The Earth Her Body - Fic by La Noyee, (and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse) (1/?)

[red_satin_doll]

ETA: Additional screencaps added below cut - which has also been added. (Post in haste, repent at leisure.)

Take a Moment: by   lanoyee. Gen, Buffy, Tara, Dawn. A "deleted scene" , post-"Grave"; Buffy bids a friend good-bye. Spare, elegant and melancholy, it's a scene I wish had been in the show.  One of the things I love best about BtVS is how unsentimental it is generally, but sometimes, what I want and what I need are one and the same; no one else can determine that for me. This story gives me both, and it honors one of the most overlooked friendships in the Buffyerse: Buffy and Tara.

lanoyee  recently began transferring some of her female-centric & Buffy-centric meta from her tumblr to her LJ because I begged at my request. In our conversations about one of our favorite shared subjects, the interrelationships of the women on BtVS, the same words kept coming up over and over: overlooked, underestimated, underappreciated, etc. When it comes to Buffy especially, her relationships with other women generate a lot less ink, as far as I can tell, than her relationships with the men in her life; it's easy to forget how central Joyce, Dawn, Willow, Faith etc are to Buffy's story, to her heart. Spike and Angel may be in her heart; Joyce and Dawn are her heart, they are her blood. And yet at the same time the show demonstrates that importance of "not in blood but in bond" relationships, to quote Kikimay's recent comment.


"Take a Moment" was written shortly after a conversation lanoyee & I had about Buffy & Tara in particular, i.e. Why doesn't anyone talk about their relationship? About Tara's role in Buffy's story? Because it's not something I need to fanwank out of thin air, or squint to see: It's right there onscreen; they have a connection to one another that Buffy never shares with Anya, or at least until "Selfless" brings the "Xander's Lie" arc full circle. pocochina thankfully mentions their connection in her 2011 meta character study of Tara, summing it up in quick, vivid strokes in just two paragraphs.

I'd call Buffy & Tara my OTF (one true friendship) except that's bullshit: aside from Buffy being my favorite character in the 'verse (and possibly in fiction, period) when it comes to this show, I may prefer certain things but I don't "OT_" anything. But FUFAW (Favorite Underappreciated Friendship Among Women) is pretty unwieldy, and sound like either a disease or something two cats would do in an alley.

Tara may not get a lot of time on the show, and she and Buffy rarely interact directly but she plays a key or essential role in some of the best episodes of the series, and when she does, she not only sings, she soars: "Hush", which both mirrors and flips Buffy and Willow's first encounters in "WTTH"; "Who are You", in which she is the only character to realize that Faith isn't really Buffy, and she's never even met Buffy before; "Restless", as a dream guide to Buffy her connection to Dawn, as a sister, becomes explicit; "Family" begins with Buffy verbally committing to protect Dawn from Glory after learning that Dawn isn't "real", and ends with Buffy and Dawn protecting Tara from the Maclays and naming her as one of their own: "Who do you think you are?" / "We're family."  (I recently rewatched that episode waiting for a conversation between Buffy and Tara at the end at Tara's birthday party, and was shocked to realize it wasn't in the episode at all, but rather from snowpuppies's  fic "Here Comes the Sun" )
Speaking the words: "family" "sisters" "Summers blood" makes the commitment as physical and as real as mixing her own blood with Dawn's in BT.

Not in blood alone, but in bond.

The relationships between the women of the Buffyverse aren't an afterthought, something set to the side, they are absolutely central to it; and unlike most tv and movies shows I grew up with, the women of the Buffyverse don't relate only to the men, who in contrast enjoy rich friendships with one another. (Remember the popularity of the "buddy movie" esp in the 1980's?) That, for me, is one of the strengths of the Buffyverse. The women matter, and they matter to one another, as literal and metaphorical mothers, sisters, daughters, rivals, friends, and allies. They love, and choose to love, even when it's painful and difficult to do so.

And this may be behind my frustration or impatience with Angel, Riley and Giles. Yes, they have to leave, yes I get it, blah blah bitty blah. They can't stand the "fire" of love, so they get out of the kitchen, out of "women's space" literally and figuratively. I could devote an entire meta just to "Joyce's kitchen" as symbol of the Mother Principal, of Mater. The room where Buffy fights to protect Joyce in "Angel" and "Ted", where they have their worst fight in "Becoming Pt 2", where Joyce reaffirms her admiration and pride in Buffy in "Helpless", is also the room we associate with Tara's pancakes, and Spike fights for Buffy in "Touched". (The Mother Principle is not about literal gender.) It means something. They "chose" Mater and reaffirm the importance of love - raw, real, and messy love in all it's aspects, not the illusion of "romance". They bear witness to one another: you're important. You matter. I love you. I believe in you. Yes you fucked up, but you can do better next time. I understand you - or maybe I don't, but I can offer you comfort.

It's why we don't see Angel and Riley in the final battle in "Chosen" nor should we. It's why Giles absolutely has to "bend his knee" to the Warrior of the People, the Queen - and thank the stars that she is a benevolent one - if he expects to stand next to Buffy at the end.  Or rather, behind her, in the final scene.

