meta: taking apart "fool for love"

[marketchippie]

This ship prompted me to write an essay.

Context: I've been watching Buffy for the first time this summer, and when I came to "Fool for Love" I was honestly knocked flat by how much was there. I've been shipping Spike/Dru with a passion since "School Hard", and "Fool for Love" essentially articulated why. I wanted to take the Spike arc apart because

Comments

[mwrgana]

I'm very impressed with your thoughts on this. It's certainly a very thought-provoking episode, though I don't believe that Spike told Buffy more than half of what we actually saw.

We, as viewers saw it all but Buffy got only the highlights. I think that Buffy's use of the phrase 'beneath me' was more of a shock to Spike because it echoed a scene he hadn't related to her and therefore shook his self confidence even more than it would have if she had quoted him.

Thanks for your thoughts - I found them very interesting and you've prompted me to post here, finally, a story I wrote last year about how Dru got her man. (If you have time to read it I'd be particularly interested in your take on my version!)

[marketchippie]

I think the storytelling implications are the same either way (in terms of her taking on the role of object-of-his-love, &c). I suppose I just like the idea of what it would mean if she was self-aware: you've got more of a fate idea if she's unconsciously repeating history, but I LOVE the idea of her having that much more agency and giving him the exact brand of rejection that would make him love her more.

Yes, I'm going to read that now!