Random thoughts 3: William/Spike and his mother
It's been a very long time since my last post here, but here it is: a new addition to my series of random thoughts about BTVS.
First a confession; this one is not so random. These thoughts occured to me after reading some exchanges about Spike and his mother that took a very simplistic view of their relationship which goes along these lines: William had an unhealthy relationship with his mother who loved him but felt in her heart deeply frustrated to be housebound. This view more or less puts the responsability of the dysfonction on William's shoulder. Though I agree with some points in this, I also think it misses the complexity of the whole picture.
The series gives us only one episode to understand the relationship between William and his mother: Anne (human Anne) only appears in two scenes in LMPTM, further developping what FFL alluded to in regard to William's character.
- from William's side: his mother is the real center of his life, he can't let her go, he still hasn't reached adulthood in spite of being well past twenty. Yet he aspires to adulthood through the figure of Cecily and deep down like for his mother there's also frustration about his current life: becoming a vampire/dying made him feel alive for the very first time.
- from Anne's side: she seems to be encouraging his son's attempt at having a life, but her actions don't second her words.
In a short exchange, she tells her son she hopes he'll find a woman, William replies there's already a woman in his life (meaning her). Her reaction is to giggle and beam. There's something of a seduction going on there.
Later, as we discover she suffers from tuberculosis, William after having seen her cough and spit some blood, proposes to look for a doctor which she refuses. One can say (and rightly so) that she has the right to decide what to do with her health. But the concrete result is to tie a little more her son to her as he is the one who will have to take care of her. No mediator is allowed between her son and her.
The following scene has William sitting down at her mother's feet and leaning on her legs while she caresses his hair. If William's behaviour isn't "normal", his mother's isn't either. She's an active participant in this and is the one inviting her son to sit near her, manifesting her power over him.
The song she sings to him (and how many times has she done it?) is also revealing: Early one morning is the complaint of a young maiden betrayed and abandonned by her lover and asking him to never leave her.
So she seems at least ambivalent in her feelings towards her son: she may find his lack of independance frustrating but her behaviour reveals also a fear of abandonment and lets very little room for her son to grow up.
First a confession; this one is not so random. These thoughts occured to me after reading some exchanges about Spike and his mother that took a very simplistic view of their relationship which goes along these lines: William had an unhealthy relationship with his mother who loved him but felt in her heart deeply frustrated to be housebound. This view more or less puts the responsability of the dysfonction on William's shoulder. Though I agree with some points in this, I also think it misses the complexity of the whole picture.
The series gives us only one episode to understand the relationship between William and his mother: Anne (human Anne) only appears in two scenes in LMPTM, further developping what FFL alluded to in regard to William's character.
- from William's side: his mother is the real center of his life, he can't let her go, he still hasn't reached adulthood in spite of being well past twenty. Yet he aspires to adulthood through the figure of Cecily and deep down like for his mother there's also frustration about his current life: becoming a vampire/dying made him feel alive for the very first time.
- from Anne's side: she seems to be encouraging his son's attempt at having a life, but her actions don't second her words.
In a short exchange, she tells her son she hopes he'll find a woman, William replies there's already a woman in his life (meaning her). Her reaction is to giggle and beam. There's something of a seduction going on there.
Later, as we discover she suffers from tuberculosis, William after having seen her cough and spit some blood, proposes to look for a doctor which she refuses. One can say (and rightly so) that she has the right to decide what to do with her health. But the concrete result is to tie a little more her son to her as he is the one who will have to take care of her. No mediator is allowed between her son and her.
The following scene has William sitting down at her mother's feet and leaning on her legs while she caresses his hair. If William's behaviour isn't "normal", his mother's isn't either. She's an active participant in this and is the one inviting her son to sit near her, manifesting her power over him.
The song she sings to him (and how many times has she done it?) is also revealing: Early one morning is the complaint of a young maiden betrayed and abandonned by her lover and asking him to never leave her.
So she seems at least ambivalent in her feelings towards her son: she may find his lack of independance frustrating but her behaviour reveals also a fear of abandonment and lets very little room for her son to grow up.