Spontaneous Musings

Due to popular demand (okay eight people, between two journals, but in my journal that equals popular demand, also it's not like anyone's counting), I'm doing a review/recap of the last three issues of the Spike comics. Luckily for me, I actually enjoyed these comics and the message. And yes, there may be some sniping at the Buffy comics...but I'll try really really hard to refrain.

The theme of these comics hits close to home for both me and I suspect for the writer...who lost his cushy gig writing Spike comics last year. I can relate.

Spike voice over in issue 8 - the last issue:

Took on the Vegas Mission because I was sick of playing second banana, sick of being along for the ride. I wanted to steer the coaster. But no one steers the coaster. No one is in control of anything. Innocents become dangerous. Heroes can turn on a dime. Sometimes, evil can do an about-face and want to help. People come into your life. People leave. Everything's changing. Everything's always changing. Bottom line. The only thing any one of us is in charge of is ourselves.

Simple message. And my current mantra. Okay not all of it. Everything after the word coaster. It's what has gotten me through the tough times. And it to a degree defines this incarnation of the Spike character and what I love most about him. Or may explain why I adore him to pieces - that mantra above. The post-modern existentialist hero. The character who looks fate in the eye, and give him the finger. My fate is my own. I own my choices. The legacy I leave are the choices I've made, for good or ill. I control no one but me. And that's enough.

( Spike Part 6 - How Spike Lost his Soul and Dru Gained Her's )

( issue 7 - Spike comics, how did Buffy find out Spike's still alive and does she really know? And how Spike got his soul back. )

( Part 8, Stranger Things or Issue 8 of the Spike Comics, or How Spike got the Bug Ship and what Spike has been up to during most of the Buffy comics - ie. wrapping things up and linking them to the Dark Horse comics. )

Okay, I don't know about you. But I'm tired. That took a while. Longer than I'd intended. And a bit too extensive. Basically I read the last three issues of the Spike comics for you, so you don't have to. [ETA: There's a ton of typos, I keep trying to fix them, but I don't think I got them all. So apologies.]

Yes, two posts in one night...but other was too long to include this stuff in it.

1. Being Erica - continues to interest me. The series focus on choices and taking responsibility and owning those choices. Handling them, moving on, and not letting oneself get bogged down with regret. The format is rather innovative - Erica's in therapy with a time-traveling therapist who can send her back in time to relive a regret. In the 3rd season, they've upped the ante a bit and are revealing bits and pieces of who and what the time-traveling therapists are. I'm starting to wonder if everyone's dead and the therapy is a sort of pseudo-purgatory, a la Lost, where the characters finish what was left undone, before moving on. I'm not sure that's a spoiler or just speculation. Because the show doesn't really tell you either way.

This week's episode much like two week's previously, resonated for me. Erica is at a cross-roads.
She's trying to figure out what to do next and is afraid. Does she forage ahead with her own business or take a lucrative job offer? And watching it - I wonder if I'm risk adverse? Have I run or hidden or taken the easy path? I don't believe so. I also think so many of our choices are predetermined by our own personality, DNA, and nature. Much like a character in a book. The author to a degree knows what that character will do, isn't positive, but gut level, you know, even if you sort of wish they would go another direction.

2. Shipping. I've been pondering this week if shipping a character or even a relationship really hard can be detrimental to your appreciation and understanding of the story and theme. It's, how to explain this, a bit like listening to someone give a speech - you are hearing it fine, understanding it fine, but all of sudden they say something that either resonates strongly with you or you really hate and you just focus on that. You don't hear anything but that. It's as if everything else blurs.
And that's your focal point.

Speaking purely for myself, because I can't really speak for anyone else on this topic, can I? That would be highly presumptious of me, wouldn't it? Not that I haven't in the past, but...in this instance I will attempt to just discuss my own rather limited experience on the topic.
( The Pros and Cons of Shipping Characters and/or relationships )

Here's the Angel Essays collected in one place. If you want to understand how I view Angel, all the characters in Angel, and Angel the series - it's all here. ;-)
Angel Meta

( Meta and Reviews on Angel and Angel the Series, along with all the characters in that series 2003 )

( Angel the Series episode reviews and Meta 2004 )

( Angel Meta and Essays for 2009 )

( Angel Comics Reviews )

To anyone who read this before I edited, my apologies - edited Sunday, 21,2010.

