Opinions?

[AllenGray]

Hello; I'm new. Not just to this forum but to the internet in general and having never before posted anywhere and being raised in a conservative family by a conservative mother with as little exposure to the twenty-first century as possible while living in it, I'm pretty much certain that posting here will lead to a meeting with either a child molester or, you know, an internet based Jehovah's Witness. But I'm willing to take that risk to discuss Buffy, in particular Season Eight. Now I've read several threads that began as intelligent discussions about the comics and degenerated into snarky, ill-mannered, and oddly tense (as in sexually) arguments that resolved nothing and inspired approximately the same depth of thought as a McDonald's french fry would. Please don't do that here, you'll frighten me terribly and I won't be able to post again without some sort of therapy.

I'd like to discuss our opinions, good or bad, of elements of the comics, including favorite bits of dialougue, character moments, new characters, art, cover art, story arcs and the overall arc. And this is a guideline: try to avoid factual arguments. A fact being a thing that can be proven by physical or textual evidence, like persons being out of character (which is a fact; Buffy is not behaving like herself can be proven true or false using examples from the text) Other than that caveat (I love that word), muse, amuse, bemuse, confound, inquire and have fun.

My favorite things include but are not limited to:

The opening pages of "Anywhere but Here" in which Buffy and Willow play "anywhere but here."

Xander's eyepatch and the consequent Nick Fury references. I know many people feel that Willow being the "big earth mother goddess" should restore Xander's eye but I feel it's part of his character now. I think, and don't internet quote and attack me on this, that Nicholas Brendon talks about wanting to keep it as part of the character in the dvd commentary for "Dirty Girls" but I'm not certain.

That the comics actually continue and expand Buffy's story and do not read like an epilougue. The tone of the comic is not like any of the slew of fan fiction and one novel that attempted to conclude the story. Joss Whedon is still taking risks with his characters and exploring who they are. It opens like every season has opened with the characters in a slightly different place and with slightly different issues and I find that immeasurably admirable.

And since this is my first official post anywhere I'm going to include the "out of my face" pun in "Chosen". I just like that line.

Least favorite thing:

The organization; I enjoyed "No Future for You" and "The Chain" but each seemed to detract from the larger arc, "The Chain," moreso. It wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the wait, and I'm slowly adjusting to that. So little big.

'Kay. Go.

P.S. Am I allowed to use P.S? Again I'm new to the world of instant intercontinental communication and any advice about posting length, or ettiquette would be completely welcome. It's an odd question but I worry about these things. Well these things and divine retribution.

[Michael]

Hi,
I think all of us who become emotionally involved in something like Buffy unconsciously remoulds the show in all sorts of way. It is the mark of a great work of art, which Buffy is, that it seems to have an organic life of its own. Every "vision" of Buffy is to some degree a "revision." This may account for some of the bad tempered exchanges that take place in the Forum sometimes. Which probably mimic some of the arguments that take place among the writers.

I like the idea of Buffy having one foot in Sunnydale with its high school and shopping mall, and the other in A Midsummer Nights Dream, which is my favorite Shakespeare play--particularly if you can see an open air performance in a garden on a hot June evening with the Moon coming out. I digress. The tension between everyday Sunnydale and the Midsummer Nights Dream could account for the peculiar energy and specific color of BtVS.

Except of course that it doesn't. It is my own imagination feeding off Joss Whedon to make something similar. Now we have the scythe, my mind wonders off into Arthurian fantasy, with Willow as Merlin. Of course in the Arthurian legends, after the magical beginning and the tragic end, the King does not have the adventures. They belong to the knights, a future which would not work for Buffy. If Buffy ever stops kicking butt, it will be the end of the franchise.

Where do we go from here? It is a good question to provoke, or elicit, alternative visions of Buffy. What I do want to see is all the other slayers reverting to normal womanhood, enhanced by the slayer experience. The real task of female empowerment is making ordinary women more powerful in mundane ways.

Which would leave us with the two slayers, which sounds like the name of a pub.

more later.

EDIT. Looking through some notes, I see that in the thread about Buffy being thrown out of her house in Empty Places, you were the first to remind us that Season 7 was all about power. I apologize for not acknowledging you properly when I was banging on about it. That was bad scholarly manners, and I will rectify this lapse in at the earliest suitable moment.