NOTE: This post is completely free of TVD spoilers!
So it's never been a secret that, as far back as the pilot, I have found it pretty much impossible to stop myself from comparing Bonnie Bennett of The Vampire Diaries to Willow Rosenberg of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Today I'd like to talk about why I think Willow is a better witch -- although, honestly, I suppose I could just say something like
Willow is not only my favorite witch in all of fiction, she's pretty much my favorite fictional character of all time. Bonnie is neither of those things.
The end.
. . . But that wouldn't be very much fun to read, would it?
Anyway.
To break the whole thing down in a way that's as simple as it is uncomplicated, it seems to me that Willow is a better witch for two reasons, which I will discuss "at length" (a phrase which, in this context, can be read as "until I get bored"):
1. She is occasionally given storylines that have little or nothing to do with being a witch, and that makes her a stronger character.
Which may be somewhat unfair to Bonnie, whose first line in her first scene in the first episode was, "So, Grams is telling me I'm psychic -- our ancestors were from Salem; witches and all that" (note that I am quoting from memory, so the line may not be exactly verbatim) . . . but that just reinforces the point, don'tcha think? I mean, we are almost done with season three, and what do we know about her? She's Elena's best friend in the world; they're so close that they consider each other sisters. She's a witch who comes from a family of witches. She . . . oh, wait, THAT'S IT. There is absolutely nothing else to her character: anything that we've found out about her in nearly three years has had something to do with witchcraft (example: we finally got to meet her mother, and, well, yeah).
In stark contrast, we know plenty about Willow that has absolutely NOTHING to do with witchraft. Her crush on Xander, her friendship with Buffy, her Jewish background, her status as the smartest student in school, her romance with Oz, her strained relationship with her parents. All of this was established very early on in the series, and it made her a remarkably strong character, and that made her a better witch.
2. She made her own rules about magic.
To compare each of them to other witches from different works, whereas Willow greatly resembles Granny Weatherwax (widely regarded as the most powerful witch alive; doesn't know the meaning of the word "impossible"), Bonnie is more akin to Hermione Granger (very intelligent, very powerful, but rarely uses magic for anything she hasn't read about in a book).
I mean, just think about how much Willow has accomplished with magic. She restored Angel's soul (twice!). She saved her own life by floating a pencil. She attracted the attention of D'Hoffryn, even though she had never done any vengeance. She saved Buffy from the astral realm. She hurt Glory, who was a GOD (again, twice!). She brought Buffy back to life. She broke that whole "one girl in all the world" rule.
To hammer the point home: In the final season, the Big Bad is (kind of sort of) Satan By Another Name. One of the first things he does when he comes to town? He tries to convince Willow to kill herself because his plan would be so much easier without her around to muck things up.
Now, then. Bonnie. To be clear, I don't think her by-the-book approach to magic is necessarily a bad thing. She's obviously performed some pretty extraordinary feats, and she is one of only two humans Klaus views as a threat (note that the other is also a witch). Both of which are all the more remarkable when you consider that she's known about her powers for less than TWO YEARS.
But . . . seriously, it's like she forgets how powerful she is sometimes. Most of the time. I get that Klaus is a Big Damn Deal, and without him the show wouldn't be nearly as dramatic, but she's the one character who can really hurt him without some silly Deus Ex Machina one-of-a-kind super-special weapon, and she seems to spend all her time either worrying about who he's going to hurt next or sitting on the sidelines while the rest of the heroes try to take him out. Or, worse yet, letting him manipulate her into helping him!
So I guess what I'm saying is, I'd like to see her put down her books and start using her power. Stop fretting about what magic "can" or "can't" do, and make it work for her.
Just a thought.
Showing posts with label buffy the vampire slayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buffy the vampire slayer. Show all posts
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Why I Love What I Love: Witches
In my last post, I mentioned "some" of my favorite witches in all of fiction. Today, I thought it would be fun to talk a bit about exactly why I like them so much. Here goes . . .
Rachel, Alex, and Daphne from the godawful stories I've been writing all my life
Well, obviously I'm rather fond of my own characters.
