Friday, October 5, 2012
Morning musings, or second verse, same as the first
There are times when I get the crazy idea to write a series of essays about myself. But then my inner voice is all over the stupidity, worthlessness, never going to happenicity of that. But it's still there in my mind, especially when I'm feeling this 40s version of angst, which is less fiery pain and more feet are about to slip on the ice -- all the time. But not off balance, just poised over the swirly abyss of my own inner depths. Like if I could just jump into it, it would be terrifying but ultimately transformative. Yet I continue as I am, living on the surface, back from the edge, making do. Because transformation is so uncertain, yes, will I like what comes out the other side. But more importantly, transformation takes actual effort, and I seem to avoid that as much as possible. Do the basics of what needs to be done in all things, then just skate by.
I don't think I always was like this. I don't know if it's part of growing older or just part of the flatness of affect, the genial apathy, the no hope but no despair either of the life I live now. It's a balance, and I've always thought of balance as good, but is it a balance between the right things? Is this see-saw all the way on one side of a vast plain of possibility?
I've always lacked specific ambition. Now I lack general ambition. Giving up, settling, getting by; I've fucked myself over for sure because the goals I did strive for have led me here. And here is easy and doesn't require a lot of drama or inner turmoil, yet it also doesn't provide joy, intense satisfaction, excitement, giddiness...
Easy going, doesn't really care, go with the flow -- it's ridiculous how none of those celebrate the agency I've always fought so hard to embrace. Yes, I run my life the way I want, I make my choices and take responsibility for them, but I'm slippery, I slide out of the way of things to follow my course; I don't confront obstacles head-on, but ignore them or find alternate routes. Nothing wrong with that, but it does mean spending most time looking to dodge, and little time setting my path, heading toward a goal.
I make lists all the time. It's becoming a pathology probably. But the one list I have the most trouble with is goals. Beyond staying financially healthy, and physically healthy, and paying off debt and enjoying what entertainment I want, what is there to aim for? Part of it is finances, settling in to a relatively simple life as both penance for and restoration from the excesses of my 20s and the schooling of my 30s. If paying off most debt and using real money for everything is your main goal, other things do fall from view. It's another way of fending off the need to think of what kind of life I want to live of course. It limits the options along one axis, which keeps the graph weighted along one side.
I haven't been excited about a course of action I've taken much lately. Yes, this summer I went to Slayage and explored Vancouver/Victoria and it was glorious. I've greatly enjoyed movies I've seen or books I've read. I've had moments of fun. But it's so -- like a splash in a still ocean, it is felt, but recedes quickly, merged into the surface of calm. Even while avoiding typical scenarios like marriage, suburbia, or a 9-5 job, I've still fallen into a rut of complacency and stasis. And it is what I was going for, so it's not like it's surprising that I got here. You do make your own life, one way or another.
Most days I'm happy to be where I am. But then I just get that feeling that there's untapped potential in myself to live life another way, to keep my personality and habits and comfort levels and likes and dislikes and the whole package, but still run a slightly different course. Maybe a course that would incorporate a little more passion for life, a little less sleepwalking.
In a funny way, I feel like that thing that I avoid is art. Not other people's art, I regularly enjoy the creative outputs of many people in many disciplines, but my own. Not that I'm a blocked writer or could be a sculptor or anything that specific. But I don't even do crafts or play with fashion, or write blog posts beyond what I did with my day or, if I'm really working it, recapping what happened in a book or tv show I watched. I do nothing that deeply taps into my creativity. I make lists. I read other people, watch others' stories. Because I'm afraid there's nothing there? Because I've never successfully understood how to individuate my presence into the world? Because my presence is so diffuse and noncommittal?
My inability to make concrete, bar all other options choices and distaste for allowing other people to define exactly who I am is part and parcel of not being a solid presence in the world. If it's concrete, it's defined. Even if only in one moment in time, if I'm fully formed at that point, then I cannot be anything other than that. It's fear, but not from a place of cowardice I don't think. I understand why I am this way, but I still think I need to find a way to be something beyond a cipher for myself.
On the plus side, it could be that I'm closer to being ready to do something about it. A lot of the issues plaguing my younger self feel so much less important now. I'm less self-conscious, less afraid of making mistakes in public at least, more forgiving. That could help. I've almost always known intellectually anyway that no one is looking at me, other people being preoccupied with their own shit, but that doesn't mean I don't look at myself. Maybe it's time to stop trying so hard to see what I am from the outside. Maybe it's time to experience myself. I just wish I had a good idea of how to start.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Slayage5 Day Three
Okay. Want to wrap this up and move on. Just a quick aside. If you're going to take the steps down to Tower Beach, give yourself more than 15 minutes to climb back up them. Seriously.
Started last day of Slayage with Keynote 3, Tamy Burnett. "I've Got These Evil Hand Issues": Amputation, Identity & Agency in Angel. Was a very interesting exploration, especially of the characters of Lindsey and Spike and how they differed in dealing with losing a limb/s, how a difference between them in levels of accepting responsibility and agency allowed Spike to shift from a villain to a champion while Lindsey could not follow suit. A lot of interesting ideas that I'm barely touching upon. And the author is working with others on a book to explore some of them more fully. I look forward to that.
My choice of morning panel turned out to be a nice one in terms of continuing on a theme. The Body and Sex in the Whedonverses. Bronwen Calvert talked about body swapping and links between identity and the body. Viv Burr spoke about the connection between imagery of torture, crucifixion and sex in Buffy and in general with reference to Sartre's ideas of subject/object. Lewis Call gave a great paper on "That Weird, Unbearable Delight": Representations of Alternative Sexualities in Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. He talked about Kitty/Rasputin, Emma/Scott, and McCoy/Brand especially. Talking about small m minority sexualities and how they're given positive expression in these relationships. Really fascinating stuff. It was a fun panel.
Took the UBC film tour at lunch with Ian Klein, Nikki Stafford, Rhonda Wilcox, Dale Koontz, Ensley Guffey, Nancy Holder and Alysa Hornick. Then skipped the WSA meeting to eat lunch at a burger joint on campus. Their sweet potato fries had cajun seasoning. Perfect.
Afternoon. Made the hard decision to not watch Natstev present her Firefly paper because I really wanted to hear Stacey Abbott talk about Tim Minear. Was a good panel. I tweeted about it and, since she used Minear's twitter name in the title, he saw the tweet and responded to it. That was fun. And actually Mo Tancharoen tweeted at a couple of us about how Slayage went, so of course now I'm totally famous. Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful and all. Why am I talking to you people?
Back to reality. Also heard a talk by Tamara Wilson comparing and contrasting OMWF and Milton's Comus. Since I don't know Comus, it was hard to keep up, but a very interesting piece. And presenter made some witty jokes throughout as well. Abbott is one of a few people that after the fact expressed concern about live tweeting of paper presentations, so I won't go into detail here about her talk on Minear. I'm sure it will all come out in published form soon, hopefully in another wonderful book since I so enjoyed her previous ones.
Then we finished up with a quick talk with all the attending Whedon bookers. They talked about the books they have out and some that will be coming up that I can't wait to read. There will be a Joss Whedon Reader, a book on Fan Phenomena & Buffy, a book on TV Horrors, Buffy the Making of a Slayer retrospective, the Burnett book currently called something like Blood, Body & Soul I mentioned earlier and possibly a new edition of Conversations with new Joss interviews. Much to look forward to.
And that's it. I was at a loss of what to do now that everything was over, so I just lingered. That worked out well because everyone left trouped over to a bus and went to an Indian restaurant in town for dinner. I sat with Elizabeth Rambo (who is as cool in person as she is on twitter) and Tamy Burnett and Ami Comeford, editors of the Literary Angel. That was great. I really got to meet a lot of scholars whose work I admired, who turned out to also be very nice, cool people.
And that was that.
Started last day of Slayage with Keynote 3, Tamy Burnett. "I've Got These Evil Hand Issues": Amputation, Identity & Agency in Angel. Was a very interesting exploration, especially of the characters of Lindsey and Spike and how they differed in dealing with losing a limb/s, how a difference between them in levels of accepting responsibility and agency allowed Spike to shift from a villain to a champion while Lindsey could not follow suit. A lot of interesting ideas that I'm barely touching upon. And the author is working with others on a book to explore some of them more fully. I look forward to that.
