Voting is apparently still open at the Willowy Goodness Awards!

[red_satin_doll]

Because I finally did exactly that - voted, that is. (It's 4:30-ish PM EST in my part of the world.) I hope to have redeemed myself in the eyes of my Willow-loving flisties.

(*bows low before velvetwhip in gratitude for her mercies*)

Do you people have ANY idea - ANY IDEA - how hard it is to "pick just one" when 1) there are SO many great authors and stories to choose from? As in, a superb overall level of quality? FEEEL MYYYY PAAAIIINNNNN.......

Speaking of Willow: spikesredqueen posted a gorgeous banner of Willow/Oz in Wild at Heart just a few days ago. I haven't rewatched that episode since the first (one) time I saw it, and this reminds me why that's probably so. Her banner captures what made that episode hurt so damn much, the tears on Willow's face, the betrayal, everything. Which also reminds me that I probably haven't said "Why the hell didn't Aly ever win an Emmy for her performance in the series?" (Besides the usual stupid genre prejudices - not just horror, high school and fantasy, but also the perception that BtVS was a "soap opera" and therefore "girly", perhaps?)

Between Sarah and Aly, they just took my heart and broke and wrung it out and stomped on it between the two of them.  Do it again, pretty please.

Comments

[wickedbish.livejournal.com]

I'm so high right now that angels couldn't touch me, and this damn GIF makes me PISSED AS HELL all over again that Tara died.

I mean, I love series where Anyone Can Die omg, and I love Buffy because it is such a great example of such a series (it's weird how the word "series" is either singular or plural, depending on context).

And I understand that Tara's death made sense from a "Happy People = Boring Television" perspective, ISN'T THAT RIGHT, JOSS

And I understand that Willow's dance into & out of the dark side had been hinted at ever since the very first time that she actually did real magic that only a witch could do (while recovering from brain surgery; here is a pencil, go ahead and draw your own fucking conclusions), and Buffy's death was the thing that started her descent into despair, and Tara's death was the one thing that could hurt her enough to make her almost destroy the world so the hurting would stop.

And I understand that Joss had been wanting to put an actor in the main credits and kill their character in the same episode since the very first episode of the very first season, which may or may not imply that he had been planning to kill Tara since before Marti Noxon convinced him that Amber Benson had made the part hers.

But, dammit. I mean, I will freely admit that I'm still messed up because my dad died when I was seven, and - possibly as a result of this - I maybe get a little more upset about the deaths of fictional characters than other people (example: Bonnie Bennett).

But being upset enough to cry some cathartic tears is one thing. Actually grieving is quite another.

I actually grieve for Tara Maclay.

Yes, still.

Which, you know, was probably Joss the Jerk's plan all along, huh?

[wickedbish.livejournal.com]

EDIT: Brain damage, not brain surgery. Sorry, I told you I was high.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry about that sweetie - what would ease your pain?

Anyhoo - I've had conversations recently with people who don't think it was homophobic and - sorry, but this event occured in a specific historical and cultural context, and people can't divorce from that, from the repetition of tropes that go back centuries, before movies and tv. And then add to that the context of "fooling the fans" (guess what? It fooled me too), and Joss' tantrum after the fact "it hurt me more than it hurt you!"

Unfortunately I didn't have this link in hand in those discussions at the time, now I do:
http://www.stephenbooth.org/lesbiancliche.htm

Willow's dance into & out of the dark side had been hinted at ever since the very first time that she actually did real magic
Actually since she told Cordy to hit the delete button in WTTH/The Harvest

Tara's death was the one thing that could hurt her enough to make her almost destroy the world

Fanfic definitely proves that there are thousands of ways to tell one story. They could have sought another way to do it.

Joss had been wanting to put an actor in the main credits and kill their character in the same episode since the very first episode

Fooling the fans is one thing when it's a one-and-done character like Jessie. Tara, or a much-loved regular (ESP a ground breaking character who is half of the first real lesbian couple in american tv?) that is another thing altogether, and making a joke out of is frankly gross. And again - cultural context. How many dead lesbians have we already seen?

he had been planning to kill Tara since before Marti Noxon convinced him that Amber Benson had made the part hers.

What I have read is that that was the endgame since season 1 or 2, that Joss was going to kill whoever Willow's partner was at the time; and that it was supposed to be Oz in S4. But then Seth green left and so they were going to keep Tara on for just a few episodes then kill her off but she was so popular. Only people who haven't done their homework would be shocked by that (aka straight people who have never had to think about it).

But keep in mind that's what I've read, and that could all be hindsight or something made up long after the fact, I don't know.

I mean, I will freely admit that I'm still messed up because my dad died when I was seven, and - possibly as a result of this - I maybe get a little more upset about the deaths of fictional characters than other people (example: Bonnie Bennett).

But being upset enough to cry some cathartic tears is one thing. Actually grieving is quite another.

I'm grieving right there next to you - and I have never grieved a character like this. And yes, my dad died when I was three (I was too young to understand) and I'm very sorry about your father, Ryan. But no, I don't go around grieving fictional characters, either. Just Tara. (I'd grieve Buffy is The Gift was the last episode, but we know she comes back and triumphs. Tara doesn't get that, nor does she get the flamey handfasting and the grand hero's death.)