I’m not arguing that what Buffy did was a good thing although I’d describe it more as naïve than evil. But I am puzzled by some of the more extreme responses I’ve seen, labeling her “the ultimate villain” seems unwarrented. Such responses may well bear no relation to her being a woman, that was just one suggestion. Many of the characters on the show had a lot invested in the idea of Buffy being good and if people are invested in those characters they may have a similar response to seeing her feet of clay. There’s also the very good point stormwreath made about Twilight standing for (parts of) the audience in wanting to strip Buffy of her moral certainty. Nevertheless, the way that as soon as she does anything wrong or at best ill-judged she becomes the bad Slayer does recall the old madonna-whore dichotomy, which is why I brought up the woman thing as a possibility.
Willow does condemn the bank robbery but not by comparing it to the Trio’s activities. She first points out a practical downside, that it creates new and powerful enemies. That’s not a moral criticism, it’s equivalent to a fear of being caught. Then she makes the 'first domino' point but to me that sounded more like a reference to Willow’s own domino-by-domino fall into darkness than a reference to the Trio. Buffy’s bank robbery is actually very different from Warren’s in two significant ways.
Firstly, as far as we can tell, it wasn’t done for kicks or to buy playthings but to equip her Slayers against the (ever increasing) demon threat and reduce their fatalities. From what we’ve seen of their use, the satellite systems etc allow different Slayer groups to communicate effectively, do reconnaissance, extend their protection to victims in previously inaccessible locations and fight off invading demon armies without relying on randomly acquired amulets. In that sense the bank robbery is more comparable to stealing the rocket launcher than any of the Trio’s activities. It’s not identical being a much larger job and less directly related to a specific world-saveage but that, I believe is exactly where things get interesting, at what point do activities we condone (or even applaud) in individuals become unjustifiable when committed by organizations?
Secondly, is the issue of remorse/self-doubt. Warren showed no concern about the effects of his super-criminality at any point. Not when he made April, not for the bank robbery, not for freezing Rusty and in the end not for killing Katrina. To me it was Katrina’s death that made him a villian, not the first domino but the constant succession of them. I think Adam Busch said once of Warren that he had a whole series of chances to make the right choices but never did. Buffy, on the other hand is only at her first domino and already fully prepared to admit she did something wrong. She not only accepts Willow’s argument about generating enemies but, and without anyone else suggesting it, grasps the link between what she did and Simone’s activities. For that reason I really don’t think this is intended to be a story in the Angel style of turn evil-find redemption. I suspect it’s going to follow more the late BtVS model of being about isolation-reconnection.
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Date: 2008-02-12 03:40 pm (UTC)Willow does condemn the bank robbery but not by comparing it to the Trio’s activities. She first points out a practical downside, that it creates new and powerful enemies. That’s not a moral criticism, it’s equivalent to a fear of being caught. Then she makes the 'first domino' point but to me that sounded more like a reference to Willow’s own domino-by-domino fall into darkness than a reference to the Trio. Buffy’s bank robbery is actually very different from Warren’s in two significant ways.
Firstly, as far as we can tell, it wasn’t done for kicks or to buy playthings but to equip her Slayers against the (ever increasing) demon threat and reduce their fatalities. From what we’ve seen of their use, the satellite systems etc allow different Slayer groups to communicate effectively, do reconnaissance, extend their protection to victims in previously inaccessible locations and fight off invading demon armies without relying on randomly acquired amulets. In that sense the bank robbery is more comparable to stealing the rocket launcher than any of the Trio’s activities. It’s not identical being a much larger job and less directly related to a specific world-saveage but that, I believe is exactly where things get interesting, at what point do activities we condone (or even applaud) in individuals become unjustifiable when committed by organizations?
Secondly, is the issue of remorse/self-doubt. Warren showed no concern about the effects of his super-criminality at any point. Not when he made April, not for the bank robbery, not for freezing Rusty and in the end not for killing Katrina. To me it was Katrina’s death that made him a villian, not the first domino but the constant succession of them. I think Adam Busch said once of Warren that he had a whole series of chances to make the right choices but never did. Buffy, on the other hand is only at her first domino and already fully prepared to admit she did something wrong. She not only accepts Willow’s argument about generating enemies but, and without anyone else suggesting it, grasps the link between what she did and Simone’s activities. For that reason I really don’t think this is intended to be a story in the Angel style of turn evil-find redemption. I suspect it’s going to follow more the late BtVS model of being about isolation-reconnection.