Ranting again about the politics of S7 for Ludditerobot

[dlgood]

I've not forgotten about the Rant Meme...

As requested by ludditerobot the final seasons/episodes of Buffy and Angel. In this case, BtVS-7, and why the Politics of Chosen drive me nuts. Mosly, because I view S7 as very Leninist in scope, projecting pretensions toward values of Democratization/Empowerment but actually supplying a rather Top Down model in which the good of the people are sacrificed in their name, without their input. It's the irony of someone trying to write a humanist story despite a rather low regard for humanity. It's a fine empowering/feminist story, just as Leninism was. That is, as long as you happen to be a member of the Revolutionary Vanguard.


One of my major problem with the season is the absence of a Buffy:Scoobies::Scoobies:Community metaphor. At the end of the series, the community of Sunnydale Buffy came to protect is left a smoking hole in the ground with its inhabitants refugees. People Buffy et al did not reach out to. I've always found this to run counter to Collective Heroism. After all, many in the town are innocent, average people, and yet they are ignored until they go away.

I keep in mind that the show's not about "innocent, average people"; it never really was. It's about the people who try to ensure that others can go on living innocent, average lives. Or at least – I think it was intended to give that sense. But somewhere along the line, I think the show "forgot" that there were people who didn't live in the magic box, or Casa Summers.

And therefore, to me S7 isn’t really about people who try to ensure others live innocent lives. It can’t be, because the awareness of those lives is missing. It’s revealed again and again, when in a season where “Everything’s Connected”, we are shown just dis-connected the scoobies are form those around them. Just as Buffy is disconnected from the people in her house. But it breaks for me as the show makes the point that Buffy’s disconnect can be a problem without considering that the analogous disconnect might be a problem as well.

Perhaps the Potentials are meant to represent innocent/average/ordinary people. I don’t think this is actually the case. The show goes out to point out that even before being Chosen, the Potentials are already Special.. They have Potential, elevated above those who do not. And Buffy, when shown relating to these girls, relates to them through the prism of Slayerness – not humanity. There is no – “once upon a time I was just a girl” anecdote. They are made explicitly a caste of Elite women who matter because they have potential, in a town full of women who are ignored because they (1) do not have Potential and (2) are not intimately associated or connected to the people who do.

Now, it can be asserted that Buffy isn’t ignoring her neighbors because they’ve ignored her (and the supernatural) for a long time. Something the show keeps pushing home every season - the residents of Sunnydale see what they want to see.

But IMHO that’s an easy crutch. If these are just "regular" people, they're just trying to make a living and get by, so it behooves the Powers That Be (and Buffy & crew are a huge power) to help these people see... to empower them. It's easy to just write everyone else off and say "they'll" never see" - but human interaction is a two way street, and lack of effort on one part does not preclude effort on the other. They didn't listen - but did you try to make them hear you? Did you listen to them?

And come S7, Buffy and the Scoobies were not listening. Or rather, not listening well. Not listening hard. Not really putting in due diligence, a good faith effort, what have you… Is that because the staff didn’t want to bring in extras, couldn’t think of how to do it, thought it would be boring… I don’t know. It seems the townsfolk and town government are too incapable of dealing with what they face… But then, aren’t the townsfolk nothing if not the faceless mass of humanity? How can one write a humanist/empowering story when humanity is held in such little regard?

Buffy (and co) worked with what they had, but they didn't work to expand the limits of what they had. Didn't track down a nurse or a firefighter. Or look for anybody who might want to help. And there isn't a single ordinary person going with them into the Hellmouth. Once upon-a-time they were, but not anymore. They’re the Inteligentsia, and they’ve been conspicuous outsiders and conspicuously unrepresentative. This is the Most Powerful military figure in the town marching down with her personal Secretariat and Staff. The Politburo and the Red Army. Is Xander really an everyman substitute here? ”The "boy" who has clocked more field time...

So I don’t find the story about Empowerment, in anything beyond a very narrow sense. It’s about Power, about taking joy in asserting personal power. But it’s not really a case of empowerment.

Why? The community – the average innocent person isn’t a party. Had to be rushed out of the room where all the important stuff goes down, and isn’t going to be told about either, before or after.

To me, S7 was essentially about a bureaucratic struggle. Once there was the Patriarchal Council – and Buffy has junked its rules from within. The new bureaucracy is more open and democratic in terms of how it handles internal processes. For the members of the new incarnation of the Bureaucracy, working conditions will be much, much better. This is a great celebration.

