Season 7 had flaws, but the ending of "Chosen", its final metaphor, was extremely satisfying in regard to Buffy's journey and the themes of growing-up and female empowerment. "The Gift" was moving but wouldn't have worked as a relevant closure for the series.
Marking scripts in May? Are you at Oxbridge? Couldn't agree more about Ishiguro - but I think that book is pointedly not SF - not only is the world-building "terrible" but he's simply not interested in exploring the implications of the society he hints at. The world just is the way it is and can't be changed.
Not Dxbridge, just the Godless Institution. Everything's early this year because of Easter.
Never Let Me Go was the on the Guardian Book Club a few weeks ago and Ishirigo said he didn't decide the children were clones untill quite late in, he just had an idea about some kids at an odd kind of boarding school. Some of the comments were interesting, people accepted that it wasn't about the implications of cloning as such but still found the book disatisfying because none of the protagonists tried to rebel ie do the obvious scifi thing plot thing and change or react to their world rather than each other.
How's your play going now the birth pangs are over? It sounded really exciting.
none of the protagonists tried to rebel ie do the obvious scifi thing plot thing and change or react to their world rather than each otherThat curious passivity is what I rather thought Joss Whedon was referring to when he said "It's absolutely his sensibility. It's The Remains of the Clone". I took the whole set-up as being a metaphor for, well, the human condition, I suppose, so rebelling against that society made as much sense as rebelling aginst being human and getting sick and old - you can get angry, but there's nothing you can actually *do* about it. It's really intriguing to know that the clone idea became part of the concept so late
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"It's absolutely his sensibility. It's The Remains of the Clone" Hee, I wish I'd said that. The clone thing did seem the obvious Ishirigoism. Imitations of life.
Putting on play sounds very, very scary. Is it still worth it? Or do you think it would be better with an outside run, to have some independent audience feedback at least in the bums on seats sense?
have serious misgivings about Buffy giving up her life for Dawn as a series ending. It’s a little too close to Darla’s self sacrifice in Lullaby in the way it seems to conflate motherhood and lethal self-abnegation, the idea that death is the best you can do for your children.
Yes. This has always been a bit of an issue with me. What Buffy and Darla did, some mothers would do without a second thought and I think this was Whedon's point about love giving you the strength of resolve. But on the heels of the lack of parental guidance most of the scoobies received, it really seems wrought. Isn't there some healthy middle for parents?
I think that's one reason I like the last two seasons so much - it has been suggested that S6 is a very good analogy of a working mother, going through the daily grind with hardly a word of thanks, because it's nothing more than what everyone expects (not that it's as depressing as what we see of course). And then at the end of S7 we see 'the children' all grown up - strong and confident and ready to start their own lives. (Not that the process was easy of course, but every mother screws up somehow...) :)
Oh exactly. I can appreciate the self-sacrifice in the context of the later seasons. Like Joss says it's a beautiful thing. But if it had ended with that there would be some creepier resonance. Male heroes die to save the world and it's a noble thing but if a woman does the same she's just doing what's expected. In patriachal societies she's just a vessel for the child.
And that is what gives Chosen so much texture I think, knowing that Buffy got through all of that intact. She births (most importantly) a healthy self in all of that too, not just the self sacrifice for others.
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...about children with special needs.
Somehow the last bit of that sentence never made it onto screen. *headdesk*
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And you're half-way through marking too. Die scripts , die!
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Couldn't agree more about Ishiguro - but I think that book is pointedly not SF - not only is the world-building "terrible" but he's simply not interested in exploring the implications of the society he hints at. The world just is the way it is and can't be changed.
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Never Let Me Go was the on the Guardian Book Club a few weeks ago and Ishirigo said he didn't decide the children were clones untill quite late in, he just had an idea about some kids at an odd kind of boarding school. Some of the comments were interesting, people accepted that it wasn't about the implications of cloning as such but still found the book disatisfying because none of the protagonists tried to rebel ie do the obvious scifi thing plot thing and change or react to their world rather than each other.
How's your play going now the birth pangs are over? It sounded really exciting.
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Hee, I wish I'd said that. The clone thing did seem the obvious Ishirigoism. Imitations of life.
Putting on play sounds very, very scary. Is it still worth it? Or do you think it would be better with an outside run, to have some independent audience feedback at least in the bums on seats sense?
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Yes. This has always been a bit of an issue with me. What Buffy and Darla did, some mothers would do without a second thought and I think this was Whedon's point about love giving you the strength of resolve. But on the heels of the lack of parental guidance most of the scoobies received, it really seems wrought. Isn't there some healthy middle for parents?
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