VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 22:51:34 11/22/07 Thu
Author: BrianWilly
Subject: Re: Power and Responsibilities
In reply to: Trent 's message, "Re: Power and Responsibilities" on 19:09:35 11/08/07 Thu

First of all, I think it bears pointing out that even if vampires and demons exist in other places, it's rather safe to assume that Sunnydale's propensity for vampires and demons is still legions above the rate of other cities. It is still the Hellmouth, after all, and the town's mortality rate is still the stuff of records. You suggest that Buffy could have attended college in Sunnydale or she could have attended college in, oh I don't know, Oregon or something and it wouldn't make a difference, but from what we know of the supernatural in this show, that's just not true. There may be demons in Oregon, but we have no idea (and it is very unlikely) that it is anywhere near the astronomical problem that it is in Sunnydale or LA. If Buffy moved to a place like that, far more lives would be lost to demons in Sunnydale than the lives that she would save from demons elsewhere. It doesn't balance out.

And speaking of LA, sure, she could have gone to LA because we know that there are a lot of vampires and demons in LA as well (equally as much or more than Sunnydale? Unlikely, but never officially confirmed one way or another). Well in that case, her choices boil down to "Stay in Sunnydale and fight evil" or "Move to LA and fight evil." Which, in the grand scheme of duty and responsibility that you're referring to, is the exact same choice. Being morally obligated to slay in LA is no more liberating than being morally obligated to slay in Sunnydale. Furthermore, I don't think we even know if Buffy ever got into any colleges in LA.

Secondly, why wouldn't this kind of decision be "cold?" Being a Slayer in general isn't A Happy Thing, especially for Buffy, and I can't imagine that anything from the show ever told us otherwise. Buffy's belief that she has no choice but to attend UC Sunnydale is really no different, emotionally speaking, than her belief that she has to go out hunting vampires every night -- instead of doing teenage things that she would much rather be doing instead -- or else someone's death will be on her conscience. Of course it's cold. Of course her reasoning for remaining a Slayer is tainted by her view of duty. It's never been anything else.

The idea of "having no choice" is really a misnomer. You always have a choice and you always make a choice either way; the only reason that certain situations come across as "having no choice" is when most of the choices are too negative to genuinely consider (and even then, Buffy has considered them). Buffy's choice in life boils down to

A) forsaking her duty as the Slayer of supernatural evil entirely, living however and wherever she wants,
B) performing her duty half-assed, living however and wherever she wants and only slaying whenever and wherever she finds it convenient to do so,
or
C) performing her duty, which means living where she is most needed regardless of personal wants.

A and B are infeasible for Buffy; she tried it once, and it didn't take. Therefore, she "has no choice" but to choose C. But she did choose it.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.