Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor & Morality

by Field, Mark

  Part of Buffy’s problem is that the roles of General and Protector are inconsistent. Generals send soldiers off to fight, knowing that some will die. “They're not all gonna make it. Some will die…”, as she tells Wood.

  Protectors? Well, they protect people. Her conversation with Wood at the house demonstrates that Cassie’s death in Help continues to exact an emotional toll on her because of this dual role: she continued her sentence to Wood with “… and nothing I can do will stop that.” This isn’t new; we’ve seen the Protector side of Buffy from the beginning. She went to face the Master in Prophecy Girl to save Willow. In Consequences she was the one who cared about Allan Finch:

  Faith: People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody's gonna cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire.

  Buffy: (sadly) I am.

  The Protector side is under increasing stress and we see the consequences in GiD. Buffy blames herself for not preventing Chloe’s suicide, believing that she should have interpreted her dream as a cry for help from Chloe. This anger at herself for her perceived failure, in turn, drives her reaction to Chloe’s death and her harsh (if true) outbursts which follow. That’s also a side of Buffy we’ve seen before:

  When She Was Bad

  Willow: What do we do?

  Buffy: (exhales) I go to the Bronze and save the day. (starts to go)

  Xander: I don't like this.

  Giles: Nor I!

  Buffy: (turns back) Yeah? Well, you guys aren't going.

  Willow: What do you mean?

  Buffy: I can't do it anymore. I can't look after the three of you guys while I'm fighting.

  The Yoko Factor

  BUFFY: (raising her voice) No! No, you said you wanted to go. So let's go! All of us. We'll walk into that cave with you two attacking me and the funny drunk drooling on my shoe! Hey! Hey, maybe that's the secret way of killing Adam?!

  XANDER: Buffy . . .

  BUFFY: (hurt and angry) Is that it? Is that how you can help? (a beat) You're not answering me! How can you possibly help?

  BUFFY: (somberly) So . . . I guess I'm starting to understand why there's no ancient prophecy about a Chosen One . . and her friends.

  The Gift

  Buffy: "Remember: The ritual starts, we all die; and I'll kill anyone who comes near Dawn."

  In short, the conflict between both sides of her Slayer role is whipsawing her behavior. She can’t resolve her season dilemma until she can resolve this conflict.

  What makes Buffy’s situation more difficult is that, as always in the show, there’s something to be said on both sides. We, the audience, know that Buffy is struggling with the inconsistencies of her twin roles and that she isn’t as harsh as she appears in this episode, even if other characters don’t. We’ve seen her with Spike at the end of Showtime. We understood her dream in the teaser as reflecting her concerns about the Potentials’ safety. We watched her cry as she buried Chloe. But that’s not the side she’s displaying to anyone else; as usual, Buffy’s holding back her deepest feelings from everyone else. As a consequence she appears harsh and demanding to them.

  One question is whether her boot camp methods are likely to be effective. This was hotly debated among fans. Here are representative defenses of her behavior by Cactus Watcher and Malandanza at AtPO:

  Cactus Watcher: “The girls aren't there for a quilting bee. Something is trying to kill every last one of them. Buffy is trying to keep them alive, however she can. It was important for the survivors to understand that Chloe didn't die because Kennedy yelled at her, and made her do pushups. Chloe died because she gave in to what they all must struggle with, the fear of the First. Buffy has been trying to tell them all along that some of them weren't going to survive, but if they stick together some will survive and the world will be saved. Chloe chose to 'go it alone.' She gave in to despair. Not only did she let the others down by removing what strength she had from the group, the manner of her death could very well have shattered the morale of the group. It could have left them all thinking too much about how hard it was to do what they were facing, and too little about how necessary it was. Buffy was right to say Chloe was an idiot. She has learned that being a leader sometimes means saying things the blunt, harsh way, so that everyone understands you mean business. Buffy has grown up.”

