I've never watched Private Practice, but I agree with you entirely on the subject of Buffy. I was never a Buffy/Spike fan (Spuffy, I think it's called?), but I could appreciate that the guy was loyal to her to a fault and was, as you said, 'love's bitch'. I could never imagine him taking it that far. He lashed out at her the first time they slept together, but he never attempted to rape her. It just seemed very out of place.
Though I disagree that Spike's attempted rape was ooc, it did make me lose nearly all of the respect I had for the character though. But rather than take advantage of Buffy in a weak moment, because, yeah, there was no way he could've known, I merely saw it as submissive!Spike simply trying to take some control of the situation when he felt Buffy moving away from him again. Also, vampire without a soul tends to mean -- oh shit, something not nice is going to happen. IDC how many times Spike says how much he loves her. It was obsessive love from the start and she turned to him in a time of depression. Spike also had said plenty of misogynist things prior to even having his obsession with "loving her" began, and he was more "obsessed with killing her." I sometimes think the obsession began after being beaten by her enough times Spike finally remembered Angelus's words of advice, "To kill this girl you have to love her." Granted, there is a longer span of redemption mixed in as well, that is fascinating and doesn't make me
( ... )
BTVS in general, and Spike as a character in particularrivka_shekinahFebruary 16 2011, 19:38:41 UTC
WORD to most of what you said in your previous message. I was in love with Spike in that way teenage girls so often fall in love with antihero types, and I really, really wanted him to be a good guy in the end. I also saw the last few seasons of Buffy before I ever watched the first, which significantly colored my perspective on things. However, I do think that Spike would have been much more redeemable if not for the rape...and therein lies the biggest mistake made by the writers. To leave him in such a dark and aggravatedly awful place, to have him attack the longtime heroine of the entire series and then simply fob off to go fight a demony type for the desire of his heart was a mistake. It left him seeming like not only more of a jerk than usual, but a misogynist in a way that I at least had only ever assumed to be posturing and an attempt to live up to Angel's example before. Spike turned from the kind of guy who brags about his sexual conquests at frat parties to avoid being mistaken for gay to the kind of guy who assaults a
( ... )
BTVS in general, and Spike as a character in particularrivka_shekinahFebruary 16 2011, 19:38:55 UTC
This is where the fantasy aspect of the show kicks in to the show's own detriment, for in real life rape is rape is rape. No one can claim to be a demon or a vampire and simply get away with it, having been successfully ensouled and thus become "different." No one gets a get-out-of-Hell-free card. No one should escape justice
( ... )
Re: BTVS in general, and Spike as a character in particularlesbidoFebruary 17 2011, 02:44:45 UTC
Yeah, that weirded me out too. But I think it was just another example where the writers were well aware they had crossed a line, but copped out on "dealing with the issues" by using *magic* as a defense.
Same with Andrew killing Jonathan, or Angel manipulating his son out of everyone's memories. It's shallow writing. A way of tying up all the loose ends without solving anything. Which Joss himself does a lot actually, and given that many of the writers merely copy the shows in "his style" or "their interpretation of his style."
I was also pretty disappoint with their handling of and introduction of the Illyria plotline. While a bad ass, interesting character, I felt like her treatment from the other {male} members of the show were ganging up on her because she wasn't the "sweet, innocent, Fred who follows orders but capable of handling herself in a secondary role." And that felt very, very anti-feminist to me. It was redeemed slightly when I heard Joss's commentary remarking that he brought in Illyria to show another side to Amy
( ... )
Comments 5
I've never watched Private Practice, but I agree with you entirely on the subject of Buffy. I was never a Buffy/Spike fan (Spuffy, I think it's called?), but I could appreciate that the guy was loyal to her to a fault and was, as you said, 'love's bitch'. I could never imagine him taking it that far. He lashed out at her the first time they slept together, but he never attempted to rape her. It just seemed very out of place.
Reply
Though I disagree that Spike's attempted rape was ooc, it did make me lose nearly all of the respect I had for the character though. But rather than take advantage of Buffy in a weak moment, because, yeah, there was no way he could've known, I merely saw it as submissive!Spike simply trying to take some control of the situation when he felt Buffy moving away from him again. Also, vampire without a soul tends to mean -- oh shit, something not nice is going to happen. IDC how many times Spike says how much he loves her. It was obsessive love from the start and she turned to him in a time of depression. Spike also had said plenty of misogynist things prior to even having his obsession with "loving her" began, and he was more "obsessed with killing her." I sometimes think the obsession began after being beaten by her enough times Spike finally remembered Angelus's words of advice, "To kill this girl you have to love her." Granted, there is a longer span of redemption mixed in as well, that is fascinating and doesn't make me ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
Same with Andrew killing Jonathan, or Angel manipulating his son out of everyone's memories. It's shallow writing. A way of tying up all the loose ends without solving anything. Which Joss himself does a lot actually, and given that many of the writers merely copy the shows in "his style" or "their interpretation of his style."
I was also pretty disappoint with their handling of and introduction of the Illyria plotline. While a bad ass, interesting character, I felt like her treatment from the other {male} members of the show were ganging up on her because she wasn't the "sweet, innocent, Fred who follows orders but capable of handling herself in a secondary role." And that felt very, very anti-feminist to me. It was redeemed slightly when I heard Joss's commentary remarking that he brought in Illyria to show another side to Amy ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment