Comments | taaroko: The Logic of Season Six Willow and the "Magic Equals Drugs" Metaphor

taaroko

The Logic of Season Six Willow and the "Magic Equals Drugs" Metaphor

Jan 04, 2011 17:32

Okay, ever since I got into the online fandom, I've noticed that most people tend to have some issue or other with the execution of Willow's arc in season six, and with the way that "the magic is such a thin metaphor for drugs that it practically isn't a metaphor at all", and "why would magic suddenly work like drugs when it never has before", and ( Read more... )

willow, meta: btvs/ats

Comments 16

a2zmom January 5 2011, 01:47:55 UTC

I really like this. I've always had a problem with Wilow's arc but this makes so much sense.

taaroko January 5 2011, 01:50:13 UTC

Woohoo! *punches air in triumph*

perpetual January 5 2011, 02:30:58 UTC

All logical, fits right into canon. Honestly, my biggest problem with the "drug metaphor" (which, you're right, isn't a metaphor at all) wasn't that it didn't make sense but that I thought I was watching a vampire show and suddenly found myself watching a drug addiction movie. But that's a personal beef.

One thing I'd like to add is an interesting quote from the very beginning of Willow's journey into magic. Giles tells her (from memory, please excuse errors) that casting the spell to return Angel's soul "may open a door that can't easily be closed." And indeed, it never was closed. What would have happened if Willow had chosen to make that her last spell ever? Was there really no turning back, even that early?

taaroko January 5 2011, 03:04:38 UTC

Yay, logic! :P I might have been more surprised to find a drug addiction theme in one of the early seasons, back when vampires were still the Big Bads and Buffy fought at least one of them every episode, but by the time it was season six, vampires had been reduced to being the occasional momentary hindrance. And set alongside the rest of the misery in season six, it stood out even less.

That *is* a very interesting quote. Personally, I think there's no way she would have made that her last spell ever. She had just tapped into a whole new world of exciting new possibilities. Even without her weakness for power, her curiosity (another big quality of hers) would have been too strong to ignore. I mean, look at what she was already doing with her computer skills before she had even met Buffy. She didn't just stop at programming circles around her classmates and other legal forms of techno-savviness, she hacked into the computer systems of local government offices. Because she could.

perpetual January 6 2011, 05:02:54 UTC

I agree that Willow wouldn't have backed off from magic at that point, simply due to who she is, but what if she did? If she really hadn't wanted anything more to do with it, would the magic itself have changed her mind and brought her back around? Would she have suffered withdrawals?

...she hacked into the computer systems of local government offices. Because she could.

That is really telling, isn't it?

taaroko January 6 2011, 08:18:34 UTC

I don't think the magic itself would have pulled her back, you know, magically, but the lure of the opportunities it offers is why she wouldn't have stopped. That's not to say that stopping would have been impossible; she'd just need a different personality first. I don't think she would have suffered withdrawals from not doing any more magic at that point because, again, it's not the drug magic yet.

It certainly tells me that the way her arc progressed with her use of magic is consistent with what her character has always been.

Thread 9

ares132006 January 5 2011, 08:10:47 UTC

What you have so eloquently said is what I have thought all along, although you have explained it in more detail than I have given it thought. I, too, thought the progression of Willow into Dark Willow was a journey, and a terrible one at that. Yes, it can be likened to drug addiction, because she was addicted, but, as you have put it, Rack's magic was different, potent, and it tainted any magic that Willow touched from then on.

Willow did think she was above the rules, that she could do anything and that magic gave her that right. I loved how you explained her journey, that she didn't give up magic because it was the right thing to do, but because it kept her from rock bottom.

Thank you for a thought provoking meta.

taaroko January 5 2011, 16:06:02 UTC

Hehe, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this way. It felt like sound and obvious logic, but nobody online seemed to have considered it ( ... )

ital_gal January 5 2011, 13:49:47 UTC

Agreed it was a great meta. Really well written and makes a lot fo sense. Of course it wasn`t a metaphor at all, thanks for laying out the argument so well. Thanks also for bringing up Willows need for power. I think also she got so used to being the smartest girl in the room that she started to figure that she could and should do whatever she wanted or felt was right.

Do think though she was abusing power/magic in many small ways before she brings Buffy back, like for example in Something Blue..

Anyway, this really cool thought provoking meta. thanks for writing

taaroko January 5 2011, 16:14:03 UTC

Thanks! Yeah, Willow's intelligence made her very arrogant and entitled. Warnings and cautions were like dares. She always wanted to prove she could do it in spite of the warnings, because she's so brilliant that she can get around the consequences where others wouldn't be able to.

Oh, I forgot about "Something Blue". That was the first big time she tried to use magic to solve her personal life problems, wasn't it? Good one.

Sorry for the interruption… anna_williams January 9 2011, 05:28:30 UTC

I just stumbled over from ff.net and the topic grabbed me. I definitely agree that Willow’s magic issues were a literal representation of addiction as opposed to metaphor (Buffy’s relationship with Spike is probably a better metaphor for addition, but I digress.) That said I’m still not sure that the storyline works with what we know of the character ( ... )