Interesting ideas but Anya/Aud/Anyanka representing Buffy's desire for vengeance ultimately doesn’t work for me. Or for you it seems, as by the end you point out what she does is quite different from what Anyanka did. I do see parallels being drawn between Buffy and Anya but it’s not that their both vengeful but that they’re both consumed by their professions. Anyanka is vengeance, Buffy is the law.
I don't see it/perceive it as that clear cut. While Anyanka defines herself as vengence demon and buffy defines herself as the slayer, there are overlaps between the two - the overlap troubles Buffy. Buffy is not just a slayer, she is human. And she does fall into vengeance - at times - and often to her detriment. Anyanka's action in Beneath You is a metaphor to a degree, just as Anyanka's action in Selfless is a metaphor, to a degree, for Buffy's own feelings. Not an absolute metaphor. I'm not saying Buffy is "actively" seeking vengeance here. I'm saying it is an emotional metaphor - which the writers have often done and is often done in television - where you will have another character not the lead, do an action that reflects the lead's own desires.
Law, justice, is impersonal. Buffy in her role as the Slayer is the Law as far as demons are concerned and by demon standards she’s infinitely restrained.
As I read the internet today, it hit me once again how our perceptions of things are so heavily influenced by our own experiences and background. The phrase Your Milegae May Vary or in as one poster once stated Your Mileage Will Vary is an apt one.
I used to see the law the way you do in the post above. I do not any more. I worked as and apprenticed to become a criminal defense attorney. I worked in the state legislature and stood on the floor as they discussed the reinstatement of the death penalty. I have also done jury duty and seen first hand how jury's are selected and how decisions are made. In all those cases? No one was impersonal.
The law is far from impersonal. For this reason - it is made by and run by human beings.
It is as Buffy herself tells Kendra - when Kendra says that the slayer shouldn't feel - Buffy says emotions make us who we are. And it is always personal. If it weren't she would be a robot, like the Buffybot.
Buffy's ability to love and show compassion is why she does not kill Anya, does not kill Spike, does not kill Angel. If she was as impersonal as you state above - Angel would be dust. Anya would be dead. And Willow would not be welcomed back into the fold. If it were impersonal - she would not have shared her power.
She doesn’t set out to kill Anya just because she’s a demon, she waits until it’s become clear that Anya is a lethal threat. She doesn’t firebomb vampire nests while they’re sleeping, she leaves it until they come out at night and start threatening people. When she’s doing her job properly, if they run away she lets them go. I really don’t see demonizing people as a central theme of this season at all. S7 isn’t about demons, whether Buffy has a dark side, where her powers come from. We learn an answer to that but it turns out to be largely irrelevant to the final resolution. I think S7 is about Slayers not demons. What does it mean to be chosen, to be the one girl in all the world, to be the law?
At the beginning of the season she’s embracing her calling as an adult for the first time. A fresh start, a new High School opening. No council, no Giles, she’s on her own. It’s all going swimmingly until Spike and then Willow turn up. She can’t ignore her past, the Slayer can’t ignore her history. Help uncovers a little more of what she’s taken on, the simple fact that she can’t save everyone. It recalls Spiral in S5 and how she responded to the belief that she couldn’t save Dawn and it looks forward to the arrival of the Potentials, an army of Dawns who she won’t be able to save either. Selfless is a wonderful episode but I think as far as the season is concerned the heart of it lies in that central confrontaion with Xander when she has to spell out what she is, what she has to do and that she has to do it alone. Being the Slayer means that the final responsibility is always hers.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-08-29 09:53 pm (UTC)I don't see it/perceive it as that clear cut. While Anyanka defines herself as vengence demon and buffy defines herself as the slayer, there are overlaps between the two - the overlap troubles Buffy. Buffy is not just a slayer, she is human. And she does fall into vengeance - at times - and often to her detriment. Anyanka's action in Beneath You is a metaphor to a degree, just as Anyanka's action in Selfless is a metaphor, to a degree, for Buffy's own feelings. Not an absolute metaphor. I'm not saying Buffy is "actively" seeking vengeance here. I'm saying it is an emotional metaphor - which the writers have often done and is often done in television - where you will have another character not the lead, do an action that reflects the lead's own desires.
Law, justice, is impersonal. Buffy in her role as the Slayer is the Law as far as demons are concerned and by demon standards she’s infinitely restrained.
As I read the internet today, it hit me once again how our perceptions of things are so heavily influenced by our own experiences and background. The phrase Your Milegae May Vary or in as one poster once stated Your Mileage Will Vary is an apt one.
I used to see the law the way you do in the post above. I do not any more. I worked as and apprenticed to become a criminal defense attorney. I worked in the state legislature and stood on the floor as they discussed the reinstatement of the death penalty. I have also done jury duty and seen first hand how jury's are selected and how decisions are made. In all those cases? No one was impersonal.
The law is far from impersonal. For this reason - it is made by and run by human beings.
It is as Buffy herself tells Kendra - when Kendra says that the slayer shouldn't feel - Buffy says emotions make us who we are. And it is always personal. If it weren't she would be a robot, like the Buffybot.
Buffy's ability to love and show compassion is why she does not kill Anya, does not kill Spike, does not kill Angel. If she was as impersonal as you state above - Angel would be dust. Anya would be dead. And Willow would not be welcomed back into the fold. If it were impersonal - she would not have shared her power.
She doesn’t set out to kill Anya just because she’s a demon, she waits until it’s become clear that Anya is a lethal threat. She doesn’t firebomb vampire nests while they’re sleeping, she leaves it until they come out at night and start threatening people. When she’s doing her job properly, if they run away she lets them go. I really don’t see demonizing people as a central theme of this season at all. S7 isn’t about demons, whether Buffy has a dark side, where her powers come from. We learn an answer to that but it turns out to be largely irrelevant to the final resolution. I think S7 is about Slayers not demons. What does it mean to be chosen, to be the one girl in all the world, to be the law?
At the beginning of the season she’s embracing her calling as an adult for the first time. A fresh start, a new High School opening. No council, no Giles, she’s on her own. It’s all going swimmingly until Spike and then Willow turn up. She can’t ignore her past, the Slayer can’t ignore her history. Help uncovers a little more of what she’s taken on, the simple fact that she can’t save everyone. It recalls Spiral in S5 and how she responded to the belief that she couldn’t save Dawn and it looks forward to the arrival of the Potentials, an army of Dawns who she won’t be able to save either. Selfless is a wonderful episode but I think as far as the season is concerned the heart of it lies in that central confrontaion with Xander when she has to spell out what she is, what she has to do and that she has to do it alone. Being the Slayer means that the final responsibility is always hers.