And it's one reason - of many - why Tara's absence in "Chosen" hurts so deeply; she earned the right to be there. Not as Willow's lover, not as a "perfect, faultless human being" (which she isn't, despite the tendency to canonize her as saint), and not even as Buffy's friend but as a powerful woman in her own right.

If I don't go into the politics overmuch here it's because I have a LOT more to say on the subject and am saving it for the moment; but also because it's dominated the discussion re: Tara for over ten years. Rage or silence and little in between the two. If I focus on her death, then I fail to celebrate her life, and it's worth celebrating. Her very existence as the first three-dimensional lesbian character in a realistic lesbian relationship is worth celebrating. And deserves a much better legacy than shameful silence and lack of any such characters that still exists  - or rather, doesn't exist - in US television ten years later.


As long as we share her story she'll never lack for mourners and lovers, but if we fail to do so then she "dies", utterly and completely.

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what inspired 's fic (rec'd above) - we were talking about that very point and then she just came out with that, as if it were nothing. I really admire that; and I'm always happy for more!

Yes, it really felt like there needed to be more. Even in Villians/TTG(?) I kept waiting in that car ride for Buffy to ask Willow "Where's Tara? Is she ok?" It emphasized just how much of a plot device Tara had been after all to M.E. *grumble*

The scene where Buffy & Xander find Dawn in the bedroom with Tara's corpse? It echoes Buffy finding Joyce in the body but at least we see Joyce's face. JESUS was that scene cold. Poor Dawn.

[ruuger]

It emphasized just how much of a plot device Tara had been after all to M.E. *grumble*

Yes, this. And as much as I would have liked to have seen Tara again, I am kinda glad that Amber Benson nixed Joss' plans to bring her back in S7 because that would have just made her even into more of a plotdevice, killed and brought back again on the whims of other characters' arcs.

(sorry for the late comment, I'm a little behind on reading my f-list :D)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

And as much as I would have liked to have seen Tara again, I am kinda glad that Amber Benson nixed Joss' plans to bring her back in S7 because that would have just made her even into more of a plotdevice, killed and brought back again on the whims of other characters' arcs.

Her decision only increased my respect for her, because she knew it would upset the fans who were already extremely traumatized (I saw the show last year finally, knew Tara would die and it still hurt like hell.) And also angry at Joss's "my pain is worse than your's how dare you be offended and question my wisdom?" bs. Which is another rant altogether. (I'm speaking of CWDP of course.)

I've read that both Robia La Morte (Jenny) and Charisma Carpenter were promised that they wouldn't play ghosts or anything evil when they came back to btvs and ats, and then both found that's exactly what happened. I'm not sure if that's true or not (didn't they get to read the scripts beforehand?) but I also read that Charisma cried. I just - the way Joss treats some of his employees, esp the women, really grates and I'm glad that Amber refused to play his game.

Re: the proposed "Buffy makes a wish and resurrects Tara" idea that Joss thought was so cool (and threw a hissy-fit when Amber couldn't or wouldn't do it - I think in that instance there were scheduling issues?) That doesn't work for me conceptually. I've even read some fanfics that flesh it out and - I just DO NOT see Buffy doing that. Period. She's been dragged from Heaven against her will, I can't imagine her violating Tara's agency and repeating what the SG did to her in S6. And if it's bad that Willow did it, how in the world would Buffy doing the same be a good thing? That's just - typical Jossian "who cares if it makes sense just go for the big emotions!"

The only thing I like about that at all is the idea of Buffy doing the wishing. At least they get one thing right - that Buffy cares deeply about her friends. And I can see her feeling responsible for Tara's death (although the show doesn't go there) even though it's not her fault. (ie "What if I had been faster, what if I had stopped Warren sooner?" etc)

Oddly enough, Willow deciding not to bring Tara back is one of the few things I actually liked about the comics so far. I think that was the right call, and it actually showed positive and forward character growth. For once.

(sorry for the late comment, I'm a little behind on reading my f-list :D)

No need to be sorry! Late comments are love, sweetie. I'm thrilled people are still finding this. *hugs*

[ruuger]

You know, I liked Joss & co a lot more before I read about all the behind the scenes issues, especially about how some of the actressess got treated. And then there was, of course, the shoe incident, which made me lose a lot of respect towards him. When he's good, he's great, but when he fails, he fails spectacularly, and I really dislike how his feminism is often used as a teflon armour that makes him impervious to criticism.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

When he's good, he's great, but when he fails, he fails spectacularly, and I really dislike how his feminism is often used as a teflon armour that makes him impervious to criticism.

PREACH

I've often said that myself about his "feminism" - if he's calling himself a feminist and using that as a selling point for his work, then I have a right to examine that claim to see how it holds up. And Joss is typical of what I call *ahem* "middle class college educated liberals" who want to be seen as "good", to claim they're not racist/sexist/homophobic but haven't examined their prejudices and priviledges all the way down.

And thank you for the link; it's pretty typical of Joss, and Whedonesque from what I've seen, and why I have no interest in getting involved in that site, at all.

I did like his comment "Trust the tale and not the teller" - in fact, that's been one of my personal mantras since I first heard it in high school. But then it's accompanied by his patronizing tone. I really don't think he has any idea how his "humor" comes off, but it's definitely his way of deflecting criticism. "Hey I'm just a nice guy doing the best I can here."