The Earth Her Body - Fic by La Noyee, (and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse) (1/?)
ETA: Additional screencaps added below cut - which has also been added. (Post in haste, repent at leisure.)
Take a Moment: by lanoyee. Gen, Buffy, Tara, Dawn. A "deleted scene" , post-"Grave"; Buffy bids a friend good-bye. Spare, elegant and melancholy, it's a scene I wish had been in the show. One of the things I love best about BtVS is how ( Read more... )
Take a Moment: by lanoyee. Gen, Buffy, Tara, Dawn. A "deleted scene" , post-"Grave"; Buffy bids a friend good-bye. Spare, elegant and melancholy, it's a scene I wish had been in the show. One of the things I love best about BtVS is how ( Read more... )
Also, I'll have you know that your choice of screencaps is PERSONALLY OFFENSIVE TO ME. >( By which I actually mean they're wonderful, but so very, very heartbreaking. /sobs eternally
I mean Buffy going to hug Tara and being SO HAPPY TO SEE HER? And Joyce and Buffy and Buffy and Dawn and that shot from The Body and /FLAILS.
I'm okay, really.
and unlike most tv and movies shows I grew up with
Haaa, I think I'm luckier there. I had things like Astrid Lindgren and Fantaghiró and such.
Not in blood alone, but in bond.
That is a beautiful way of putting it. Points to Kikimay!
and choose to love
YESSS I love that aspect. Love as a choice, a conscious effort. Love can be an emotion, but it can also be a deliberate act.
I could devote an entire meta just to "Joyce's kitchen" as symbol of the Mother Principal, of Mater.
You did realize writing this that I was going to get on enabling you to do this post-haste, right. /dangles cookies
Ah, but what you already have is so great! Put like that, the Mother Principle is indeed at the heart of the show, and it is the most valuable thing to attain and practice. It trumps violence and aggression and competition. It is also the bravest thing you can do.
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Just
The Prophecy Girl and post-Anne gifsets BREAK MY HEART WILL YOU. And and meeting Spike, and Tara, and Faith. AND CORDELIA! It's funny because for RP purposes I completely thought Dawn and Cordy sort of bonded over Buffy-directed spite back in the day.
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The one with Faith? WICKED COOL. (And the Angel one was funny: "You've got some explaining to do." / "So does he".) Mostly I don't feel the need to insert Dawn into earlier eps in my head canon, although I appreciate stories that do it well, but Dawn in S3 w/ Faith? Yes, please.
The Prophecy Girl
With the images of Buffy talking to Giles in the Gift? Yes, that is heartbreaking. But it's also interesting on a meta level -it emphasizes the fact that Willow was Buffy's metaphorical "little sister" in the early seasons (I always wondered if on some level Willow didn't also carry some resentment for being displaced, whether she was aware of it or not? I'm sure that's a big fat fanwank on my part - or maybe not, depending how you read Wrecked and TTG/Grave.)
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Mostly I don't feel the need to insert Dawn into earlier eps in my head canon, although I appreciate stories that do it well, but Dawn in S3 w/ Faith? Yes, please.
I don't have a pressing need to do it, but I'm enthusiastic when someone else does. And these gifsets are fantastic.
With the images of Buffy talking to Giles in the Gift? Yes, that is heartbreaking. But it's also interesting on a meta level -it emphasizes the fact that Willow was Buffy's metaphorical "little sister" in the early seasons (I always wondered if on some level Willow didn't also carry some resentment for being displaced, whether she was aware of it or not? I'm sure that's a big fat fanwank on my part - or maybe not, depending how you read Wrecked and TTG/Grave.)
... I think you just blew my mind a little. FTR if it's fanwank, I kinda like it.
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One of my favorite compliments in the whole wide world. Another cookie?
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Thanks hon! I just LOVE all the visual parallels and resonances throughout the series. Most of them unplanned, I'm sure, but pretty awesome nonetheless.
Now, I'm gonna ask a stupid question - what is the definition of a "gifset" exactly?
(For the record - I altered four screencaps but these are still separate images next to each other, not collaged or joined together in a single image. I don't think Photobucket has that capacity now. Fotoflexer does I think, but most times I'm too lazy to have to transfer images back and forth.)
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I actually felt bad because I was so extravagent in my praise of comlodge's Winged!Buffy present but way behind on the link I'd promised for your's. Anyway, I probably should have warned you - when I want to "rec" something, I go all out and tend to be "lush". tis my nature.
your choice of screencaps is PERSONALLY OFFENSIVE TO ME. >( By which I actually mean they're wonderful, but so very, very heartbreaking.