My choice of morning panel turned out to be a nice one in terms of continuing on a theme. The Body and Sex in the Whedonverses. Bronwen Calvert talked about body swapping and links between identity and the body. Viv Burr spoke about the connection between imagery of torture, crucifixion and sex in Buffy and in general with reference to Sartre's ideas of subject/object. Lewis Call gave a great paper on "That Weird, Unbearable Delight": Representations of Alternative Sexualities in Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. He talked about Kitty/Rasputin, Emma/Scott, and McCoy/Brand especially. Talking about small m minority sexualities and how they're given positive expression in these relationships. Really fascinating stuff. It was a fun panel.
Took the UBC film tour at lunch with Ian Klein, Nikki Stafford, Rhonda Wilcox, Dale Koontz, Ensley Guffey, Nancy Holder and Alysa Hornick. Then skipped the WSA meeting to eat lunch at a burger joint on campus. Their sweet potato fries had cajun seasoning. Perfect.
Afternoon. Made the hard decision to not watch Natstev present her Firefly paper because I really wanted to hear Stacey Abbott talk about Tim Minear. Was a good panel. I tweeted about it and, since she used Minear's twitter name in the title, he saw the tweet and responded to it. That was fun. And actually Mo Tancharoen tweeted at a couple of us about how Slayage went, so of course now I'm totally famous. Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful and all. Why am I talking to you people?
Back to reality. Also heard a talk by Tamara Wilson comparing and contrasting OMWF and Milton's Comus. Since I don't know Comus, it was hard to keep up, but a very interesting piece. And presenter made some witty jokes throughout as well. Abbott is one of a few people that after the fact expressed concern about live tweeting of paper presentations, so I won't go into detail here about her talk on Minear. I'm sure it will all come out in published form soon, hopefully in another wonderful book since I so enjoyed her previous ones.
Then we finished up with a quick talk with all the attending Whedon bookers. They talked about the books they have out and some that will be coming up that I can't wait to read. There will be a Joss Whedon Reader, a book on Fan Phenomena & Buffy, a book on TV Horrors, Buffy the Making of a Slayer retrospective, the Burnett book currently called something like Blood, Body & Soul I mentioned earlier and possibly a new edition of Conversations with new Joss interviews. Much to look forward to.
And that's it. I was at a loss of what to do now that everything was over, so I just lingered. That worked out well because everyone left trouped over to a bus and went to an Indian restaurant in town for dinner. I sat with Elizabeth Rambo (who is as cool in person as she is on twitter) and Tamy Burnett and Ami Comeford, editors of the Literary Angel. That was great. I really got to meet a lot of scholars whose work I admired, who turned out to also be very nice, cool people.
And that was that.
Slayage5 Day Two
Yeah, so not writing it up right away due to extreme tiredness might make this post short due to shoddy memoriness. But I'll give it a go.
Started out the morning with Keynote #2, Jonathan Gray on Joss Whedon as Undead Author. Was interesting talk about studying an author who is still producing work and participating in the discussion of his work to the public, helping shape how it's seen in paratextual forums. And much more. But very complex discussion of a field about which I'm only slightly knowledgeable. Along with discussions of the changing textual identity, the author in the text and the audience appropriation of imagery across texts, I mainly got from it some of the challenges faced by academics and critics trying to pin down a moving target like this.
The morning panel I chose was the Characters. Ana Carolina Gutierrez did a paper on signs of clinical depression in Buffy season 6, bravely relating it to her own struggles in that area, pointing out how the show gave the audience some hope that there can be an end to the depths of depression and that anyone, no matter how strong, can be susceptible to mental health issues. She said some of the things I've tried to articulate about why season 6 is so important to me.
Next up was Jessica Ratcliffe on Placing Giles in BtVS, talking about how Giles' character is defined by where he spends the most of his time and by his costuming, emphasizing the visual aspect of character definition. She argued that he became less Other/foreign and more normalized/Americanized over the series even when he moved back to England.
And we ended with Xander as Seer of the Self, Provider of Clarity, and Purveyor of Acceptance: Human Agency in BtVS. This paper focused on the importance of Xander as Everyman with the power of his humanity even while in the midst of so much supernatural, world-saving power.
Afternoon panels. Again, I had to miss Dollhouse stuff because it was up against Dr. Horrible and one Cabin paper that I really wanted to hear. Hopefully much more will be published on Dollhouse in the near future. Also, even though I never sought to go to the many fandom panels, from what I heard, they were all pretty great, so maybe I should have given more thought to them. In this case I missed Jen Stuller on Nerd Burlesque.
Kris Woofter spoke of Cabin in the Woods. He didn't think the film was a good commentary on the horror genre, that it spoke more to reality tv, and that it didn't have a lot of respect for its audience. He argued that horror audiences are generally pretty sophisticated with regard to the genre, and that that wasn't represented in the film. I think he was arguing that CiTW (and Dollhouse also) show a contempt for the idea of the watcher of a story, speaking to the parables these works contain of story/creator/fan dynamics. More that I didn't fully get, but should be interesting to read sometime.
Leigh A. Clemons did a paper on the Faustian Bargain in Dr. Horrible, just going through and highlighting some of the parallels with both Marlowe and Goethe's Faust and Dr. Horrible. It was an interesting paper and she has a theater background, which might speak to why her presentation was very witty and fun. Also brought up the question of whether Billy really wanted to rule the world or just wanted the girl, thinking ruling the world was the avenue to get the girl. We'll have to see where the character goes from here.
Jim Wilson spoke on parallels between Dr. Horrible and his namesake, Melville's Billy Budd. I never read that book, so I missed a lot of it, but I found it interesting how he highlighted Billy's naivete in regard to evil. He committed the sin of isolation and had the naivete that came from that. Also relevant in regard to internet persona of evil genius versus reality of the ELE.
Thank goodness the last presentations of the day were all together, no decisions to be made. First we heard from Alyson R. Buckman on viewer responses to Whedon works. An example of what I mentioned earlier, that the analysis of fandom at this conference was really well done. Followed well from Gray in the morning as well. Then Helene Frohard-Dourlent analyzed "Nobody's Asian in the Movies" from Commentary the Musical. It was a mixed bag, but ultimately seemed to absolve whites from feeling guilty about the racism it outlined by making it sound like that's just the way it is. But she went over it line by line and really had some good thoughts about its relation to real-world issues while not being harsh and accusatory. Hard line to walk.
Final speaker was Ananya Mukherjea on Mothering, Trust, and Hope in the Whedonverses. She talked on different displays of "mothering" and "fathering" in relation to Fray, Simon, Adelle and Boyd. It was really interesting. Talked about the privileging of the mothering aspect of family, interdependence driven by trust, as a way to a better future. Another one I want to read for the full impact.
I was going to try and drive somewhere for dinner, since we had a bit of time, but once I got halfway to the car without managing to even remember my keys, I decided I shouldn't be driving around someplace I've never been in that state. So I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and ate them in my room while watching an episode of Archer. Much safer and a nice breather.
At 7 was the screening of Dr. Horrible. It became a sing-a-long. Then we talked a bit about it, then watched it again with Commentary the Musical. Had fun sitting with Natstev and singing, but totally wiped out by the end. Can't remember much of the discussion. And phone was losing the battle with wifi so didn't tweet it. I think Samira did though. Long day. Good day.
Started out the morning with Keynote #2, Jonathan Gray on Joss Whedon as Undead Author. Was interesting talk about studying an author who is still producing work and participating in the discussion of his work to the public, helping shape how it's seen in paratextual forums. And much more. But very complex discussion of a field about which I'm only slightly knowledgeable. Along with discussions of the changing textual identity, the author in the text and the audience appropriation of imagery across texts, I mainly got from it some of the challenges faced by academics and critics trying to pin down a moving target like this.
The morning panel I chose was the Characters. Ana Carolina Gutierrez did a paper on signs of clinical depression in Buffy season 6, bravely relating it to her own struggles in that area, pointing out how the show gave the audience some hope that there can be an end to the depths of depression and that anyone, no matter how strong, can be susceptible to mental health issues. She said some of the things I've tried to articulate about why season 6 is so important to me.
