I didn't entirely buy Xander being like "even if Buffy doesn't remember you, I will" because I'm like NUUUUU NO ONE IS CLOSER TO DAWN THAN BUFFY,
FUCK THAT NOISE. Didn't these writers actually WATCH the damn show? And why do I keep asking that when I know what the answer is?
And if it turns out that once again that the writers agree with Xander because he's "the one who sees" or some shit? Grrrr...... *gets stabby*
Still hating that Dawn is being victimized.
Right? One of the things I loved best about Dawn in the show was her courage despite lack of Slayer powers, her independence and strong personality, and the way she has to overcome identity issues that could be crippling (Riley fucked up in S5 with far less to deal with but we already know this). Even when Dawn was the "damsel" to Buffy in S5 she was never a victim - she fought a demon with a coatrack to protect Joyce and sassed back the Hellgod who was going to kill her. bone_dry1013 said to me recently that "Summers blood must be the blood of true champions." So seeing Dawn reduced
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Nooo stay, these are entirely legitimate reasons to be furious! The fact that I liked it speaks to how meh the season has been so far.
... I'm so glad you agree with me on these points tbh, especially the Xander thing. I mean, as I said, seeing as they're a couple I can buy that this is Xander's perspective but idk it still rubbed me the wrong way.
And uuugh, Dawn - she's literally disappearing so there's not much she can do at all. :(
Finally: wow, I never thought I'd say this, but Ithink S9 might be an actual example of what happens when you try TOO hard to cram social issues into your story. These things are worthy of being addressed, but you need proper follow-up, and not the kind that makes matters worse (see: so I thought I was pregnant but Andrew just turned me into a robot).
bone_dry1013 and I have been talking a lot lately about social issues in the media and is it possible to handle political and social topics in such a way that it doesn't feel forced - a "very special episode" type of thing where everything comes screeching to a halt so that someone can be the writers' mouthpiece, blah blah. And I do believe it IS possible to do it right. we know that in fact. Look at Buffy S5 - it incorporates problems with the healthcare system, disparities in care re: socioeconomic class, overcrowding, the lack of resources and attention to mental health, the fact that women are overwhelmingly the caregivers for sick family members, etc. It's all there to unpack if you want to pay attention but they never stop telling the story. (the body being an exception, and that episode is the best tv I've ever seen about the realities of death and loss for the survivors. And Joyce's death is absolutely crucial to Buffy's story - it splits her world in two
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I could actually see Xander being closer to Dawn now, because... Dawn and Buffy are very close in S5, but I kind of don't think they ever really regain that closeness after Buffy returns from the dead? And while Dawn is very important to Buffy, in many ways it's sort of a symbolic importance - it's more that Dawn is the embodiment of the normal life, the humanity, that Buffy is convinced she can never have. Dawn has to be protected, Dawn has to be happy so Buffy can live vicariously through her. So a lot of times I think Buffy doesn't actually see Dawn for who Dawn is rather than who Buffy wants her to be
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So a lot of times I think Buffy doesn't actually see Dawn for who Dawn is rather than who Buffy wants her to be.
True, but then Dawn was set up to be Buffy's "love interest" in lieu of Riley or a boyfriend (because clearly a woman can't focus on two people in her life at once, apparently. I - have issues with this.) What you describe does apply to - well, pretty much any relationship (everyone on BTVS is projecting their own needs onto one another constantly). I think it goes both ways with Dawn: she wants Buffy to spend time with her, until she wants her space; she wants boundaries but chafes against them; she wants protection but she wants independence. Pretty normal teen identity stuff really.
