31 Days of Female Characters: Women Who Got Screwed Over By Canon

[sunclouds33]

I thought I’d make the next five female character into a theme and talk about the women screwed by canon- even if I’m not doing the thematic 30 Days of Awesome Ladies that I’ve seen circulating. Mind you, these are women who were screwed by canon but who I still adore despite their late addition warts. Also, while I may have issues with the futures

Comments

[violaswamp]

Hmm, interesting. I agree that Abbey got screwed over by canon, but I actually think it started during Sorkin's reign. In Dead Irish Writers, she's basically told by Donna to get over herself because she dares to be angry at paying a higher price for her husband's lies than he does. And then CJ and Amy (of all people!) tell her that she shouldn't fuss about her own piddly medical license, because she's still a wife and mother and can do cool things because of her husband's job. In post-Sorkin years, it wasn't that they made her less sympathetic (she basically jump-starts Jed after the shutdown and makes him bring back Josh), so much as that they made her less political.

I agree that Jo got watered down beyond the point where I'd like. In Little Men and Jo's Boys, I got my enjoyment from Nan and Dan.

Willow I think was screwed by canon, but not in the way you say. I think she was shown to have power-lust problems as early as S2 (*definitely* by S4) and shows early signs of becoming a victim-turned-bully. My problem is that they shied away from the implications of making her dark by going with the "addiction" nonsense, which strips her of personal responsibility and makes it the magic's fault rather than hers.

[sunclouds33]

Thanks for the comment on all three entries! I see your point about Dead Irish Writers. I read Dead Irish Writers, perhaps in an idiosyncratic way. Jed and by extension Leo and CJ were working on keeping the Bartlet family friend on the panel to protect Abbey's license and Abbey's contention that she would have only gotten a letter of concern for her crimes if this wasn't political is never contested. This leads me to believe that Sorkin wants us to think that while Abbey was wrong, her being stripped of a license is unjust.

I read CJ's comments about her being sad!drunk and externalizing issues with her personal life onto Abbey and Amy trying to console Abbey for the eventuality that she'll lose her license by pointing out everything Abbey can do for health care even if she's not allowed to practice medicine. I thought Donna's comment was the most inappropriate but I thought Donna's intention was to comment on the wrongness of Abbey's behavior and frustration with the ongoing pity party rather than to justify Abbey losing her license.

As for Willow, I just really don't see "bully" in her at all prior to S6. Other adjectives that don't lend themselves to evil work more for me. "Self-centered" in Something Blue, pushy in "Earshot", unethical in "Lover's Walk"- but never "bully" and not someone who could realistically commit the acts of brutality that she does in S6 as herself.

I thought that magic crack was used more to get Willow to do crazy shit that looks scary and dramatic in the last three episodes with hardly any establishing scenes to get her to that point intellectually. (Because that's a lot of dots to connect from even mid-S6 Willow to the Willow we see in those last three episodes.) Given the brutality of Willow's actions in those last three episodes and the piss-poor redemption arc she was given, I really didn't see maintaining sympathy or excusing Willow's actions as a priority in the writer's room.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[violaswamp]

"Bully" is not the best word, no. My point was I can easily believe the progression from "Something Blue" to mindwiping Tara.

But now that you mention it, I do agree the acts of brutality at the very end of S6 don't make much sense. You're right that they didn't lay the groundwork for Willow trying to kill Buffy and Dawn and destroy the whole world, even if you start from mid-S6. And she was definitely given a terrible redemption arc. I think I saw these problems as the result of an overly benevolent (to the point of being patronizing) attitude to Willow rather than lack of sympathy for her character. I always got the impression that the writers were a bit too in love with Alyson Hannigan and Willow's character suffered for it, though I'm not sure where I got it from.