Next up was Jessica Ratcliffe on Placing Giles in BtVS, talking about how Giles' character is defined by where he spends the most of his time and by his costuming, emphasizing the visual aspect of character definition. She argued that he became less Other/foreign and more normalized/Americanized over the series even when he moved back to England.
And we ended with Xander as Seer of the Self, Provider of Clarity, and Purveyor of Acceptance: Human Agency in BtVS. This paper focused on the importance of Xander as Everyman with the power of his humanity even while in the midst of so much supernatural, world-saving power.
Afternoon panels. Again, I had to miss Dollhouse stuff because it was up against Dr. Horrible and one Cabin paper that I really wanted to hear. Hopefully much more will be published on Dollhouse in the near future. Also, even though I never sought to go to the many fandom panels, from what I heard, they were all pretty great, so maybe I should have given more thought to them. In this case I missed Jen Stuller on Nerd Burlesque.
Kris Woofter spoke of Cabin in the Woods. He didn't think the film was a good commentary on the horror genre, that it spoke more to reality tv, and that it didn't have a lot of respect for its audience. He argued that horror audiences are generally pretty sophisticated with regard to the genre, and that that wasn't represented in the film. I think he was arguing that CiTW (and Dollhouse also) show a contempt for the idea of the watcher of a story, speaking to the parables these works contain of story/creator/fan dynamics. More that I didn't fully get, but should be interesting to read sometime.
Leigh A. Clemons did a paper on the Faustian Bargain in Dr. Horrible, just going through and highlighting some of the parallels with both Marlowe and Goethe's Faust and Dr. Horrible. It was an interesting paper and she has a theater background, which might speak to why her presentation was very witty and fun. Also brought up the question of whether Billy really wanted to rule the world or just wanted the girl, thinking ruling the world was the avenue to get the girl. We'll have to see where the character goes from here.
Jim Wilson spoke on parallels between Dr. Horrible and his namesake, Melville's Billy Budd. I never read that book, so I missed a lot of it, but I found it interesting how he highlighted Billy's naivete in regard to evil. He committed the sin of isolation and had the naivete that came from that. Also relevant in regard to internet persona of evil genius versus reality of the ELE.
Thank goodness the last presentations of the day were all together, no decisions to be made. First we heard from Alyson R. Buckman on viewer responses to Whedon works. An example of what I mentioned earlier, that the analysis of fandom at this conference was really well done. Followed well from Gray in the morning as well. Then Helene Frohard-Dourlent analyzed "Nobody's Asian in the Movies" from Commentary the Musical. It was a mixed bag, but ultimately seemed to absolve whites from feeling guilty about the racism it outlined by making it sound like that's just the way it is. But she went over it line by line and really had some good thoughts about its relation to real-world issues while not being harsh and accusatory. Hard line to walk.
Final speaker was Ananya Mukherjea on Mothering, Trust, and Hope in the Whedonverses. She talked on different displays of "mothering" and "fathering" in relation to Fray, Simon, Adelle and Boyd. It was really interesting. Talked about the privileging of the mothering aspect of family, interdependence driven by trust, as a way to a better future. Another one I want to read for the full impact.
I was going to try and drive somewhere for dinner, since we had a bit of time, but once I got halfway to the car without managing to even remember my keys, I decided I shouldn't be driving around someplace I've never been in that state. So I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and ate them in my room while watching an episode of Archer. Much safer and a nice breather.
At 7 was the screening of Dr. Horrible. It became a sing-a-long. Then we talked a bit about it, then watched it again with Commentary the Musical. Had fun sitting with Natstev and singing, but totally wiped out by the end. Can't remember much of the discussion. And phone was losing the battle with wifi so didn't tweet it. I think Samira did though. Long day. Good day.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Slayage5 Day One
The day started with an opening address by an elder of the Musqueam nation, welcoming us to their land, giving us a little info on the first people here. Then the admin of the law school welcomed us. He's a Buffy fan too, so that was cool.
Then we got a terrific talk on puppets in Angel. Break Out the Champagne, Pinocchio: Angel and the Puppet Paradox. I really never noticed how very many references there are to puppets in Angel (and Buffy) aside from Smile Time and the Puppet Show. So many references to pulling someone's strings and being a real boy, etc. Cynthea Masson gave us a lot of information on puppet theory and how it relates to questions of the undead, inner demons, and souls, puppets and puppeteers and free will and much more. It was really great. I'm now seeing Smile Time in a whole new light, and it seems an extremely important thematic episode instead of/as well as just a fun romp.
To my mind, part of what she was saying is that since Angel as a puppet was able to take control of his own strings, that led to him no longer being Wolfram & Hart's puppet or the PTB, which led to the end of the season's attack on Black Thorn and signing away of the Shanshu. And there was much more to it that I'm not recalling right now. Will be looking for that paper.
The first session I went to after that was the panel on Law and Language. Erma Petrova analyzed Buffy's use of state of emergency justification of the suspending of the usual democratic processes in season 7 and how that was not validated as a good solution to the war with the First. (I'm Declaring an Emergency: Leadership and the State of Exception in BtVS.) Sharon Sutherland and Sarah Swan spoke on issues of law in the Whedonverse (Vampires, Reavers, and Lawyers: Joss Whedon's Lens on Law.) They spoke of doing more work on the presentation of legal questions and methodologies in non-law shows regarding morality vs. justice, the inadequacy of legal institutions, and the development of new systems of law. And they played clips from Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse.
Rhonda Wilcox, pretty much the reason I chose this panel, spoke on A Soliloquy by Any Other Name: Speech-Making in the Whedonverses. She highlighted a few of the memorable speeches given by characters in the four shows and also spoke of the history of the soliloquy/monologue, as well as its definition. That's another one where I'll need to read the paper to fully process everything she was saying, but it was really enjoyable. She asked people to speak to her about instances in other TV of affective speech-making, how common or rare it is, and of course she defined that, but I'll have to wait for the paper to remember the details.
Then was lunch. Went downstairs of the student union and got a sushi roll. Agonized with Natalie over what session to see next.
I finally chose Music in the Whedonverses over the Dollhouse panel. Sadness. But the musical info was great. Neil Lerner spoke on Spike's Musical Motif in Season Seven. He identified its starting point in Beneath You when he handed Buffy the flashlight and she flashed back to the attempted rape and he said he understood why she was skittish around him. He made a great point about Spike calling it a torch. Hold the torch, he told Buffy, when he had sung about holding a torch for her that was scorching him. Later in the episode as he talked about the spark he now had inside, the music gained fuller expression. Then of course, he died in fire from the amulet interacting with his soul, with the music again. Great word motif to go with the music. His question was whether it was a love theme since it only appeared when he was with Buffy. There was no consensus on that, but some good discussion.
Steven Halfyard then spoke about the theme song to Dollhouse and the significance of there being no lyrics. It was really interesting, and again I want the paper so I can understand the intricacies of the argument. Basically the lyrics are Caroline's and become Echo's but then also still signify Caroline. The loss of words at the end representing the loss of memory leading to childishness. So the fact the lyrics are excised from the theme song due to their being to specific about what the show is perhaps, means that Caroline is absent from the text too. Generally. Like I said, need to see the paper to understand it fuller, but looking forward to it.
The next panel I chose was The Grotesque Across the Whedonverse. Cynthia Burkhead and her students were presenting on fairy tales in Buffy, carnival masks in Firefly, and cute grotesque in Angel & Dollhouse. There was interesting stuff here, but my lack of sleep caught up with me at this point and I had trouble paying attention. Cute grotesque definition and discussion related to manga and kawaii, twee and moe, and other things Japanese, which was tied to Angel puppet and certain Echo Active costumes. Hush, Killed By Death and Gingerbread were analyzed for signs of the grotesque in their fairy tales, and the masks/personas that Mal puts on throughout Firefly were also discussed. The students pretty much just read their papers, which was fine but with my lack of sleep problem, really hard to stay on focus. I did hear about a show scheduled for 2013 called Happy Time Murders that would be a puppet noir kind of deal. A world of puppets and humans interacting. Will have to check that out.
