it's fairly typical to do a story about a girl as the main character, and she's girly and feminine but also has all sorts of qualities beyond that, bravery, couarge, etcetera, and to try to combine the idea of femininity and heroism (sometimes in an empowering way, sometimes not, but that's another discussion). In America, though, where being a clotheshorse has different connotations (the largest one probably being that a well-dressed girl is either spoiled or thinks of little else beyond clothes - the cliche that Buffy was, in fact, designed to invert), unless it's stated fairly constantly that Buffy's clothing preferences aren'tmeant to show how silly and "legally blonde" she is (by way of having her kick frequent butt in frilly dresses or whatever), the visual stereotype ends up reasserting itself. Sort of like how people smoking always tend to equal "bad" or "rebel" in film language.

(I have a little problem with Buffy's language in the comic too, for this same reason. If nobody else is shown speaking anything like Buffyspeak, it tends to single Buffy out, as if the intent is to make her sound silly. Likewise, if none of the other Slayers dress in a girly fashion, if Buffy does, then she is being singled out as "the girly one." Comics deal in compression - of images, of words - so every single item tends to be a bigger bludgeon, symbolically speaking, than on TV.)

Although - just to confuse things even further - this is where trying to be "realistic" in comics actually sort of works against you. When every character is dressed in a sprayed-on spandex, what their clothing "means" is less of an issue. : )

[elisi]

Um, I don't really have much to say or add - lots of interesting stuff, but since my main comic addiction centers around drop-dead gorgeous (and v. sexy) elves in nicely revealing (but somehow also sensible) outfits, I'm not much of an expert.

But thank you very much for all your thoughts - anything that helps add depth to S8 is to be welcomed...

[shapinglight]

didn't you like my review? You didn't link to it

[elisi]

Gah! *hits self over head* Blame it on the dulling influence of parents.

::rushes of to amend::

(And yes I enjoyed your review muchly!)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I like the hair. Long hair is depression hair for Buffy and having it tied back, as she often did in S7, really suits her face. As for clothing, having lived in the North of Scotland I can give you a very simple reason for the more utilitarian style. There’s nae shops and mail order really doesn’t give a girl the same kind of buzz. She’s doing pretty well though considering the limitations and that there’s no advantage to dressing like schmuck bait on mass patrols. Her training outfit is beautifully cut, and fitted exposing just the fashionable amount of enviable twenty-something midriff and the nightie, despite varying mysteriously in the flare of the skirt and existence or otherwise of side splits, is perfectly classic.

Buffy season openers are never *great* episodes, but they usually tell us where Buffy's head is at, or point towards her development during the season
Well missing home and sex isn’t that much less revelatory than being worried about college but I think we’ve been shown a whole lot more than that. I can see two aspects to it.

First there’s an interesting disconnect between outward success and inner uncertainty. She head of a worldwide organisation of Slayers and unlike in S7 she’s connecting with them (she knows their names) and they respect her. Her relationships with both Willow and Xander have healed, there’s warmth, banter, jokes, even hugs. Despite this there’s a slightly suspicious lack of contact with Giles and a definite rift between her and Dawn. She misses her mom (Joyce’s body is the central image in the dream space cubes) and wonders if she really has any idea what she’s up to. There’s a real sense here of her having got everything she ever wanted but still being hollow. She never really did have time to process the loss of Joyce with everything that happened afterwards.

Second there’s the fact that changing the world has clearly put her on the Big Bad radar in a way she never was before. The First targeted the Slayer line not Buffy Summers and all her other adversaries have ignored or dismissed her (apart from Angelus with whom it was simply personal). Ironically ensuring that she’s no longer the one girl in all the world has turned her into some kind of Slayer celebrity, the bad guys are after her personally, the other Slayers are calling her ma’am, she’s even picked up a stalker rooting through her personal dream space.

[elisi]

Long hair is depression hair for Buffy
She was depressed for 4 seasons? In my head there's short-haired Buffy (S1-3) and longhaired Buffy (S4-7). Except of course 2nd half of S6 when her short hair really was an outward sign of her inner pain. Guess I just equate long hair with adult!Buffy, and find comic!Buffy reminding me of Highschool!Buffy. And I think long hair suits her much, much better. But then we're only talking about a comic now, so... ;)

There’s nae shops and mail order really doesn’t give a girl the same kind of buzz.
Why on earth did she agree to live there? Heh. At least they could have done a little shopping in London or LA or *something*. Poor Buffy!

As for all the other stuff, then thank you lots - I want to like the comics, but so far there's very little I can get my teeth into. This helped!

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Well I hope some of it made sense (coming soon a feminist analysis of the nurse outfit). As to hair S4 was crimped or overstraightened hair of which let us speak no more, S5 I find hard to judge with everyone looking so orange, early S6 was grave hair. Lopping it off in Gone co-incided with her realising she wanted to live.

[elisi]

coming soon a feminist analysis of the nurse outfit
From 'Family':

BUFFY: Oh, you're a god. You're like the ... god of boyfriends.
RILEY: Nah, I just like it when you owe me favors.
BUFFY: Well, this earns you a big favor. There could be outfits.
RILEY: Ooh. Be still my heart.

*raises eyebrow*

S4 hair I guess was a tie-in with university 'experimenting' (and still not as bad as S3!), S5 hair is lovely and long and that's when she's at her peak (like here), yes the 'Gone' hair co-incides with realising she wants to live, but the initial act of chopping it off comes from self-disgust. And S7 hair is gorgeous. I wish my hair could look like that.