  Malandanza: “I think the speech was needed, brutal as it was. The Potentials were utterly demoralized by Chloe's death, filled with exactly the kind of doubts the First can exploit. Why is Andrew alive and Chloe dead? Because Andrew's faith in Buffy is stronger than his fear of the First. The Potentials, at the start of Buffy's "everybody sucks but me" speech, would have followed Chloe's path -- now they will fight.

  My problem with the speech was less about the things Buffy said and more about her friend's reactions. Is Buffy the general? Then why so much insubordination? Kennedy, Spike and Xander all openly defied her in front of the troops. Xander claimed that they were just waiting for orders, subtly shifting the blame for the current malaise to Buffy, but even in this season we've seen him obey only the orders he agreed with. Think of Selfless: General Buffy heads off to slay Anyanka. Corporal Harris runs ahead to warn the enemy. Second Lieutenant Rosenberg calls up enemy General D'Hoffyrn, explains what's happening, and asks if, as a personal favor to her, he would intervene. The Scoobies can't have it both ways -- either they are also responsible for the decision making or they should follow Buffy (questioning her when alone, perhaps, but not in front of a group of scared girls).

  I don't think Buffy was being too harsh -- she was trying to save the lives of these girls in spite of themselves. I wouldn't have minded seeing Buffy grab Kennedy, drag her outside and have her dig the next grave, for the potential who dies because she helped destroy morale at a crucial point because she thought Willow wasn't getting enough credit. Then maybe busting her back to private for insubordination and sticking her on KP duty with Andrew.”

  For a very well-expressed contrary view, see the comments by farmgirl62 at http://unpaidsophistry.blogspot.com/2013/01/get-it-done.html.

  What’s driving the harshness from the “General” side? Several things, I think. One is what I’ll call institutional. The role of a commanding officer – though she’s really more like a drill sergeant here – seemingly requires making harsh demands on one’s subordinates (see Malandanza’s argument). Giles’s words at the end of First Date, which I emphasized in my post on that episode, probably have had an effect too. Adding to the burden is that the First/Chloe uses Buffy’s self-recrimination to goad her towards the path of greater power.

  The First, it becomes increasingly clear, is the Iago of S7. And as we learned in Earshot,

  “TEACHER Jealousy clearly is the tool that Iago uses to undo Othello. But what's his motivation? What reason does Iago give for destroying his superior officer? …

  BUFFY Well, he, um, he sort of admits himself that his motive are... spurious! He, um, he does things because he, he enjoys them. It's like he's not, he's not really a person. He's uh, the dark half of Othello himself.”

  I’ve said all along that for me the show is All. About. Buffy. so that makes the First the dark half of Buffy. But the same metaphor applies pretty easily to all the characters, as we’ve seen with Spike, Andrew, and Wood. After Showtime aired, manwitch and Rahael posted thoughts about the First which I can repeat here:

  Manwitch: “The First Evil on BtVS seems to represent separation. It is separate from others, untouchable. It manifests itself as those separated from us by death.

  The First Evil's mode of attack appears to be separation. It is attempting to separate the Slayers from their line (preslayers), from their support (the council, watchers), to separate Buffy and her friends from each other through lies that destroy their trust in each other and confidence in themselves.”

  Rahael: “And most especially because it plays delightfully with the idea that 'it's all connected'. Separation and connection, two ideas that coexist in a kind of creative ten
sion.”

  While all of Buffy’s behavior in GiD was controversial, what generated perhaps the most debate was Buffy’s demand that Spike and Willow access their dangerous powers (my emphasis):

  BUFFY

  Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her and Annabelle. I'm the slayer. The one with the power. And the First has me using that power to dig our graves. (throws down the shovel angrily) I've been carrying you—all of you—too far, too long. Ride's over.

  KENNEDY

  You're out of line!

  WILLOW

  No, she's not.

  KENNEDY

  (to Willow) You're gonna let her talk to you like that? Willow, she's not even the most powerful one in this room. With you here, she's not close.

  BUFFY

  You're new here, and you're wrong. Because I use the power that I have. The rest of you are just waiting for me.

