thanks hon! *hugs* I apologize for not getting back sooner - I've gotten way way distracted reading bone_dry1013's pre-series multi-chap Buffy fic Origins. Did I already give you a link? http://bone-dry1013.livejournal.com/13440.html
I'm not even quite comfortable with this whole notion that being unable to resist a thrall apparently implies weakness or w/e. Really, when WILL we be "strong enough"?
Which ties back into rape culture. vampirism is an explicit metaphor for sex on the show. So being raped/killed inplies weakness, poor judgment, etc? That is explicitly the point of Sheila in School Hard, the bad girl who flaunts her sexuality and is punished: tortured/kidnapped by Spike and killed by Drusilla - the good girl gone bad via Angel.
I'm tired of this notion that it's always the ones who are being put in a victim's position that have to fight an endless torrent of abuse....It's been a while, so I might misremember, but it seems to me the comics themselves weren't clear on the issue either?
From what I understand, the guys at DH claimed at first Buffy was totally responsible for her own actions, not anticipating the blow-back they'd get from fandom. BTW - I've discovered some of the earlier "non-canon" ones, and "Night of 1000 Vampires" deals with Buffy's grief post-The Body beautifully in the beginning pages. (I'd actually buy this one so I can read the rest of it. Ignore the stupid cover, srsly and hit the click to preview. https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/1378.buffy-the-vampire-slayer-classic-42-night1000-vampires/) This is comics as art, and proof that S8 & 9 DID NOT have to suck.
You are right, though, that especially if just look at the first three seasons, Buffy seems to us like "the original" simply because she is the first Slayer we know
Yeah I think you pegged it. This is another way in which having had Slayer dreams intertwined with the show more thoroughly so we see Buffy's predecessors would have helped greatly. (bone_dry's Origins story begins with Buffy having a Slayer dream as the girl before her dies, before Merrick even finds her. It makes sense that Buffy would feel her calling in her body and mind first.) Instead, most of Buffy's Slayer dreams in S1-3 are about her relationship with Angel (WTF?) and the only past Slayer we see is Sineya (or the daughter of Sineya?)
Yeah, it kind of bewilders me that it's always shown as "I've put this label on myself and anything that contradicts that label cannot be" because -- they're one's own feelings, right?
Traditionally even among gays and lesbians, esp lesbians, bisexuality was perceived as "fence-sitting"; a woman who loved people of different genders was not to be trusted. there's a lot of historical baggage behind that: the stereotype that a woman who was a "true lesbian" was sick, perverted, & trying to corrupt young girls who were not real lesbians, just confused. & The whole "its just a phase they'll outgrow it." (Why doesn't anyone say that about heterosexuality? Because it's "real" and homosexuality supposedly isn't.) But I believe all of us lie somewhere on a contiuum, it's not either/or and we need to come to terms with that. I think we'd all be a lot better off. Nature's variety is infinite.
New Moon Rising, where you see she is completely going "okay this is kinda weirding me out but it should not weird me out because my BFF being gay shouldn't be an issue".
Buffy meets Tara (in Faith's body) in WAY but Willow doesn't come out to her until NMR several eps later and Buffy is totally blindsided? Now, I think they did this because they wanted to "MAKE A STATEMENT" but someone as intuitive as Buffy is not noticing? Sorry, but my mom, professors and all my friends figured out I was a lesbian way before I came out even to myself. (Which admittedly made the public coming-out process easier.) And I didn't grow up in the most "liberal" area.
She is! I would've liked to know more about her.
And a lot of fandom seems to be interested in Satsu as well; she was actually a well-written character. Another massive fail. But Sarah's reaction was fabulous: the first thing out of her mouth was "Willow?" Hee.
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branchandroot
Re: 1/this got too long for one comment AGAIN
Date: 2013-07-12 09:26 pm (UTC)thanks hon! *hugs* I apologize for not getting back sooner - I've gotten way way distracted reading
I'm not even quite comfortable with this whole notion that being unable to resist a thrall apparently implies weakness or w/e. Really, when WILL we be "strong enough"?
Which ties back into rape culture. vampirism is an explicit metaphor for sex on the show. So being raped/killed inplies weakness, poor judgment, etc? That is explicitly the point of Sheila in School Hard, the bad girl who flaunts her sexuality and is punished: tortured/kidnapped by Spike and killed by Drusilla - the good girl gone bad via Angel.
I'm tired of this notion that it's always the ones who are being put in a victim's position that have to fight an endless torrent of abuse....It's been a while, so I might misremember, but it seems to me the comics themselves weren't clear on the issue either?
From what I understand, the guys at DH claimed at first Buffy was totally responsible for her own actions, not anticipating the blow-back they'd get from fandom. BTW - I've discovered some of the earlier "non-canon" ones, and "Night of 1000 Vampires" deals with Buffy's grief post-The Body beautifully in the beginning pages. (I'd actually buy this one so I can read the rest of it. Ignore the stupid cover, srsly and hit the click to preview. https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/1378.buffy-the-vampire-slayer-classic-42-night1000-vampires/) This is comics as art, and proof that S8 & 9 DID NOT have to suck.
You are right, though, that especially if just look at the first three seasons, Buffy seems to us like "the original" simply because she is the first Slayer we know
Yeah I think you pegged it. This is another way in which having had Slayer dreams intertwined with the show more thoroughly so we see Buffy's predecessors would have helped greatly. (
Yeah, it kind of bewilders me that it's always shown as "I've put this label on myself and anything that contradicts that label cannot be" because -- they're one's own feelings, right?
Traditionally even among gays and lesbians, esp lesbians, bisexuality was perceived as "fence-sitting"; a woman who loved people of different genders was not to be trusted. there's a lot of historical baggage behind that: the stereotype that a woman who was a "true lesbian" was sick, perverted, & trying to corrupt young girls who were not real lesbians, just confused. & The whole "its just a phase they'll outgrow it." (Why doesn't anyone say that about heterosexuality? Because it's "real" and homosexuality supposedly isn't.) But I believe all of us lie somewhere on a contiuum, it's not either/or and we need to come to terms with that. I think we'd all be a lot better off. Nature's variety is infinite.
New Moon Rising, where you see she is completely going "okay this is kinda weirding me out but it should not weird me out because my BFF being gay shouldn't be an issue".
Buffy meets Tara (in Faith's body) in WAY but Willow doesn't come out to her until NMR several eps later and Buffy is totally blindsided? Now, I think they did this because they wanted to "MAKE A STATEMENT" but someone as intuitive as Buffy is not noticing? Sorry, but my mom, professors and all my friends figured out I was a lesbian way before I came out even to myself. (Which admittedly made the public coming-out process easier.) And I didn't grow up in the most "liberal" area.
She is! I would've liked to know more about her.
And a lot of fandom seems to be interested in Satsu as well; she was actually a well-written character. Another massive fail. But Sarah's reaction was fabulous: the first thing out of her mouth was "Willow?" Hee.