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Date Posted: 09:24:13 09/10/07 Mon
Author: Age
Subject: Re: Another Look Spoilers Part 2
In reply to: Age 's message, "Another Look at S8 Comic Books 1-3 Spoilers Part 1" on 09:22:03 09/10/07 Mon

The kind of rigid top down male (might) dominated Big Brother society is what’s depicted on the title page of issue two: the aloof male (might based) elite, as symbolized by Giles the Watcher’s elbow only seen on the right, is looking out and down, top down, watching over citizens and looking out for trouble over the courtyard, society, and other societies as symbolized by the Russian cityscape, the buildings representing the type of erect, top down man-made culture that marginalizes the feminine, the emotional based on trust, as there are no women visible in the panel despite the throng of slayers below in the courtyard, underneath the top down rule. Giles’ position on the right, a conservative position, also bars movement of the individual, us, the reader as we read from left to right, his being in our way, symbolically. The bar-like windows symbolize the protection and imprisonment such a society would bring; while the cup of tea symbolizes the rigid control of the individual’s movement, the liquid representing fluidity and therefore movement of the individual whose power, the tea itself, is consumed by the governing body, here Giles, to maintain order. Except for the ‘strong’ arm of the governing body who is up above the dangers of the world, there are no others present because the governing body must be sustained and because it has ‘lost sight’ of human beings, seeing them only as potential attackers, the demonized other, the latter all, as women used to be, again for women, read individuals under the top man, locked away in the houses, safe (from each other) and imprisoned. And, just as the cup is owned by Giles, the state has ownership of the means of utilizing the power of the individuals. In fact citizens have been reduced to the level of object to be protected and used to carry out the mandate of that protection. Note that the rim of the cup will find its equivalent in the ring of slayers on Andrew’s pages as women (individuals) begin to take ownership of their own power and protection through risking emotional empowerment.

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Joss Whedon is showing us two family models on which to base human relations: the father-adolescent model, the male watcher ‘Big Brother’ to the perpetually adolescent emotionally marginalized citizen as represented by the slayer based on mistrust of the demonized other and menace of attack (First Evil); and the sisterly model, of emotionally mature self governing adult human beings who are connected with one another as equals, sharing in the responsibility of governing, working and sacrificing, emotionally prepared enough to open space for the other, as is symbolized by the growing space in issue two from none in the panel of the slayers’ fighting on Giles’ pages to the ring of space on Andrew’s, because the other is trusted, rendering the need for attack and defense redundant. In other words, a society of human individuals as symbolized by the sisters, Buffy and Dawn, who are also icons for the feminizing culture, i.e. the emotionally empowering culture which makes the transition from self centred children to adults possible.

Note that in the comic books, Whedon distinguishes Dawn and Buffy as true sisters from Buffy and her slayer sisters, the former representing the model I just mentioned, the latter for the thematic purposes of the comics representing the slayers as warriors and policemen. It’s when there is mistrust between the first two, representing those in government and the public they serve, is when the relationship of the government to its warriors/police force becomes stronger as symbolized by Buffy’s spending all her time training them to avoid a future attack while ignoring her real sister.

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For example, the movement towards emotional openness and maturity requiring risk is depicted in issue two of the comics through the movement from the rigid structure of protected society depicted on the title page through the Women’s (all individuals under the top man are symbolized by women) Movement and their revolt against being imprisoned and protected in men’s houses, to the result of that movement, (the journey also highlights the movement of human adults in society), Xander’s and Dawn’s pages as in risking you create a culture of trust between human beings just as there’s trust between Xander and Dawn when he helps her get to her pain in issue two, she having been stuck in her emotion because she can’t talk to Buffy about her feelings. She listens to him because she trusts him as symbolized by the conversation taking place while she’s in a very vulnerable and private position bathing naked; he respectfully, maturely, looking away. In fact once he shows he cares about her and her feelings, she doesn’t alienate herself any longer, but gets up and starts moving (towards people again). In taking a risk, the other is shown that you are mature enough to accept pain and loss, and is more likely to establish a trusting relationship because you show yourself less likely to attack to avoid pain and loss.

In the first few pages of issue two of the comic books, several pages are devoted literally to the new slayer training but they are in part a representation of the kind of parenting that imparts a culture of trust, connection, and co-operation just as the pages are connected through imagery, and the trainers are co-operating, seeming to finish off each other’s sentences, required to give a ground (as symbolized by the slayers moving from being portrayed as if they were jostled liquid on Giles’ pages to being seated on the ground in Andrew’s) on which the young adults can rise to stand on their own two feet, (just as the slayers will rise to their feet after Andrew’s finished his chat with them; Joss Whedon cannot show them getting up because it’s something they will have to choose to do for themselves and not something they can be trained to do. But, it’s an event in the near future they are being prepared for. Note that this interpretation is opposite to the one in which the top down government is making the slayers/citizens into children to be looked after/used; the metaphor is so dense that the same images have different meanings depending on how you look at it.)

On these pages, Giles represents the father figure, Buffy the mother (she activated the slayers so technically she’s a mother figure also) and Andrew, portrayed as a kind of summer camp counselor to the ring of ‘adolescents’ on his page, represents the next generation of parent continuing the culture. Andrew is also portraying, like Spike, the optimistic view of humanity which believes that humans can become adults, even after they have already taken the path of permanent destructive adolescence. (Of course both Giles and Buffy offer examples of adolescents becoming adults through his early days as Ripper and hers as the lollipop sucking valley girl.) The training as parenting is paired with a movement from rigid control and isolation/insulation of the title page; no emotional openness on the top panel of the next page where there’s no space (for the demonized other out of fear of giving the other the opportunity to attack) as the ‘riot’ of slayers portray those who are closed off and hostile to one another due to mistrust, through Buffy’s and Andrew’s pages where more space is shown to Xander’s and Dawn’s pages in which emotional openness and maturity are portrayed through a scene based on trust portrayed by Dawn’s vulnerable situation bathing out in the open (metaphorically emotionally open) and Xander’s mature respectful attempt to not leave out the isolated young woman, but include her by giving her the opportunity to see someone cares about her as an emotional individual and to express her feeling. It is this need for trust and openness in order to achieve an emotional maturity that Joss Whedon is pointing to, but which puts us in a vulnerable position, leading possibly to attack, pain and loss.

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