I don't remember seeing that! MOAR research to do!
I particularly like your linkage of Dawn with writing her own narrative. Angel is the only other character to do a voice-over (unless you count Andrew in Storyteller and Passion is all about recreating and rewriting teh narrative too.
This is part of the thesis and I mentioned it briefly in my presentation at Slayage, as well. Angelus is a "villian" when he does voice-over, so his interference in the narrative is conceived of as more dangerous and his voice calls attention to Buffy's lack of power.
In my reading, Andrew and Jonathan are the "Dangerous Fan" -> they interfere too much and cause problems. Dawn is significantly different because she is both the act of revision and the object of revision - vs. Jon and Andrew who consciously and purposefully try to bend the Buffyverse to their own perspective. And/Jon = dangerous fan vs. Dawn = "harmless" Mary Sue ... the narrative works to keep her - while the characters work to evict Jon/And's influence. Jon/And also take Buffy's power away - while Dawn's presence serves to prove the extent of her power.
In other words - Yes. You are right. Dawn is not the only voice-over. She is not the only narrative revision. Yet, she is the one the narrative ACCEPTS and fandom (on average) seems to REJECT ... part of this I think is that she is "too much" us. And also, there seems to be a bizarre satisfaction in Jon/And being "punished" for intervening on our text. Dawn is not "punished" in the same way, she is just as much a victim of revision as the audience - and yet, is not identifiable?
It's all very complicated and I haven't worked out the kinks. Dawn is so .... SPECIAL! I find it utterly bizarre that fans didn't embrace her.
I particularly like your linkage of Dawn with writing her own narrative. Angel is the only other character to do a voice-over (unless you count Andrew in Storyteller and Passion is all about recreating and rewriting teh narrative too.
This is part of the thesis and I mentioned it briefly in my presentation at Slayage, as well. Angelus is a "villian" when he does voice-over, so his interference in the narrative is conceived of as more dangerous and his voice calls attention to Buffy's lack of power.
In my reading, Andrew and Jonathan are the "Dangerous Fan" -> they interfere too much and cause problems. Dawn is significantly different because she is both the act of revision and the object of revision - vs. Jon and Andrew who consciously and purposefully try to bend the Buffyverse to their own perspective. And/Jon = dangerous fan vs. Dawn = "harmless" Mary Sue ... the narrative works to keep her - while the characters work to evict Jon/And's influence. Jon/And also take Buffy's power away - while Dawn's presence serves to prove the extent of her power.
In other words - Yes. You are right. Dawn is not the only voice-over. She is not the only narrative revision. Yet, she is the one the narrative ACCEPTS and fandom (on average) seems to REJECT ... part of this I think is that she is "too much" us. And also, there seems to be a bizarre satisfaction in Jon/And being "punished" for intervening on our text. Dawn is not "punished" in the same way, she is just as much a victim of revision as the audience - and yet, is not identifiable?
It's all very complicated and I haven't worked out the kinks. Dawn is so .... SPECIAL! I find it utterly bizarre that fans didn't embrace her.
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