[Am somewhat behind on my reviews, I know. And technically speaking I already did a non-spoilery capsule review for this comic. But, it's been a long time that a comic book surprised me like this one did. Wasn't really expecting all that much, to be honest, considering that to date...the Angel comics have largely been a disappointment. So, I'm doing this review a bit differently. I'm using visual aids. The review is more of a meta and filled to the brim with spoilers. I also wrote way too late last night, so it was unproofed and quite rough when posted. Yeah, I know what's new? This morning...I overslept, so missed church and instead listened to a podcast on befriending regret, the podcast made me think of this post -because that is what is driving Illyria and indeed many of the characters in Angel and in any noir universe - they are filled with regrets of the things they've done and the things they should have done.]

Illyria is written by Scott Tipton and Mariah Huehner, who also serves as editor, with Elena Casagrande as the artist, and Walter Trono and Illaria Traversi on inks and colors. This is a rarity, we have a female character from a noir series written and drawn by women. So we are seeing her and to a degree the trope and series she is from through female eyes, not just male. While Kelley Armstrong did write for the Angel comics, the artists and editors were male. And in the Buffy comics - the editor, interior artist, executive producer were male - even on the arcs written by Espenson.

I note this because the comic book industry tends to be a boys club. Women rarely break in to it.
And when they do, it is hard to stay in it. No field is harder to break in to than action comics or superhero/noir comics. As a result, female characters are often drawn and written as male fantasy figures. This is also the reason that many women do not like comics, or degrade the art form - seeing it as something for adolescent males only. Being a gal who likes guy stuff..well not all guy stuff - the appeal of cars and American Football continue to bewilder me - has been an interesting experience.

One other thing to note about Illyria before I go begin my meta - the reason I've decided to use visual aids is unlike the other artists who do the Angel IDW and Buffy DH comics - Casagrande actually uses her art to show not tell us what lies inside her character. It's the first time I've seen anyone do this effectively in the IDW or Dark Horse comics, with the possible exception of Joan Chen in Always Darkest...

[*in the acknowledgments...the editors thank Joss Whedon and Fox World Publishing for their invaluable assistance (not "rights"), make of that what you will. It's in small print on the inside cover.]

( Illyria...Haunted by memories not her own and regrets that are alien to her )

Feeling a bit antsy tonight - or compulsive, that's a better word. Possibly a side effect of a)difficult work week, b)eating too much sugar (yes, I'm a binge eater...kill me now, which is why I don't buy too much), c)procrastination in dealing with crap (see difficult work week - should have gone to mediation open house, but really didn't want to lug self to city and deal with people. Should have looked at flats, but didn't feel like depressing self.

So...I've been watching tv, surfing the net, blogging, and well surfing - got compulsive about back-stage gossip on Buffy, info on Song of Ice and Fire, etc. Landed on a decent interview of Whedon (hunting for something else entirely) - in which he more or less nails on the head why I get twitchy watching certain types of tv shows.

"I was never that big a fan of reset television. Reset tv being all that we see is Murder She Wrote. We forget what's happened. She does the same thing each week. I kept imagining a woman sitting in a room overwhelmed by all these murders she'd seen. But nope, it's like she never saw one before, each week. The X-Files bothered me in much the same way, because Scully, she was in Murder She Wrote, while he (Mulder) kept growing and changing, she never really did. Each week, after she saw the monster the week before, she'd be skeptical of monsters existing. Sitcoms for the same reason never really resonated for me because it was reset television, wacky situation after wacky situation, but no on really grew or changed. And part of the reason may be that I grew up watching Masterpiece Theater and shows like Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere - serialized television, where people did grow and change and are quite different from when and where they started. If we aren't changing and growing, and I'm pretty pedantic about this - if we aren't doing that, than honestly why are we here?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwnIdViJS0U&feature=related (where he says it better than I just did because I have 0 auditory memory. I can't take down exactly what people said to save my life. My visual memory is quite excellent, auditory not so much.)