Last panel of the day was brilliant. I got caffeinated just in time to hear Matthew Pateman speak on the importance of TV directors to the art of TV and the discipline of television studies and K. Dale Koontz on the similarities between Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, and the history of the space western and its ghettoization by some schools of science fiction. Very interesting, both of them. Almost asked a question or tried to participate in the discussion, but felt pretty sure I'd be nervous enough to sound like a trembling ninny, so didn't. Plus, plenty of discussion was had by all anyway. I was very sad Jes Battis was ill and couldn't be there. I really enjoy his work and was looking forward to hearing him talk about River.
I was also sad to miss the Comics panel. I really wanted to hear Elizabeth Rambo talk about Sugarshock!, but I guess I'll have to wait for the paper to appear somewhere. A day of tough decisions.
So I really need to watch Cowboy Bebop. Aside from seeing the theme here and hearing about the story, it also came up several times in Ready Player One as I was listening to the audiobook on the way here. Universe is definitely telling me to see it.
The evening ended with a banquet, presentation of Mr. Pointy awards, and a speech by Nancy Holder. Dinner was good, I met some more new people at my table, and the speech was interesting about the world of tie-in novel writers and what Joss meant to her in her career. But coffee had worn off and it was stuffy and hot in there, so started losing the gist again and just wanted the evening to be done. I left before the sing-along. So good day.
Then we got a terrific talk on puppets in Angel. Break Out the Champagne, Pinocchio: Angel and the Puppet Paradox. I really never noticed how very many references there are to puppets in Angel (and Buffy) aside from Smile Time and the Puppet Show. So many references to pulling someone's strings and being a real boy, etc. Cynthea Masson gave us a lot of information on puppet theory and how it relates to questions of the undead, inner demons, and souls, puppets and puppeteers and free will and much more. It was really great. I'm now seeing Smile Time in a whole new light, and it seems an extremely important thematic episode instead of/as well as just a fun romp.
To my mind, part of what she was saying is that since Angel as a puppet was able to take control of his own strings, that led to him no longer being Wolfram & Hart's puppet or the PTB, which led to the end of the season's attack on Black Thorn and signing away of the Shanshu. And there was much more to it that I'm not recalling right now. Will be looking for that paper.
The first session I went to after that was the panel on Law and Language. Erma Petrova analyzed Buffy's use of state of emergency justification of the suspending of the usual democratic processes in season 7 and how that was not validated as a good solution to the war with the First. (I'm Declaring an Emergency: Leadership and the State of Exception in BtVS.) Sharon Sutherland and Sarah Swan spoke on issues of law in the Whedonverse (Vampires, Reavers, and Lawyers: Joss Whedon's Lens on Law.) They spoke of doing more work on the presentation of legal questions and methodologies in non-law shows regarding morality vs. justice, the inadequacy of legal institutions, and the development of new systems of law. And they played clips from Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse.
Rhonda Wilcox, pretty much the reason I chose this panel, spoke on A Soliloquy by Any Other Name: Speech-Making in the Whedonverses. She highlighted a few of the memorable speeches given by characters in the four shows and also spoke of the history of the soliloquy/monologue, as well as its definition. That's another one where I'll need to read the paper to fully process everything she was saying, but it was really enjoyable. She asked people to speak to her about instances in other TV of affective speech-making, how common or rare it is, and of course she defined that, but I'll have to wait for the paper to remember the details.
Then was lunch. Went downstairs of the student union and got a sushi roll. Agonized with Natalie over what session to see next.
I finally chose Music in the Whedonverses over the Dollhouse panel. Sadness. But the musical info was great. Neil Lerner spoke on Spike's Musical Motif in Season Seven. He identified its starting point in Beneath You when he handed Buffy the flashlight and she flashed back to the attempted rape and he said he understood why she was skittish around him. He made a great point about Spike calling it a torch. Hold the torch, he told Buffy, when he had sung about holding a torch for her that was scorching him. Later in the episode as he talked about the spark he now had inside, the music gained fuller expression. Then of course, he died in fire from the amulet interacting with his soul, with the music again. Great word motif to go with the music. His question was whether it was a love theme since it only appeared when he was with Buffy. There was no consensus on that, but some good discussion.
Steven Halfyard then spoke about the theme song to Dollhouse and the significance of there being no lyrics. It was really interesting, and again I want the paper so I can understand the intricacies of the argument. Basically the lyrics are Caroline's and become Echo's but then also still signify Caroline. The loss of words at the end representing the loss of memory leading to childishness. So the fact the lyrics are excised from the theme song due to their being to specific about what the show is perhaps, means that Caroline is absent from the text too. Generally. Like I said, need to see the paper to understand it fuller, but looking forward to it.
The next panel I chose was The Grotesque Across the Whedonverse. Cynthia Burkhead and her students were presenting on fairy tales in Buffy, carnival masks in Firefly, and cute grotesque in Angel & Dollhouse. There was interesting stuff here, but my lack of sleep caught up with me at this point and I had trouble paying attention. Cute grotesque definition and discussion related to manga and kawaii, twee and moe, and other things Japanese, which was tied to Angel puppet and certain Echo Active costumes. Hush, Killed By Death and Gingerbread were analyzed for signs of the grotesque in their fairy tales, and the masks/personas that Mal puts on throughout Firefly were also discussed. The students pretty much just read their papers, which was fine but with my lack of sleep problem, really hard to stay on focus. I did hear about a show scheduled for 2013 called Happy Time Murders that would be a puppet noir kind of deal. A world of puppets and humans interacting. Will have to check that out.
Last panel of the day was brilliant. I got caffeinated just in time to hear Matthew Pateman speak on the importance of TV directors to the art of TV and the discipline of television studies and K. Dale Koontz on the similarities between Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, and the history of the space western and its ghettoization by some schools of science fiction. Very interesting, both of them. Almost asked a question or tried to participate in the discussion, but felt pretty sure I'd be nervous enough to sound like a trembling ninny, so didn't. Plus, plenty of discussion was had by all anyway. I was very sad Jes Battis was ill and couldn't be there. I really enjoy his work and was looking forward to hearing him talk about River.
I was also sad to miss the Comics panel. I really wanted to hear Elizabeth Rambo talk about Sugarshock!, but I guess I'll have to wait for the paper to appear somewhere. A day of tough decisions.
So I really need to watch Cowboy Bebop. Aside from seeing the theme here and hearing about the story, it also came up several times in Ready Player One as I was listening to the audiobook on the way here. Universe is definitely telling me to see it.
The evening ended with a banquet, presentation of Mr. Pointy awards, and a speech by Nancy Holder. Dinner was good, I met some more new people at my table, and the speech was interesting about the world of tie-in novel writers and what Joss meant to her in her career. But coffee had worn off and it was stuffy and hot in there, so started losing the gist again and just wanted the evening to be done. I left before the sing-along. So good day.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Status update
Well, I'm halfway through revisiting season 8, but it's taken a damned long time. The point of this was to practice writing while taking a close look at Buffy season 8 to try to figure out what happened and why, since by the end I mostly felt confused and a little depressed. I'm still going for it, but since it's taking me so long to complete, I'll probably have to take time to reread what I've written to have it fresh in my mind when I get to the end. Read my own writing? Ugh. But that's for later I think.
I'm going to try to do this more often and actually get through the next 4 trades/arcs more quickly now, but we'll see how it goes. How's that for goal setting?
I'm going to try to do this more often and actually get through the next 4 trades/arcs more quickly now, but we'll see how it goes. How's that for goal setting?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #20 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 5.
We begin with a montage of Buffy battling various crechy faces, saying over and over, "Can't say I didn't warn you." She's musing on how hard it is to have to save the world over and over, and it's a bit of a thematic callback to "Going Through the Motions" I think. Even the patter is rote at this point, even if getting a good night's sleep is not. "Why is it always this hard?" I hear you, sister.
Headquarters. Don't think it's the castle anymore but not sure. Buffy's come in and collapsed on a bed to get some sleep, but it's Xander's bed and he doesn't want demon goo all over it. As he complains, Buffy falls asleep.
And she visits Buffy the Animated Series, the show that never was, but was planned for years to happen. (I believe; I'm not going to research it. No one's reading this anyway and whatever.)
Buffy's dream is herself in the old days of Sunnydale High. We get enough clues throughout to determine it's probably end of season 1, after Puppet Show but before Prophecy Girl. Joyce and a young Dawn are there. It's always fun to see Dawn in the flashbacks when she wasn't there in the original time line. Buffy quickly learns that Joyce doesn't know she's the Slayer and that there's a party tonight. Buffy's wearing a tee that says Relax. Subconscious much?
