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wisdomeagleAttempting to think about Willow/Wesley for pr0n that will get written, I promise, Meg. It just needs a climax.
Wow, my puns are so bad, I'm not even trying anymore.
Anyhow, weirdness discovered.
[spoilers through B:tVS 4x22 "Restless", with little spoilers through "Grave"]
So I'm charting the Willow-magic arc for some reason (insomnia? randomness?) and I discovered that in "Restless" there is no Willow-magic. It's very odd. There's just the one-liner about two girls doing spells together, which as Joss pointed out in the commentary, shouldn't even be there because it breaks point of view. But anyhow, no magic. No actual spells.
I feel tempted to do a full-scale meta of Willow in "Restless." But as should be asleep, will restrain self to tacit points:
-Caveat: I'm using the terms old!Willow and new!Willow here to mean, essentially, high-school!Willow and college!Willow (which, in retrospect, would be much better terms, but hey, it's late), with old!Willow epitomized in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and new!Willow in "Wrecked." I'm trying to identify what characteristics those distinctions actually entail, but I'm pretty sure most of fandom would agree that there is a substantial dichotomy there. Old!Willow is also geek!Willow and straight!Willow; new!Willow is magic!Willow and lesbian!Willow. Clear? Good.
-Willow's relationship with Tara is explicitly sexualized outside the context of magic for the first time. Joss is moving away from the magic=sex metaphor.
-This happens in both Willow and Xander's dreams, but not in Buffy or Giles's.
-Buffy's dream really doesn't fit the pattern of the others' dreams. The other three don't show up in her dream, only their love interests characters: Anya, Tara, Riley.
-In Willow's dream, the tension between old!Willow and new!Willow is made explicit. Willow feels that she is still really the same person, but is wearing new!Willow as a mask/costume. New!Willow for her is not just magic. It'sbisexuality lesbianism, Tara in particular, and attitude and fashion, taking risks (like drama class), but nowhere is it equated with magic.
-In Xander's dream, Willow only appears as new!Willow: fully sexualized, very, very lesbian. *snerk*
-In Giles's dream, Tara does not appear (and his is the only one where she does not). Willow appears doing a very old!Willow thing to do; she's reading magic books, but this isn't "doing magic;" it's doing research.
-It could definitely be argued that there are hints of old!Willow in Xander's dream as well, in the form of the Willow who's just fast asleep at the beginning of his dream, etc. For Xander, old!Willow is not so much about lifestyle or hobbies; she's about comfort level. Xander and Willow were friends, maybe even comfy non-sexual sleepover friends, for many years before, well, Before. Xander was comfortable with the old Willow. He's not comfortable with the new Willow, in a simply literal sense. Obviously, this has been true since "Homecoming" to some extent, but I think Tara sexualized Willow in Xander's eyes more than even his own relationship with her did.
-In conclusion: Xander is excited by Willow's growing up, and basically takes it as inevitable, but he's definitely not comfortable with it, perhaps not even happy with it.
-Buffy spends the first half of her dream looking for Willow and Xander and Buffy. She can't find them anywhere; Tara says she's lost them. Buffy's dream highlights more than any of the others the emotional separation among the Core Four this season. Xander is the only one of her friends who does show, if only briefly, in Buffy's dream. Perhaps she thinks he is the least lost to her of all her friends. Since Willow and Xander are really Buffy's emotional focus, Willow is made present by her absence. She has left Buffy behind, has been leaving Buffy behind since "The Freshman." Again, though, Buffy's Willow is new!Willow, since old!Willow is old!Buffy's sidekick. Old!Willow did not leave Buffy behind; she didn't have that option.
-Sidenote: Neither Tara nor Willow is sexualized in Buffy's dream. Conclusion: Buffy is very, very straight.Excepting of course for certain dark-haired Slayers named Faith.
-Buffy is not especially happy about the changes in Willow, but sees them quite possibly more as changes in herself than as changes in Willow. She also accepts them as inevitable.
-Willow is so happy with the changes in her personality, but doesn't see them as inevitable and is afraid she could and will revert to old!Willow.
