A Chasing After Wind

You know, Joss Whedon was the showrunner on Buffy for years, and even after he was no longer showrunner he continued to have a lot of influence. And of course he was he was also one of the showrunners on Angel.

But I'm still amazed how many fans can say with absolute confidence, "This plot point happened because Joss Whedon felt this way". Like, how do you even know?

 

OK, I was wrong.

 

Check out this Joss Whedon interview: https://freshairarchive.org/segments/joss-whedon. At about timestamp 7:10, he states Xander was based on himself: "As far as who I relate to, Xander was obviously based on me, the sort of guy that all the girls want to be best friends with in high school, who's kind of a loser but is more or less articulate and someone you can trust".

 

Nonetheless, I'm still crazy about the description of Xander as a "self-insert". That implies to me more of a cardboard cutout than a character. Xander is different from Whedon in many ways, including, as I've posted about the in past, his formal education (or lack thereof). Note that in this same interview Whedon also says he identifies with Giles.

 

And Xander's relationship with Buffy also doesn't seem very self-inserty. Part of his defining character in the early seasons is that he has the hots for her, but does he get her? Nope. She's not interested and that's that. It doesn't matter how he feels.

 

Much as I love Buffy/Spike, they are more problematic in this regard. Her "no" does eventually become a "yes". It takes a lot - I find her entire relationship with Spike from School Hard to Chosen to be completely in character and believable. But I still find it a problematic portrayal.

 

(Note that I am going by the show not the comics - haven't read them)

 

I've been thinking about the Daredevil TV show, and how the relationship between Benjamin Poindexter and Julie Barnes really skeeved me out and turned me off that incarnation of Bullseye. Then I wondered how I could turn around and ship Buffy/Spike when there are some definite parallels

 

But there are some also pretty significant differences.

 

1. Buffy is protagonist. Julie is a side character of a side character. Buffy at any point of time has a lot more going on than Spike - and she doesn't die to advance Spike's story.
2. Buffy is very adamant that she will not be Spike's moral compass. She does somewhat take on that role in season seven, but by that point a lot has happened. Yes, he tried to rape her - but he also tried in his way to help her early in season six, and put up with her physical abuse, and got a soul. The last is particularly a big deal for Buffy because of her experience with Angel. And even after all that, she still keeps her distance from Spike in early season seven, only making the decision to help him after some vampiric therapy from Holden Webster.

 

So it seems those differences are enough for me.

 

P.S. When I first started writing this post I entitled it "Bullseye Vs. Spike", but I realized this might mislead people into thinking it is about a fight between the two. For the record, Spike wouldn't get near Bullseye. Bullseye would throws a stake at his heart before he got the change to close distance.

 Does anyone know of a source for the oft-repeated claim that Xander is Joss's self-insert? Like a quote from Whedon or someone else involved with the show? Or, hell, even just a lengthy essay providing a solid argument for Xander being Whedon's self-insert based on the information that is public? Something? Anything?

 I said I'd revisit this when I got to Checkpoint on my rewatch. Was it in character for Buffy to let Spike watch Dawn and Joyce at this time?

I think yes. You know, the first time I saw Crush I was surprised that Buffy hadn't noticed Spike had a thing for her. Surely it was obvious by this point? But Buffy didn't want to know so she didn't. BUT I think subconsciously she had picked up on the fact that Spike was acting different around her. Finding Glory in her house made her desperate. I don't think leaving her mom and sister with Spike was a totally thought-out plan, but rather a combination of Glory-induced desperation + subconscious awareness of Spike's change in behavior.

 I'm still rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer - just finished Listening to Fear. It's strange to rewatch these episodes and realize I was Buffy's age when I first watched them, and that was so long ago.

Also, you know, if Riley was female and Buffy was male Riley would be getting all these lectures about how men are Like That, and you have just have to accept that they won't express their feelings the way you want them to.

I'm reading And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, by Wayne Curtis. I picked it off the library shelf because it looked like it would be reasonably light, and it has met expectations. I think any history book is going to have to go to dark places, because history is pretty fucking dark, but this one is reasonably light and that's what I was in the mood for.

Also the fourteenth volume of Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm taking my time going through this manga.

On my podcast You're Wrong About I listened to the episode on the Iran-Contra scandal. A scandal that doesn't get remembered nearly as much as it should.