Buffy is herself and knows she's in a dream; she hasn't forgotten all that's happened. She gets to school and sees Willow and is happy, being still a bit traumatized at having to kill her future self. Thanks a lot, Future Willow.
Cordy! is there and being a bitch to Willow. Buffy says someday she'll be dead and Willow will be a sorceress supreme. Harsh, B. RIP Cordelia.
Xander's on the skateboard he never got to ride in the show. Principal Snyder confiscates it in his typical nasty fashion. Buffy tells Xander that maybe someday he'll get eaten by a giant snake and you'll be in charge of a bunch of women, only to be reminded that Willow is not yet gay (I know, terminology, just going with how Willow herself tends to put it) and has the hots for Xander. Yeah, this is when you definitely get the time period.
Buffy's starting to enjoy the dream, happy to be part of the little Scooby gang again. It's after school, and they meet up with Giles in a graveyard, talking obsessively about the party that night. Giles is looking particularly dire through this whole sequence, like he's taking the blame for ruining the fun. He kind of served that function before but this seems extra layer-y. Buffy's still not too happy with him I think.
Anyway, the fate of the world is up for grabs tonight. Again. This could "shift the balance of good and evil beyond all hope and reckoning." This is one part that makes me think some Slayer prophecy/Spidey sense stuff is leaking into this fairly fluffy dream. That's too relevant to what's going on in the now.
As her young, fit, unbeaten down, high school self, but still having all her memories of so many battles to draw on, Buffy's confident she can deal with whatever is happening here. She wipes out the three vampires in the nest Giles is worried about, the worshippers of Morgala, but he's still worried because he notices Morgala's image seems to be a dragon. Chekov's dragon.
But Buffy goes off about wanting to have fun. I think she appreciates now that she did get a chance to have some fun and normalcy in high school, even though at the time slaying always seemed to get in the way, and now she wants to enjoy this simpler time that's so irrevocably gone for good. OOH, Sunnydale High reunion! needs to be a story someday.
They split up to get ready for the party (well, Giles is probably going back to the batlibrary to mutter over his books and worry). Buffy looks at her cross and thinks of Angel of this time. She and Joyce have a season 1 style conversation, and Joyce says even with Buffy's whole life ahead of her, she can always come home again. Bittersweet, knowing Buffy can't return either to Sunnydale the town or Joyce's home. But also again, some Slayer instinct at work re returning to Sunnydale in the present?
Buffy meets Angel on the way to the party. He tells her he heard about the vampire thing and it's good she took out Morgala's five followers so they couldn't raise Morgala. Pretty much highlights that he just wants to see her because why does she need to here about what could have been? Classic early Angel.
She snipes at him a bit, then gets close and asks if he knew of the future of someone, would he tell that person what he knew. Thinking of Angelus and, well, all of Angel's unfun future stuff no doubt. And maybe of Willow too, come to think of it. That makes more sense really. That must be wearing on her mind, whether to tell Will what happened in the future. He actually answers that weird ass question, saying no, because if they know, it could change their future into something unpredictable.
Buffy leaves, then realizes that three and five are different, there's still two Morgala vamps out there. So instead of letting the party music pull her in that direction, she heads back to the vamp nest and finds the other two acolytes finishing their ritual. She dusts them, but they've brought forth the Dragon!
She grabs it as it flies up into the air and fights with it as they soar over the party and Buffy bitches at the dragon for ruining her fun dream. She really is getting a lot of air time in the comic books. (Crack myself up.) She gets rid of it easily, but then falls to the ground and...
...wakes up, just where we left of with Xander. She's been asleep all of four seconds. They're joined by Dawntaur and Willow, who has word from Andrew of trouble in Madrid. Buffy is excited to babble to them about her high school dream.
She says she kept thinking how nice it was when it wasn't so complicated. But it really wasn't that different. And it doesn't matter. Dream over. By the end of that chain of thought, she all depressed about life again. I can't even tell you how many times I've had that same segue happen, and it's always in that order of emotions too.
"We've got a world to save," says BuffyAtlas. And her last thoughts are on Angel's words. "You can't change a person's past. And just by telling them, you'll change their future into who knows what." I think that means she's decided not to tell Willow what she becomes. But I can't help but think it might be important in a more general way to the season's themes, since it was repeated twice, but I can't figure out how it applies quite yet.
But this volume of stories began with a trip to Will's far future and ended with a visit to Buffy's past, so that's something to ponder as we go forward.
We begin with a montage of Buffy battling various crechy faces, saying over and over, "Can't say I didn't warn you." She's musing on how hard it is to have to save the world over and over, and it's a bit of a thematic callback to "Going Through the Motions" I think. Even the patter is rote at this point, even if getting a good night's sleep is not. "Why is it always this hard?" I hear you, sister.
Headquarters. Don't think it's the castle anymore but not sure. Buffy's come in and collapsed on a bed to get some sleep, but it's Xander's bed and he doesn't want demon goo all over it. As he complains, Buffy falls asleep.
And she visits Buffy the Animated Series, the show that never was, but was planned for years to happen. (I believe; I'm not going to research it. No one's reading this anyway and whatever.)
Buffy's dream is herself in the old days of Sunnydale High. We get enough clues throughout to determine it's probably end of season 1, after Puppet Show but before Prophecy Girl. Joyce and a young Dawn are there. It's always fun to see Dawn in the flashbacks when she wasn't there in the original time line. Buffy quickly learns that Joyce doesn't know she's the Slayer and that there's a party tonight. Buffy's wearing a tee that says Relax. Subconscious much?
Buffy is herself and knows she's in a dream; she hasn't forgotten all that's happened. She gets to school and sees Willow and is happy, being still a bit traumatized at having to kill her future self. Thanks a lot, Future Willow.
Cordy! is there and being a bitch to Willow. Buffy says someday she'll be dead and Willow will be a sorceress supreme. Harsh, B. RIP Cordelia.
Xander's on the skateboard he never got to ride in the show. Principal Snyder confiscates it in his typical nasty fashion. Buffy tells Xander that maybe someday he'll get eaten by a giant snake and you'll be in charge of a bunch of women, only to be reminded that Willow is not yet gay (I know, terminology, just going with how Willow herself tends to put it) and has the hots for Xander. Yeah, this is when you definitely get the time period.
Buffy's starting to enjoy the dream, happy to be part of the little Scooby gang again. It's after school, and they meet up with Giles in a graveyard, talking obsessively about the party that night. Giles is looking particularly dire through this whole sequence, like he's taking the blame for ruining the fun. He kind of served that function before but this seems extra layer-y. Buffy's still not too happy with him I think.
Anyway, the fate of the world is up for grabs tonight. Again. This could "shift the balance of good and evil beyond all hope and reckoning." This is one part that makes me think some Slayer prophecy/Spidey sense stuff is leaking into this fairly fluffy dream. That's too relevant to what's going on in the now.
As her young, fit, unbeaten down, high school self, but still having all her memories of so many battles to draw on, Buffy's confident she can deal with whatever is happening here. She wipes out the three vampires in the nest Giles is worried about, the worshippers of Morgala, but he's still worried because he notices Morgala's image seems to be a dragon. Chekov's dragon.
But Buffy goes off about wanting to have fun. I think she appreciates now that she did get a chance to have some fun and normalcy in high school, even though at the time slaying always seemed to get in the way, and now she wants to enjoy this simpler time that's so irrevocably gone for good. OOH, Sunnydale High reunion! needs to be a story someday.
They split up to get ready for the party (well, Giles is probably going back to the batlibrary to mutter over his books and worry). Buffy looks at her cross and thinks of Angel of this time. She and Joyce have a season 1 style conversation, and Joyce says even with Buffy's whole life ahead of her, she can always come home again. Bittersweet, knowing Buffy can't return either to Sunnydale the town or Joyce's home. But also again, some Slayer instinct at work re returning to Sunnydale in the present?
Buffy meets Angel on the way to the party. He tells her he heard about the vampire thing and it's good she took out Morgala's five followers so they couldn't raise Morgala. Pretty much highlights that he just wants to see her because why does she need to here about what could have been? Classic early Angel.
