Scattered thoughts about Buffy

[dolorosa_12]

So, whenever I feel a little bit battered by life, I retreat to the comfort classics: The Pagan Chronicles, Ugg boots and leggings, the music of The Sounds. And Buffy. I learnt my lesson the last time I rewatched during a depressive period: nothing beyond Season 3. Season 6, in the wrong mood, can send me into paralysed, despairing inertia.* In any case, I'm going slowly through the episodes, and am currently partway through Season 2. You should consider what follows behind the cut as containing spoilers for the entire series (comics excluded), though.


1. Season 1 isn't as bad as I remembered. That's not to say it didn't have some real dogs of episodes - Xander turning into a violent, predatory hyena-person, Xander being captured by preying mantis lady, 'there's a demon in the internet!' spring to mind - but the two-part series opener is a good introduction to where the series was in its early seasons, the episode where people's nightmares come true is very strong, and as the season progresses and the cast get more of a handle on their characters and the dynamic, things improve.

And the finale is really quite stunning.

I should point something out. I'm a huge fan of the Hades and Persephone motif. I mean, I'm really really a huge fan. I'm not kidding. Seriously. Love it.** So, you know, the Season 1 finale is camp and over the top. But also perfect.



Yeah, I love that finale.

2. Xander is really, really awful (until he finally grows up in the later seasons). I've been going back and forth for years over whether Joss and the other writers intended the audience to feel sorry for Xander and his Nice Guy™ing for Buffy, but something odd struck me when I was rewatching the earlier seasons that finally convinced me the writers were less sympathetic to Xander than I'd previously imagined: they contrast his behaviour towards Buffy with that of Angel.***

So, Xander (at least in the first couple of seasons) constantly Nice Guy™s at Buffy, whining to other people that he's her friend, treats her well and WHY ISN'T SHE ATTRACTED TO HIM? But let's recap. Xander:
~never tells Buffy about these feelings until much, much later in the piece, after she's canonically shown attraction towards two other guys
~gets possessed by a hyena demon which causes him to sexually harass her, and, after the possession's been removed, he pretends not to remember what he did so that he doesn't have to apologise
~lies to a guy she's attracted to and says that Buffy doesn't want him to kiss, touch or even look at her
~ignores her explicit request that he not come with her into danger since he's not a trained fighter and could get hurt
~constantly tries to sabotage her relationship with Angel, to the extent that when Angel has lost his soul but Willow has worked out a way to restore it, he lies about the possibility of restoration so that Buffy goes in and, instead of trying to stall, kills Angel
~when asked to turn his back when Buffy is changing, he peeks at her in a mirror

All in all, pretty shitty behaviour. Angel, in contrast:
~while warning Buffy that a relationship between the two of them is probably a bad idea, doesn't rule it out, and instead waits until Buffy has worked out what she wants to do
~lets her take the lead in terms of fighting the forces of evil (i.e. he recognises her superior strength and leadership role and uses his own strength and other abilities where as she directs)
~apologises when called out on bad behaviour
~on two occasions, when Buffy wants him to turn his back when she's changing, does so

So I'd actually say the writers were making a pretty explicit point about issues of consent and Nice Guy™ing.

3. I really, really love Season 2 Spike and Drusilla as villains.



I mean, they just work really well. They're soulless, evil beings, unrepentant, gleeful killers, but they love each other and just have such an interesting dynamic.

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*And yes, I am beyond my early worship of all things Joss Whedon. There are significant problems with all of his programs, Buffy included, and I have heard all the criticisms, think most of them have some weight, and understand why some people cannot get anything of value from Buffy. But I think as long as I acknowledge that I'm being a fan of problematic things, it's all right for me to find strength and value in the show.
**Unless it's told by Stephenie Meyer (because that's what Twilight is, really. Never before was there an author with such interesting ideas and such terrible execution. I'm still irritated that Meyer came up with the concept of The Host, because, seriously, a love triangle with only two bodies but three conscious beings is really intriguing.
***Please don't take this as a shipping thing. My Buffy OTP is Buffy/happiness.

Comments

[umadoshi]

Someday I will rewatch Buffy! I was never fannish about it, but I love it a lot. I'm worried about Xander, though; even without rewatching, I've become increasingly aware of how awful he was so much of the time. :/

[dolorosa_12]

He really is just awful, and the terrible thing is that first watched Buffy when it aired, when I was 12-18 years old, and have rewatched it fairly regularly ever since, and it's only on the last couple of rewatches that I realised how terrible his behaviour is. Because Nice Guy™ narratives are so pervasive in society and media that you sometimes don't notice them or think that there's anything wrong with them. I was really worried that the Buffy writers were condoning his behaviour or sympathising with him, but I noticed the subtle little parallels being drawn with Angel, which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief!

One thing I will say is that Xander does eventually grow up and get better. It just takes him about five seasons to get there.

Did you ever watch ATLA? I feel that Sokka went through a similar kind of character arc to Xander (feeling useless because he had no superpowers, feeling that he had to perform masculinity in a certain way, growing and realising that he did have things to offer and that there is no right way to be a man), but it took him a lot less time to get there.

[umadoshi]

I adora ATLA! *^^* And yeah, I feel like the way Sokka was handled is a beautiful example of how to do what, perhaps, the Buffy writers were trying to do with Xander. Sokka's whole character arc is so well done.

[dolorosa_12]

I often think that ATLA manages to say a lot of things that programs aimed at an older audience struggle to articulate well. It's such a well-written program.