  XANDER

  Well, yeah, but only because you kinda told us to. You're our leader, Buffy, as in "follow the."

  BUFFY

  Well, from now on, I'm your leader as in "do what I say." …

  WILLOW

  Come on, Buffy. You know everyone here's doing everything they can.

  BUFFY

  The First isn't impressed. It already knows us. It knows what we can do, and it's laughing. You want to surprise the enemy? Surprise yourselves. Force yourself to do what can't be done, or else we are not an army—we're just a bunch of girls waiting to be picked off and buried. (Spike stands and walks toward the door) Where are you going?

  SPIKE

  Out. Since I'm neither a girl, nor waiting. All this speechifying doesn't really apply to me, does it? (walks away)

  BUFFY

  Fine. Take a cell phone. That way, if I need someone to get weepy or whaled on, I can call you.

  Not exactly the St. Crispin’s Day Speech, to quote The Gift.

  Some argued that she was, in effect, telling both Spike and Willow to regress to an evil state. I don’t see it this way. As I see it, both were pretending that the power which had led them astray was no longer a part of them. This was self-deception.

  Both Willow and Spike, especially Spike, spent the first half of the season thinking they were “new”. Spike dressed conspicuously differently, as if he could put on his new persona with his new clothes. But neither Willow nor Spike is new. They already have power. Buffy didn’t ask them to gain more power. She didn't ask Willow to go drain another Rack, she didn't ask Spike to become an UberVamp. What she did was demand that they use the power they already have.

  What they need to do is to confront the fact that the power, dark though it may be, is part of them. Giles told Willow this in Lessons: “This isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magic. You're responsible for it.” Similarly, Spike’s demon didn’t leave him when got his soul back; he’s like Angel now, with the soul able to control the demon.

  Buffy needs them to face the same reality she faces – that the power is part of her, but she controls it and uses it in the struggle against evil. She controls that power in order to use it for good. She demanded that Willow and Spike do the same. Both have been gripping the hammer near the head – lots of control, no power. She needs them to find the balance Xander explained in Help. She herself is struggling with that balance, as we see from the harsh tone of her demand.

  That doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to approve of what any of them do, certainly not unreservedly. Spike, in my view, does do what Buffy wanted. Some suggest that Spike’s retrieval of the coat was a form of triumphalism, a display of his trophy gained by murder like Cain’s display of werewolf teeth in Phases. If that were the case, then clearly it would be wrong. I’m disinclined to see it this way because Spike gave up wearing the coat in Seeing Red and this is the first time he’s put it on. If he were making a trophy display, he could have done that at any time.

  As I see it, the sole reason Spike went back for the coat was so that he could do what Buffy demanded of him. In my view the coat serves as Spike’s reminder of what he once was. It’s a step on the road to the acceptance of his true self that I described above. That doesn’t make it any less painful for Wood, as we see from Wood’s reaction to learning where Spike got the coat. And it emphasizes the ambiguities inherent in the exercise of power.

  Willow’s case is different. For one thing, she commands the “mighty forces” in much the same tones as Buffy used in her speech. Willow most certainly does NOT use her own power as Buffy tells her to do, she instead steals power from Kennedy and Anya. We see this as wrong – her eyes and hair turn black in the circle, Willow herself apologizes to Kennedy later on. Turning to the metaphor, we understand that Willow – Buffy’s metaphorical spirit – reinforces the theme of the episode in the course of her spell: Buffy’s harsh words and actions, in their own way, suck the power out of others. Anya hangs a lantern on this point when she describes Buffy’s speech as her “everyone sucks but me speech”.

  Kennedy’s reaction to Willow’s violation mirrors everyone’s reaction to Buffy’s exercise of her power earlier in the episode. Willow’s (and Buffy’s) excuse of necessity simply makes the moral dilemma more difficult and the real solution of Chosen harder to see. Willow described her power as if there were no alternative: “I'm really sorry. It's just, you were the most powerful person nearby, and—well, that's—that's how it works. That's how I work.” Willow’s phrasing begs the question whether she can find a different way of exercising power. Because her actions parallel Buffy’s, the same holds true for her.