Nancy, Rochelle, Bonnie, and Sarah from The Craft
How can you not enjoy the heck out of this movie? It's the perfect guilty pleasure . . . and by that, I mean it makes for a really great drinking game.
the cool aunt from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Since it's Marion Zimmer Bradley, this book is chock-full of characters who learn everything there is to learn (i.e., everything she personally has to say) about pseudo-realistic magic, which is kind of sort of not quite exactly the same thing as neo-paganism.
Which is actually genuinely interesting to me (I may not be religious, but I do find religion pretty interesting), but still, considering how most magical characters in this book have to consider the phase of the moon and invoke the Goddess to do something as simple as light a candle, I found it so very satisfying when Morgause (that's the cool aunt's name -- thank you, Wikipedia!) finally realizes, in what is essentially a throwaway scene, that the power is there to use whether you believe in the Goddess or not.
Also, two cool things about this book:
1. You know how Wicked re-told the story of The Wizard of Oz by casting the villain in a more sympathetic light and examining her motivation and all that? Years before Gregory Maguire even got the idea, this book did the same thing for the legends of Camelot.
2. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly how old I was the one time I read it, but I was somewhere between the ages of thirteen and barely sixteen. At this point in my life, I read so many books that, if my mother had known I was reading, would've horrified her. This one may have been the worst. Even if you turn a blind eye to all the rampant paganism going on, even if you ignore the fact that every single Christian character is portrayed in a fairly negative light, the story is chock-full of, for example: rape, incest, violence, murder, deception . . .
Endora from Bewitched
I'm gay. She's one of my icons. Why are we still talking about this?
Marnie and her family from Halloweentown and its sequels
I'm gay. I like Disney Channel Original Movies. This is a bit of a "duh," you know?
But seriously, I love that moment in the second movie where Marnie convinces her siblings that they can break the rules because their magic is the most powerful in the world. I just, I don't know. The way I think about fiction, that's how magic should work. You're as powerful as you think you are. Need to get through a portal to another dimension even though it's impossible? Well, do you THINK you can figure out a way to do it?
all three generations of Owens sisters from Practical Magic - the book, NOT the movie
Oh, Alice Hoffman is good. She knows how to tell a story. This was the first book of hers I ever read, and it's still hands-down my favorite. I learn new things from it every time I re-read it (which, these days, I only let myself do on very special occasions, because I've read it so many times).
If you've ever heard someone talk about "Magical Realism" and you're not as familiar with the genre as you'd like to be, read this book.
As for the movie . . . it's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just so very different. It's less Magical Realism and more straight-up Fantasy. Which I am obviously okay with, but much of what makes the book so special (example: Kylie's empathy) is lost in translation.
the witch queens from Stardust, either the book or the movie
Oh, sweet Lord, can Neil Gaiman write about magic. He just GETS IT, you know?
Thessaly from The Sandman
Speaking of how Neil Gaiman knows how to write about magic.
Professor McGonagall and Molly Weasley from Harry Potter
Okay, I've loved Molly from the moment we first met her at Platform 9 3/4 . . . but "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" is my favorite scene in the entire series. 'Nuff said.
As for Professor McGonagall, she's been my favorite character since the very first time I read the very first chapter of the very first book. This is a series full of characters I love and characters I love to hate, but not once in seven books did anyone ever come close to taking her place.
AND THEN I FOUND OUT THAT WE HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY.
Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, because yes, she totally counts
Okay, so whether or not she counts as a "witch" is perhaps up for debate, but for me, it's close enough: She's the smartest main character; she has a familiar; all Unicorn Ponies have a knack for some sort of magic, but her knack is for magic in general; she carries the spark that activates the Elements of Harmony; and . . . that's about it.
Alright then. That explains why she's on this list. Now, here's why I love her so much: As the protagonist of a show aimed at little girls, she's an amazing role model. She does magic all the time, right, but she NEVER makes funny rhymes or chants or invokes the power of the sun or anything like that. How does she do magic? She reads, she learns, and then . . . she uses her brain to affect the world around her. If you don't understand why that makes her a greater role model for little girls than, say, Hannah Montana, please go get sterilized right now.
Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary from a short story in a book I read long ago that I think was called Things That Go Bump in the Night
I actually just found this book on Amazon and bought it for four dollars. I haven't been able to track it down for about ten years, so you can just imagine my excitement. All I really remember about this story, other than the sisters' names, is that I effing loved it.
pretty much any witch from any fairy tale ever
This is another "duh."
Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Every single episode of the first season kicked off with her motivation: "Aaaaah! After ten thousand years, I'm free! Time to CONQUER EARTH!"
That's right. She's been imprisoned for ten thousand years, and as soon as she's finally released, her first and only priority really is that simple: CONQUER EARTH!
All I'm saying is, that's how you make a memorable villain for a children's show.
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
Well, duh. She turns into a dragon. Do you realize how much I adore dragons?
Also, I really like the Disney version of this story because, when you think about it, the Prince and the titular Princess are almost incidental to the plot. It's really about her conflict with the three fairies.
Nico Minoru from Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
Ahh, Runaways. If you like comic books that aren't "typical" superhero stories and you haven't read this one yet, go track it down RIGHT NOW. For a quick summary, it's about six kids who find out that their parents are secretly supervillains -- crime bosses, mad scientists, time travelers, evil mutants, alien invaders, and dark magicians -- and run away and try to stop them from destroying the world. SO MUCH BETTER than it sounds.
Also, one thing I adore about Nico? She's Japanese, but her ethnicity is never an issue. She doesn't, for example, write kanji in the air whenever she casts a spell. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's so refreshing to see an Asian character who isn't all "hey, look at how Asian I am!"
Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, Agnes "Perdita" X. Nitt, and - most especially - Tiffany Aching from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books
In my experience, there are only two living writers who write about magic nearly as well as Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett is one of them. (Robin McKinley is the other.)
Picking a favorite Discworld book is somewhat like picking a favorite Shakespeare play, but I do strongly prefer the books about Tiffany. I really like the notion that magic and witchcraft aren't quite exactly the same thing: Being a witch means you have to heal the sick and lay out the dead and settle village disputes and a thousand other little things; but then it also means you have to do complicated, nearly impossible, feats of magic to defeat unspeakably evil forces because, well, there's no one else.
Also, the books are literally so funny that you occasionally have to drop them so you can laugh without risk of a paper cut.
Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked by Gregory Maguire
As I explained in my last post, these two have bugged me since the first time I ever saw The Wizard of Oz, so this book (which, by the way, I read at least a year and a half before the musical was a thing) was such a relief.
And the sexual subtext certainly didn't hurt.
certain characters from Robin McKinley's Sunshine
Yeah, "certain characters." That's all I can say without revealing some pretty massive spoilers. All I'll tell you up-front is that this is a book about a baker who gets kidnapped by vampires. But there are a few things I can say . . .
1. Robin McKinley is famous for re-telling fairy tales, and she's ridiculously good at that, so it was nice to see her write about magic in a more contemporary setting. (Well, okay, not so much "contemporary" as "post-apocalyptic.")
2. Most of the time in vampire fiction, the existence of vampires is a huge secret. That is most definitely not the case here: Every car company in the world has an anti-vampire ward worked into their logo. That's just fascinating, isn't it?
3. There's one scene where . . . um, a magic handler (no one is actually called a "witch") tells another character who knows a bit about magic that she's just done something impossible. (I know this is sort of confusing, but seriously, I would hate myself if I spoiled ANYTHING.) The response is basically, "You couldn't have done that if you had been told that it was impossible."
4. I will always always always love this book for the following line: "You are not consumed by the darkness because you are full of light."
the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus
How can you not love this movie? Seriously?
Frau Totenkinder from Fables by Bill Willingham et al
Once upon a time, fairy tales were most definitely not for children. Fables is an excellent reminder.
So the thing I like about Frau Totenkinder (who, by the way . . . um, if you speak better German than I do, her name is pretty chilling right away) is that, despite potentially being any unnamed wicked witch from any fairy tale ever, she's one of the most heroic characters in the whole series.
Also, her duel with Baba Yaga is that much more epic because we never got to see it.
Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
In a list full of "well, duhs," this is unquestionably the biggest "WELL, DUH."
It's common knowledge that Buffy is my favorite TV show of all time, so of course the main character's best friend is going to be one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. That would've been true even if she wasn't a witch. Since she is, though . . . well, as I keep saying, DUH.
I really don't even know what to say. I like Willow and Tara, together and separately, so much that trying to describe exactly why I like them is a bit like trying to explain to someone who's looking right at me that I have dark hair. You know?
Anyway. That was fun.
More later.