At any rate - amen to that bit above and pretty much everything he states in that portion of the interview. I think and write the same way. I'm bored by reset tv and can't watch it. I've tried. I admittedly have a love/hate relationship with this writer and this writer's fandom. I do not see him as God or near perfect, and there are far better writers and far better tv series out there - that I've seen. But, in many ways...his cultural experience and liberal educational background resonate for me. On some weird level - I get where he is coming from. We grew up during the same decades and had similar "cultural" experience/background/education. He's only three to four years older than I am. We studied the same films and the same literature. Were both fans of the Western and Sci-Fi genre. Both studied Terminator and The John Ford/Howard Hawkes canon. And we are culture junkies - with a love of theater, books, plays, superhero comics (mainly Marvel and X-men), film and tv, and mostly serials, bad good, indifferent. Plus unabashed Sondheim fans. But, he likes horror better than I do.

Also watched some Marsters Q&A's - Marsters cracks me up. He's such an entertaining train wreck.
Reminds me so much of many brilliant theater actors that I've known. Also very informative on what it is like acting for a television series.
( lengthy bit about acting on Buffy and what it was like from Marsters pov and my take on some of his answers )

I have an interesting friends list or readership. About 85% were fans or are currently fans of Buffy the Vampire Series. That's why I reference it so much. Of that percentage, about 8 people or 5% possibly less, love the comic books and love Joss Whedon. 40% are annoyed by Whedon and despise the comics. And the rest? Have just moved on. This poses a bit of dilemma in posting. I have to be careful...not go too snarky, not post too much about Buffy, not post too little...mostly? I just give up and post whatever I damn well please, until that is I get attacked by someone, and have no clue what to do. And attacked is relative. All a matter of perception. What I may perceive as an attack, you might not, and vice versa. I basically perceive anything that embarrasses me and sends my blood pressure up as an attack, but hey mileage varies. And I have a temper. I get frustrated and exasperated. It happened this week at work. I ended up sending an email, thought I retracted it, didn't - and had to apologize. Nothing horrible, no cursing. Just slightly crisp and sarcastic. Because I'd lost patience with the project manager. We were arguing about semantics - or the definition of a kick-off meeting vs. a meet and greet meeting. I swear nothing frustrates me more than arguments that go like this: yes it is, no it isn't, yes it is, no it isn't. Which basically is every argument I've ever had regarding semantics, metaphors, or contextual meaning. Proving that no matter how hard I work at being a good writer - someone is going to completely misread or misinterpret what I wrote. Usually, if I'm lucky, it will only be one person. Which brings up a question, assuming you've read this far - why do people respond to journals to quibble or mainly to quibble or argue? Not that they don't respond postively too, they do. But there's a lot of quibbling. I mean, what do you expect to gain by telling the person who wrote the entry that you dislike the show they just wrote a rave review on, or that you loved the actor or designer or show they ranted about for five minutes? I mean, outside of a very angry poster wanting to kick you?

I think people just like to argue and quibble personally. It's deeply ingrained in our DNA. Even the people who tell me they hate conflict, quibble.

Off to bed, have a lot to do tomorrow morning and I've stayed up too late again. [Not edited and the paragraph breaks are atrocious, here's hoping you won't hold it against me.]

[Yes, I'm editing this post, because I posted it at midnight last night and woke up this morning realizing I forgot to talk about some of the best bits. ]

So, since it was such an incredibly beautiful day - I decided to hike up to the promenade, check out the aforementioned comics, the promenade and pick up miniature chocolate, key lime, and mango mousses from Green Mountain Grocer (they have great mousses, and well I've got a craving.) I was not planning on buying the comic - I was planning on just checking it out.