-Giles, on the other hand, doesn't make any particular nod to new!Willow. The Willow in his dream is functionally identical to old!Willow, although is substantially more mature even than new!Willow. She is researching, a function of old!Willow, and then there's the bit where she's fangirling Giles himself, which is, if anything, a nod to all the time she spent fangirling the Dingoes. Willow-as-groupie has only previously been explored in that context.
-On the other hand, Willow in Giles's is substantially more mature than she ever is in reality. She relates to him as to an adult. She is the voice of his subconscious. The line "Rupert. You've gotta focus. You must have some kind of explanation. If we don't know what we're fighting, I don't think we stand a chance" is Giles talking through Willow, not Willow as we have ever known her to be.
-Conclusion: Giles hasn't really digested the changes that have occurred in Willow. He knows about them, including Tara, but they are not really present in his dream. He's returning to a paradigm that has been rather lacking in the previous season.
-Sidenote: The "WG(+X) research, B kill" paradigm doesn't really work so well in S4 or S3, partially because of Buffy keeping secrets about boyfriends both seasons. The research and kill works with regards to Master, Angelus, the Mayor, even Glory. It doesn't work in S4 because the issue is not so much "What is this and how do we stop it?" but "Who are these people and what were they smoking?" if that makes any sense. When the Big Bad is one of us (Faith, Initiative, Trio, Willow) research and kill doesn't work. Anyhow, back tangent.
-Giles misses old!Willow.
-Let's look at the ooc!Willow in Xander's dream and the ooc!Willow in Giles's dream. I think neither man would be at all pleased if his dream came true, but there's something lurking in their subconscious. Let's see. For Xander, it's a hyper-sexualized Willow whose sexuality exists for him. For Giles, it's a mature Willow who relates to him as an adult (calling him by his first name) but is essentially his sidekick as he saves the day. (When he tells Willow to research, she does so without question, and her fangirling him isn't indicative of a particularly equal relationship at all.)
-It's not much of a stretch to say that Giles's dream is about ideals (and how far away from these ideals they've all moved.) Buffy becomes the loving daughter, eager to learn; Olivia is his lover again, and Willow is his adult sidekick.
-As in Buffy's dream, Willow is sexualized. I note this in comparison to Willow and Xander's dreams, where Willow is hyper-sexualized. Even though she's been (on and off) sexually active at this point for almost a year, Willow-as-sexual is still a strange concept for all of them. The fact of herbisexuality lesbianism forces the issue on all of them because it is perceived by society as a sexual orientation, not simply a romantic orientation. Her relationship with Tara raises issues that her relationship with Oz never did, because it suddenly seems very clear that Willow is having sex, and that's strange for all of them (except perhaps for Willow.)
-Giles goes the furthest in this direction by actually removing all reference to Willow's girlfriend, which is odd as his dream is about as realistic as Xander's or Willow's in other regards.
-Sidenote: Riley is absent from Xander's and Giles's dreams as well. Anya, however, is present in all four. Spike is in Xander's and Giles's. Joyce is in Xander's and Buffy's. What does it all meaaaan?????111
-So if it's not just magic versus computers, what is the difference between old!Willow and new!Willow?
-new!Willow isbisexual lesbian. This is comfort, safety, goodness (Willow) and, uh, sexy, if slightly scary ((Xander).
-new!Willow is sexual, period. For Willow and Xander, this is a good thing (if scary in Xander's case), for Buffy and Giles, it's so scary one can't even acknowledge it.
-new!Willow does spells. Honestly, here it's just a metaphor for sex. (See above.) Willow's magical side is absolutely unaddressed in this episode.
-new!Willow is leaving her friends behind. (Buffy, possibly also Xander. Like Buffy, he's spending his dream searching for people, including Willow. In contrast, Willow's dream is about trying to escape from people, including Willow.)
-new!Willow is acting a part. (Willow.)
-old!Willow is boring (Willow(
-old!Willow is a bookworm/likes to read/is book-centric (Willow, Giles)
-old!Willow is not sexual. (Willow. Oz and Tara would prefer each other to old!Willow.)
-old!Willow is dependable (Giles.
-old!Willow is real;Angel new!Willow is just a mask Angelus Willow wears.
