Meme answers

[redbrickrose]

lafemmedarla asked about Lindsey/Eve.

I . . . ummm . . . love Lindsey/Eve. (I'm so ashamed). Not because of what they are, but because of what they should be. I have this thing about evil-in-love (or even morally-ambiguous-in-love) I like it when characters are shades of gray and clever and manipulative and they run around being clever and manipulative and

Comments

[redbrickrose]

Oh, thanks. I'm glad you found it interesting.

I'd probably have to rewatch FF to go a whole lot more in-depth. I don't think there are many references to the families of Serenity's crew except for the Tams, who really seem to be an exception. Like in the Buffyverse, FF centers on a group of people who are misfits, really, and become family to each other. Those really are the dynamics that all Joss shows tend to explore. I just find River and Simon really interesting because they are so intensely devoted to each other, and they really are the only sibling we even see in any Buffyverse show, except for Buffy and Dawn. I don't really have any original thoughts on why that is, but Buffy and Dawn were devoted too, to the point where Buffy died for Dawn. Hmmmm. I read an essay once that argued that very few Jossverse characters have siblings/visible biological family because in order to explore the relationships he tends to focus on, Joss has to preclude that dynamic because it is so important that it does trump everything else. It was argued more eloquently than that, and unfortunately I don't remember who wrote it. There might be some truth to that, because in the few cases where the characters do have biological family they're close to, that's definitely the case. (Alona and Gunn, Angel and Connor, Buffy and Dawn, River and Simon - mostly siblings, which is also interesting).

Huh. In that light, maybe it's not that different from SPN after all. SPN has such a narrow focus. All of Joss's shows are ensemble, and SPN has, like, two characters. Other characters had the constructed family thing (The Roadhouse). Of course, since Sam and Dean got involved there and Sam and Dean can't have ANYONE BUT EACH OTHER EVER and tend to be punished for trying (that right there is why Wincest is tragic), that . . . ended badly. But yeah. Hmm.

[raincitygirl]

I think you might be onto something there. Interesting that Dawn's advent on the scene was shortly followed by Joyce's incapacity and then death, like Joss didn't want to have more than one close famly relationship to wrangle at once. He is all about the constructed family, and you're right, maybe too much in the way of family ties would've made the Scoobies seem less important by comparison. Interesting that Buffy was prepared to sacrifice her boyfriend to save the world, but not her sister.

But even with the blood ties, it's still constructed family in the Jossverse. Buffy makes a deliberate decision after finding out about Dawn's key-ness to embrace her as her sister. Part of that could be because even though she *knows* all her memories of her little sister are false, they likely don't feel false. But Dawn's mystical origins would've in fact given her an out if she'd chosen saving the world over Dawn.

But the family relationships we see in BtVS are by and large chosen. Joyce leaves her old life behind to start over in Sunnydale and give Buffy a fresh start at a new school. And she remains committed (well, mostly) to being a good mom to her daughter despite some fairly hellish experiences both before and after finding out Buffy's not a delinquent, just a Slayer. Her one rejection of Buffy is clearly shown as an impulse decision under great stress.

By contrast, Hank Summers starts out as a reasonably involved long-distance non-custodial parent (he visits her in Sunnydale, she spends a summer with him, he's worried about her in the fall), then gradually disappears from Buffy's life, to the point of not even showing up for his children's mother's funeral, apparently never advocating that Dawn come and live with him instead of her barely-out-of-high-school sister, and not even paying Buffy child support for Dawn. His abandonment of his kids isn't as dramatic as Gabriel and Regan Tam's, but it's just as devastating in a lower-key way.

In Firefly again, the key familial relationship is between siblings, not parent and child, and just like with Buffy and Dawn, it's siblings with a pretty large age gap. Which allows the older sibling to act as a surrogate parent to the younger when the parents inevitably leave. It's a constructed family relationship in which Buffy/Simon deliberately choose to take on much more responsibility for Dawn/River than is expected from siblings, and try to replace the absent parents.

I'd say the constructed family trope is actually more intense with Simon and River, because Buffy had one parent who was a good role model and could be seen as making that decision in part because Joyce had raised her right prior to dying. Buffy could be seen as following in her mom's footsteps, modelling behaviour she'd grown up with. Gabriel and Regan Tam, though, are parents who are loving and indulgent on the surface, but whose love is shallow. Buffy and Joyce have a high-conflict relationship that's founded on love, while Gabriel and Regan choose status and not rocking the boat over their daughter's welfare (and for all they know, her life), and they expect Simon to do the same. That's how they raised him, and Gabriel is clearly bewildered by his good, obedient son being willing to risk everything for River. When he runs, Simon rejects not only his prosperous life on Osiris, but his birth family's entire value system, in order to build a new family.

Kind of amazing that Simon a nd River turned out so well, given Gabriel and Regan. Maybe they had a really kind nanny or something.

[redbrickrose]

Yes, exactly. The family relationships are chosen.

I'd say the constructed family trope is actually more intense with Simon and River,

It's interesting that you say that. I think you're right, actually. I was using them as an exception from Joss's themes of constructed family, but I was ignoring the fact that Simon had taken on more of parental role. Of course, the big brother role is still a protective one, but I do think you've got a point there.

And you can look at SPN through that lens as well, maybe. By the point we are in canon now, they have a purely fraternal relationship, but the four year age gap when they were kids seems to have frequently left Dean in the caretaker role. Huh.

Interesting thoughts! Thanks for sharing.