Re: the Scythe I'm sure someone has written meta on it (perhaps Eleusis_walks, I'm away from my home puter at the moment and don't have links, but "Someone has to speak for her" is the relevant meta I believe) but basically - The "Guardian" draws on fantasies of European matriarchal "wiccan" or pagan cultures (celtic/goddess religions, etc) that were popular for a few decades (I dabbled in it in college in the '90's); the Guardian claims that she is the last of the Guardians who were around since the dawn of time - which implies that "white" homo sapiens have existed before or concurrently with humans in Africa; and in giving Buffy the Scythe she represents the "good" side of Slayer powers - white, European, female.
In contrast, in Get it Done, the Shadowmen - three African males - represent the "dark" or "bad" side of Slayer powers (the side that Buffy has feared since she was called - Nightmares); and is depicted not just as a rape of a girl by a demon but in GiD it's portrayed as the gang rape of a white girl, Buffy, who rejects the attempt to replicate the original violation of the First Slayer: "This is not the way!" (And in contrast we never actually see or hear from the First Slayer in this episode. She has no voice, no power and the white girl has to speak for her.
I don't need to recount how the fears of black men "raping our women" and "miscegenation of the races" were used as excuses for lynching black men well into the 20th century. I have a feeling none of this ever occurred to the writers at the time - I don't think it was done on purpose at all - but I'm still amazed that not one person said "Wait a minute, is this a good idea?"
The show's record of race is not good from the beginning; but in S7 the writers seem to be making an effort to have more "diversity" onscreen; the harder they tried, the more they fucked up.
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In contrast, in Get it Done, the Shadowmen - three African males - represent the "dark" or "bad" side of Slayer powers (the side that Buffy has feared since she was called - Nightmares); and is depicted not just as a rape of a girl by a demon but in GiD it's portrayed as the gang rape of a white girl, Buffy, who rejects the attempt to replicate the original violation of the First Slayer: "This is not the way!" (And in contrast we never actually see or hear from the First Slayer in this episode. She has no voice, no power and the white girl has to speak for her.
I don't need to recount how the fears of black men "raping our women" and "miscegenation of the races" were used as excuses for lynching black men well into the 20th century.
I have a feeling none of this ever occurred to the writers at the time - I don't think it was done on purpose at all - but I'm still amazed that not one person said "Wait a minute, is this a good idea?"
The show's record of race is not good from the beginning; but in S7 the writers seem to be making an effort to have more "diversity" onscreen; the harder they tried, the more they fucked up.