I didn't mean to embarrass you, dear - and I should have typed "an authority" on Willow rather than "the". But otherwise I'm quite comfortable with that statement, although I certainly wouldn't expect you to box yourself in that regard!
I feel a bit like there's a lot about Willow's arc I haven't actually decided on/figured out, and so, I dunno
Well this meta was me working out Xander's arc in ways I hadn't before, so I'm all for working things out and evolving in our opinions. One of the things I love about BtVS is that in just a few short months my thoughts and feelings have evolved and deepened in unexpected ways - there's always something new to explore - so I now "get" why we're still writing about it ten years on. And like you, reading other peoples thoughts, ideas, comments challenge me immensely to think in new directions or articulate my own thoughts more clearly.
And to your list of inspirations I would add the_royal_anna, angearia (Emmie), elisi, and lostboy_lj, among others. And fanfic can be as thought-provoking as metas.
Anyhoo....
Your thoughts on Xander and Anya are giving me a LOT to think about. I read your responses to ever_neutral's S7 love from two years ago, and you mentioned that Xander was right to leave Anya, if not in that way, and I wanted you to explain further, so you've done a wonderful job here. I really haven't parsed out her arc yet, nor her joint arc with Xander. Part of that, I think, is the fact that for most of the series she is comic relief; sort of a replacement for Cordy in terms of honesty and frankness and lack of embarrassment. (And Emma Caulfield is of course superb.) The show tends to handwave away awful acts when played for laughs; even in the WIsh, she's dangerous, frightening, etc - and yet at the end, the joke is on her and she becomes a comic figure and remains so for the majority of the run.
But then in the S6 finale she's on Buffy and Giles' side trying to stop Willow and save the world, so the show itself really isn't dealing with her as a demon at that point either, even though she has become one. Ironic, in that context, that Willow could have just gone to Anya and wished vengeance on the Trio, but naturally at that point in the story it doesn't even occur to her. "Vengeance is mine" might be her motto at that point - it's a very emotional thing, whereas for Anya it's a job; she's a bit like Buffy in S1 - slaying is just a job rather than part of her self image, something she's detached from.
So S7 is the first attempt to really deal with her past and bring some closure to her arc. And it's telling perhaps that with 1000's of years of history as a demon, she gets less attention in that regard than Angel or Spike. I was taken aback by "Selfless" because it's the first time a lot of this information has been made explicit, rather than alluded to: that she not only hurt but actually murdered human beings; but also that she has no sense of 'self' outside of Xander. Her song in that episode where she is dressed as a 1950's housewife and sings lyrics one might expect from a woman of that era, took me by surprise because I never realized she was lacking a sense of self; her interest in money, in capitalism, in running the store, seemed entirely her own and wasn't really encouraged by others (she was the only one who payed any attention to finances. Buffy certainly could have benefitted by taking some of Anya's advice!)
But again, that may have been my own blindness to her character, that perhaps her role as comic relief encouraged me, if you will, from not looking beyond the surface?
And I admit feeling a very strong emotional reaction to HB, such that I haven't viewed most of it a second time, and am reluctant to. Her joy at the beginning - "I'm marrying my best friend and we'll be together forever" - is unusual for her, and it's what everyone wants, right? To marry their best friend? Of course, "forever" is as much a lie and an illusion as it was for Buffy and Angel. And then watching her walk down the aisle, alone and in tears - that broke my heart and it was hard to get past, although I've "forgiven" the boy for that, I think.
no subject
I feel a bit like there's a lot about Willow's arc I haven't actually decided on/figured out, and so, I dunno
Well this meta was me working out Xander's arc in ways I hadn't before, so I'm all for working things out and evolving in our opinions. One of the things I love about BtVS is that in just a few short months my thoughts and feelings have evolved and deepened in unexpected ways - there's always something new to explore - so I now "get" why we're still writing about it ten years on. And like you, reading other peoples thoughts, ideas, comments challenge me immensely to think in new directions or articulate my own thoughts more clearly.
And to your list of inspirations I would add the_royal_anna, angearia (Emmie), elisi, and lostboy_lj, among others. And fanfic can be as thought-provoking as metas.
Anyhoo....
Your thoughts on Xander and Anya are giving me a LOT to think about. I read your responses to ever_neutral's S7 love from two years ago, and you mentioned that Xander was right to leave Anya, if not in that way, and I wanted you to explain further, so you've done a wonderful job here. I really haven't parsed out her arc yet, nor her joint arc with Xander. Part of that, I think, is the fact that for most of the series she is comic relief; sort of a replacement for Cordy in terms of honesty and frankness and lack of embarrassment. (And Emma Caulfield is of course superb.) The show tends to handwave away awful acts when played for laughs; even in the WIsh, she's dangerous, frightening, etc - and yet at the end, the joke is on her and she becomes a comic figure and remains so for the majority of the run.
But then in the S6 finale she's on Buffy and Giles' side trying to stop Willow and save the world, so the show itself really isn't dealing with her as a demon at that point either, even though she has become one. Ironic, in that context, that Willow could have just gone to Anya and wished vengeance on the Trio, but naturally at that point in the story it doesn't even occur to her. "Vengeance is mine" might be her motto at that point - it's a very emotional thing, whereas for Anya it's a job; she's a bit like Buffy in S1 - slaying is just a job rather than part of her self image, something she's detached from.
So S7 is the first attempt to really deal with her past and bring some closure to her arc. And it's telling perhaps that with 1000's of years of history as a demon, she gets less attention in that regard than Angel or Spike. I was taken aback by "Selfless" because it's the first time a lot of this information has been made explicit, rather than alluded to: that she not only hurt but actually murdered human beings; but also that she has no sense of 'self' outside of Xander. Her song in that episode where she is dressed as a 1950's housewife and sings lyrics one might expect from a woman of that era, took me by surprise because I never realized she was lacking a sense of self; her interest in money, in capitalism, in running the store, seemed entirely her own and wasn't really encouraged by others (she was the only one who payed any attention to finances. Buffy certainly could have benefitted by taking some of Anya's advice!)
But again, that may have been my own blindness to her character, that perhaps her role as comic relief encouraged me, if you will, from not looking beyond the surface?
And I admit feeling a very strong emotional reaction to HB, such that I haven't viewed most of it a second time, and am reluctant to. Her joy at the beginning - "I'm marrying my best friend and we'll be together forever" - is unusual for her, and it's what everyone wants, right? To marry their best friend? Of course, "forever" is as much a lie and an illusion as it was for Buffy and Angel. And then watching her walk down the aisle, alone and in tears - that broke my heart and it was hard to get past, although I've "forgiven" the boy for that, I think.