Much love,
Ryan
P.S. You may be wondering why the sisters from Charmed were not allowed anywhere near this list. The answer to that is so long that it may be the subject of a future post. You'd think I would like this show as much as I like Buffy, but you'd be emphatically wrong.
Rachel, Alex, and Daphne from the godawful stories I've been writing all my life
Well, obviously I'm rather fond of my own characters.
Nancy, Rochelle, Bonnie, and Sarah from The Craft
How can you not enjoy the heck out of this movie? It's the perfect guilty pleasure . . . and by that, I mean it makes for a really great drinking game.
the cool aunt from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Since it's Marion Zimmer Bradley, this book is chock-full of characters who learn everything there is to learn (i.e., everything she personally has to say) about pseudo-realistic magic, which is kind of sort of not quite exactly the same thing as neo-paganism.
Which is actually genuinely interesting to me (I may not be religious, but I do find religion pretty interesting), but still, considering how most magical characters in this book have to consider the phase of the moon and invoke the Goddess to do something as simple as light a candle, I found it so very satisfying when Morgause (that's the cool aunt's name -- thank you, Wikipedia!) finally realizes, in what is essentially a throwaway scene, that the power is there to use whether you believe in the Goddess or not.
Also, two cool things about this book:
1. You know how Wicked re-told the story of The Wizard of Oz by casting the villain in a more sympathetic light and examining her motivation and all that? Years before Gregory Maguire even got the idea, this book did the same thing for the legends of Camelot.
2. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly how old I was the one time I read it, but I was somewhere between the ages of thirteen and barely sixteen. At this point in my life, I read so many books that, if my mother had known I was reading, would've horrified her. This one may have been the worst. Even if you turn a blind eye to all the rampant paganism going on, even if you ignore the fact that every single Christian character is portrayed in a fairly negative light, the story is chock-full of, for example: rape, incest, violence, murder, deception . . .
Endora from Bewitched
I'm gay. She's one of my icons. Why are we still talking about this?
Marnie and her family from Halloweentown and its sequels
I'm gay. I like Disney Channel Original Movies. This is a bit of a "duh," you know?
But seriously, I love that moment in the second movie where Marnie convinces her siblings that they can break the rules because their magic is the most powerful in the world. I just, I don't know. The way I think about fiction, that's how magic should work. You're as powerful as you think you are. Need to get through a portal to another dimension even though it's impossible? Well, do you THINK you can figure out a way to do it?
all three generations of Owens sisters from Practical Magic - the book, NOT the movie
Oh, Alice Hoffman is good. She knows how to tell a story. This was the first book of hers I ever read, and it's still hands-down my favorite. I learn new things from it every time I re-read it (which, these days, I only let myself do on very special occasions, because I've read it so many times).
If you've ever heard someone talk about "Magical Realism" and you're not as familiar with the genre as you'd like to be, read this book.
As for the movie . . . it's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just so very different. It's less Magical Realism and more straight-up Fantasy. Which I am obviously okay with, but much of what makes the book so special (example: Kylie's empathy) is lost in translation.
the witch queens from Stardust, either the book or the movie
Oh, sweet Lord, can Neil Gaiman write about magic. He just GETS IT, you know?
Thessaly from The Sandman
Speaking of how Neil Gaiman knows how to write about magic.
Professor McGonagall and Molly Weasley from Harry Potter
Okay, I've loved Molly from the moment we first met her at Platform 9 3/4 . . . but "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" is my favorite scene in the entire series. 'Nuff said.
As for Professor McGonagall, she's been my favorite character since the very first time I read the very first chapter of the very first book. This is a series full of characters I love and characters I love to hate, but not once in seven books did anyone ever come close to taking her place.
AND THEN I FOUND OUT THAT WE HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY.
Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, because yes, she totally counts
Okay, so whether or not she counts as a "witch" is perhaps up for debate, but for me, it's close enough: She's the smartest main character; she has a familiar; all Unicorn Ponies have a knack for some sort of magic, but her knack is for magic in general; she carries the spark that activates the Elements of Harmony; and . . . that's about it.
Alright then. That explains why she's on this list. Now, here's why I love her so much: As the protagonist of a show aimed at little girls, she's an amazing role model. She does magic all the time, right, but she NEVER makes funny rhymes or chants or invokes the power of the sun or anything like that. How does she do magic? She reads, she learns, and then . . . she uses her brain to affect the world around her. If you don't understand why that makes her a greater role model for little girls than, say, Hannah Montana, please go get sterilized right now.
Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary from a short story in a book I read long ago that I think was called Things That Go Bump in the Night
I actually just found this book on Amazon and bought it for four dollars. I haven't been able to track it down for about ten years, so you can just imagine my excitement. All I really remember about this story, other than the sisters' names, is that I effing loved it.
pretty much any witch from any fairy tale ever
This is another "duh."
Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Every single episode of the first season kicked off with her motivation: "Aaaaah! After ten thousand years, I'm free! Time to CONQUER EARTH!"
That's right. She's been imprisoned for ten thousand years, and as soon as she's finally released, her first and only priority really is that simple: CONQUER EARTH!
All I'm saying is, that's how you make a memorable villain for a children's show.
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
Well, duh. She turns into a dragon. Do you realize how much I adore dragons?
Also, I really like the Disney version of this story because, when you think about it, the Prince and the titular Princess are almost incidental to the plot. It's really about her conflict with the three fairies.
Nico Minoru from Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
Ahh, Runaways. If you like comic books that aren't "typical" superhero stories and you haven't read this one yet, go track it down RIGHT NOW. For a quick summary, it's about six kids who find out that their parents are secretly supervillains -- crime bosses, mad scientists, time travelers, evil mutants, alien invaders, and dark magicians -- and run away and try to stop them from destroying the world. SO MUCH BETTER than it sounds.
Also, one thing I adore about Nico? She's Japanese, but her ethnicity is never an issue. She doesn't, for example, write kanji in the air whenever she casts a spell. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's so refreshing to see an Asian character who isn't all "hey, look at how Asian I am!"
Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, Agnes "Perdita" X. Nitt, and - most especially - Tiffany Aching from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books
In my experience, there are only two living writers who write about magic nearly as well as Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett is one of them. (Robin McKinley is the other.)
Picking a favorite Discworld book is somewhat like picking a favorite Shakespeare play, but I do strongly prefer the books about Tiffany. I really like the notion that magic and witchcraft aren't quite exactly the same thing: Being a witch means you have to heal the sick and lay out the dead and settle village disputes and a thousand other little things; but then it also means you have to do complicated, nearly impossible, feats of magic to defeat unspeakably evil forces because, well, there's no one else.
Also, the books are literally so funny that you occasionally have to drop them so you can laugh without risk of a paper cut.
Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked by Gregory Maguire
As I explained in my last post, these two have bugged me since the first time I ever saw The Wizard of Oz, so this book (which, by the way, I read at least a year and a half before the musical was a thing) was such a relief.
And the sexual subtext certainly didn't hurt.
certain characters from Robin McKinley's Sunshine
Yeah, "certain characters." That's all I can say without revealing some pretty massive spoilers. All I'll tell you up-front is that this is a book about a baker who gets kidnapped by vampires. But there are a few things I can say . . .
1. Robin McKinley is famous for re-telling fairy tales, and she's ridiculously good at that, so it was nice to see her write about magic in a more contemporary setting. (Well, okay, not so much "contemporary" as "post-apocalyptic.")
2. Most of the time in vampire fiction, the existence of vampires is a huge secret. That is most definitely not the case here: Every car company in the world has an anti-vampire ward worked into their logo. That's just fascinating, isn't it?
3. There's one scene where . . . um, a magic handler (no one is actually called a "witch") tells another character who knows a bit about magic that she's just done something impossible. (I know this is sort of confusing, but seriously, I would hate myself if I spoiled ANYTHING.) The response is basically, "You couldn't have done that if you had been told that it was impossible."
4. I will always always always love this book for the following line: "You are not consumed by the darkness because you are full of light."
the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus
How can you not love this movie? Seriously?
Frau Totenkinder from Fables by Bill Willingham et al
Once upon a time, fairy tales were most definitely not for children. Fables is an excellent reminder.
So the thing I like about Frau Totenkinder (who, by the way . . . um, if you speak better German than I do, her name is pretty chilling right away) is that, despite potentially being any unnamed wicked witch from any fairy tale ever, she's one of the most heroic characters in the whole series.
Also, her duel with Baba Yaga is that much more epic because we never got to see it.
Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
In a list full of "well, duhs," this is unquestionably the biggest "WELL, DUH."
