That theme has been central to horror & sci-fi genres though, hasn't it? Which has it's origins all the way back to creation myths, then fairy tales and such. From Pinocchio to the Golem, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
I've read a good deal of meta and tend to forget where my information comes from.
Same here. It was easier back in the day before the internet. I had the library and real book/magazines/newpapers, only a limited number of sources in front of me. Now? Fucking endless. There is no way for the brain to keep track of where you get every little idea or piece of information, once it becomes encoded into your CPU so to speak.
But OTOH Spike's crush-antics take up quite a bit of space. I guess this is one of those things where a tally would help.
Like the ones did, "Whose Show is it Anyway?" http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/tag/whose%20show%20is%20it%20anyway%3F Numbers and stats are so not my thing. But you can't quantify other things - how a scene is staged/shot, the context, the expressions on an actor's face in such a way to create more or greater meaning than just "minutes of screen time" would imply.
Does that mean we're obligated to forgive those who gravely harm us? I'm not sure I agree with that.
Which works in terms of Buffy/Angel because the soulbomb wasn't Buffy's fault; the underlying issue is that she needs to forgive herself; receiving forgiveness from someone else is not the same thing. But it doesn't work with James and Grace. Buffy's vulva is NOT a deadly weapon, she didn't go in with "deadly intent". James did; he may not have "meant" to kill Grace, but he knew what you can do with a gun, that's why he had it in his hand. No excuses.
that the episode put the emphasis on Grace forgiving him for killing her and asking his forgiveness because she should never have "let him believe she stopped loving him?" NO. The problem was that as an adult and a teacher there was a power imbalance and she shouldn't have allowed any romantic relationship with a minor and a student to continue in the first place. Which then makes it sound like I'm blaming the victim and I don't mean to do that; she's not responsible for him killing her, he is. But - it's a problematic situation and message all around.
There's definitely a parallel there. NGL I love the parallels between the three Summers women.
Yes. that scene in Ted where Buffy tries to talk to Joyce afterward Ted has "died" and Joyce shuts her off is almost their entire relationship S1-3 in a nutshell; when I see people call buffy "closed off" I want to point out that it didn't come out of nowhere. None of these characters' issues came out of nowhere.
I tend to focus on Buffy so l appreciate that you bring Dawn's perspective into it. "conflict-avoidant figures" indeed. Willow is VERY much the same way; her mother seems even tighter than Joyce emotionally, all logic and reason. I can imagine Willow being uncomfortable, even frightened as a child hearing the Harris' argue, or later on listening to Buffy and Dawn argue, (there's an irony: Hank yells, Joyce deflects or avoids, so Buffy and Dawn have both of those qualities.) I'd love to write fic about that from Willow's POV someday.
I may or may not be speaking from experience.
*hugs*
And maybe she also feels that, once she's decided to accept the reality the monks have forced on her, it would be a betrayal if she went back on that by stepping out of her role as Dawn's protector, and letting Dawn step out of her role of the protected? Like by not being extremely protective of Dawn, she'd deny Dawn's personhood. When really, it's actually kind of the opposite.
WORD to this entire paragraph. Mind? Blown. I hadn't even framed it in those terms. This is my headcanon now; and when I write that meta I am SO going to quote this. (And thanks for your kind permission!)
Re: 2/2
Date: 2013-06-20 06:06 pm (UTC)That theme has been central to horror & sci-fi genres though, hasn't it? Which has it's origins all the way back to creation myths, then fairy tales and such. From Pinocchio to the Golem, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
I've read a good deal of meta and tend to forget where my information comes from.
Same here. It was easier back in the day before the internet. I had the library and real book/magazines/newpapers, only a limited number of sources in front of me. Now? Fucking endless. There is no way for the brain to keep track of where you get every little idea or piece of information, once it becomes encoded into your CPU so to speak.
But OTOH Spike's crush-antics take up quite a bit of space. I guess this is one of those things where a tally would help.
Like the ones did, "Whose Show is it Anyway?" http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/tag/whose%20show%20is%20it%20anyway%3F
Numbers and stats are so not my thing. But you can't quantify other things - how a scene is staged/shot, the context, the expressions on an actor's face in such a way to create more or greater meaning than just "minutes of screen time" would imply.
Does that mean we're obligated to forgive those who gravely harm us? I'm not sure I agree with that.
Which works in terms of Buffy/Angel because the soulbomb wasn't Buffy's fault; the underlying issue is that she needs to forgive herself; receiving forgiveness from someone else is not the same thing. But it doesn't work with James and Grace. Buffy's vulva is NOT a deadly weapon, she didn't go in with "deadly intent". James did; he may not have "meant" to kill Grace, but he knew what you can do with a gun, that's why he had it in his hand. No excuses.
that the episode put the emphasis on Grace forgiving him for killing her and asking his forgiveness because she should never have "let him believe she stopped loving him?" NO. The problem was that as an adult and a teacher there was a power imbalance and she shouldn't have allowed any romantic relationship with a minor and a student to continue in the first place. Which then makes it sound like I'm blaming the victim and I don't mean to do that; she's not responsible for him killing her, he is. But - it's a problematic situation and message all around.
There's definitely a parallel there. NGL I love the parallels between the three Summers women.
Yes. that scene in Ted where Buffy tries to talk to Joyce afterward Ted has "died" and Joyce shuts her off is almost their entire relationship S1-3 in a nutshell; when I see people call buffy "closed off" I want to point out that it didn't come out of nowhere. None of these characters' issues came out of nowhere.
I tend to focus on Buffy so l appreciate that you bring Dawn's perspective into it. "conflict-avoidant figures" indeed. Willow is VERY much the same way; her mother seems even tighter than Joyce emotionally, all logic and reason. I can imagine Willow being uncomfortable, even frightened as a child hearing the Harris' argue, or later on listening to Buffy and Dawn argue, (there's an irony: Hank yells, Joyce deflects or avoids, so Buffy and Dawn have both of those qualities.) I'd love to write fic about that from Willow's POV someday.
I may or may not be speaking from experience.
*hugs*
And maybe she also feels that, once she's decided to accept the reality the monks have forced on her, it would be a betrayal if she went back on that by stepping out of her role as Dawn's protector, and letting Dawn step out of her role of the protected? Like by not being extremely protective of Dawn, she'd deny Dawn's personhood. When really, it's actually kind of the opposite.
WORD to this entire paragraph. Mind? Blown. I hadn't even framed it in those terms. This is my headcanon now; and when I write that meta I am SO going to quote this. (And thanks for your kind permission!)