Comments | red_satin_doll: The Earth Her Body - Fic by La Noyee, (and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse) (1/?)

red_satin_doll

The Earth Her Body - Fic by La Noyee, (and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse) (1/?)

Jun 17, 2013 14:53

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... )

char: dawn summers, sisters and other strangers, fandom: btvs, char: buffy summers, char: joyce summers, women of the buffyverse, meta, char: tara maclay, fic recs, pairing: buffy/tara

Comments 78

lynnenne June 18 2013, 02:29:36 UTC

Spike and Angel may be in her heart; Joyce and Dawn are her heart

So much this. That's why I don't understand (and don't like) all the hate that Dawn gets in fandom. She is absolutely essential to Buffy's story. Plus she's cute as a button! I love her and their sisterly bond.

red_satin_doll June 19 2013, 00:45:12 UTC

That's why I don't understand (and don't like) all the hate that Dawn gets in fandom.

Right? Then again I also don't get all the vitriol thrown at Buffy, Kennedy, Willow, etc. Dislike a character? Sure? Dislike what they do on the show? Absolutely, they all do "unlikeable" things, they are all disagreeable at times.

But outright buckets and buckets of hate? At some point I think it's an expression of the hatred for women we still have in our culture but also, the sometimes lazy "hive mind" of fandom, where it gets very easy to "join the crowd". (This coming from a woman who has been dumping on Riley lately so...I confess to my own hypocrisy. *gulp*) And also, women are expected to "do better and be better", whereas on some level I don't think that guys are held to as high a standard? Boys will be boys and all that. (And aside from valid reasons people have to dislike the direction of the later seasons, I honestly think that the same holds true of Joss vs Marti. Joss is "God", blah blah; Marti is the devil; nothing she did right ( ... )

pocochina June 18 2013, 04:43:20 UTC

I'm glad you decided to post this! Buffy and Tara have one of my favorite friendships on the show. They have that wonderful solid trust by the back half of S5, and they are so clearly doing their best for each other in S6. It doesn't unrealistically Fix Everything about Buffy's depression or Tara's betrayal by Willow, but it's so strong and real.

"Family" begins with Buffy verbally committing to protect Dawn from Glory after learning that Dawn isn't "real", and ends with Buffy and Dawn protecting Tara from the Maclays and naming her as one of their own: "Who do you think you are?" / "We're family."

!!!!

red_satin_doll June 18 2013, 20:38:42 UTC

I'm glad you decided to post this! Buffy and Tara have one of my favorite friendships on the show.

Thanks! I've got notes on a meta series on the subject, but talking with on her LJ really gave me the kick-start; I wasn't sure if there was any interest. I said to rahirah upthread that I've seen almost zero exploration of their relationship in fandom, even in a shippy way, and there is definitely a connection there, if underexplored. Fandom is usually the place to "fix" those omissions in canon, so why not Buffy & Tara? I meant it when I said that your meta is one of the only other places I've seen any genuine observations about them. Which is - weird.

I loved your observations about her courage in Hush, btw. Just the fact that she approached Willow, not knowing if she was lesbian and thus receptive or not? I came out in the '90's and let me tell you took a lot of courage if you didn't know for certain that the other person was a lesbian as well. The risk was huge on top of the possibility of normal rejection.

It doesn't ( ... )

rahirah June 19 2013, 04:17:56 UTC

IIRC it never says in canon where Tara is from. Everyone assumes the rural south because the way her family members were portrayed plays into a lot of rural southern stereotypes, but really? The could have come from Mendocino for all we know. One of the very few things we know about Tara's past is that she has some experience with horses, but other than that, they left everything very vague.

red_satin_doll June 19 2013, 15:29:28 UTC

but other than that, they left everything very vague.

IKR? Although it only just now occured to me, reading your post, that she COULD have been raised in CA because her dad was in the Army or moved for a job (was he? IDR) and she wasn't raised in the south etc. But then her brother...meh.

Stupid stereotypes. Go to the Detroit area sometime where I was born and raised - it's one of THE most segregated areas I've ever seen in this country, even compared to NC. (Actually, so is Hartford CT - pretty much any urban area in the US, nowadays.)

One of the very few things we know about Tara's past is that she has some experience with horses,

I WANT this in a fic like, yesterday. This needs to happen. - Tara riding horses? What a gorgeous mental image. AU S7 - Tara accompanies Willow to Giles' place? (And we actually get to meet the coven there, etc.)

Monday, June 17 livejournal June 18 2013, 05:26:41 UTC

User rahirah referenced to your post from Monday, June 17 saying: [...] [Fandom Discussion] Fic rec and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse [...]

rebcake June 18 2013, 06:42:32 UTC

Here's a graphic meta that speaks volumes about how important relationships between females are in the Buffyverse:

http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/261238.html

It's the most important thing. Trufax.

red_satin_doll June 18 2013, 20:16:43 UTC

It's the most important thing. Trufax.

I saw that when I first got into fandom - one of the best graphics/meta in Buffyverse fandom, EVAH.

Her revised version: http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/262713.html

mcjulie June 18 2013, 12:27:36 UTC

I love the Buffy/Tara connection. And the Dawn/Tara connection.

The Buffy/Willow connection drives the entire series.

red_satin_doll June 18 2013, 19:21:28 UTC

I love the Buffy/Tara connection. And the Dawn/Tara connection.

Yes there's really this whole "sisterly" (Tara as metaphorical sister/ mother figure) connection of Joyce/Buffy/Dawn/Tara/Willow that runs around in a loop. Tara carries the role of "mother figure", the Mother Principle on her shoulders when the burden becomes to heavy for Buffy - it's no accident Joyce's photo is visible in DT. Or TTG. Buffy, the "Mother/Protector" to the entire world as well as Dawn literally, still sometimes needs a mother herself.

And Faith is in there as well a bit more distantly (the sister Slayer, and Tara seeing her energy in WAY). There's really a lot there when I begin to dig - or fanwank.

The Buffy/Willow connection drives the entire series.*nods* Willow, "little sister" is the one who spurs Buffy to meet the Master in PG; then Dawn takes that role in the Gift. (I love the way the final scene of STSP parallels the Buffy& Willow scene in PG ( ... )