Equality is easier to find, I think, when the woman can be on top and on bottom. This especially is key, I think. Equality. Mirroring - as in, despite being different, the characters understand each other. Buffy is drawn to Spike's darkness, Spike is drawn to Buffy's light. And the switch places and change around and help each other grow. To quote Anna (just ONE quote, I could have a hundred):
I think what I love most about Season 7 is that over the course of it, Buffy and Spike become stronger and more dependent.
In a world that loves to tell us we should all be strong and independent there's something very extraordinary about that.
Most of the time, relationships make people weak - the girl is the male hero's weakness. He has to leave, because he puts her in danger. But some relationships (very very few), like Spuffy, subvert that. The couple are equals, may take turns to be the damsel. And they gain strength from each other - together they're stronger. The more they trust each other, the better and stronger and more powerful they get.
Which is one reason Doctor/River is the only other couple to rival Spike/Buffy. It is in so many ways the same dynamic, although with everything even more shaken up. River is Spike (I really ought to write that meta), and the Doctor is Buffy... Yet River is the warrior, and their dynamic is one step further along, in that it's a married couple interaction at the heart of things, which Spike/Buffy mimicked, but never got to. But I see in Doctor/River what Spike/Buffy could become. They're the endgame. Look at, for example, Spike being held captive by the First, and believing, 100%, that Buffy will come for him. It's the same faith that make River jump out of spaceships & off buildings, secure in the knowledge that her love will be there to catch her. Ditto Buffy and the Doctor know that they can ask their partner to do anything, and they'll be there, backing them up (You're the only one strong enough to protect them/River, have you got my scanner working yet?). It's an irresistible dynamic (IMHO *g*).
Darn, must run. Could talk about this all day...
ETA: One more thing! Not Holding Back. This is one of the keys.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-04-08 10:21 am (UTC)Equality is easier to find, I think, when the woman can be on top and on bottom.
This especially is key, I think. Equality. Mirroring - as in, despite being different, the characters understand each other. Buffy is drawn to Spike's darkness, Spike is drawn to Buffy's light. And the switch places and change around and help each other grow. To quote Anna (just ONE quote, I could have a hundred):
I think what I love most about Season 7 is that over the course of it, Buffy and Spike become stronger and more dependent.
In a world that loves to tell us we should all be strong and independent there's something very extraordinary about that.
Most of the time, relationships make people weak - the girl is the male hero's weakness. He has to leave, because he puts her in danger. But some relationships (very very few), like Spuffy, subvert that. The couple are equals, may take turns to be the damsel. And they gain strength from each other - together they're stronger. The more they trust each other, the better and stronger and more powerful they get.
Which is one reason Doctor/River is the only other couple to rival Spike/Buffy. It is in so many ways the same dynamic, although with everything even more shaken up. River is Spike (I really ought to write that meta), and the Doctor is Buffy... Yet River is the warrior, and their dynamic is one step further along, in that it's a married couple interaction at the heart of things, which Spike/Buffy mimicked, but never got to. But I see in Doctor/River what Spike/Buffy could become. They're the endgame. Look at, for example, Spike being held captive by the First, and believing, 100%, that Buffy will come for him. It's the same faith that make River jump out of spaceships & off buildings, secure in the knowledge that her love will be there to catch her. Ditto Buffy and the Doctor know that they can ask their partner to do anything, and they'll be there, backing them up (You're the only one strong enough to protect them/River, have you got my scanner working yet?). It's an irresistible dynamic (IMHO *g*).
Darn, must run. Could talk about this all day...
ETA: One more thing! Not Holding Back. This is one of the keys.