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Date Posted: 10:19:47 07/24/06 Mon
Author: Sophist
Subject: Re: Heh. Sounds like the NSA...
In reply to: Darby 's message, "Re: Heh. Sounds like the NSA..." on 09:18:05 07/24/06 Mon

I would cite that as evidence that Joss saw the "inner Willow" (which inner person, confirmed by Angel in that episode, was a definite aspect of Whedonish vampirism)as gleefully flaunting rules and interested in power and influence

I guess I see all vampires as gleefully flaunting rules and interested in power and influence. These characteristics don't distinguish Willow.

The distinction I'd make between a hacker and an abuser of power is this. The hacker sees the "stay off the grass" sign as a challenge. The triumph is the achievement of breaking the locks and getting in. There's no need to actually accomplish anything, though sometimes the hacker indulges in malicious mischief. The hack itself is the end or purpose.

Willow's computer use doesn't fit this profile (admittedly, the profile is my own). For her, there may have been an intellectual challenge in getting in, but it wasn't that challenge, by itself, which motivated her. What motivated her was the need to help Buffy accomplish her task. The hacking was a means to an end, not an end in itself.

I also don't see Willow's abuse of magic as any kind of "hack". Sometimes it was (e.g., the room decorations in AtW). The real abuses, though, were that she used magic not for good (helping Buffy), but for evil. That's just an abuse of power.

I also prefer to see it this way in order to maintain the metaphor of Willow as Buffy's spirit. Buffy was abusing Spike in S6, Willow was abusing Tara. Both were abuses of power.

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