I actually like to use Cynthia Bower's term, "problematic parenting" (as she described Giles and Joyce in an essay.) I noticed some resemblances btw between Hank in Nightmares and Ted in "Ted", as well as a lot of similarities between "Ted" and "Helpless".
I rewatched Helpless and that scene where Buffy silently processes Traver's words, "You have a father's love for the child" and then when Giles wipes her face in silent apology - and I'm thinking, oh Buffy. No wonder the poor girl is so screwed up - but that's the plight of most children; you accept what you get from your parents, even if it's subpar. And it reads so - in most series we'd see that as really touching, and it is, but it's also very creepy and unsettling. And the later seasons prove that it's not to be taken at face value. (Although a lot of people seem very happy to do just that. But then a lot of people believe Angel was Buffy's true love. *shrugs*)
But yeah, it would have been nice to see more Joyce or another surrogate character to play such a role. That's why my headcanon has Buffy and Olivia bonding post-Chosen.
I like your headcanon very much and shall adopt it as my own! (Have you written fic about this?)
But yes, this is exactly what I was trying to get at earlier re: Joyce, and I was disappointed that they got rid of Olivia after one episode - for Giles' sake and for my own; I was hoping that Maggie would prove to be a mentor to Buffy, even if a reluctant one. etc Women were very important to me growing up, and I've always hated the lack of diversity of age, appearance, ethnicity etc of female characters; so it's not that i notice it more because I'm older, I've always noticed it.
I thought it significant that we only see three female watchers: Gwendolyn has actually been fired by the WC and is evil; Lydia's most significant moment is flirting with Spike in Checkpoint, and then there's a third watcher in S7 who starts to cry and Quentin Travers says "there there my dear." I suppose the point of this - assuming there is one - is that the paradigm that the WC represents either corrupts women as well as men, or encourages female watchers, like Slayers, to stay within a very narrow range of roles, in the service of the partriarchy.
Oddly enough one of the comics written while the series was still running (?), "Slayer Interrupted" has an older female psychiatrist/psychologist who actually serves as a mentor to Buffy in the mental hospital, and that is exactly the sort of character I would have loved to have seen on the show. I get that the fathers on the show are corrupt, as you say, but eliminating "mothers" altogether is fairly standard for US entertainment, where mature women don't exist. (I think that's changing, but it's still to a limited degree.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-04-22 12:54 am (UTC)True.
I actually like to use Cynthia Bower's term, "problematic parenting" (as she described Giles and Joyce in an essay.) I noticed some resemblances btw between Hank in Nightmares and Ted in "Ted", as well as a lot of similarities between "Ted" and "Helpless".
I rewatched Helpless and that scene where Buffy silently processes Traver's words, "You have a father's love for the child" and then when Giles wipes her face in silent apology - and I'm thinking, oh Buffy. No wonder the poor girl is so screwed up - but that's the plight of most children; you accept what you get from your parents, even if it's subpar. And it reads so - in most series we'd see that as really touching, and it is, but it's also very creepy and unsettling. And the later seasons prove that it's not to be taken at face value. (Although a lot of people seem very happy to do just that. But then a lot of people believe Angel was Buffy's true love. *shrugs*)
But yeah, it would have been nice to see more Joyce or another surrogate character to play such a role. That's why my headcanon has Buffy and Olivia bonding post-Chosen.
I like your headcanon very much and shall adopt it as my own! (Have you written fic about this?)
But yes, this is exactly what I was trying to get at earlier re: Joyce, and I was disappointed that they got rid of Olivia after one episode - for Giles' sake and for my own; I was hoping that Maggie would prove to be a mentor to Buffy, even if a reluctant one. etc Women were very important to me growing up, and I've always hated the lack of diversity of age, appearance, ethnicity etc of female characters; so it's not that i notice it more because I'm older, I've always noticed it.
I thought it significant that we only see three female watchers: Gwendolyn has actually been fired by the WC and is evil; Lydia's most significant moment is flirting with Spike in Checkpoint, and then there's a third watcher in S7 who starts to cry and Quentin Travers says "there there my dear." I suppose the point of this - assuming there is one - is that the paradigm that the WC represents either corrupts women as well as men, or encourages female watchers, like Slayers, to stay within a very narrow range of roles, in the service of the partriarchy.
Oddly enough one of the comics written while the series was still running (?), "Slayer Interrupted" has an older female psychiatrist/psychologist who actually serves as a mentor to Buffy in the mental hospital, and that is exactly the sort of character I would have loved to have seen on the show. I get that the fathers on the show are corrupt, as you say, but eliminating "mothers" altogether is fairly standard for US entertainment, where mature women don't exist. (I think that's changing, but it's still to a limited degree.)