Buffy stuff:
Jun. 16th, 2003 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyPower and Change:
It always strikes me, watching Chosen that Buffy does it the right way that time. The first time she tells everything that they're going in to fight, in Empty Places, she springs it on everyone and she has no reason but "I'm the leader and I've got a feeling." This time, she talks with Giles, Faith, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Dawn first. This way, she goes into the general meeting with the full support of the others behind her. She can learn from her mistakes.
What changed things?
In Touched, when Spike tells her that she was right about the vineyard, she says, "I don't feel right." But then she gets the chance to have a nap, and then the universe sends her two breaks in a row (the axe and Angel with the amulet). And the Guardian says something that I think is relevent: "I am one of many. Well, time was. Now I'm alone in the world."
So, she's the last Guardian left. What is it that the Shadowmen called Buffy?
Now reverse that and put it in Buffy's mouth: "I'm alone in the world. Well, time was. Now, I am one of many."
The reason that the Guardian lived was to speak with Buffy and once Buffy had found her, she had no more purpose. "An end is near." Her own?
Let's get back to the nap.
All season people have told Buffy that she needs to get some sleep. Terrible things happen when you're overtired (*has Princess Bride flashback*). Dream!Joyce told her that. Faith told her that. Xander did. Spike did. But she couldn't until the weight of all those girls was lifted off her shoulders. Which Faith and everyone did. She felt directionless, but she also now had the most important thing in the world: a choice. Without all those lives all on her, she could go into the vineyard alone and play a totally defensive game.
And then she found the axe. What the First had been trying fruitlessly to remove from solid stone, Buffy did in a matter of seconds.
A lot of people hated the idea that the Slayer power came from a symbolic demon rape. What this episode implied was that that is not where the power came from at all.
So what did the Shadowmen do? What did we see them do? They put the Slayer in chains, symbolic, mystical and physical. We saw the First Slayer in chains way back in Restless. Wake up, Buffy!
But before you can wake up, you have to know that you're sleeping. And she thought that she knew the right thing and she couldn't see any other way to do things. She had to open her eyes and see that while who has the power is important, it can change. She can change it.
"You're just a little girl."
Just a girl?
No such thing.
It always strikes me, watching Chosen that Buffy does it the right way that time. The first time she tells everything that they're going in to fight, in Empty Places, she springs it on everyone and she has no reason but "I'm the leader and I've got a feeling." This time, she talks with Giles, Faith, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Dawn first. This way, she goes into the general meeting with the full support of the others behind her. She can learn from her mistakes.
What changed things?
In Touched, when Spike tells her that she was right about the vineyard, she says, "I don't feel right." But then she gets the chance to have a nap, and then the universe sends her two breaks in a row (the axe and Angel with the amulet). And the Guardian says something that I think is relevent: "I am one of many. Well, time was. Now I'm alone in the world."
So, she's the last Guardian left. What is it that the Shadowmen called Buffy?
Now reverse that and put it in Buffy's mouth: "I'm alone in the world. Well, time was. Now, I am one of many."
The reason that the Guardian lived was to speak with Buffy and once Buffy had found her, she had no more purpose. "An end is near." Her own?
Let's get back to the nap.
All season people have told Buffy that she needs to get some sleep. Terrible things happen when you're overtired (*has Princess Bride flashback*). Dream!Joyce told her that. Faith told her that. Xander did. Spike did. But she couldn't until the weight of all those girls was lifted off her shoulders. Which Faith and everyone did. She felt directionless, but she also now had the most important thing in the world: a choice. Without all those lives all on her, she could go into the vineyard alone and play a totally defensive game.
And then she found the axe. What the First had been trying fruitlessly to remove from solid stone, Buffy did in a matter of seconds.
A lot of people hated the idea that the Slayer power came from a symbolic demon rape. What this episode implied was that that is not where the power came from at all.
So what did the Shadowmen do? What did we see them do? They put the Slayer in chains, symbolic, mystical and physical. We saw the First Slayer in chains way back in Restless. Wake up, Buffy!
But before you can wake up, you have to know that you're sleeping. And she thought that she knew the right thing and she couldn't see any other way to do things. She had to open her eyes and see that while who has the power is important, it can change. She can change it.
