"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:a1bad5f4-8477-4684-9270-0262824a8fd4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Season Seven, Episode 15: "Get It Done"
I was almost done with a thorough follow-up to our last discussion on this
when ineptitude took over and I essentially wiped out all my Usenet files.
I don't think I'll be re-creating that...
> The idea of this episode doesn't work for me in a few places. The
> entire Shadow Men sequence gets more unpleasant every time I see it,
> on several levels. I don't think the show benefits from going so
> overt with the evil-patriarchy thing, and besides, I just don't
> generally like rape/violation/whatever analogies unless they're really
> necessary.
The evil patriarchy element to this season is probably the most overdone
thematic element - maybe of the series. But BtVS has always gone for the
very simple allegory when dealing with the feminist underpinnings of the
series. Joss is using S7 in particular to depict a fundamental story of
empowerment overcoming an entrenched patriarchy. I don't think he wanted
any muddling of message by including anything resembling a sympathetic
portrayal of the patriarchal side. Just using Giles (a known decent guy)
as
the representative of the WC (and corrupted by them) is as far as the show
seems to go that direction. Otherwise it's black and white. I believe
the
Shadow Men and Caleb are also being used to represent an active,
passionate
and ruthless resistance to empowerment. In other words, overcoming the
patriarchy takes more than the desire to. It has to be fought for against
people who believe in the status quo and will do anything to preserve it.
I have a lot of doubts about the choice, not least because it plays to
some
of the more extreme and questionable feminist theories about patriarchy.
On
the other hand, this is just a fable and an adventure that's not really
capable of supporting such nuanced thinking on its own. Going straight
and
hard to the conflict might be the best story choice.
Meanwhile, I like quite a bit the look and feel of the Shadow Men scenes.
The imagery of this episode is generally very good. The rape analogy
really
doesn't strike me that badly. It fits with the kind of feminism being
related to. Rape is commonly described as an act of power. Some feminist
philosophy treats rape as THE central metaphor for imposing mastery over
women. It's about the power.
> I go back on forth on whether I see the basis for Buffy
> going all leader-from-hell on her friends, and how much we're meant to
> admire the results, although the fact that I think about it at all may
> be a good sign in itself.
You should feel at least uneasy with what she did. Buffy sacrifices more
than she probably realizes with her tactic. She gets away with it here
because she's right and shown to be. But being right doesn't remove the
resentment at being treated that way. She sets herself up to be judged
entirely on the results of the moment. And nobody's good enough to be
right
all of the time. The moment something goes wrong, so also goes the
motivation to follow her.
It's a difficult leadership situation. Kicking ass isn't an easy thing to
do - especially when it involves friends. (Can she afford to be friends?
Another leadership challenge. Many people believe leaders can't.) It
might
have served her better to speak of kicking her own ass too. Something
less
than standing above everybody in superiority. But might that only deflate
the necessary message? Chloe really does demonstrate that people won't
survive depending so heavily on Buffy. People really do have to rely on
themselves rather than just waiting on Buffy. Having her back doesn't
mean
hiding behind it.
Is something like this really necessary? I think Cloe's death amply
demonstrates it. (That's 3 dead now in Sunnydale.) If there's any doubt,
the impact on Willow and Spike should settle it. Even Anya a little. One
might in retrospect go back and craft a different way of delivering the
message, but it's not crazy. The harsh words about Chloe are effective at
getting attention and passing on the message that you're going to die like
her if you don't change what you're doing.
Being right and justified isn't always enough. A leader is entirely
dependent on the willingness of people to follow. Without that the
position
is hopeless. Possibly the most damaging mixed message of this scene was a
sense passed on that Buffy doesn't really care about them - that they're
expendable in her eyes. That's really unfortunate because I believe she's
motivated to do this because she cares too much. Buffy will speak of
consciously distancing herself from the Potentials because she knows some
will die - and she can't bear being close to them under those
circumstances.
But she's fooling herself - not only as to what it does to her leadership
-
but because she can't stop caring.
I don't have the energy to go back and follow-up our prior discussion, but
I
wanted to point out how much I think this scene hurts Buffy going forward.
It pretty much primes the bunch for future resistance. I'm not entirely
on
her side here.
But at the same time there's a failure component for the Scoobies and
Potentials too. One of the hardest things for followers to learn is that
following direction does not preclude initiative. Xander sure isn't
getting
it, which leads to that most unfortunate line, "Well, from now on, I'm
your
leader as in do what I say." It's funny and no different than what Xander
said on the face of it. But what is it that Buffy is telling Xander and
everybody to do? To stop waiting on her. That's 100% opposite to what
Xander asserted.
The Scoobies and Potentials are here and through much of the season being
used to represent the powerful inertia of societal norms. Self
empowerment
isn't the way they understand the world. It isn't the way they understand
the relationship with a leader. One would be missing half the scene not
recognizing how much it's about their struggle to change their own way of
thinking.
> But when I tried seeing if I could come up
> with ten really good things about the episode, I quickly lost count.
> Just a few parts that'd be on that list would include the Spike/Wood
> non-confrontation, the lengthy scene that takes us seamlessly from
> humor to shock value to high drama to name-checking Tigger, Dawn
> having a good episode and keeping her head, the shadow puppets, and
> the one and only minute in the series during which I'm feeling the
> Willow/Kennedy relationship.
That's a pretty good moment, but I still can't help wonder where the love
is
for Anya who suffered Willow's reach for power just as Kennedy did.
> The whole episode is studded with well-
> done scenes. The music is great when the stories climax too. Despite
> my misgivings about what GID, uh, gets done, it generally does those
> things stylishly enough to make for a solid bit of TV. I kinda feel
> like something in this mini-run ought to get upgraded to Good, and it
> might as well be this one.
> Rating: Good (up from Decent)
Still Excellent in my book.
One somewhat different thing about the big argument. Big arguments have
been a staple for BtVS at least since S2. (S1 arguments don't seem as
hostile.) They're pretty much always marked by competing perspectives
with
comparable basis. S7 is no exception to that. But the usual pattern in
the
past has been pretty rapid reconciliation. This season things just keep
getting worse until the hard divorce between Buffy and everybody else.
I think this has a perhaps unintended effect upon the audience. We've
seen
many "debates" in this newsgroup about which side of the argument is
"right", but the show doesn't provide much compelling need to choose, and
I
suspect most watchers of the show never do. This season, however, those
conflicts are hard enough with consequences that actually split people so
hard, that I feel like the audience is almost being compelled to choose
sides. I suspect that's why a considerable number of people were turned
off
by late S7. They don't want to choose between Buffy and Giles. Or choose
any of the other sides.
> Additional comments on S7D4: The show _Dexter_ is screwing with my
> perception a little bit, since Drew Greenberg (this is the last time
> I'll single him out to pick on. Probably) is a producer-type, and
> both the show in general and the first episode for which he's the
> credited writer are quite good.
Brilliant first episode. I sure didn't expect something like that. The
next few weren't that powerful, but still quite good. Alas, I haven't
been
able to keep up with the broadcasts. I guess it's another DVD set I'll
need
to hunt down used.
> Sadly, the
> series seems to have lost whatever interest it ever had in that
> dynamic, and later episodes will instead use Anya as the Scoobie who
> develops a sort of understanding with Andrew, which also works pretty
> okay. I'm telling you, though, there was a missed opportunity
> somewhere.
Sure, but then what do you do with Anya? I don't think the problem is
missed opportunity so much as it is too many opportunities to fit into the
season.
OBS
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