(Halfway through the Buffy comic)
Comic book store gal: Miss? Miss? [At least she's not calling me M'Am, I hate M'am.] Excuse me? I can't permit you to read the entire comic in the store. (I look up and at comic book store gal - who has really ugly tattoos all over her body, heavy-set, dressed entirely in black, with some weird heavy metal band or something on the t-shirt, glasses, black fizzy hair, nose and lip piercings and clearly no older than 20.)

Me : Yeah, I guess that makes sense since you sort of want me to actually buy the comic. (Pause) Would it help if I told you that I already know everything that happens in it? And am just checking it out to see if I want to actually buy the thing? Because you know they've gotten progressively worse? (Look of death) Guess not. (I proceed to flip through the Riley one-shot to see if it is worth the price of admission...and then, feeling tension, feel guilty and purchase them. I really miss RocketShip.) So, out of curiousity how are the sales going for this one?

Comic book store gal (mumbles): the Buffy comic? Okay I guess. (another polite look of death). (Alrighty then, It's been one of those weeks.)

I read the things when I got home. Figured what the hell. Wasn't planning on writing a review, because let's face it everyone and their significant other, best bud, and mother has beaten me to it. Do you really want to read another one? What else can possibly be said on the matter? I say this after having scanned or read over 20 of them - most of them on my flist. The most detailed are moscow_watcher, local_max, beergoodfoamy , and 2maggie2 as well as angeria. My favorite? Is still aycheb but that's partly because I'm a movie buff and her review made me laugh my ass off. It should be noted, by the way, that as impossible as it may sound? I basically agree with all of these reviewers, at least in part. So, where was I? Wasn't planning on writing a review but thought, what the hell. You don't have to read it after all. Warning much snark ensues and some meta/analysis - on both issues, so if you don't like snark - you might not want to read it. It's not as snarky as beergood's, but close enough. In fact if you want - previouslies, go find his, most like on Dreamwidth. Also, a lot of spoilers - so if you haven't been spoiled by reading all the other reviews don't read this one.

Buffy Issue 36 and Riley One Shot Reviews

Let the emotional moments really land and don't use a lot of words to make that happen - it's all demonstrated through action - Jane Espenson's advice to inspiring writers. (Pity she didn't take her own advice while writing the Riley comic and Retreat, but what can you do?)

I've worked with Joss for more than ten-years, and I've picked up whatever I can about writing character-driven genre stories, but this was the best chance I've had to work hand in hand on a story. - Scott Allie (Hmmm, I thought editors work hand-in-hand with writers, particularly in comics on writing a story? Guess I was wrong. )

From the cover of Buffy 36 - to the epic battle, we expect passionate reactions from the die-hard fans - Scott Allie (Such as viceral hatred and vows never to read anything Dark Horse publishes ever again? Somehow I doubt that. Or incredulous laughter at the absurdity? Nah.)

[Warning - I think this is longer than the actual comics. Also multiple typos, because I did not proofread or edit this thing. I did proof and edit, but I'm human and I screw up, deal with it. I haven't even re-read it. So it's very rough. If you link to it and you have my permission to, of course, (I'm not necessarily asking you to, just granting permission - there is a difference. Yes, it's nice to be linked to, but... people who follow the link must behave themselves - which means no sending my blood pressure sky-rocketing through the roof because you hate my opinion. Rants against me or my friends or fellow fans must be restricted to your own journals. Disagreements are permitted, just no bashing of me, my frirends or fellow fans. And keep in mind these are just my opinions. They aren't gospel. ]

The Riley comic first - Commitment through Distance, Virtue through Sin
( the Riley One-Shot Review )

Buffy Issue 36 Review.

( Buffy issue 36 - the Last Gleaming )

Currently enjoying Dexter Season 4. This is actually better than I expected. S2 and S3 were sort of slow in places and not as gripping. This season so far is by turns hilarious and suspenseful. But I am not for some reason emotionally affected by the characters. I have yet to cry during this series. Of course - part of the problem was the disc I got kept freezing during Deb's breakdown over the FBI agent Lundy's death. And well, I'd been spoiled by TV Guide that Lundy was going to die - just didn't know how.