You can draw your own Willow/Giles-y conclusions from the above. Use colored pencils. Be explicit. I was supposed to go to bed four hours ago.
[note how I cleverly left the W/G bit outside the cut tag to allure the W/G-centric portions of my flist behind the cut and on the incoherentness within.]
Wow, my puns are so bad, I'm not even trying anymore.
Anyhow, weirdness discovered.
[spoilers through B:tVS 4x22 "Restless", with little spoilers through "Grave"]
So I'm charting the Willow-magic arc for some reason (insomnia? randomness?) and I discovered that in "Restless" there is no Willow-magic. It's very odd. There's just the one-liner about two girls doing spells together, which as Joss pointed out in the commentary, shouldn't even be there because it breaks point of view. But anyhow, no magic. No actual spells.
I feel tempted to do a full-scale meta of Willow in "Restless." But as should be asleep, will restrain self to tacit points:
-Caveat: I'm using the terms old!Willow and new!Willow here to mean, essentially, high-school!Willow and college!Willow (which, in retrospect, would be much better terms, but hey, it's late), with old!Willow epitomized in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and new!Willow in "Wrecked." I'm trying to identify what characteristics those distinctions actually entail, but I'm pretty sure most of fandom would agree that there is a substantial dichotomy there. Old!Willow is also geek!Willow and straight!Willow; new!Willow is magic!Willow and lesbian!Willow. Clear? Good.
-Willow's relationship with Tara is explicitly sexualized outside the context of magic for the first time. Joss is moving away from the magic=sex metaphor.
-This happens in both Willow and Xander's dreams, but not in Buffy or Giles's.
-Buffy's dream really doesn't fit the pattern of the others' dreams. The other three don't show up in her dream, only their love interests characters: Anya, Tara, Riley.
-In Willow's dream, the tension between old!Willow and new!Willow is made explicit. Willow feels that she is still really the same person, but is wearing new!Willow as a mask/costume. New!Willow for her is not just magic. It's
-In Xander's dream, Willow only appears as new!Willow: fully sexualized, very, very lesbian. *snerk*
-In Giles's dream, Tara does not appear (and his is the only one where she does not). Willow appears doing a very old!Willow thing to do; she's reading magic books, but this isn't "doing magic;" it's doing research.
-It could definitely be argued that there are hints of old!Willow in Xander's dream as well, in the form of the Willow who's just fast asleep at the beginning of his dream, etc. For Xander, old!Willow is not so much about lifestyle or hobbies; she's about comfort level. Xander and Willow were friends, maybe even comfy non-sexual sleepover friends, for many years before, well, Before. Xander was comfortable with the old Willow. He's not comfortable with the new Willow, in a simply literal sense. Obviously, this has been true since "Homecoming" to some extent, but I think Tara sexualized Willow in Xander's eyes more than even his own relationship with her did.
-In conclusion: Xander is excited by Willow's growing up, and basically takes it as inevitable, but he's definitely not comfortable with it, perhaps not even happy with it.
-Buffy spends the first half of her dream looking for Willow and Xander and Buffy. She can't find them anywhere; Tara says she's lost them. Buffy's dream highlights more than any of the others the emotional separation among the Core Four this season. Xander is the only one of her friends who does show, if only briefly, in Buffy's dream. Perhaps she thinks he is the least lost to her of all her friends. Since Willow and Xander are really Buffy's emotional focus, Willow is made present by her absence. She has left Buffy behind, has been leaving Buffy behind since "The Freshman." Again, though, Buffy's Willow is new!Willow, since old!Willow is old!Buffy's sidekick. Old!Willow did not leave Buffy behind; she didn't have that option.
-Sidenote: Neither Tara nor Willow is sexualized in Buffy's dream. Conclusion: Buffy is very, very straight.
-Buffy is not especially happy about the changes in Willow, but sees them quite possibly more as changes in herself than as changes in Willow. She also accepts them as inevitable.
-Willow is so happy with the changes in her personality, but doesn't see them as inevitable and is afraid she could and will revert to old!Willow.
