I think in Season 7, Willow's friends - Buffy, Giles, and the others were trying to tell Willow that it was her choices regarding magic that was the problem, not magic itself. It's not the substance but her use of it. In Willow's dream - Willow is running, not from magic nor the first slayer, but from herself. She is still running from herself. That's partly the reason she spends time with the snake goddess, and why she uses magic as much as she does.
Willow has some major psychological problems that are not going to be resolved quickly. The series from what I've seen does not say Willow is all better. Willow says that and her friends may say that - but they are hardly reliable. The series has unreliable narrators - we can't trust the characters to tell us what is true or right. [I'm looking forward to Espenson's OZ arc - partly because OZ like Tara always had an interesting take on Willow and Magic, unlike Tara, OZ knew and fell in love with Willow long before she used magic. He loved nerdy Willow.]
The writers are not saying that Willow is all better, if anything I see the opposite. What they are depicting is a complicated issue. Sure she rises above it temporarily in Chosen - but she only does so with Kennedy's help and Kennedy unlike OZ, doesn't know what Willow is running from - Kennedy never met nerdy Willow. In the comics - we find out she is cavorting with a snake woman - a powerful being. That in the future - she is insane and the only survivor and potentially evil. And she is still relying heavily on magic to solve all her problems, traveling by magic, etc. Perhaps too heavily. If anything the writers are telling us that Willow still has issues. That from Willow's perspective she is nothing without magic, worthless. This is not true of course, we know it, Buffy knows it, Xander knows it - they try to tell Willow this - but Willow has been conditioned to believe otherwise. Without her magic - her costume, she is the nerdy dweeb from Season 1. She is terrified of that. She has from the beginning used magic to escape who she is.
People often abuse substances to escape who they are. Most of the alcholics I've met - use alcohol to avoid feeling bad about themselves, they feel more in control, less inhibited and less in pain when drunk. They forget. It's their coping mechanism. Not everyone uses alcohol for this reason. But those who go too far? Often do. Magic like alcohol or even sex or chocolat or gambling in of itself is not a bad thing. But too much or not used in moderation or used for the wrong reasons - it becomes disasterous.
In this series - the moment a character stops having issues, is secure in themselves, okay, and "all better" - they are killed. Their story is over. Willow, Xander, Giles, Buffy, Dawn, etc are not all better, they have major issues - their stories aren't done.
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branchandroot
Willow isn't all better..
Date: 2009-06-27 02:57 pm (UTC)Willow has some major psychological problems that are not going to be resolved quickly. The series from what I've seen does not say Willow is all better. Willow says that and her friends may say that - but they are hardly reliable. The series has unreliable narrators - we can't trust the characters to tell us what is true or right. [I'm looking forward to Espenson's OZ arc - partly because OZ like Tara always had an interesting take on Willow and Magic, unlike Tara, OZ knew and fell in love with Willow long before she used magic. He loved nerdy Willow.]
The writers are not saying that Willow is all better, if anything I see the opposite. What they are depicting is a complicated issue. Sure she rises above it temporarily in Chosen - but she only does so with Kennedy's help and Kennedy unlike OZ, doesn't know what Willow is running from - Kennedy never met nerdy Willow. In the comics - we find out she is cavorting with a snake woman - a powerful being. That in the future - she is insane and the only survivor and potentially evil. And she is still relying heavily on magic to solve all her problems, traveling by magic, etc. Perhaps too heavily. If anything the writers are telling us that Willow still has issues. That from Willow's perspective she is nothing without magic, worthless. This is not true of course, we know it, Buffy knows it, Xander knows it - they try to tell Willow this - but Willow has been conditioned to believe otherwise. Without her magic - her costume, she is the nerdy dweeb from Season 1. She is terrified of that. She has from the beginning used magic to escape who she is.
People often abuse substances to escape who they are. Most of the alcholics I've met - use alcohol to avoid feeling bad about themselves, they feel more in control, less inhibited and less in pain when drunk. They forget. It's their coping mechanism. Not everyone uses alcohol for this reason. But those who go too far? Often do. Magic like alcohol or even sex or chocolat or gambling in of itself is not a bad thing. But too much or not used in moderation or used for the wrong reasons - it becomes disasterous.
In this series - the moment a character stops having issues, is secure in themselves, okay, and "all better" - they are killed. Their story is over. Willow, Xander, Giles, Buffy, Dawn, etc are not all better, they have major issues - their stories aren't done.