It's common knowledge that Buffy is my favorite TV show of all time, so of course the main character's best friend is going to be one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. That would've been true even if she wasn't a witch. Since she is, though . . . well, as I keep saying, DUH.
I really don't even know what to say. I like Willow and Tara, together and separately, so much that trying to describe exactly why I like them is a bit like trying to explain to someone who's looking right at me that I have dark hair. You know?
Anyway. That was fun.
More later.
Much love,
Ryan
P.S. You may be wondering why the sisters from Charmed were not allowed anywhere near this list. The answer to that is so long that it may be the subject of a future post. You'd think I would like this show as much as I like Buffy, but you'd be emphatically wrong.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
TVD 3x11: Some Spoiler-Free Thoughts
(Well, um, this may contain something like half a spoiler if you don't have a passing familiarity with season two . . .)
So, last episode ended with a fairly big moment. I enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would (much like the show itself, amirite), but I was distracted by the music, which sucked out loud. And I do mean LOUD. If they absolutely had to use that particular godawful song, couldn't they have abruptly stopped it so that the sudden silence would've made the fairly big moment even more dramatic? I mean, that just makes SENSE. It was especially jarring because the music on this show is usually so so so bloody good . . .
. . . and then this episode kicked off with "Punching in a Dream" by The Naked and Famous, and my faith was restored.
Bonnie made me laugh so hard that I had to start the scene over after I regained my composure, which I'm pretty certain has never ever happened before in the entire history of the show. Ever.
This episode is called "Our Town," which is a reference that I would've loved even if the episode itself had sucked -- as a recovering theater geek (our motto, obviously, is: "One Play at a Time"), that is still, and always will be, one of my favorite plays ever, whether I'm watching it or acting in it. Love love love. (Actually, I love it even more because most of my fellow theater geeks hated it.)
Caroline just turned eighteen. Which means she turned seventeen sometime in season one. Which means that, when Damon compelled her to have sex with him and let him bite her, she was still only sixteen. I mean, not that there's that much of a difference between sixteen and seventeen -- the whole thing is disgusting no matter how you slice it -- but that just makes it even more horrible. Although I do have to grudgingly admit that he has come a long, long way since then. He's arguably had more character development than anyone else.
Something tells me I'm gonna have a whole heck of a lot to say about whatever the flaming hell is happening between Caroline and Klaus, but I'll wait and see how that develops.
Because I just can't help myself, I've been mentally comparing Elena to Buffy, Bonnie to Willow, and Caroline to Cordelia since the pilot. This episode REALLY made me draw parallels between Elena and Buffy. They are both determined to protect their loved ones from supernatural forces no matter what -- which is even more of a badass trait in Elena's case, since she doesn't have superstrength to back it up.
The more I think about it, this is how I see it: Bonnie and Caroline are my favorite characters on the show (usually), and Caroline is my favorite vampire ever, but . . . Elena is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. Period, the end. I didn't expect to like her very much at all, but I like her more and more and more the longer I watch. She makes my soul happy. I know how cheesy that sounds, but I don't give a fuck.
I've been saying for a while that vampire-Caroline is a much better person than human-Caroline, right? In this episode, her best friends said pretty much the same thing. I'm blown away that they actually acknowledged that in-universe.
In order for there to be any conflict whatsoever, the heroes often need to act dumber than dirt. (For example, two episodes ago Damon and Elena concocted a "secret plan" to kill Klaus. It was actually a pretty decent plan, but it still failed miserably -- probably because THEY DIDN'T ASK BONNIE TO DO ANYTHING EVEN THOUGH SHE'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO WE'VE EVER SEEN HURT HIM AT ALL.) That is once again the case. I'm sorry, but how obvious is it that the fourth coffin, the one that's sealed by magic, is holding Mama Witch? So bloody obvious.
So I can't really go into detail since I said this would be "spoiler-free," but this episode really changed my perspective on some stuff and made me want two things:
1. I want Stefan dead.
2. I want Elena to kill him.
So really, I guess that's just one thing.
Seriously, he has crossed a line. There are no words to convey the depths to which he has sunk. I am appalled.
