Beautiful job. I know how tough this must've been for you, too, to stay this diplomatic. : ) Aw, thank you. With hindsight the timing was fortuitous - a lot of the big action had already taken place, so there was plenty to talk about, but there was still enough left that I could end on a hopeful note.
And thank you for the Elfquest citation as an example of ambitious-comics-that-work. Elfquest imprinted on me, in many ways, and it's only after seeing other things done not-very-well that I realise just what an achievement that series is.
One of my great disappointments of Season 8 - in larger-scheme-of-things sense rather than the story itself - is that it came with a brand-new audience of ready unfamiliar with comics and ready to appreciate them (or at least give them a chance) and lo, what was put before them proceeded to confirm every cliche expectation they might've brought with them about juvenile fantasy. *nods a lot*
And BAM!, you've hit my major problem with the S8 comics. My pleasure. (I hate all the talk about 'balance' and how the world can only cope with *one* strong woman at the time, and the fact that Buffy was the one to kick-start the apocalypse. More than anything else, this is what I find unforgivable.)
There really is no other way to interpret the story we've been given. There really isn't, and God knows I've tried.
I absolutely detest the ingrained worldview Whedon seems to have that women are, by default, powerless, and need a magical boost to be considered contenders. (This bugged me about "Chosen" too, although at least there you had the option of viewing the power-up as a positive thing, symbolically or whatever.) I always loved 'Chosen', although I can certainly see the inherent problems. But it was so beautifully done that it just makes me smile. Re. powerlessness, then I mentioned in another post that Buffy was always strong - just look at her in 'Helpless' when, deprived of her powers, she went off to fight by herself, without asking Angel or Giles for backup. Especially frustrating in s8 is 'Operation Sitting Duck' (I dearly wish I could have managed to get that particular phrase into the essay), because since when did Buffy just give up? (There are various points in the show, of course, but they come from complete mental exhaustion, and are not a deliberate 'strategy', essentially giving in to the Big Bad.)
At this point, Whedon seems to be indulging a fetish for victimization narratives (and, in this latest story, oink-worthy slut-shaming) that are simply impossible to read as feminist, because they're not. I fear I have to agree with you. I've not seen Dollhouse, so I can't talk about that, but s8 certainly is not a feminist work. *is sad*
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Aw, thank you. With hindsight the timing was fortuitous - a lot of the big action had already taken place, so there was plenty to talk about, but there was still enough left that I could end on a hopeful note.
And thank you for the Elfquest citation as an example of ambitious-comics-that-work.
Elfquest imprinted on me, in many ways, and it's only after seeing other things done not-very-well that I realise just what an achievement that series is.
One of my great disappointments of Season 8 - in larger-scheme-of-things sense rather than the story itself - is that it came with a brand-new audience of ready unfamiliar with comics and ready to appreciate them (or at least give them a chance) and lo, what was put before them proceeded to confirm every cliche expectation they might've brought with them about juvenile fantasy.
*nods a lot*
And BAM!, you've hit my major problem with the S8 comics.
My pleasure. (I hate all the talk about 'balance' and how the world can only cope with *one* strong woman at the time, and the fact that Buffy was the one to kick-start the apocalypse. More than anything else, this is what I find unforgivable.)
There really is no other way to interpret the story we've been given.
There really isn't, and God knows I've tried.
I absolutely detest the ingrained worldview Whedon seems to have that women are, by default, powerless, and need a magical boost to be considered contenders. (This bugged me about "Chosen" too, although at least there you had the option of viewing the power-up as a positive thing, symbolically or whatever.)
I always loved 'Chosen', although I can certainly see the inherent problems. But it was so beautifully done that it just makes me smile. Re. powerlessness, then I mentioned in another post that Buffy was always strong - just look at her in 'Helpless' when, deprived of her powers, she went off to fight by herself, without asking Angel or Giles for backup. Especially frustrating in s8 is 'Operation Sitting Duck' (I dearly wish I could have managed to get that particular phrase into the essay), because since when did Buffy just give up? (There are various points in the show, of course, but they come from complete mental exhaustion, and are not a deliberate 'strategy', essentially giving in to the Big Bad.)
At this point, Whedon seems to be indulging a fetish for victimization narratives (and, in this latest story, oink-worthy slut-shaming) that are simply impossible to read as feminist, because they're not.
I fear I have to agree with you. I've not seen Dollhouse, so I can't talk about that, but s8 certainly is not a feminist work. *is sad*