In love relationships specifically though: Be my lover, be my friend, be my companion, go away when I want space, stay when I'm lonely, give me the love my parents never did, love me as much as my parents did, be my everything etc etc etc etc So I'm a bit skeptical about Xander because - how far are they in this relationship? My
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Oh, yeah, I think Xander and Dawn have a long way to go before they're the greatest love story of all time. *g* It's just that, given the way Buffy's acted towards Dawn for the last two or three years, I don't see them as being super close any longer. Honestly, I can't blame Buffy for having a certain amount of resentment for having to basically become Dawn's parent very young and unprepared - I don't see Dawn as Buffy's love interest so much as I see their relationship as a metaphor for the sacrificial motherhood Joss is so enamored of. Fathers in the Jossverse kill their children; mothers die for them. (I have some issues of my own!)
I don't see Dawn as Buffy's love interest so much as I see their relationship as a metaphor for the sacrificial motherhood Joss is so enamored of. Fathers in the Jossverse kill their children; mothers die for them. (I have some issues of my own!)
Or in the case of mothers, are killed by their children (Maggie), but then Maggie is the opposite, the "smother-mother"; but - oh yeah, you just summed up another one of my hot-button issues. I tried reading it all in a subversive way - women have been martyrs for their families, childbirth used to be one of the leading causes of death in adult women prior to the 20th century, etc - but that's not how it's being played. There's a fear of women's bodies, of women's minds, that smacks of late 19th century fin de sicle attitudes of the "femme fatale". You don't have to be a mother on the show; you just have to be a woman and your sexuality will be punished at some point, either as predator or victim
( ... )
FUCK THAT NOISE. Didn't these writers actually WATCH the damn show? And why do I keep asking that when I know what the answer is?
And if it turns out that once again that the writers agree with Xander because he's "the one who sees" or some shit? Grrrr...... *gets stabby*
Still hating that Dawn is being victimized.
Right? One of the things I loved best about Dawn in the show was her courage despite lack of Slayer powers, her independence and strong personality, and the way she has to overcome identity issues that could be crippling (Riley fucked up in S5 with far less to deal with but we already know this). Even when Dawn was the "damsel" to Buffy in S5 she was never a victim - she fought a demon with a coatrack to protect Joyce and sassed back the Hellgod who was going to kill her. bone_dry1013 said to me recently that "Summers blood must be the blood of true champions." So seeing Dawn reduced ( ... )
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... I'm so glad you agree with me on these points tbh, especially the Xander thing. I mean, as I said, seeing as they're a couple I can buy that this is Xander's perspective but idk it still rubbed me the wrong way.
And uuugh, Dawn - she's literally disappearing so there's not much she can do at all. :(
Finally: wow, I never thought I'd say this, but Ithink S9 might be an actual example of what happens when you try TOO hard to cram social issues into your story. These things are worthy of being addressed, but you need proper follow-up, and not the kind that makes matters worse (see: so I thought I was pregnant but Andrew just turned me into a robot).
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True, but then Dawn was set up to be Buffy's "love interest" in lieu of Riley or a boyfriend (because clearly a woman can't focus on two people in her life at once, apparently. I - have issues with this.) What you describe does apply to - well, pretty much any relationship (everyone on BTVS is projecting their own needs onto one another constantly). I think it goes both ways with Dawn: she wants Buffy to spend time with her, until she wants her space; she wants boundaries but chafes against them; she wants protection but she wants independence. Pretty normal teen identity stuff really.
In love relationships specifically though: Be my lover, be my friend, be my companion, go away when I want space, stay when I'm lonely, give me the love my parents never did, love me as much as my parents did, be my everything etc etc etc etc So I'm a bit skeptical about Xander because - how far are they in this relationship? My ( ... )
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Or in the case of mothers, are killed by their children (Maggie), but then Maggie is the opposite, the "smother-mother"; but - oh yeah, you just summed up another one of my hot-button issues. I tried reading it all in a subversive way - women have been martyrs for their families, childbirth used to be one of the leading causes of death in adult women prior to the 20th century, etc - but that's not how it's being played. There's a fear of women's bodies, of women's minds, that smacks of late 19th century fin de sicle attitudes of the "femme fatale". You don't have to be a mother on the show; you just have to be a woman and your sexuality will be punished at some point, either as predator or victim ( ... )
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