NOW. Here's what I originally wrote in reply to your comment where you compared Blood Ties and Into the Woods:
"So I'm guessing the parallel is that they both self-harm as a means of self-actualization? Finding out what that "self" even is; what constitutes it, what it is comprised of? And of course, I have to ask, what's the Buffy of it? What is the parallel in how both Dawn and Riley relate to Buffy? I think I once read a Joss quote where he said Dawn was Buffy's love interest for season five. For Dawn to become that, Riley had to go -- and I've read the argument that this is also a problematic portrayal. As if as long as a man's around, the woman cannot focus on anyone else. Though OTOH we then have Spike, who is an aspiring love interest and sort of maneuvers himself into that position (or, well, is maneuvered there by the writers). Which makes the whole thing not even that different in narrative structure, I guess.
ANYWAY, so. Riley's self-harm is also a betrayal and interpreted as such by Buffy; thus her reaction is anger and jealousy. Meanwhile, Dawn can't betray her because in this situation, Buffy is the traitor by neglecting to be open with Dawn about her origin. And even if the betrayal had somehow been on Dawn's side, a reconciliation would have come fast because the strong familial bonds dictate it. Again, sisterly love trumps all. Though I actually wonder: at the and of Into the Woods, Buffy runs to the platform as Riley flies away -- also a first step towards reconciliation. Had Riley stayed, things might have been tense for a while, but Buffy would have forgiven him with relative ease. As she often does with her lovers or even former lovers. It seems Buffy doesn't even make such a great distinction between family and lovers, or, for that matter, friends. Which is, of course, in part because she's so terribly, terribly afraid of rocking the boat. So afraid of losing her the support of and connection to her loved ones if she expresses resentment (hello, season six).
-- and wow this devolved into Buffy thoughts fast. My bias shows, sob.
Dawn, then: even though we make a point to make a distinction between the body, the mind and the "soul" (however you define it), we still strongly associate our natural bodies with the self (a thought also explored in sci fi/cyberpunk works). So here's the obvious conflict of, if Dawn has only existed as a physical presence in the world for six months, is what her mind, her memories tell her void? Is her very self a void? Because if she was created by someone else, and such a short time ago, there is no part of herself apart from that, none that was not created and was entirely her own. Thus later: let me research, let me patrol, let me learn. Please, let me not be something that is shaped by what is done to it (and I use "thing" and "it" purposefully here -- is Buffy's overprotectiveness of Dawn in a way its own objectification? Certainly, it's keeping Dawn childlike). And because the Key was an object without consciousness (presumably – and isn't there an interesting thought?), Dawn also does not have access to her past as the Key at all, thus rendering both of her existences „unreal“."
... and that's how far I got. Seems to me like this train of thought is not yet concluded. :|a I was basically thinking while I was writing. Thinking through writing. It happens sometimes.
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branchandroot
2/2
Date: 2013-06-17 02:32 pm (UTC)"So I'm guessing the parallel is that they both self-harm as a means of self-actualization? Finding out what that "self" even is; what constitutes it, what it is comprised of? And of course, I have to ask, what's the Buffy of it? What is the parallel in how both Dawn and Riley relate to Buffy? I think I once read a Joss quote where he said Dawn was Buffy's love interest for season five. For Dawn to become that, Riley had to go -- and I've read the argument that this is also a problematic portrayal. As if as long as a man's around, the woman cannot focus on anyone else. Though OTOH we then have Spike, who is an aspiring love interest and sort of maneuvers himself into that position (or, well, is maneuvered there by the writers). Which makes the whole thing not even that different in narrative structure, I guess.
ANYWAY, so. Riley's self-harm is also a betrayal and interpreted as such by Buffy; thus her reaction is anger and jealousy. Meanwhile, Dawn can't betray her because in this situation, Buffy is the traitor by neglecting to be open with Dawn about her origin. And even if the betrayal had somehow been on Dawn's side, a reconciliation would have come fast because the strong familial bonds dictate it. Again, sisterly love trumps all. Though I actually wonder: at the and of Into the Woods, Buffy runs to the platform as Riley flies away -- also a first step towards reconciliation. Had Riley stayed, things might have been tense for a while, but Buffy would have forgiven him with relative ease. As she often does with her lovers or even former lovers. It seems Buffy doesn't even make such a great distinction between family and lovers, or, for that matter, friends. Which is, of course, in part because she's so terribly, terribly afraid of rocking the boat. So afraid of losing her the support of and connection to her loved ones if she expresses resentment (hello, season six).
-- and wow this devolved into Buffy thoughts fast. My bias shows, sob.
Dawn, then: even though we make a point to make a distinction between the body, the mind and the "soul" (however you define it), we still strongly associate our natural bodies with the self (a thought also explored in sci fi/cyberpunk works). So here's the obvious conflict of, if Dawn has only existed as a physical presence in the world for six months, is what her mind, her memories tell her void? Is her very self a void? Because if she was created by someone else, and such a short time ago, there is no part of herself apart from that, none that was not created and was entirely her own. Thus later: let me research, let me patrol, let me learn. Please, let me not be something that is shaped by what is done to it (and I use "thing" and "it" purposefully here -- is Buffy's overprotectiveness of Dawn in a way its own objectification? Certainly, it's keeping Dawn childlike). And because the Key was an object without consciousness (presumably – and isn't there an interesting thought?), Dawn also does not have access to her past as the Key at all, thus rendering both of her existences „unreal“."
... and that's how far I got. Seems to me like this train of thought is not yet concluded. :|a I was basically thinking while I was writing. Thinking through writing. It happens sometimes.