She snipes at him a bit, then gets close and asks if he knew of the future of someone, would he tell that person what he knew. Thinking of Angelus and, well, all of Angel's unfun future stuff no doubt. And maybe of Willow too, come to think of it. That makes more sense really. That must be wearing on her mind, whether to tell Will what happened in the future. He actually answers that weird ass question, saying no, because if they know, it could change their future into something unpredictable.
Buffy leaves, then realizes that three and five are different, there's still two Morgala vamps out there. So instead of letting the party music pull her in that direction, she heads back to the vamp nest and finds the other two acolytes finishing their ritual. She dusts them, but they've brought forth the Dragon!
She grabs it as it flies up into the air and fights with it as they soar over the party and Buffy bitches at the dragon for ruining her fun dream. She really is getting a lot of air time in the comic books. (Crack myself up.) She gets rid of it easily, but then falls to the ground and...
...wakes up, just where we left of with Xander. She's been asleep all of four seconds. They're joined by Dawntaur and Willow, who has word from Andrew of trouble in Madrid. Buffy is excited to babble to them about her high school dream.
She says she kept thinking how nice it was when it wasn't so complicated. But it really wasn't that different. And it doesn't matter. Dream over. By the end of that chain of thought, she all depressed about life again. I can't even tell you how many times I've had that same segue happen, and it's always in that order of emotions too.
"We've got a world to save," says BuffyAtlas. And her last thoughts are on Angel's words. "You can't change a person's past. And just by telling them, you'll change their future into who knows what." I think that means she's decided not to tell Willow what she becomes. But I can't help but think it might be important in a more general way to the season's themes, since it was repeated twice, but I can't figure out how it applies quite yet.
But this volume of stories began with a trip to Will's far future and ended with a visit to Buffy's past, so that's something to ponder as we go forward.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #19 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 4.
Future Willow, Madwoman, is melancholy about living for so long. Which won't be a problem much longer. She's talking with Melaka and Erin Fray as Buffy, chained to a chair, starts to come around. Fray is still not willing to kill another slayer, despite whatever horrible thing Willow showed her. Erin's for just sending her home, but Fray says if they do that, she'll try and change the future and end their world.
Buffy wakes up and is a bit upset that Willow went dark again. But before they can get into it, Harth and co. show up. He brings up the fact that Willow told him the opposite of what she told Melaka, that Buffy would cause this world to be after all this. Willow admits to the deception, saying she's all evil and stuff. Then she says it's not important who dies, just who kills them. Hunh? Oh, I get it. Sort of. Future Willow is just all kinds of messed up. So sad.
Gates(?) is helping Buffy with her chains while Melaka faces off with Will. Which was the lie? Harth doesn't care; he just wants to kill them all. And then Gunther! arrives with reinforcements and cool submarine-looking cars, scoffing that Harth though three vamps could take him out.
In the melee, Buffy gets free and disables Erin and Melaka. She says she doesn't care about their world, she just has to save hers. For reals, I mean, how many worlds can she have on her shoulders? Will says she's not done yet as she races off.
And we're in Scotland. The various wood spirits and fairy creatures of the area have been recruited to take out Amy's demons. Xander and Dawn also got a hold of some swords. Then suddenly the demons go from sickly green and invincible to normal looking lizardy types who get wounded. Hurray, Wiccan Squad! Rowena has led them and the slayers back to the fight. Those guys are toast.
Buffy runs away, headed for the rift building. Fray beat her there. They fight and argue, as slayers are wont to do. Instead of the "big picture," Buffy calls her attitude the "fate of the world, short view." The difference between those two things is probably important, but I'm not sure how. Maybe just that Buffy can see both, but knows when to choose between them? Is this her getting something back she's lost or more of the same? And mistake or rationality? Melaka says that the fate of the world view made sense to her when there was only one world. Fringe-world problems.
So they fight more. Fray's on her own turf, so stronger that way, but Buffy has the memories of all the slayers to guide her. It's a good fight.
Warren, Amy and Twilight are watching their army get decimated. Warren blames Amy for the failure. As the two snipe at each other (they're the worst), Twilight turns to another man in the shadows. He stands all soldiery and has the Twilight scar on his chest. We find out he's who Buffy met in New York. And it's Riley. (I think. The reveals don't work as well in the comics because the representations of the actors are different enough that it's hard to immediately place them and go AHA! By the time you work it out, it's more oh. For me anyway.)
So Riley is pretending to be Buffy's pal while reporting to Twilight? I had forgotten this. I believe he's a double agent though. But I'm still trying to figure out the logic of Twilight in general, so I honestly don't remember how this plays out.
Anyway, Willow of the present blindfolds herself to keep her promise. The rift opens. On the other side, Buffy totally demolishes Fray's scythe. WTF? Is that a sign that she will destroy Fray's world if she goes home? Probably just Slayer strength thing.
Future Willow steps in front of the rift, in Buffy's way. Buffy has it figured out that Willow wanted all of this to happen and wants to know why. I think she probably already knows at this point. It's a long story, Willow begins, and -- THUNK! scythe through the chest. Future Will falls down dead as present Will reaches through the rift and grabs Buffy. Fray lunges for her but is too late.
Buffy is through and crying and hugging Willow, telling her she loves her. Brutal.
Future Willow is dead, just as she wanted. And what was important to her was who killed her. It had to be Buffy, even if it meant messing up the time lines and all. And I can't figure out if that's about love or hate, or if Willow even knew. It feels hateful, like revenge, which is just so unfair. But maybe it's just because they went through so much together, and she knew Buffy would do it if she had to. Or maybe it's a last warning to Buffy about what's to come, the absence of effect of her plans to change the world.
Melaka and Erin stare at Willow's body, Melaka feeling defeated, until they realize that they're still here. The end.
Future Willow, Madwoman, is melancholy about living for so long. Which won't be a problem much longer. She's talking with Melaka and Erin Fray as Buffy, chained to a chair, starts to come around. Fray is still not willing to kill another slayer, despite whatever horrible thing Willow showed her. Erin's for just sending her home, but Fray says if they do that, she'll try and change the future and end their world.
Buffy wakes up and is a bit upset that Willow went dark again. But before they can get into it, Harth and co. show up. He brings up the fact that Willow told him the opposite of what she told Melaka, that Buffy would cause this world to be after all this. Willow admits to the deception, saying she's all evil and stuff. Then she says it's not important who dies, just who kills them. Hunh? Oh, I get it. Sort of. Future Willow is just all kinds of messed up. So sad.
Gates(?) is helping Buffy with her chains while Melaka faces off with Will. Which was the lie? Harth doesn't care; he just wants to kill them all. And then Gunther! arrives with reinforcements and cool submarine-looking cars, scoffing that Harth though three vamps could take him out.
In the melee, Buffy gets free and disables Erin and Melaka. She says she doesn't care about their world, she just has to save hers. For reals, I mean, how many worlds can she have on her shoulders? Will says she's not done yet as she races off.
And we're in Scotland. The various wood spirits and fairy creatures of the area have been recruited to take out Amy's demons. Xander and Dawn also got a hold of some swords. Then suddenly the demons go from sickly green and invincible to normal looking lizardy types who get wounded. Hurray, Wiccan Squad! Rowena has led them and the slayers back to the fight. Those guys are toast.
Buffy runs away, headed for the rift building. Fray beat her there. They fight and argue, as slayers are wont to do. Instead of the "big picture," Buffy calls her attitude the "fate of the world, short view." The difference between those two things is probably important, but I'm not sure how. Maybe just that Buffy can see both, but knows when to choose between them? Is this her getting something back she's lost or more of the same? And mistake or rationality? Melaka says that the fate of the world view made sense to her when there was only one world. Fringe-world problems.
So they fight more. Fray's on her own turf, so stronger that way, but Buffy has the memories of all the slayers to guide her. It's a good fight.
Warren, Amy and Twilight are watching their army get decimated. Warren blames Amy for the failure. As the two snipe at each other (they're the worst), Twilight turns to another man in the shadows. He stands all soldiery and has the Twilight scar on his chest. We find out he's who Buffy met in New York. And it's Riley. (I think. The reveals don't work as well in the comics because the representations of the actors are different enough that it's hard to immediately place them and go AHA! By the time you work it out, it's more oh. For me anyway.)
