I'm with Lynch actually. It's not a good thing (for moral and Realpolitik reasons) but it's not teribble, it's not killing people. The comparison isn't just with the Trio but also with all the trespasses and wanton destruction of property the Scoobies have collaborated in throughout their evil fighting careers. Which we, the audience, condoned. Voll called Buffy a terrorist for blowing up Sunnydale and we thought he was a silly old general but he wasn't so wrong. I remember when the Trio's activities were confined to robbing banks and musems everybody thought they were a joke, a little light relief. Insurance premiums went up but Rusty lived. The actions that made Warren a Supervillian weren't the robberies but the attempting to roofie-rape Katrina and then kill her without remorse. It was Katrina's death that made Buffy go after him in Seeing Red, the robberies were more like Al Capone's tax evasions.
You may be right. I just don't understand writer's position. Are we supposed to regard the robbery as a crime or just a misdemeanor, a necessary means to reach a noble goal? Are we, fans, overanalysing and overreacting? Should we think about it from RL standpoint or from genre standpoint?
I think my problem lies is my inability to figure out the genre of the story. Buffyverse is a mix of different genres. Every genre has its own conventions and the morality of Buffyverse changes from episode to episode accorting to its genre.
F.ex., in the first seasons Buffy occasionally killed humans and we weren't supposed to sweat about it, because those were typical "monster episodes" and it wasn't about morality - it was about killing the monsters. Then in season 3 Faith killed a man and the episode was made in the dramatic genre so that we were supposed to care about the moral aspect of the situation. Then, in season 5 Buffy killed a dozen of humans in Spiral, but, again, we weren't supposed to care, because Spiral is made in genre of western, and western's main genre convention is glorifying good guys who kill bad guys. Then, in season 6, it became drama again, and the murder of Katrina was regarded from the genre conventions of drama.
Today I can't understand what genre we're watching. Be it a TV show I could figure out if it's actioner or drama - by acting style, soundtrack, editing, etc. Be it a novel, writer could subtly express his attitude to the proceeding in his descriptions. But here we have static picture and dialogues. And I can't figure out if it's a realistic drama or caper movie.
If it's a drama then Buffy is the villain who is corrupting young slayers and creating a generation of amoral superwomen. If it's an actioner then the robbery is just a plot twist, something "cool" and "not terrible".
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 09:28 am (UTC)You may be right. I just don't understand writer's position. Are we supposed to regard the robbery as a crime or just a misdemeanor, a necessary means to reach a noble goal? Are we, fans, overanalysing and overreacting? Should we think about it from RL standpoint or from genre standpoint?
I think my problem lies is my inability to figure out the genre of the story. Buffyverse is a mix of different genres. Every genre has its own conventions and the morality of Buffyverse changes from episode to episode accorting to its genre.
F.ex., in the first seasons Buffy occasionally killed humans and we weren't supposed to sweat about it, because those were typical "monster episodes" and it wasn't about morality - it was about killing the monsters. Then in season 3 Faith killed a man and the episode was made in the dramatic genre so that we were supposed to care about the moral aspect of the situation. Then, in season 5 Buffy killed a dozen of humans in Spiral, but, again, we weren't supposed to care, because Spiral is made in genre of western, and western's main genre convention is glorifying good guys who kill bad guys. Then, in season 6, it became drama again, and the murder of Katrina was regarded from the genre conventions of drama.
Today I can't understand what genre we're watching. Be it a TV show I could figure out if it's actioner or drama - by acting style, soundtrack, editing, etc. Be it a novel, writer could subtly express his attitude to the proceeding in his descriptions. But here we have static picture and dialogues. And I can't figure out if it's a realistic drama or caper movie.
If it's a drama then Buffy is the villain who is corrupting young slayers and creating a generation of amoral superwomen. If it's an actioner then the robbery is just a plot twist, something "cool" and "not terrible".