Date Posted:09:35:57 05/03/02 Fri Author: Anne Subject: Re: Things can indeed get worse than death In reply to:
Marie
's message, "Re: Things can indeed get worse than death" on 07:00:05 05/03/02 Fri
What is bothering me is not so much what Buffy does, or what Spike does. It's whether they acknowledge the truth of what they're doing. And I'm certainly not arguing whether or not rape is worse than death. I'm arguing about whether, in literature or drama, it's easier to watch protagonists suffering wrongs, or perpetrating them.
Buffy hasn't so far admitted the truth about her behavior. That simple. And after the rape scene, I think the writers will think they have let her off the hook from ever doing so. The sympathy will be so much on her side for what she has suffered, that everybody (including herself) will be willing to just forget what she has done to Spike. The only problem is that in the world of ethics, it's the beam in your own eye that you're supposed to be concentrating on. Remember also that this is not the real world, and that what we are talking about here is a group of writers contriving it so that their "heroine" doesn't have to apologize for a wrong she has done.
I am not saying she doesn't deserve sympathy. Nor am I arguing that what she has done is the same as, or worse than, what Spike has done. Unlike you, I have not been a victim of rape (and I extend all my sympathy, as far as it is possible to do so without having had the experience.) But regardless of what anybody else has done, she has behaved monstrously wrongly and needs to take responsibility for it. Or at least, she is going to have to take responsibility if I'm going to be able to still regard her in the light of a protagonist.
It's pretty clear that, in contrast, the writers will see to it that Spike will recognize, and suffer for, what he has done. What he does may be worse than what she did -- but he will at least wind up in the truth about it. And if not, the heck with him.
