elisi's humble abode

Via Kerk, an excellent meta post using Fool for Love to map out the Buffy/Spike relationship:

Q: so my question for you is do you see that any one episode cleanly predicts the path spike and buffy eventually go down together? and if there isn’t, how does that deviation from the pattern affect the reading of the spuffy dynamic, if it does at all?

I've been meaning to write *something* about the whole Harvey Weinstein thing. There are a hundred things I could link you to. However, the thing that I can't get out of my head is this bit of dialogue from 'The Initiative' (slightly edited):

Parker: [Laughs] oh, yeah. The word is stamina. I mean, definitely a bunny in the sack, but later on, well. You know the difference between a freshman girl and a toilet seat? A toilet seat doesn't follow you around after you use it.

Riley decks Parker who hits the floor.

Riley: (Walking between Forrest and Graham.) I can't believe that I did that.

Forrest: What the hell for?

Riley: He--he was just being so crude.

Forrest: Please. You've heard me say much grosser things than that.

Riley: I just didn't like hearing him (he pauses thoughtfully) talk about Buffy that way. I think I... Well, I guess I like her.

I have said before that I think Riley Finn was a metaphor for male privilege (straight, white male privilege specifically) and this is the perfect example.

Riley is a nice guy. Decent. Works hard. Goes to church. Serves his country. And it's possible we're meant to cheer him on for decking Parker. But. The line that stands out is Forrest's:

You've heard me say much grosser things than that.

The only thing different is that Riley happens to like Buffy. The whole of the cold open is a lengthy frat-boy-ish objectification of women. And Riley never speaks up.

I wish they'd done more with him. I can't even tell if the metaphor was deliberate, or if they just took the most basic template possible to create him, and the metaphor was built in.

However, it's useful. (Also see Xander of course.) Because in creating him, they essentially made Buffy date the Patriarchy. And the Patriarchy couldn't hack it and ran away.

But... they never really made the Patriarchy face its issues. Maybe they couldn't. Maybe that would have been a step too far for Joss... (*SO* not surprised at his ex-wife's allegations.)

And so it goes. From the Weinsteins and the Trumps at the top, through the Whedons and the Gibsons right down to the guy on the bus who puts his hand on your knee.

Because all the Riley Finns in the world just laugh when their friends are crude.


Not because she's your sister, your mother, your daughter, your girlfriend. Because he is your brother, your father, your son, your friend.


(ETA: Much like white people need to tackle racism, and straight/cis people need to tackle LGBT+ bigotry.)

One reason I love BtVS so much is that Buffy gets a happy ending. She wins. I've not seen Dollhouse, but on his other shows winning doesn't enter into it. Angel will be forever fighting. Mal only wishes to keep flying.

But Buffy wins. And there's something else I've realised too. Putting it under a cut, so as not to take up all your flist.

( Read more... )

As always, vids influenced my thinking and illustrate what I want to say:

Bachelorette by obsessive24 is Buffy, ultimately winning. (In the shape of a girl.)

And My Medea by yunitsa shows the flipside. (Mostly Dollhouse/Firefly.) I can't remember if I've rec'd it before, but if not - make sure you watch! (So come to me my love/I'll tap into your strength and drain it dry)

ETA: ( Read more... )

Read about the latest issue of s8, and went running into the arms of my favourite Buffy vids. And you get links, even though I'm sure you know them already. :)

Vow by sdwolfpup.
Summary: Buffy kicks ass. (It's only one minute long, yet packs in so much. Even if you're run off your feet, make time for this one.

Bachelorette by obsessive24.
Summary: In the shape of a girl. (Long, full of meta, and absolutely brilliant.)

Memories by Sadique. (Her website is gone, so I uploaded it myself.) It is Buffy's speech in 'Prophecy Girl' set to the theme from The Gift and uses images from all seven seasons. Utterly, utterly gorgeous - this is my Buffy, both show and girl. (VLC won't play it! Can anyone change the format to .avi or .wmv???? ETA: You'll need RealPlayer to play it! Of course!)

And that's all I've got time for! *runs away again*

Written by xlivvielockex. (Context here.)

We believe in the Spike Almighty, creator of cheekbones and shagging. And in Buffy, his only love, The Slayer, who was created by some shadowmen who were dicking around with magics that they did not themselves understand; who suffered under Glory, died twice, but was only buried once. That she ascended into Heaven, and sometime during the start of the fall season rose again from the dead with the help of a plucky redheaded witch and her friends. We believe in Willow, the Goddess, a really hot lesbian, who can fly and kill you with her brain if she so deems. And we deny the teachings of the one with hair that sticks straight up and is lame, and believe he is bloody stupid.

In the name of Whedon, A-women.


(I know I'm spamming, but I *had* to share. Also, procrastinating is good for the soul!)

First though, I must wish the Happiest of Birthdays to earth_vexer! May you continue to vex the earth for many, many years to come! :)

****
But! The Queen of Polls, gabrielleabelle, made a poll about which show is more adult/mature/dark - Buffy or Angel? Now it's tempting to go for Angel, but otoh there's few things as dark as S6 of BtVS... So, instead of doing the poll, I started turning the problem over in my head, because the shows are both dark, but in different way. And then I had a minor epiphany - the main character of each series is a reflection of the show overall:

BtVS is about a good person who's had darkness forced upon her.

AtS is about a bad person who's had goodness forced upon him.

I think everything springs from this.

Don't know why, but this has been going round in my head recently. It's very obvious, but it gave me insight into Willow (which is a good thing), and how she grows etc. ( Read more... )

So, I watched School Hard on Spike's birthday, and then (thank you molly_may for the link - I’ve read it before, but couldn’t remember where) read this very excellent review by Alira.

She’s rather scathing towards Angel, and towards the end has this to say (I’d question the ‘trustworthy’ part myself! *g*):

Buffy learns that Spike’s playful, resourceful, quippy, trustworthy, and very very good at fighting. That in his way, he's honourable. That he's easily bored and can't keep to a plan. That he's a good dancer. :)

What she doesn't learn is that Angel is basically useless. :)
( So, is Angel useless? Well here are *my* thoughts. )

This was supposed to be a quick run-through a la my review of ‘Shadow Puppets’, with a few thoughts re. Spike’s arc (and Beck) at the end. And then... meta ate my head. Again. So... it’s kinda long. And I’m not sure I’m actually saying anything original. But I had to write it, so there you go.

Also it’ll be interesting to see how many people reply... I’m not entirely sure how many people have read ‘Asylum’, but it can’t be more than a handful. Ah well, enjoy! *g*

Many, many spoilers for ‘Spike: Asylum’ - seriously, don’t click the tag if you haven’t read it. To remedy that, just buy it (it’s only a tenner on amazon) and if you hate it you can always flog it on Ebay...

( Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers! )