But I'm not sure that this translates into empowerment, for any but those on the inside. As far as I can tell, the Bureaucracy has just as patriarchal view of the constituent/customer as ever before. Those faceless people are the constituency, after all. And they have no voice, no representation, and are completely gone from the town when all that lovely empowerment is going down. They have no input, no oversight.

Life will probably be better, at least for those that can recover from losing their livelihoods and homes. And Buffy, through the empowerment Spell, has provided a bigger army of slayers to fight the mostly secret war.

But the people aren’t anymore powerful w/respect to the forces of darkness. They’be been given fish, not taught how to fish for themselves. So as a Democratic Theorist, it bugs me.

Comments

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

To me - the most empowering element of the 'verse is the character of Chantarelle/Lily/Anne.

That I would agree with. But I guess I’ll have to out myself an old school feminist, because to me the activation of the potentials is a liberation rather than an empowerment. Maybe it’s more appropriate to think of it in terms of the reforms that opened the Universities or the professions to women. Not something every woman would want but an important new freedom nonetheless.

As to Graduation - Buffy is a part of their High School class, but they are not part of her class. The inteligentsia.

What defines an intelligentsia? Is it special knowledge? Of the existence of demons in this case? Because Buffy doesn’t recruit the Senior class until they’ve shown that they’re aware of this. They’re already part of the club


It's harder though, when the Elite-ness of the SiTs is repeated so thoroughly.

Its interesting how different people’s impression of the same material can vary. The message I saw being repeated about the SITs was more in line with Anya’s “smacks of unfulfilled potential and sharp, sharp knives.” Someone up thread referred to the potentials as redshirts and we’re repeatedly shown that that’s pretty much how they see themselves.

The Potentials are part of the Chosen clan - the town is Outside the House, is other, and inhabitants appear to merit no concern.

And in S3 the world outside the Senoir class is the other. Are we introduced to one adult who isn’t corrupt, willfully stupid or dead in their next scene? Do kids in the lower classes even make it into shot? The future belongs to My Generation.

And if "the world" is community, well those people of Sunnydale are in the world...

As are the potentials, so we’re back to who better represents the world to the viewer.

Ultimately, though, I judge S3 and S7 differently, because the political messaging of the seasons are so different. S7 purports to be about empowerment, but it is of a much narrower form then it pretends.

And I like both seasons and continue to see more similarities than differences. Including an openness to negative interpretations, not anticipated by the writers. Hey, we’re not going to convince each other are we. But it’s fun to talk.

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

I’ll have to out myself an old school feminist, because to me the activation of the potentials is a liberation rather than an empowerment. Maybe it’s more appropriate to think of it in terms of the reforms that opened the Universities or the professions to women. Not something every woman would want but an important new freedom nonetheless.

But the difference here is that we're taking a University that was run by men and open to only one woman at a time, and no men, and now extending it to a marginally larger pool of women. While at the same time noting that it will never be open for men, and indeed, that it will never be open to the women who didn't get admitted at this first blush. And of course, those women just admitted were already on the waiting list. So liberations, sure. But liberation for who?

Because you have to be born into this University. It doesn't allow applications.

Someone up thread referred to the potentials as redshirts and we’re repeatedly shown that that’s pretty much how they see themselves.

They're red shirts who become a Red Army. And apparently, there are still gender issues in play. In AtS-5 Damage we're back to voiceless girls who are directed and spoken for by a man.

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

OK. I thought I’d bowed out of this discussion but then it got linked to on metafandom so what the hell. Please feel free to ignore.


Because you have to be born into this University. It doesn't allow applications.

You have to born with the native academic ability to get in to any University, which was one of the main reasons for choosing that example in the first place. Now having the option to apply (or not) is a liberation for those who were previously tied to an oppressive system, which prevented most from realizing their full potential to help make the world a better place or, if you prefer, from doing their best for their communities.

As for the exclusion of men, well this is getting a bit more literal than I intended by the phrase “think in terms of” but OK. Adult men can’t sing soprano. So we could have a university of male singing teachers who would only ever train one diva at a time (and Patriachy, note pretentious capitalization, has always been open to singularly exceptional women from Bodicea through to Thatcher). But now all the sopranos in the world are free to join and train themselves but some women will continue to be altos and men will be tenors and lots and lots of us still won’t be able to sing at all but we’ll all have more to listen too. And can there be hammers involved?


In AtS-5 Damage we're back to voiceless girls who are directed and spoken for by a man.