Dexter is a rather dark comedy. About a serial killer who goes after other serial killers. The character is a blood splatter specialist by day, killer by night. ( Spoilers for Dexter Season 4 - this rambling meta sort of compares Dexter to Angel in some respects, the spoilers are only for episodes 1-7, please do not spoil me for episodes past that point! )

Please note before commenting that I have not watched past episode 7, the last episode I watched, was the one where Dex took his son on a sailing trip.

1.. Feminism - how people define this word continues to bug me.

Here's the wiki definition, because I'm too lazy to pull out a dictionary:

Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests.[1][2][3][4][5] Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminists are persons of either sex who believe in feminism – and of course practice their beliefs.

In other words, folks, you are a feminist if you believe women are equal to men, should have rights equal to men, and should not be subservient or ruled by men, as the "weaker" and thereby
lesser, sex. Sigh, lesser, my foot. If you do not believe these things and think men, are, gasp, superior to women, you are NOT a feminist. And might I also state, a complete idiot. I mean honestly anyone who still thinks in this day and age, with information available at your fingertips, that one race, one gender, on sexual orientation, one ethnicity is better or more advanced or stronger or brighter than another is just plain stupid. Dangerously so in some cases. People don't generalize and make assumptions based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, size, and/or age, it makes you look like a fool. The item I struggle with making generalizations about is age. This weekend - someone told me that their 78 year old friend was off bungee jumping, zip-lining, and skiing. Mind-boggling. I can't do those things, and I'm much younger. Goes to show you, everybody is unique.

2. Read the preview page for Buffy issue 36 - out of curiousity - wanted to see what all the fuss on flist was about. Is it just me or does this plot thread feel a lot like the second season of Dollhouse? Possibly just me. Whedon seems a bit obsessed with the whole puppet thing, or doll thing - people using as dolls to entertain or satisfy someone else's fantasy or view of them. It's a theme I've seen done better elsewhere - notably the hilariously disturbing independent masterpiece "Being John Malkovich" - which is about celebrity and how we manipulate others to meet our fantasies. John Cusak plays a puppeteer who finds a way to enter John Malkovich's brain and literally pull his strings and do whatever he wishes through him, until he is finally forced to realize the nightmare himself, when he gets trapped inside the newborn child that ex-partner/girlfriend has with her new female lover. He can do nothing. He is just a bystander, his hands and body moved by someone else. There's also the quite splendid My Fair Lady and Pygamillion by George Bernard Shaw. And quite a few horror flicks that I've seen, including a B movie starring Vincent Price entitled House of Wax. Not to mention the superior and hilarious "Smile Time".

The idea of being used as a puppet or controlled by someone else is not new in science fiction or fantasy. Farscape plays around with it - regarding Crichton and Scorpius. It also has actual puppets, so part of playing around - is a direct commentary on the use of puppetry in the show itself. I adore puppetry - it is the one artform that seems beyond the grasp of technology.
There's nothing more magical than watching a puppet show - you know there's a human behind the puppet, but if the puppeteer is good, the puppet becomes more real, a character outside of the human, to the point you forget the human exists. There's a rather good horror tale based I believe on a Twilight Zone episode - where the puppet becomes more real than the man. He begins to pull the man's strings. Another good horror tale - is about people being turned into dolls - you are safer this way, I can protect you.
( fairly long meta on Buffy comics, Angel and Spike, and puppetry )

3. Farscape - finished watching the brilliant and hilarious Look at the Princess arc in Farscape, along with Won't Be Fooled Again, Beware of Dog, and The Locket.

There's a great line in Look at the Princess - A Kiss is But a Kiss.

"Do you know what they want to do to me? Turn me into a statute for 80 cycles. If I ever return to earth after that - everyone will be dead. Dad, DK, my family, my cousins, my friends, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz....Buffy The Vampire Slayer!"

I laughed my ass off. Yes, Farscape's writers watched Buffy.

They were also super-aware of their fandom. Ben Bowder keeps stating that he would just go read commentary or fanfic to figure stuff out that the writers didn't explain. The fans often did a better job.

