YES. So much so - and part of the impact for me comes from the fact that I KNOW that feeling, of barely being able to care for oneself because you're so depressed you don't care, you don't deserve to take care of yourself, and can't even summon the energy for the simplest tasks. It's one of the best, most realistic portrayals of depression I think I've seen in TV or movies.
It offers escape, not having to think about things you're no longer a part of, but strictly speaking it doesn't offer hope that things might get better - just acceptance.
I'm not sure that "hope" is the function of "heaven", though, at least as we define it culturally (beyond "gee I hope I get to Heaven when I die?") The Judeo-Christian idea is eternal reward for goodness (which seems to center less around good deeds and more worshipping the right god (although the NT version that Jesus - not to get religious on you, I pretty sure I'm an atheist at the moment - complicated that quite a bit, re: Mary and Martha (actions vs intent or "being"); the post-Christian idea seems to center around the ideal of eternal rest. And I think what people who feel suicidal long for is "rest"; I know in my worst times I have simply wanted to go to sleep and haven't cared about anything beyond that. When I'm at that point, hope isn't even on the menu.
Buffy certainly isn't religious and I don't think "hope" is even in her thoughts in the Gift - she thinks she's going to a Hell dimension - her duty (protect Dawn, fulfill the promise to her mother, save the world), and the desire for "rest" are what motivate her. (Wanting to be out of pain is not the same thing as wanting to die.) If she calls it "heaven" - and she says "I think I was in heaven", and says to Spike in AL that she doesn't know theology, all she knows is that she was happy - she's simply labeling her experience as such because it matches the cultural idea that she's been raised with. Just a people who have near-death experiences describe something that matches the general ideas of the culture and religion they've been raised with.
In some ways, Buffy's experience matches descriptions I've read of "near-death experiences" by people in North America, mostly: the almost blinding but comforting white light, and being drawn to it (as Buffy is in the Gift), then being pulled away with the knowledge that "it's not your time".
Re: Lily/Anne, I'd heard that she comes back in AtS; it sounds from your description that a lot of that final season in some ways is "About" Buffy but "not" Buffy - the effects Buffy has had on others and her legacies rather than her actual presence?
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-11-23 05:54 pm (UTC)YES. So much so - and part of the impact for me comes from the fact that I KNOW that feeling, of barely being able to care for oneself because you're so depressed you don't care, you don't deserve to take care of yourself, and can't even summon the energy for the simplest tasks. It's one of the best, most realistic portrayals of depression I think I've seen in TV or movies.
It offers escape, not having to think about things you're no longer a part of, but strictly speaking it doesn't offer hope that things might get better - just acceptance.
I'm not sure that "hope" is the function of "heaven", though, at least as we define it culturally (beyond "gee I hope I get to Heaven when I die?") The Judeo-Christian idea is eternal reward for goodness (which seems to center less around good deeds and more worshipping the right god (although the NT version that Jesus - not to get religious on you, I pretty sure I'm an atheist at the moment - complicated that quite a bit, re: Mary and Martha (actions vs intent or "being"); the post-Christian idea seems to center around the ideal of eternal rest. And I think what people who feel suicidal long for is "rest"; I know in my worst times I have simply wanted to go to sleep and haven't cared about anything beyond that. When I'm at that point, hope isn't even on the menu.
Buffy certainly isn't religious and I don't think "hope" is even in her thoughts in the Gift - she thinks she's going to a Hell dimension - her duty (protect Dawn, fulfill the promise to her mother, save the world), and the desire for "rest" are what motivate her. (Wanting to be out of pain is not the same thing as wanting to die.) If she calls it "heaven" - and she says "I think I was in heaven", and says to Spike in AL that she doesn't know theology, all she knows is that she was happy - she's simply labeling her experience as such because it matches the cultural idea that she's been raised with. Just a people who have near-death experiences describe something that matches the general ideas of the culture and religion they've been raised with.
In some ways, Buffy's experience matches descriptions I've read of "near-death experiences" by people in North America, mostly: the almost blinding but comforting white light, and being drawn to it (as Buffy is in the Gift), then being pulled away with the knowledge that "it's not your time".
Re: Lily/Anne, I'd heard that she comes back in AtS; it sounds from your description that a lot of that final season in some ways is "About" Buffy but "not" Buffy - the effects Buffy has had on others and her legacies rather than her actual presence?