So, last episode ended with a fairly big moment. I enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would (much like the show itself, amirite), but I was distracted by the music, which sucked out loud. And I do mean LOUD. If they absolutely had to use that particular godawful song, couldn't they have abruptly stopped it so that the sudden silence would've made the fairly big moment even more dramatic? I mean, that just makes SENSE. It was especially jarring because the music on this show is usually so so so bloody good . . .
. . . and then this episode kicked off with "Punching in a Dream" by The Naked and Famous, and my faith was restored.
Bonnie made me laugh so hard that I had to start the scene over after I regained my composure, which I'm pretty certain has never ever happened before in the entire history of the show. Ever.
This episode is called "Our Town," which is a reference that I would've loved even if the episode itself had sucked -- as a recovering theater geek (our motto, obviously, is: "One Play at a Time"), that is still, and always will be, one of my favorite plays ever, whether I'm watching it or acting in it. Love love love. (Actually, I love it even more because most of my fellow theater geeks hated it.)
Caroline just turned eighteen. Which means she turned seventeen sometime in season one. Which means that, when Damon compelled her to have sex with him and let him bite her, she was still only sixteen. I mean, not that there's that much of a difference between sixteen and seventeen -- the whole thing is disgusting no matter how you slice it -- but that just makes it even more horrible. Although I do have to grudgingly admit that he has come a long, long way since then. He's arguably had more character development than anyone else.
Something tells me I'm gonna have a whole heck of a lot to say about whatever the flaming hell is happening between Caroline and Klaus, but I'll wait and see how that develops.
Because I just can't help myself, I've been mentally comparing Elena to Buffy, Bonnie to Willow, and Caroline to Cordelia since the pilot. This episode REALLY made me draw parallels between Elena and Buffy. They are both determined to protect their loved ones from supernatural forces no matter what -- which is even more of a badass trait in Elena's case, since she doesn't have superstrength to back it up.
The more I think about it, this is how I see it: Bonnie and Caroline are my favorite characters on the show (usually), and Caroline is my favorite vampire ever, but . . . Elena is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. Period, the end. I didn't expect to like her very much at all, but I like her more and more and more the longer I watch. She makes my soul happy. I know how cheesy that sounds, but I don't give a fuck.
I've been saying for a while that vampire-Caroline is a much better person than human-Caroline, right? In this episode, her best friends said pretty much the same thing. I'm blown away that they actually acknowledged that in-universe.
In order for there to be any conflict whatsoever, the heroes often need to act dumber than dirt. (For example, two episodes ago Damon and Elena concocted a "secret plan" to kill Klaus. It was actually a pretty decent plan, but it still failed miserably -- probably because THEY DIDN'T ASK BONNIE TO DO ANYTHING EVEN THOUGH SHE'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO WE'VE EVER SEEN HURT HIM AT ALL.) That is once again the case. I'm sorry, but how obvious is it that the fourth coffin, the one that's sealed by magic, is holding Mama Witch? So bloody obvious.
So I can't really go into detail since I said this would be "spoiler-free," but this episode really changed my perspective on some stuff and made me want two things:
1. I want Stefan dead.
2. I want Elena to kill him.
So really, I guess that's just one thing.
Seriously, he has crossed a line. There are no words to convey the depths to which he has sunk. I am appalled.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
7 Bits of Buffy Headcanon
So I've been watching The Vampire Diaries a lot lately (and I mean A LOT - as I write this, I am waiting for the third episode of season three to download*), and it's got me thinking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Now, to be fair, there aren't a whole lot of things on this Earth that don't get me thinking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but The Vampire Diaries is an especially egregious example, as both shows contain healthy helpings of vampires, witches, werewolves,** girls who kick ass, and the ominous feeling that ABSOLUTELY ANYBODY CAN DIE AND THEY MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT COME BACK. Yes, even main characters!
So anyway. What in the world is "headcanon"? Basically, it's, um, canon that happens in your head. It may outright contradict actual canon (for example, you may wish to pretend that a certain episode or a certain scene never happened); it may, technically, "work" within established canon (for example, Darla could have totally been a Slayer - think about it), but the actual writers have never officially confirmed it, and probably never will.
I do hope that made sense. Canon for a TV show is usually much more difficult to pin down than it is for a book or a book series - if J. K. Rowling says that only wizards and witches can become ghosts, then that's the way it is; if Damon spends the first few episodes affecting the weather and using a creepy crow as his harbinger, but the writers later decide not to do that anymore, then . . . okay.
