In article
<36be0593-d05f-4dd6-9756-996b82935b8d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Arbitrar Of Quality <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > Three, once Xander has made the original
> > error of invoking Sweet, the logic of musicals is in control of the
> > characters. He cannot confess until it is the end, when a twist is
> > required by the musical convention.
>
> The idea that the spell imposes certain "rules of musicals" on
> everyone (beyond them you know, singing) is easily the best
> rationalization I've heard for why Xander doesn't confess once it
> becomes clear that things have gone wrong. Granted, it's an
> explanation that can be used to explain almost anything, so one could
> be accused of avoiding the issue, but in this case, I'll take it.
> Good thinking.
They mention several times that the physical reality in which they
normally exist (the Buffyverse as we usually see it) has been altered to
resemble features of the musical format, but that at the time those
alterations occur, the characters accept them as though they were
natural. It's only after the fact that they realize that the changes
were unnatural. For instance, Anya and Xander talk about how the fourth
wall seemed to be missing from their apartment during the "I'll Never
Tell" number, but it's only later that this strikes them as odd. So it's
not a stretch to think that Sweet's spell extends the conventions of the
musical form to all actions of the characters. Not only are they forced
to spill their emotions and thoughts in song, but they are also
constrained by other rules of the form to make revelations at prescribed
dramatic moments. The structure of the musical dictates where and when
things occur.
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