"You're just a little girl."
Just a girl?
No such thing.
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Date: 2003-06-16 11:59 pm (UTC)And the Guardian says something that I think is relevent: "I am one of many. Well, time was. Now I'm alone in the world."
[...]
Now reverse that and put it in Buffy's mouth: "I'm alone in the world. Well, time was. Now, I am one of many."
Love this. Perfect symmetry.
So, she's the last Guardian left. What is it that the Shadowmen called Buffy?
Yes! I speculated something along those lines myself after End of Days. She also says something like "We're the last surprise." We? If she's the last of her line, the only person she can be including in her plural is Buffy. Buffy is definitely a Guardian, the last Guardian, and she turns it all around.
The reason that the Guardian lived was to speak with Buffy and once Buffy had found her, she had no more purpose. "An end is near." Her own?
Her own end, and the end of the aloneness? Instead of being relegated to centuries of isolation in a Luxor Casino-themed temple, Buffy as the last Guardian/first Guardian is free to spread the power and live in the world. She can go forth and be a fireman now that the floods have rolled back.
All season people have told Buffy that she needs to get some sleep. Terrible things happen when you're overtired (*has Princess Bride flashback*). Dream!Joyce told her that. Faith told her that. Xander did. Spike did. But she couldn't until the weight of all those girls was lifted off her shoulders. Which Faith and everyone did. She felt directionless, but she also now had the most important thing in the world: a choice. Without all those lives all on her, she could go into the vineyard alone and play a totally defensive game.
I agree completely with all of this. For the first time since it all began, she could rest and regroup and decide to make the battle her own, just like she told the girls in Potential. It's the only way to win.
A lot of people hated the idea that the Slayer power came from a symbolic demon rape. What this episode implied was that that is not where the power came from at all.
So what did the Shadowmen do? What did we see them do? They put the Slayer in chains, symbolic, mystical and physical. We saw the First Slayer in chains way back in Restless. Wake up, Buffy!
I love this idea with all my heart! It honestly hadn't occurred to me in the slightest, but it makes perfect sense. The demon essence wasn't really power, it was chains. Power of sorts, yes, but the kind imposed externally, the kind that denies choice. Buffy's real power came from somewhere else entirely.
But before you can wake up, you have to know that you're sleeping. And she thought that she knew the right thing and she couldn't see any other way to do things. She had to open her eyes and see that while who has the power is important, it can change. She can change it.
This gives me that shivery good feeling.
I know I haven't added any substance, just kind of gushed all over your LJ, but this was such a terrific post I had to say something.
*grins*
Date: 2003-06-17 12:47 am (UTC)Perfect symmetry.
And that's exactly what I loved about the end of the show in general: perfect symmetry (which is also what I adored about the due South finale). We start with one girl fighting to be destiny-free, and that same girl breaks through every single rule that we were given: Vampires are evil and can never change; Slayers can't lead - you need a Watcher for that; Slayers can't have friends.
The Slayer lives and dies alone.
But they were all rules that were made up. Just because something's always been done does not mean that it always should be done.
I speculated something along those lines myself after End of Days. She also says something like "We're the last surprise." We? If she's the last of her line, the only person she can be including in her plural is Buffy. Buffy is definitely a Guardian, the last Guardian, and she turns it all around.
Exactly! Yes!
Buffy as the last Guardian/first Guardian is free to spread the power and live in the world.
Yes. Buffy is finally free. And she's always been an enabler - in the good sense of the word.
She can go forth and be a fireman now that the floods have rolled back.
God, how much do I love Restless? And sixth and seventh season, which really brought all of that out. Fourth was the pre-show, fifth was the set-up, sixth was the fall, and seventh was the rise.
Power of sorts, yes, but the kind imposed externally, the kind that denies choice. Buffy's real power came from somewhere else entirely.
And it is a power - to be the Chosen, to be the Only. You're special. Unique. Feared.
And always different: that's the essence of the demon - the Other. Which is a totally different essay.
And again, thank you. I just adored your Hero!Buffy essay so much, so to know that you like what I have to say... it's thrilling.