 I made a mental promise to myself that I was going to do better at linking to posts/articles/etc. that I comment on. Unfortunately, I am going to have to break my promise. I read this awhile ago and I wasn't planning on responding, but I can't stop thinking about it.

 

Someone dismissively declared that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was written by men. Rebecca Kirshner? Jane Espenson? Marti Noxon? They don't exist, apparently.

 

And what this person was specifically objecting to? Buffy trusting Spike to look after Joyce and Dawn in Checkpoint. They didn't think it made any sense for Buffy to do that given her history of Spike up to this point. I can see the objection and will have to wait until I get to Checkpoint in my rewatch to decide if I agree or not. But Checkpoint was co-written by Jane Espenson.

 

And yes, it is true that just because something appears on the screen doesn't mean everyone in the writers' room was behind the idea. But I've never heard any objections from the female writers of Buffy about the writing on Spike in season five. In contrast, I have heard that Whedon didn't want Spike as a regular and David Fury considered Spike to be a serial killer in prison and therefore Buffy/Spike would be offensive. It's certainly possible that writers hold opinions I'm not aware of - although I've read interviews, I don't always seek them out. But I am not aware of any basis for believing that any of the female writers had a problem with that scene in Checkpoint.

 

I'm glad to have gotten that off my chest. :)

 I've started re-watching season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy vs. Dracula is not an episode I spend a lot of thought on, so it was fun to see all the little character moments - Willow possibly causing a downpour by creating fire, Riley/Buffy. Watching the episode, I really think Riley's main problem with the relationship is not Buffy being the slayer but Angel. I've complained about how, later on, he's upset to learn from Dawn that Buffy cried more when she was with Angel. She cried more because Angel mistreated her. But from Riley's perspective, he knows Buffy loved Angel, he's not sure she loves him. If she acts different with him it must be because of a lack of love for him. I don't think Riley had ever had a relationship with a girl or woman as serious as his relationship with Buffy - and she had this whole intense thing with this guy who was nothing like Riley.

On a more negative note, bug-eating Xander is gross, and Giles with the three sisters is even grosser.

I recently watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I didn't know much about it aside from the famous quote about "stinking badges", but I enjoyed it.

I listened to the episode about The Godfather on my podcast, You're Wrong About. I swear I saw the first two Godfather movies, but I only seem to remember anything from the first one. I wish the podcast hosts knew more about gangster films prior to The Godfather. It would have been interesting to have a discussion that included films starring Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney.

Still reading Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hämäläinen. It's well-written, managing to tell a coherent narrative with historical events I was mostly already aware of.

Still reading Fullmetal Alchemist - on volume 13 now. Envy is so far definitely my favorite homunculi.

 

I've been re-reading gabrielleabelle's post on the subject, and I've decided to share my own thoughts.

 

( Spoilers through Buffy Season 2 )

 

So once again I am responding to something I read online that I do not have a link for. I needed to sit on this for awhile before posting, and I didn't save the link.

 

Essentially, on some message board or other, some fans took issue with the scene in Help where Buffy asks Robin
Wood if he came from "the hood". The fans objected to this on the grounds that it turned Buffy, a likeable character, into someone who committed microaggressions, and that it was clear the writers didn't understand the implications of the scene.

 

I don't have a problem with fans having a problem with this moment in Help, but I disagree with these particular arguments.

 

(Note this is just about this particular exchange between Buffy and Wood - I'm not going to get into Wood's arc as a whole. That would take a much longer post.)

 

For starters, the writers of Help did not make Buffy into a microaggressor. This is because she was already a microaggressor. In What's My Line, Part 2, she mocks Kendra's accent. In Restless, she tells a black woman her hair is not suitable for the workplace. That's just off the top of my head. In neither of those moments is there any indication we're supposed to think Buffy is in the wrong. They are just more examples of Buffy being oh-so-witty.

 

By contrast, the moment in Help it's very clear Buffy is wrong. Buffy ends up embarrassed, as well she should.

 

Again, I don't have a problem with someone having a problem with the exchange in Help. I'm not the person to make that judgment. But it didn't come out of nowhere, and, unlike previous incidents, it did portray Buffy's behavior as wrong.