I don't have a lot to say about the episodes, except that they do a great job of building the relationships between the characters, maintaining tension, conflict, and exploring the psychology of each one. Farscape unlike most sci-fi is a messy series - it goes into dark places, and plays with your head.

Funny story about censorship - according to the commentary, someone at the BBC got really offended by something in Won't Be Fooled Again and cut the episode to shreds, so that it was literally two minutes shorter. While the only thing Syfy worried about was when they blow up the Scarren's head, not to show too much gore on the wall. (Sigh, times have changed.)
Another bit of commentary - Ben Bowder apologizes for parents of the under-12 set for saying the word "shit" on Farscape. Okaay. This brings up a question? Why would any parent care if Ben Bowder said shit on tv - after watching an episode in which he has shot someone, people have died horribly, and been blown up? I mean, why are letting your twelve year old watch Farscape to begin with? It's a violent tv series with adult themes, and not written for a 12 year old.
Shit should be the least of your worries. Honestly, people, you don't think your kid doesn't hear shit on the playground, at school, or at the store?

I find the continued censorship of foul language on tv mind-boggling. Also a tad hypocritical. Just as I find the continued censorship of nudity and sexual content. Apparently we have no problems showing a man or woman beat a woman or man, smack her or him, shoot her or him, suggest attempted rape, suggest rape or attempt to rape her/him - but nudity, a kinky sex scene, or the word fuck, shit, hell, or damn sends us running for the hills. Yes, we are an evolved species. Can't you tell?

So my co-workers who have grown weary of my hacking at work, keep asking if I've seen a doctor yet. A)I'm not hacking that much - only intermittently. b)The phlegm is still more or less clear and bright yellow, green, or black. and c) I have nasal congestion. In short, I'm not running off to the doctor, who will then send me to the hospital for stupid x-rays, to diagnose bronchitis, in order to foul up my body chemistry with antiboitics - until it is absolutely necessary. Oh and d) it's only been 4 days for crying out loud. Yesterday they were commenting on the fact that I sounded just like Alf.

Kept me awake last night. So...will admit, it is tempting to see Doctor, but only if I can get codeine cough syrup. That puts you to sleep like a baby...

There's been a smattering of posts lately on fandom wars. I have to confess I've always found the fandom character wars to be annoying, regardless of the fandom. It's one of the things I like least about fandom. The constant bickering over which character is a hero and which one is a douche. And when you can't convince each other? The name-calling emerges. And in some fandoms it gets incredibly misogynistic and sexist. ( incredibly long musing on fandom, sexism, Buffy, the Buffy-Spike characters and ship, and why we join fandoms or come online. )

Time for bed. Throat is itchy. Hope less coughing. Damn that went on too long. I meant to go to bed earlier...ack. Oh well. No time to edit. Sorry for the typos, etc. But you should be used to them by now. ;-) (Oh, you can link to the post, it's not really that personal.)

[ I hope this meta makes sense...the words they are sticking like gum in the brain tonight. Also a lot of the upfront info is from memory, I may be off factually in some places - it's been a while since I studied this stuff. ]

Back in the 1980s, when I was studying mythology, specifically ancient mythology - specifically the mythology of ancient cultures, many that dated long before Hebrew or Christian religions, such as Mesopotamian and Babylonian, as well as Egyptian and Greek and Hebrew...I stumbled upon an emerging pattern - which astonished me at the time. Not so much now. What I discovered is a recurring thematic in all our stories, whether they be a literary work of art such as James Joyce's Ulysess or Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Electra, or a cult modern story such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A theme about fathers, sons, and mothers...and the often neglected daughter that lies at the center of many religious mythologies and theologies as well as our folk tales, fairy tales, and oral narratives, that is so deeply rooted in our collective consciousness that when it is tweaked we often will react to it, often with irrational passion, and without realizing it.

In the ancient Druidic tradition, practiced in pre-Christian Ireland, England, France, and a good portion of Northen Europe, which at that time was inhabited by the Celts - before William the Conqueror, and prior to Julius Cesear - the religion was focused on the Goddess, or Mother, the earth, with the Moon her consort. This religion was actually fairly monothesist in that there was one god or rather goddess, Mab, and she had consorts. This may explain why it was easier to merge the Celtic Pagan Tradition with the Roman Christian Tradition.

