Oh, I totally agree that there's a great degree of subjectivity in any visual medium and in most anything that strives to be art. And Season 6 Buffy is perhaps especially open to a wide range of impressions because so much of Season 6 asks the viewer to interpret her largely unexpressed thoughts and feelings.

And I think I perhaps didn't express myself particularly well with the "This is not a pipe" reference in that what I hoping to express was that in the Magritte painting of "This is Not a Pipe" there is painting of a pipe with the inscription below it saying "This is not a pipe." It's brilliant in the way it makes you think, just as I think that the BtVS use of metaphor and interpretation enriches BtVS far beyond what is simply on screen. Still, reading the caption "this is not a pipe" is a secondary action. Initially, upon viewing the Magritte painting, you see a pipe. Like the caption below the painting, metaphor, theme, and subtext can make you stop and think and give you a great deal to think about (e.g. It's not a pipe. It's an image of a pipe.) It elevates the whole. But before you ever reach the point of pondering the meaning of it all, you see what is visually depicted. It can't bypass completely what is visually presented to the viewer on its most mundane level.

Er... I hope that makes sense. I too tend to write in stream of consciousness too. :)