I’ll give you spoken for but don’t see that as synonymous for directed by. Spokesperson can equate to messenger boy. I’d note that Andrew immediately shifts to “we” rather than “I” when the Slayers turn up and is careful to point out that none of them have ever dated Angel. Which is only relevant if the fact that they had would make them likely to, and have the power to, ignore Andrew’s take on the situation.

As for Red Army, they’re not annexing Lithuania and if anyone in the scene is armylike it’s the W&H paramilitaries. With uniforms and all.

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

You have to born with the native academic ability to get in to any University

According to whom? Willow and Buffy have a nice magical spell which tells them exactly who has potential and who doesn't. But in life, my best friend didn't have the magical test score that said he belonged at The University. And he managed, through hard work, to get there and get multiple degrees anyway.

Now having the option to apply (or not) is a liberation for those who were previously tied to an oppressive system, which prevented most from realizing their full potential to help make the world a better place or, if you prefer, from doing their best for their communities.

But these girls still don't have the option to apply or not to apply. They've been conscripted. Indeed, we don't see a single potential who chooses not to be a slayer. We don't see a single potential/slayer choose not to go into the hellmouth with Buffy. I can guess as to whether they actually have a choice. But I don't see any of them exercising choice.

As for the exclusion of men, well this is getting a bit more literal than I intended by the phrase “think in terms of” but OK. Adult men can’t sing soprano.

But, which is sort of my point on the Narrowness of the empowerment in Chosen. It's great for that small caste of individuals who were already born with Slayer Potential under the old Bureacratic Regime set into place when the Slayer was first Originated - and genuinely want that power. And the beneficial effects of said empowerment to those beyond the small caste are indirect. Because "Chosen" doesn't empower anyone else. Doesn't even think about such.

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

But in life, my best friend didn't have the magical test score that said he belonged at The University. And he managed, through hard work, to get there and get multiple degrees anyway

So someone did the wrong spell or misinterpreted the results and identified Dawn – he still had the native ability to get there and succeed. Good for him. But do you really believe there’s absolutely no genetic component to academic ability? To take an extreme case, there are 16 year olds at my kids’ school who have a spoken vocabulary of fewer than 10 words. No amount of work is going to take them through a university education. Doesn’t mean they’re worthless.

But these girls still don't have the option to apply or not to apply.

Ok I think I get it! The difference is whether or not you interpret the activation as giving the girls the option to choose whether to use their new power. I’m not sure how Buffy’s speech to the potential’s could have been clearer on the existence of a choice. How many times does the word come up in the text? And the series ends with Dawn and the others asking Buffy what she’s going to do now. So if they don’t know, if being a Slayer is no longer compulsory for Buffy then mustn’t that be true for others with the same power.

It's great for that small caste of individuals who were already born with Slayer Potential….

Again with the literalness. But in that case how do the events of Graduation have any wider meaning than that Buffy empowered her classmates and not anyone differently aged?

Re: Chosen or Graduated?

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

someone did the wrong spell or misinterpreted the results and identified Dawn – he still had the native ability to get there and succeed. Good for him. But do you really believe there’s absolutely no genetic component to academic ability?

So my friend is misidentified but can work to achieve. If the Universe decides not to pick a girl to be slayer, then there's nothing she can do to attain the status. She's forever on the outside. Now, perhaps then, were to see Dawn as an example of a girl shut out who still gets to do some good. But Dawn is in the building because she's the intimate associate of someone who's been Chosen. If you aren't among the Chosen, and you aren't intimately tied to the group, then does it speak to you? At least in my case, it doesn't.

I’m not sure how Buffy’s speech to the potential’s could have been clearer on the existence of a choice. How many times does the word come up in the text?

And Buffy's speech is directly contradicted by the events. None of the Potentials have voice. None of them speak. For all the talk of choice and power, when Willow casts the spell do any of them actually have the choice or power to refuse? Any number of the new slayers aren't in the room and don't even know what's going down. And we will later learn of at least one slayer who clearly cannot have given informed consent and made a choice. So where the speech says "Choice" I have to question whether it is truth or propaganda.

And we know that the new Slayers will have the same choices that Buffy and Faith. The world is a big place. These girls can get the occaisional weekend or week off, but they have as much choice to quit as Buffy did in "Anne".

I know it's supposed to be taken as positively as Whedon (and you) argue... And yet, it doesn't really ring true to me. Perhaps, its Choice in the way my HMO brochures tell me I have a choice, when in actuality I do not.