Day #24 of the 30 Day Television Challenge.

[shadowkat]

This is Day #24 of 30 Day Television Challenge

Uhm, a reminder - no rules apply for Day #27, mainly because it is impossible to do with rules.

The prompt is Best or worst kiss or sex/love scene

Eh, this scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is kind of why I got obsessed with the series in S6. I'd not seen anyone do that before in a "television" series on a broadcast cable network. (Granted we've seen it now, but this was in 2001.) It blew me away..and I thought, okay, for the first time since S2, I've no clue where the hell are they going with a show. [It's also really hot - and no clothes are taken off during it. And all the way through the female lead remains fully clothed - that just isn't done. They managed to do a really hot sex scene with the characters fully clothed. Well except for the beginning of the next episode - where the guy has no clothes on, and body and chest are on display, he's objectified by the camera, but the woman is fully clothed. At the time male viewers were upset and scandalized, and I was laughing my head off at them - don't really like it when the shoe is on the other foot do you fellas? And so too were the writers - laughing at the male fans. Inside story? The reason you never see Buffy nude or not really nude - is that Gellar had a clause in her contract that prohibited nudity. Marsters did not. Also, it's a violent sex scene - but in a way in which the characters are established as equals. They beat each other up and have sex. Showing how their fight sequences are as Spike alludes in previous episodes as does Faith - foreplay or dancing.]

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Comments

[mefisto]

I think that's part of it, for sure. Personally, I wouldn't describe Bangel as "nice" or "fluffy", but lots of people did and do. Even folks who considered themselves Spuffies did recognize that Smashed meant they weren't going to get the idealized relationship they seem to have had in mind. I remember commenters at ATPo saying exactly that.

I also think that Smashed tends to get lumped in with Wrecked and the magic/drugs stuff that so many people didn't like, even though that's not the case.

[shadowkat]

It kind of does - since the writers were definitely going for an addiction metaphor with both Buffy and Willow, and what was interesting about the addiction metaphor - was the emphasis wasn't on magic or Spike being evil, or bad, but how Willow and Buffy were using magic and Spike as bad. Buffy was using Spike to make herself feel better. She punched him to make herself feel better - telling herself, he's a demon, so it was justified. Then she had sex with him, and basically they beat up each other - when he was able to hit back -- which also helped her escape herself for a bit, even though for Spike - it wasn't about that at all. Same deal with magic - Willow always used magic to make herself feel better. For Willow - magic was a means to an end, something for her use, and didn't require respect. For Buffy - Spike was an informent, muscle, a punching bag, a confident, and a way to get off - Spike didn't matter or require her respect.
It blew up in both their faces. It was also an examination of how people abuse power.
Buffy had power over Spike - he pretty much tells her that she has all the power, that he's a slave to his desire and love for her, and without a soul - he is a slave to his desires, he has no real brakes. Willow felt she had power over magic - that she could control it and bend it to her will.

In both cases this isn't true. They abused their power, and it smacked them in the face in different ways. The way it - was shown to smack them...was well not exactly politically correct - which is putting it politely. I think it was Celebain who stated on APTOBTVS Board upon watching Seeing Red - "Wow, that's an episode that is going offend everyone." Which is ironic, because I think it shows how arrogant the writers were about their power to write whatever they want without consequences.

S7 - is the writer's attempt to show what happens when Buffy and Willow are more mindful of their power, and form a more respectful and mindful relationship with Spike (and by extension Buffy's relationship to being the "slayer") and Magic. And make it less about them.

But that's a really hard metaphor to show in a television series without getting a lot of push-back.

[avrelia]

I kind of started to read addiction angle in Wrecked as something Buffy and Willow themselves try to explain their relationship with Spike and magic respectively. Because it was an easy explanation, addiction is bad and must be fought, etc. Without going to figure out what was really going on with them.

It still looked clumsy.

[shadowkat]

I agree it was a bit clumsy. Ambitious, but clumsy. Not helped by the fact that not everyone was on board with the idea or understood it.

Did however make it a lot of fun to write meta on, and analyze. Often shows that are written somewhat clumsily - are more interesting to analyze than shows that are well-executed.