What Do You Do With a Problem Like Buffy

[shipperx]

It's been interesting reading some of the reactions to the last comic. I've been fascinated by the ones who keep speculating that someone needs to come pick up the pieces of Buffy and put her back together again (Candidates generally seem to be Xander or Spike). Am I the only one whose reaction is... no? I think there have already been enough problems with the comics what with the apparent source of the problem being that Buffy screwed things up by empowering more than just one woman in the world. Somehow this 'threw off the balance'. Then we have guys trying to make decisions for Buffy behind her back. And we have things like Willow summoning up some earth magic phallic root to penetrate one of their enemies while she struggles against a literal vagina dentata. The feminist cred isn't as strong as it used to be. Plus there's the fact that Buffy actually needs to learn something from this four years long series of bad decisions.

And, at the risk of being labeled a 'hater' I have to think that the problem that needs to be addressed in the wake of Season 8 is the problem that is Buffy. I don't mean that in a hater sense. It's just if the character is ever going to be allowed to grow up (something I'm far from certain that Joss has any interest in doing), but if the character is ever to grow up, now is the time to put up or shut up about it.

This got me to thinking of the character arc of Season 1-2 of Being Erica. I actually liked how they book-ended Season 1 and Season 2. For those who never watched or don't know about the show, it's a female protagonist in magical time-travel therapy... and it's more interesting than weird as it sounds.

The series starts with the heroine, Erica Strange, having an incredibly shitty day, she's dumped by her boyfriend and she also gets fired. This is bookended at the end of Season 2 when in the finale Erica is fired (again) and also breaks up with her boyfriend. But, it's actually a quite good ending. I enjoyed it and thought it was great, because the point was that what's changed between the first episode and the Season 2 finale wasn't so much Erica's circumstances but the character herself. She was in roughly the same circumstances, but this time she was okay. It was all good.

In the first episode the job she was fired from was just the latest in a long series of stop-gap jobs and the boyfriend who dumped her was just yet another bad relationship coming to a bad close. Erica is directionless and lost. Over the course of the show (and therapy) she's allowed to learn from her mistakes. So, in Ep 1 she's fired and in Season 2's finale she's fired, but she's not directionless any more. She knows what she wants and she takes the chance, partnering up with a friend to launch their own business. She now has a direction. And while the break-up in the first episode had her going into the usual meltdown over being dumped, the breakup with Season 2 boyfriend was a good thing. In Season 1 she was being dumped in a dysfunctional relationship. Since then she actually 'got' the guy that she always thought she wanted. Turns out, the dream "Mr. Right" was just a human being, the kind with his own wants and needs and flaws. He really was a nice guy. She wasn't disillusioned by him, but she had to give up the fantasy and admit to herself that just because he's the guy she always wanted, that doesn't mean that the relationship actually works for her (or for him). They don't really want the same things in life. So they break up, in a honest and caring fashion, because she's strong enough to no longer cling to fairy tales, to not need a prince charming to rescue her, and to look for a relationship that will fulfill both her and her partner's needs. This break-up was a good thing.

So why do I bring this up with Buffy. The point I took from the Being Erica arc was that the problem wasn't just a matter of circumstances. Her circumstances and in Season 2 were roughly the the same as in Episode 1. The problem had been in and the change had been in Erica. It wasn't what was around her, it was her. Her learning from her mistakes, allowing herself to develop and move forward, gives her an entirely different outlook. In Episode 1 she was devestated. In the Season 2 finale, she was actually in a really good place... despite that in both instances she was unemployed and single.

So when I say that the problem is Buffy. It isn't in a haterade sense. It's that no character is ever going to fix her story for her. No character will ever fulfill her. No character will solve her loneliness, her lack of connection, her misery, etc. No character but her. No character needs to pick Buffy up and put her back together again. No character but her. (I just don't know that I trust Joss or Dark Horse to tell that story.)

[ETA: And I know that it's easy to reference that Erica has her therapist. I wouldn't be against Buffy having one of those too. (Actually I've thought that since Season 6). But I think the time for mentors for Buffy is over.]

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

This is why I become quite unreasonably cranky when I read reactions of how "Spuffy" the next issue was.

Dude, we just had an issue that made very, explicitly clear that Buffy has no respect for Spike and the 'verse's creator has no respect for the characters fans. No fantasy crumb thrown an issue later is going to erase that. And I have no expectation of the comics ever lifting even a pinky to do 1/10th the work it would require to build back what they just broke.

The iceberg was hit. The Titanic sunk. Jack is cold fish-bait in the ocean. That ship's story arc is for all intents and purposes done. Spike died saving the ffing world, and Buffy still cannot help herself to stop looking down on him. He's still 'less'. There's nothing left to be said or done after that, not after everything that has gone before. If she can't respect him after his sacrifice, if he's still beneath her after everything they've done... there's nothing left to discuss.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I think most people at the time, me included, didn't think we were supposed to take that seriously. Even the "no, it all makes sense, really it does!" people seemed to think so. Buffy calling it the best day ever? It really is hard to swallow. But there was never any confirmation afterward that we weren't supposed to. No one says "Man, Buffy sure is acting weird." or anything of the sort.

But you know, even *if* it was glojuice, even *if* it turns out there has been something wrong with her the whole time, it's still a hell of a smack in the face given how they lured everyone into thinking it would be...something.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's just that so many people read "you're my dark place" positively. This line came directly after the issue which could not have disrespected Spike or Spuffy more (unless it was written by Willingham). Everything Buffy said from "beneath you" to "convenient" to equating dying with "studly" showed no respect whatsoever. Having her categorize him as her 'dark place' reinforces that whatever she might feel for him, whatever affection or lust, she still considers him as being the lesser. That's not a foundation for a relationship. It's a damn shame that no matter what he does, it never puts him anywhere close to an even playing field.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I said the same thing to shaping_light the other day. What does that even *mean*? If that line were to Angel, Spuffies have been chortling.

Everything from 34 onward just seemed to me like an almost overt attack on Spuffy. I mean, they were oh-so obviously trying to top Smashed with that stuff. The coat thing? The palms-touching hands? And according to Allie they edited a line they thought would annoy Spuffies, so they were aware they were doing it.

Now the guy is actually trying to get fans to buy that there's more to B/S than that. Whatever, man.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Well to quote Don Draper's ex-girlfriend, they can go shit in the ocean.

I'm not so dumb so as to not notice when I'm being directly insulted. Oh yes, Scott Allie and Joss Whedon, I saw what you did there. Don't fob me off with ridiculous lies "We didn't have time." They had plenty of time to make what they did do as sly and insulting as they possibly could. If that's the way they wanted to play it, fine. Just don't expect me to overlook it or to forget.

(And people claim this crap respects Spike more than Brian Lynch. If this is 'respect' I would hate to see what disrespect might be. Oh wait, that was Willingham wasn't it. Lynch may not be all aces, but apparently that's as good as it gets.)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure it's a Joss thing with the Lynch comparisons.

Meh. :(