*sigh of relief* At first I started freaking out that I had offended you. I've been meaning to use some of those for a post of mother-daughter images (mostly Buffy&Joyce) over the seasons, but they seemed right here. I wanted to visually emphasize Joyce somehow. It's probably a good thing that I didn't use this one, right?
I had things like Astrid Lindgren and Fantaghiró and such.
I don't know if it's my fantasy or reality that they get it right in Europe more often in terms of diversity of women, including mature women onscreen? I know when my partner and I want to see mature women in a movie, we generally turn to "foreign films".
Points to Kikimay!
Yes, a gold star and cookies. She gets it right so often.
Love can be an emotion, but it can also be a deliberate act.
EXACTLY. Isn't that the POINT of the series? Buffy goes to her death twice not just as an act of duty but an act of LOVE. Love expressed through service, as angearia expressed it beautifully years ago.
/dangles cookies
I need as much of this sort of enabling (ie kick in the pants) as I can get.
Ah, but what you already have is so great! Put like that, the Mother Principle is indeed at the heart of the show, and it is the most valuable thing to attain and practice. It trumps violence and aggression and competition. It is also the bravest thing you can do.
YES. This is it, everything I was trying to say in two sentences. Exactly this.
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I feel so warm and fuzzy about it, really! I'm just unused to being anything but a lurker. ♥
*sigh of relief* At first I started freaking out that I had offended you.
Ahh, I'm sorry about that! Yeah, I may sometimes make jokes like that. I'll avoid it in the future, but if I do end up doing it -- let's say all caps and smileys are a pretty good indicator I'm kidding? Sorry for scaring you. /hugs
It's probably a good thing that I didn't use this one, right?
Yes. Yes, very good. Oh, how it burns. Oh, how everyone is sad.
I don't know if it's my fantasy or reality that they get it right in Europe more often in terms of diversity of women, including mature women onscreen? I know when my partner and I want to see mature women in a movie, we generally turn to "foreign films".
Huh, that's interesting. I'm not sure I can speak about mature women, specifically -- the examples I listed are children's media and about children or young women.
EXACTLY. Isn't that the POINT of the series? Buffy goes to her death twice not just as an act of duty but an act of LOVE. Love expressed through service, as angearia expressed it beautifully years ago.
Yes! That's a thought I've seen expressed often -- that action, and acts of service to others is just how Buffy does love. She's not very verbal about it.
And this is something I find very interesting about the fact that Buffy is a woman in a role that is, in many ways, traditionally and most often a male one -- in that the fact that she is a woman, a person usually expected to be emotional and emotionally open, serves to starkly set off just what that kind of life does to a person. I feel when male characters act standoffish and emotionless, it's much less noticeable because, well, that's how we expect them to act. And thus it's easy to overlook that this kind of life full of traumatic event after traumatic event affects and shapes them just as well. Which is kinda sad, but uhh. Here I'll show my personal bias, but I'm not personally interested in more stories about dude heroes and their manpain. :P
I need as much of this sort of enabling (ie kick in the pants) as I can get.
/adds brownies
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*lol* I'm glad you came out I'm always happy to chat with you! BTW, I really thought I had already replied to this. Oh well - this is why my inbox is so full.
I'll avoid it in the future, but if I do end up doing it -- let's say all caps and smileys are a pretty good indicator I'm kidding? Sorry for scaring you. /hugs
Oh no, please don't! I have a very dry and ironic (read: sarcastic) sense of humor myself, so I should remember to read the entire damn reply before I react. Because I don't want you to "hold back" on that. *hugs back*
that action, and acts of service to others is just how Buffy does love. She's not very verbal about it.
Did I link to these metas already? Best EVAH
http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/272405.html
http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/273029.html
in that the fact that she is a woman, a person usually expected to be emotional and emotionally open, serves to starkly set off just what that kind of life does to a person. I feel when male characters act standoffish and emotionless, it's much less noticeable because, well, that's how we expect them to act.
YES, SO MUCH TO THIS. And conversely, when women are warm and caring (and take on all the responsibilities for childcare etc) it's expected; a father watches his kids and it's called "babysittiing". And Buffy gets it from both directions, as do a lot of single moms IMO. Or the Tara in Tough Love vs Spike in Intervention comparison.
Here I'll show my personal bias, but I'm not personally interested in more stories about dude heroes and their manpain. :P
I've been told several times that I "Must" watch AtS, and I'm just not interested. I've grown up my whole life with male-centric stories.
/adds brownies
*Accepts brownies and runs away*
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