So Riley is pretending to be Buffy's pal while reporting to Twilight? I had forgotten this. I believe he's a double agent though. But I'm still trying to figure out the logic of Twilight in general, so I honestly don't remember how this plays out.
Anyway, Willow of the present blindfolds herself to keep her promise. The rift opens. On the other side, Buffy totally demolishes Fray's scythe. WTF? Is that a sign that she will destroy Fray's world if she goes home? Probably just Slayer strength thing.
Future Willow steps in front of the rift, in Buffy's way. Buffy has it figured out that Willow wanted all of this to happen and wants to know why. I think she probably already knows at this point. It's a long story, Willow begins, and -- THUNK! scythe through the chest. Future Will falls down dead as present Will reaches through the rift and grabs Buffy. Fray lunges for her but is too late.
Buffy is through and crying and hugging Willow, telling her she loves her. Brutal.
Future Willow is dead, just as she wanted. And what was important to her was who killed her. It had to be Buffy, even if it meant messing up the time lines and all. And I can't figure out if that's about love or hate, or if Willow even knew. It feels hateful, like revenge, which is just so unfair. But maybe it's just because they went through so much together, and she knew Buffy would do it if she had to. Or maybe it's a last warning to Buffy about what's to come, the absence of effect of her plans to change the world.
Melaka and Erin stare at Willow's body, Melaka feeling defeated, until they realize that they're still here. The end.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #18 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 3.
We start with books. Buffy's reading the histories and trying to figure out what happened. She refers to one entry as being too ridiculous to comprehend. Wonder what that refers to.
What's not mentioned at all is Buffy's creation of the slayer army, and what's not present in the future is the better world she hoped to create with it. So is it a hubris thing? Did she aim too high with the spell? You know, it's not like she had many choices at the time. And the reason things went off the rails in the first place was Willow and the gang bringing her back from the dead. Not her fault, any of it. Feel so bad for her.
Anyhow, Fray and Gates(?) come in with news from Gunther about some vamp action. Buffy's in the mood for some carnage about now.
Xander and Dawn make it to the forest, but are in the opposite direction of the fleeing slayers. They figure out it's a Warren and Amy thing, but aren't sure what to do next. That's when some tree spirit calling himself Lorelahn makes an angry appearance. Xander and Dawn are not impressed with his rhetoric given what they just ran away from, and after insults are exchanged, they settle in to talk.
Gunther is being visited by Harth and some minions. Harth isn't happy about Gunther giving Fray info. Gunther is as unimpressed by Harth and his threats as Xander and Dawn are of the wood fairies. Gunther should be a little more concerned though, since there's three vamps in his water sneaking up behind him as Harth leaves.
Oh, no, Buffy's trying to drive. Why did she think a flying car! would be a good idea? Remember B, unmixy things? There's also a Bandy Candy callback that just sounds weird in this context.
They find some vamps -- in mummy gear to hide from the smog-infested sunlight -- attacking some complex. Fray wants to stop them. Buffy wants to hang back and follow them home after. Looking at the big picture as she's learned to do over and over in the last few years. Fray's not for that though. So is it a critique of General Buffy becoming upper echelon in her thinking and not remembering what it is to be a foot soldier who exists in the field of battle? I mean, she goes in the field all the time, but she has become more end justifies means, organized soldier instead of hero. Is she the new Watcher's Council? The new Initiative? And is it inevitable that that happens when she tries to establish her own status quo? Again, as Buffy is an adult now, the concerns seem very in tune with Angel themes.
Fray attacks, the vamps flee, and Buffy follows them, giving future Willow time to talk to Fray. Yeah, that'll end well.
Back to the present Willow getting mystically sexy with Saga Vasuki. She says someone she trusted told her what to say to Willow. Willow is polite but firm, she wants Buffy back. Willow is always going after Buffy. Future Willow even goes after Buffy for her own reasons while knowing that her past self will come after Buffy too and planning for it. Anyway, Saga Vasuki says the rift will reopen, but she insists that Willow promise her not to look at the future when she reaches for Buffy. And then Willow's back with Kennedy, orgasm--I mean, vision over.
Future Willow talks with Fray, saying she should kill Buffy because they want different things. When Fray mentions they both want vampires to be gone, Willow says, "The most important men in both your lives are 'lurks.' You think it's really that simple?"
But what I don't get, if it's about balance and not the eradication or the victory of one side over the other in good vs. evil terms, how does deleting all magic do the job? Isn't that just another extreme winning out?
Willow suggests to Fray that she can't access much magic. Is she wiped out with all the temporal rifts and such? But she wants to show Fray some kind of vision. No doubt calling on the things she learned from Saga Vasuki that she had put to use setting this thing in motion with past Will, so nice.
Buffy managed to crash her car close to where the vamps went, but then suddenly she's back at Fray's place being accosted by Erin. I guess she came back for reinforcements. They bond over troublesome younger sisters, but then bam! Buffy is shocked unconscious by Fray. It was a trap. Part of Fray's plan to save her world.
Back to the present Willow getting mystically sexy wit
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #17 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 2.
We start with flying cars! Fray and Buffy have allied and are on the way to find a nest of vamps. Except the nest is actually the van they're flying next to. Except oops, it's not Buffy but Fray's sister, Erin. Similar look to them. Damn comics. My eyes don't adjust to the difference well. Anyway, we're in the future but back in time from the future we were in at the end of the last episode. Yeah, that works.
Fray cuts open the van with her scythe and fights vamps in midair, asking one where Harth is. If you've never read Fray or, like me, read it long ago and have forgotten virtually everything about it, don't worry. We'll find out more about Harth later on. Erin blows up the vamp van as it flies by a really cool, Isengard-like statue of an old man holding a book with his other hand positioned with thumb and ring ringer together in a circle. Does it mean anything? Is it a visual reference to the Fray comic? Need to reread (NTRR). Who knows.
As she rides the vamp onto the roof of another car (dirty), he mentions a madwoman who was supposed to save them. The way he describes her, she sounds a lot like Drusilla. I was fooled for a while the first time through.
Fray and Erin are back at her home. Fray mentions that Harth got her slayer memories from her and all she's got left are the diaries, so I guess that happened. NTRR. They're joined by a four-armed monkey thing as Fray talks about "Gates," the last great watcher who sacrificed himself at the Battle of Starbucks. ?? So I guess he's the monkey-thing now. And I'm not sure. Is that referring to Sunnydale or the end of season 8 or something we haven't seen? The histories are awfully incomplete and flawed as we'll see later.
Fray's looking for the madwoman in the books.
Harth speaks with the madwoman, telling of a slayer dream he's had of her fighting Buffy, who he knows is coming to the future. We don't see her face, and she does dress and talk like Dru. She's not slithering around like her though. And as we turn the page, she sounds less and less like Drusilla. Harth asks her why she wants the two slayers to combine forces. She replies, "Vampires gain strength from each other. Slayers, ultimately, don't." Also saying what happens here will help bring about the time they're in because of ripples.
Okay, one, that's foreshadowing. Two, and sad. The lone hero is stronger? Lot of bitterness there, and given that we find out later that she's Willow, it makes some sense given Will's role in the slayer spell vis-a-vis the ending of the season. But three, is this deconstructing season 7 and saying everything seemingly good about the ending is ultimately bad? That seems to be what all of season 8 says, which is a little bleak for Joss. I remember season 6 of Angel was supposed to be: Okay, now you've destroyed the status quo, now what do you do? And this feels like that too, especially given what Buffy says at the very start, but I don't know what kind of answers we're given when the end not only resets to a lone slayer (or 2), but also removes all magic from the world. But we'll get there.
Back in present New York, Willow says this is all her fault. Kennedy was injured by the demon that took Buffy's place. Will is keeping it alive to figure things out. Kennedy says this whole deal was supposed to help them, WTF? And Willow says that's what she thought so it's her fault. Does she know at this point? Or suspect?
Scotland. Green fire and destruction in the command center. Oh right, Warren's missile hit them. At least 7 slayers are dead that they know about so far. Rowena is freaking. Xander pulls her together as sickly green demons coalesce out of the flames and start macing computer screens and shooting green arrows, one of which nails Xander's shoulder as they move for the escape tunnels. Rowena makes it out, but Xander is down. Centaurette to the rescue! There's some awkwardness about Xander having to ride Dawn out of there, but they make it.