Northern Europe was tree lined, and water ridden, with primeval forests, and mountains, deep valleys, glaciers, and pits. The moon ruled the tides. Water flooded land. The Sun was a friend, yet rarely seen, since the sky darkened early, and stayed dark long, and the primeval forest blocked it out. And the oceans separated regions. Earth was God, not sky. The life-giver and devourer. She had a mouth and it had teeth. If you didn't give her your blood, she would not provide you with her life. Yet she was beautiful in her bounty, spurting forth flowers and fruit if you loved her. The ancients, much like we do today, had their rituals. Which an outsider may well view as barbarbic. But in most cases...they were no different the rituals we practice now, mere pagentry, not actual. At least not in most cases. Humans weren't really sacrificed. Any more than Christians really eat the body and blood.

The Mabinogi Legends of Wales, as well as the Arthurian Tradition (which is actually part of those legends, by the way) - speak of these rituals. Fantasy writers, Guy Gaverial Kay wrote about them in The Fionavar Tapestry, as did Pamela Dean in Tam Lin, and of course, Hans Christian Anderson in the marvelous fairy tale entitled The Snow Queen - about a girl traveling to the snowy reaches of the North to save her beloved friend from the Winter Queen who whisked him away. Each is a tale about the devoted son and his lover/mother, with the unknowable father far above, and the maid/sister coming to rescue him or dying with him, their love magic bringing forth a new year on earth. How he dies as they mate. In the Snow Queen - she whisks him away to her cold dark realm, and he is rescued by her daughter, Summer. For the Celt tradition - the mother had many aspects, she was the maid, the mother, the crone. And in stories from The Iron Dragon's Daughter to Keat's Collected Fairy Tales...this strange dance is replayed.

But that is only one side of the mythos, the part that comes from the places of the moon, where the desert is made of water, and the blood moon rules its tides. The sun in contrast providing nothing but warmth and comfort, the earth sanctuary from the water's monsterous moods. The other part of the mythos...comes from the lands of the sun, where the desert is made of earth and sand, and water is a comfort that few can find, the moon a calming eddy. In the lands of the sun, God is the sky. Always visible and merciless. Providing searing heat, and at times cooling rain. Here God is male, not female. And his fury is felt with dust storms, and wind, and lightening. In the places of olive trees, sand, and sun - it is the unknowable, unseen, yet always watching father Sun that rules the day.

In these lands, the mythos that rose up, is not unsimilar to the places of the moon. The son still sacrifices himself to save the land, to save the people. But he is sent by the father, who impregnates a human mother, who gives birth to a son, who is summarily killed by his own people...to save the world. We see this happening in Egyptian myth with Osiris. And in Greek with Hercules, the son of Zeus and the daughter of a human mother that Zeus impregnated. We see it in Roman and in the land of the Hebrews - with Abraham sacrificing Jacob, or the Prophet Jesus. And we finally see it in Christianity with the tale of Jesus who is born of Mary, and dies brutally on the cross, crucified, by the people he wishes to save. (Please do not misunderstand. I'm not saying that story of Jesus is not true or that I do not believe in it, necessarily, I'm just saying it is striking that it is a story that has in other ways, been told before. Or rather a portion of it has. That does not mean it is any less true. Just because the story has been told in another way, by another person, in the distant past. Doesn't mean it can't be true or is invalid.)

In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Joss Whedon plays with the same mythos. The son, the mother, the daughter, the unknowable father. It's perhaps the most universal of themes and therefor the most effective. We all have parents after all. And as a result of that fact, we all have mommy and daddy issues. It is the one thing that we have in common. Some of us may have children. Some may have spouses. But everyone has parents. So as a result our stories sooner or later focus on them.

( The theme of the devoted son, the unknowable and unattainable father, and the mother/daughter in Buffy the Vampire Slayer - spoilers for the comics and the tv series. )