  Buffy didn’t enter the portal in search of more power. She went in search of knowledge. But when the Shadowmen did “offer” her extra power, was she right to reject them after she berated Willow and Spike for not using their power? Here’s one argument that she was:

  “Didn't she just ask, no, not ask, DEMAND that her friends make similar sacrifices? Didn't she declare herself the infallible leader of all of them? Didn't she tell them that she would do anything, anything at all to beat the first? WELL THEN WHAT GIVES?

  Leaders must lead by example. If Buffy is truly the leader, the most powerful among them, then she has no right to ask others to make sacrifices that she herself is unwilling to make. That, to me is pure moral arrogance. Or, does she truly believe that her humanity is worth more than the others.

  Dawn did her job; she read the incantation to open the portal;

  Spike did his job; he tracked down and killed the exchange demon, at the cost of a new, powerful enemy;

  Anya did her job; she came up with the portal re-summoning ceremony;

  Willow did her job; she opened the portal to get Buffy back, at a personal cost to her;

  And, when the floor is repaired, Xander will have done his job.

  -Everybody did their jobs here-

  However it was the slayer's job to bring back the strength from the source of the slayer, the strength they all need to beat the First; without that there was no point to this little exercise. Buffy did not do her job here because she didn't like the cost to her. The very same cost she demanded of her friends.

  This is unacceptable in a Slayer, improper in a leader, and unworthy in a friend.”

  I disagree with this pretty strongly. I have no doubt that we were meant to see her rejection of additional demonic power as the right choice. The metaphorical attempted rape was barely metaphor. No larger purpose could justify this. Any imaginable obligation ended when they chained her to the rock.

  Moreover, I doubt that the supercharging would have been effective. I don't see the FE as being defeated by Buffy having SuperSlayer strength. Note the First Slayer’s words: “It’s not enough.” That’s Delphic – what’s not enough? Maybe that refers to the amount of power, but maybe not.

  This ties in directly to the cl
aim that Buffy asked Spike and Willow to risk their own humanity while refusing to risk hers. I made the point above that Willow and Spike already have the power within them and that Buffy hasn’t asked them to get more. Now let me address the point about “believing her humanity is worth more than theirs”.

  The way I see it is this: the exercise of special powers by any of the three (Buffy, Willow, Spike) runs along a continuum. Using Willow as an example, we might say that the continuum runs from locater spells to teleportation to raising the dead to attempting to destroy the world.

  Now, if any exercise of power along this continuum puts their humanity at risk, then Buffy certainly did ask Willow and Spike to take that risk. By the same token, however, Buffy cannot be accused of hypocrisy because she exercises her power every day and, by the same logic, must therefore put her own humanity at risk.

  I don't believe that the mere exercise of power alone puts their humanity at risk. It's the abuse or excess of that power which does so. Buffy pushes herself as far as she can, but made the decision that the "extra" “offered” by the Shadowmen went too far.

  What she told Spike and Willow was, in essence, "Hey, you guys are limiting yourselves to the tinkerbell end of the spectrum. I need you to go further because I know you can. I believe in your ability to control it and I myself am taking that same risk." Buffy did not tell them to "risk their humanity". She told them to use the power they had while remaining in control. Again, Buffy herself does this. Given the circumstances, it's fair to demand no less of Spike and Willow (and, on a different scale, Giles, Xander and Wood). None of this is to justify the harsh way Buffy made her demands.

  Now let’s turn to the actual evil of the Shadowmen. One obvious point is that they metaphorically (or perhaps actually) raped the First Slayer by forcing power upon her – note the up and down movement of their (ahem) staffs – but it goes well beyond that. The existence of that power then became the reason for making her The Slayer, which condemned her to a life fighting demons that was inevitably solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. It’s a harsh judgment on patriarchy: men control women through sexual violence.