-Giles, on the other hand, doesn't make any particular nod to new!Willow. The Willow in his dream is functionally identical to old!Willow, although is substantially more mature even than new!Willow. She is researching, a function of old!Willow, and then there's the bit where she's fangirling Giles himself, which is, if anything, a nod to all the time she spent fangirling the Dingoes. Willow-as-groupie has only previously been explored in that context.
-On the other hand, Willow in Giles's is substantially more mature than she ever is in reality. She relates to him as to an adult. She is the voice of his subconscious. The line "Rupert. You've gotta focus. You must have some kind of explanation. If we don't know what we're fighting, I don't think we stand a chance" is Giles talking through Willow, not Willow as we have ever known her to be.
-Conclusion: Giles hasn't really digested the changes that have occurred in Willow. He knows about them, including Tara, but they are not really present in his dream. He's returning to a paradigm that has been rather lacking in the previous season.
-Sidenote: The "WG(+X) research, B kill" paradigm doesn't really work so well in S4 or S3, partially because of Buffy keeping secrets about boyfriends both seasons. The research and kill works with regards to Master, Angelus, the Mayor, even Glory. It doesn't work in S4 because the issue is not so much "What is this and how do we stop it?" but "Who are these people and what were they smoking?" if that makes any sense. When the Big Bad is one of us (Faith, Initiative, Trio, Willow) research and kill doesn't work. Anyhow, back tangent.
-Giles misses old!Willow.
-Let's look at the ooc!Willow in Xander's dream and the ooc!Willow in Giles's dream. I think neither man would be at all pleased if his dream came true, but there's something lurking in their subconscious. Let's see. For Xander, it's a hyper-sexualized Willow whose sexuality exists for him. For Giles, it's a mature Willow who relates to him as an adult (calling him by his first name) but is essentially his sidekick as he saves the day. (When he tells Willow to research, she does so without question, and her fangirling him isn't indicative of a particularly equal relationship at all.)
-It's not much of a stretch to say that Giles's dream is about ideals (and how far away from these ideals they've all moved.) Buffy becomes the loving daughter, eager to learn; Olivia is his lover again, and Willow is his adult sidekick.
-As in Buffy's dream, Willow is sexualized. I note this in comparison to Willow and Xander's dreams, where Willow is hyper-sexualized. Even though she's been (on and off) sexually active at this point for almost a year, Willow-as-sexual is still a strange concept for all of them. The fact of her
-Giles goes the furthest in this direction by actually removing all reference to Willow's girlfriend, which is odd as his dream is about as realistic as Xander's or Willow's in other regards.
-Sidenote: Riley is absent from Xander's and Giles's dreams as well. Anya, however, is present in all four. Spike is in Xander's and Giles's. Joyce is in Xander's and Buffy's. What does it all meaaaan?????111
-So if it's not just magic versus computers, what is the difference between old!Willow and new!Willow?
-new!Willow is
-new!Willow is sexual, period. For Willow and Xander, this is a good thing (if scary in Xander's case), for Buffy and Giles, it's so scary one can't even acknowledge it.
-new!Willow does spells. Honestly, here it's just a metaphor for sex. (See above.) Willow's magical side is absolutely unaddressed in this episode.
-new!Willow is leaving her friends behind. (Buffy, possibly also Xander. Like Buffy, he's spending his dream searching for people, including Willow. In contrast, Willow's dream is about trying to escape from people, including Willow.)
-new!Willow is acting a part. (Willow.)
-old!Willow is boring (Willow(
-old!Willow is a bookworm/likes to read/is book-centric (Willow, Giles)
-old!Willow is not sexual. (Willow. Oz and Tara would prefer each other to old!Willow.)
-old!Willow is dependable (Giles.
-old!Willow is real;
You can draw your own Willow/Giles-y conclusions from the above. Use colored pencils. Be explicit. I was supposed to go to bed four hours ago.
[note how I cleverly left the W/G bit outside the cut tag to allure the W/G-centric portions of my flist behind the cut and on the incoherentness within.]
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 01:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 07:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 05:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 07:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 07:57 pm (UTC)Do we hafta?
:p
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-29 08:07 pm (UTC)::enables you::
:-)