Fray ends up at the rift building because the diaries apparently said, "The last girl came here and was transformed." So I would say Willow had to plant that passage because we just established that she knew right away that it wasn't a transformation that happened. She's just putting the pieces into play. But also, Buffy is the last girl? For reals? Will Faith's death no longer call forth a new slayer after all is said and done?
Present Willow has found out from the demon it was hired to take down the Slayer. It didn't know about time traveling to kill a past Slayer though. Whoever did it has a lot of power and went to a lot of trouble to make sure Willow would get the Slayer in the right place at the right time. Yup. Sorry. Once you get the reveal, it's harder to look back and appreciate all the pieces leading up to it.
And we're back to the end of the last episode, with Buffy and Fray fighting in traffic, as is the Fray way. Buffy figures out she's another slayer quickly, which makes sense. She's kind of used to there being more than one around. This calls back to her meeting both Faith, and especially, Kendra.
They finally start talking, and Fray believes she's the real Buffy. They try to understand each other's particular brand of language, which is fun. Buffy is babbling a bit, asking her about how to destroy Twilight and how many slayers there are and how they're organized and -- boom. She finds out there's only one Slayer again, who was the first called in a century. Fray calls herself half a Slayer because her twin brother, Harth, has the Slayer memories, while she has the skills.
Okay, so Harth didn't steal the memories from her, he was somehow born with them. How could I forget that? NTRR. That's interesting. Now's he's a vamp and is using the memories to kill potentials and wreak havoc, all that normal villain stuff.
Fray has taken Buffy to see Gunther, a fishy demon/mutant type who lives in a sea of water under a glass floor. Buffy is regretting her choice to wear a dress. Fray asks him what he knows of the madwoman. Just that she's been alive since ancient times. Well, that's helpful. Not. Buffy's finally realizing this is all really happening.
Harth is gearing up for a battle. Madwoman is saying that Buffy is starting to feel the weight of her failure. Yeah, seeing that her changing of the world didn't stick, that would kind of suck.
Harth wants to kill his sister because she's the last thing he ever loved. "And what in this world is stronger than love?"
And the reveal. It's Willow who replies, "Time. Only time."
So time is stronger than love, slayers are stronger alone -- why does Joss hate joy? Right now this season is feeling as unremittingly bleak as season 6 or 7. I'm interested to see how I feel about the ending this time through, since right now all I feel is sadness at knowing what's to come.
We start with flying cars! Fray and Buffy have allied and are on the way to find a nest of vamps. Except the nest is actually the van they're flying next to. Except oops, it's not Buffy but Fray's sister, Erin. Similar look to them. Damn comics. My eyes don't adjust to the difference well. Anyway, we're in the future but back in time from the future we were in at the end of the last episode. Yeah, that works.
Fray cuts open the van with her scythe and fights vamps in midair, asking one where Harth is. If you've never read Fray or, like me, read it long ago and have forgotten virtually everything about it, don't worry. We'll find out more about Harth later on. Erin blows up the vamp van as it flies by a really cool, Isengard-like statue of an old man holding a book with his other hand positioned with thumb and ring ringer together in a circle. Does it mean anything? Is it a visual reference to the Fray comic? Need to reread (NTRR). Who knows.
As she rides the vamp onto the roof of another car (dirty), he mentions a madwoman who was supposed to save them. The way he describes her, she sounds a lot like Drusilla. I was fooled for a while the first time through.
Fray and Erin are back at her home. Fray mentions that Harth got her slayer memories from her and all she's got left are the diaries, so I guess that happened. NTRR. They're joined by a four-armed monkey thing as Fray talks about "Gates," the last great watcher who sacrificed himself at the Battle of Starbucks. ?? So I guess he's the monkey-thing now. And I'm not sure. Is that referring to Sunnydale or the end of season 8 or something we haven't seen? The histories are awfully incomplete and flawed as we'll see later.
Fray's looking for the madwoman in the books.
Harth speaks with the madwoman, telling of a slayer dream he's had of her fighting Buffy, who he knows is coming to the future. We don't see her face, and she does dress and talk like Dru. She's not slithering around like her though. And as we turn the page, she sounds less and less like Drusilla. Harth asks her why she wants the two slayers to combine forces. She replies, "Vampires gain strength from each other. Slayers, ultimately, don't." Also saying what happens here will help bring about the time they're in because of ripples.
Okay, one, that's foreshadowing. Two, and sad. The lone hero is stronger? Lot of bitterness there, and given that we find out later that she's Willow, it makes some sense given Will's role in the slayer spell vis-a-vis the ending of the season. But three, is this deconstructing season 7 and saying everything seemingly good about the ending is ultimately bad? That seems to be what all of season 8 says, which is a little bleak for Joss. I remember season 6 of Angel was supposed to be: Okay, now you've destroyed the status quo, now what do you do? And this feels like that too, especially given what Buffy says at the very start, but I don't know what kind of answers we're given when the end not only resets to a lone slayer (or 2), but also removes all magic from the world. But we'll get there.
Back in present New York, Willow says this is all her fault. Kennedy was injured by the demon that took Buffy's place. Will is keeping it alive to figure things out. Kennedy says this whole deal was supposed to help them, WTF? And Willow says that's what she thought so it's her fault. Does she know at this point? Or suspect?
Scotland. Green fire and destruction in the command center. Oh right, Warren's missile hit them. At least 7 slayers are dead that they know about so far. Rowena is freaking. Xander pulls her together as sickly green demons coalesce out of the flames and start macing computer screens and shooting green arrows, one of which nails Xander's shoulder as they move for the escape tunnels. Rowena makes it out, but Xander is down. Centaurette to the rescue! There's some awkwardness about Xander having to ride Dawn out of there, but they make it.
Fray ends up at the rift building because the diaries apparently said, "The last girl came here and was transformed." So I would say Willow had to plant that passage because we just established that she knew right away that it wasn't a transformation that happened. She's just putting the pieces into play. But also, Buffy is the last girl? For reals? Will Faith's death no longer call forth a new slayer after all is said and done?
Present Willow has found out from the demon it was hired to take down the Slayer. It didn't know about time traveling to kill a past Slayer though. Whoever did it has a lot of power and went to a lot of trouble to make sure Willow would get the Slayer in the right place at the right time. Yup. Sorry. Once you get the reveal, it's harder to look back and appreciate all the pieces leading up to it.
And we're back to the end of the last episode, with Buffy and Fray fighting in traffic, as is the Fray way. Buffy figures out she's another slayer quickly, which makes sense. She's kind of used to there being more than one around. This calls back to her meeting both Faith, and especially, Kendra.
They finally start talking, and Fray believes she's the real Buffy. They try to understand each other's particular brand of language, which is fun. Buffy is babbling a bit, asking her about how to destroy Twilight and how many slayers there are and how they're organized and -- boom. She finds out there's only one Slayer again, who was the first called in a century. Fray calls herself half a Slayer because her twin brother, Harth, has the Slayer memories, while she has the skills.
Okay, so Harth didn't steal the memories from her, he was somehow born with them. How could I forget that? NTRR. That's interesting. Now's he's a vamp and is using the memories to kill potentials and wreak havoc, all that normal villain stuff.
Fray has taken Buffy to see Gunther, a fishy demon/mutant type who lives in a sea of water under a glass floor. Buffy is regretting her choice to wear a dress. Fray asks him what he knows of the madwoman. Just that she's been alive since ancient times. Well, that's helpful. Not. Buffy's finally realizing this is all really happening.
Harth is gearing up for a battle. Madwoman is saying that Buffy is starting to feel the weight of her failure. Yeah, seeing that her changing of the world didn't stick, that would kind of suck.
Harth wants to kill his sister because she's the last thing he ever loved. "And what in this world is stronger than love?"
And the reveal. It's Willow who replies, "Time. Only time."
So time is stronger than love, slayers are stronger alone -- why does Joss hate joy? Right now this season is feeling as unremittingly bleak as season 6 or 7. I'm interested to see how I feel about the ending this time through, since right now all I feel is sadness at knowing what's to come.
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