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Jun. 19th, 2012 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSo, I read Mark Watches analysis of The Gift, which while no different than any of the other metas, essays, etc that I've read on that episode, did state one thing that I thought nailed why Buffy worked better for me than Angel, which I've realize was meant satirically.
So often, we see characters in fantasy stories accepting the vague threats of destiny as fact, and Buffy does the opposite. She outright rejects what the First Slayer has told her. Her gift is not death, and she will find a way to save the world and her sister without killing anyone.
This is true. It's a problem I have actually with fantasy novels and to a degree sci-fi novels with expansive mythologies and religious themes. This reliance on destiny. On prophecy.
What I liked about Buffy was the feeling that the writers were often making fun of the whole idea. Buffy felt very tongue in cheek in regards to the fantasy concept of religious prophecy or destiny.
And...I think this is actually, to a degree, true of most of Whedon's stories. Firefly certainly had that attitude. As did Angel - albeit it was more satirical, since the character of Angel believed in prophecy and destiny, while the writer or Angel's creator did not and was having a wild time playing with the character's hopeless delusion.
It is if you think about it - Angel's deepest flaw...he's steadfast, unwavering belief in prophecies and destiny. In Buffy S1 - he believes the prophecy that Buffy is doomed to die.
In Buffy S2 - he believes the prophecy about Acafla as does Whistler. But Buffy doesn't care about prophecies, she sets her own fate.
An extentialist heroine or post-modern heroine for a post-modern age, where nothing is certain and age-old prophecies, predictions and mythos are constantly being ripped to shreds or debunked.
If you managed to watch Cabin in the Woods - it too pokes fun at prophecy and destiny.
As does the Avengers. Thor doesn't save the world, Iron Man does.
And both Giles and Wes - the learned theologians of the Buffyverse, skilled and educated, are proven time and again wrong, deadly wrong, when they blindly follow prophecies they've read in old books. Misinterpreting the meaning, most of the time. A deft dig at our current religions. How often have we done the same? Mis-translated an ancient text. Gotten a word wrong here or there. Reading things out of context, taking them too literally, assuming something means one thing -- when it most likely means the opposite.
It's not religion, Whedon and his scribes poke fun at and question so much as the religious, the blind followers who don't question their own perception or views on the text. Who blindly believe whatever has been translated.
Buffy in many ways is a far brighter and far more evolved hero than Angel, which makes sense since he is arrested in vampire form. She makes her own destiny, while he, much like Giles and Wes...is stuck following his interpretations of ancient texts. And he always fails miserably. Crashing the world down around his ears.
It's a nice counter-point to most fantasy tales, from Arthurian legends to Tolkien elves and hobbits...our destiny is what we make it. And it isn't easy.
So often, we see characters in fantasy stories accepting the vague threats of destiny as fact, and Buffy does the opposite. She outright rejects what the First Slayer has told her. Her gift is not death, and she will find a way to save the world and her sister without killing anyone.
This is true. It's a problem I have actually with fantasy novels and to a degree sci-fi novels with expansive mythologies and religious themes. This reliance on destiny. On prophecy.
What I liked about Buffy was the feeling that the writers were often making fun of the whole idea. Buffy felt very tongue in cheek in regards to the fantasy concept of religious prophecy or destiny.
And...I think this is actually, to a degree, true of most of Whedon's stories. Firefly certainly had that attitude. As did Angel - albeit it was more satirical, since the character of Angel believed in prophecy and destiny, while the writer or Angel's creator did not and was having a wild time playing with the character's hopeless delusion.
It is if you think about it - Angel's deepest flaw...he's steadfast, unwavering belief in prophecies and destiny. In Buffy S1 - he believes the prophecy that Buffy is doomed to die.
In Buffy S2 - he believes the prophecy about Acafla as does Whistler. But Buffy doesn't care about prophecies, she sets her own fate.
An extentialist heroine or post-modern heroine for a post-modern age, where nothing is certain and age-old prophecies, predictions and mythos are constantly being ripped to shreds or debunked.
If you managed to watch Cabin in the Woods - it too pokes fun at prophecy and destiny.
As does the Avengers. Thor doesn't save the world, Iron Man does.
And both Giles and Wes - the learned theologians of the Buffyverse, skilled and educated, are proven time and again wrong, deadly wrong, when they blindly follow prophecies they've read in old books. Misinterpreting the meaning, most of the time. A deft dig at our current religions. How often have we done the same? Mis-translated an ancient text. Gotten a word wrong here or there. Reading things out of context, taking them too literally, assuming something means one thing -- when it most likely means the opposite.
It's not religion, Whedon and his scribes poke fun at and question so much as the religious, the blind followers who don't question their own perception or views on the text. Who blindly believe whatever has been translated.
Buffy in many ways is a far brighter and far more evolved hero than Angel, which makes sense since he is arrested in vampire form. She makes her own destiny, while he, much like Giles and Wes...is stuck following his interpretations of ancient texts. And he always fails miserably. Crashing the world down around his ears.
It's a nice counter-point to most fantasy tales, from Arthurian legends to Tolkien elves and hobbits...our destiny is what we make it. And it isn't easy.
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Date: 2012-06-20 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-20 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-20 04:46 am (UTC)She outright rejects what the First Slayer has told her. Her gift is not death, and she will find a way to save the world and her sister without killing anyone.
The first slayer never said killing was her gift. Yes, Mark, you went for one of Joss' fakes, when Buffy first thought that was what was said. Buffy's own death was her gift. You know, as in the title The Gift?
You, however, Shadowkat, point out exactly what Joss wanted us to understand. Prophecy in the Jossverse is a tricky business.
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Date: 2012-06-20 10:16 pm (UTC)The poor boy doesn't have an analytical bone in his body and isn't exactly a critical thinker. But, keep in mind, he also couldn't afford to finish college.
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Date: 2012-06-21 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-20 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-20 03:07 pm (UTC)I don't think it's a counterpoint - this is in keeping with a lot of the old legends. The Ancient Greek dramatists, for political reasons, always had to hold the gods primary in their stories - but the plots are always driven by hubris. A fate is decreed, but invariably, it's the hero's flaws and mistakes that bring it about.
Buffy does care about prophecy, inasmuch as it affects her directly. She strives pretty hard to thwart them. Same as Oedipus, Kullervo, Turambar and a host of other characters. We always know those heroes will lose; the point was usually the moral component on how character flaw undercut our striving for greatness.
The difference is that she's an American character written in the 1990s. The author isn't required to make her subject to gods, so when she strives to thwart prophecy she's allowed to win.