Anyway. Buffy. As anyone who's known me for longer than two and a half seconds can tell you, it's my favorite TV show of all time. I've been obsessed with it for about a decade now, and there are MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY things that were never addressed because, well, there's only so much time to explore things in a 144-episode series, and so much of that time is taken up by a) saving the world from unspeakably evil forces or b) the horror that is growing up or c) both of these things at the same time that fans like myself have plenty of room to play around and let our imaginations wander.
Sooo yeah, that's why we're here.
7 Bits of Buffy Headcanon
1. Xander's parents were verbally abusive.
Sadly, this is just shy of being out-and-out canon. We never actually get to spend too much time with them (although, now that I think about it, did we finally get to meet them in season six? It's been quite a while since I sat down and actually watched the series for any length of time), mostly hear them holler at him from the top of the stairs, but the signs are definitely there: They are not nice people. They're not exactly Vernon and Petunia Dursley, but they have treated him like crap. It's amazing that he grew up to be such a good person.
(If you want proof of this one, watch "Restless" and pay attention to his dream.)
2. When Oz came back in "New Moon Rising," he lost control because Willow was with someone else - NOT because she was with a girl.
Apparently, he went off to learn how to repress his wolf side and convinced himself that she'd just be keeping her legs crossed and waiting for him to come back to her INDEFINITELY even though he never so much as called her.
(Also, you know, when he reveals that he has learned how to stop himself from transforming, he says something about how she's probably stopped paying attention to when the moon is full.
Right.
Because that's not at all interesting to a witch.)
All of that being said, believe it or not, but: Oz is actually one of my favorite characters. I was (obviously) psyched when Willow and Tara got together, but I genuinely felt bad for him when he came back and was clearly still in love with her; my reaction was something along the lines of GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW AND HOW TRAGICALLY DELICIOUS IT IS.
3. In the first episode of season six, when Dawn tells Spike that she's not the Key anymore, she's wrong.
Just because, with Glory out of everyone's hair, it would be pretty cool if Buffy's annoying kid sister had the power to unlock portals between dimensions.
And hey, speaking of Glory . . .
4. Giles never told anyone about killing Ben.
Which I mention mostly because, in the commentary for "Lies My Parents Told Me," David Fury says that he considered having him tell Buffy in that episode, but decided not to because, since it takes place a season and a half after the fact, he figured no one would care.
Which I heard and went, "Are you kidding me?! That scene would be awesome!"
5. Witches cannot be turned into vampires, and
6. Witch blood is debilitating to vampires. It will, in fact, burn them from the inside out if they drink it (much like holy water).
Mostly just because these would be cool.
We never got to find out for sure, though, because no vampire ever tried either of them*** - basically, attacking a witch who's grown into her power is a really good way for a vampire to commit suicide.
7. Willow was not supposed to happen.
Let me explain . . .
When we meet her in the pilot, Willow is a shy, awkward, bookish girl who (along with Xander) quickly becomes Buffy's best friend. In the last episode of the series, she casts a spell to turn every Potential in the world into a Slayer. That shouldn't be possible, and she herself doesn't think she'll be able to do it.
Basically, after her power surge in the last half of season five, Willow Rosenberg quickly becomes one of the most powerful forces in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe (which probably should not come as a huge surprise to an attentive viewer, considering that her first foray into witchcraft was to restore a vampire's soul****): She's the only person who doesn't need a divine weapon to hurt Glory, WHO IS A LITERAL GOD; she brings Buffy back from the dead*****; she nearly destroys the world after Tara is killed; and The First Evil (who is basically the closest thing to Satan we ever got on this show) tries to convince her to kill herself because his plan would be much easier to accomplish with her out of the way.
But, as I say, she was not supposed to happen.
On Buffy, we got to meet several witches, but the only two who we got to know nearly as well as Willow, Amy and Tara, both inherited the craft from their mothers. Willow did not, and that is why I think she was an accident. I mean, living in Sunnydale, anybody with half an inkling can attract the attention of otherworldly forces without meaning to, so it's quite easy to be a "Wanna Blessed Be" - but, as Amy points out in season seven, it doesn't matter how hard natural witches like herself study and study and study: Willow has the kind of power the rest of them dream about. And she makes using it look easy.
Why?
The way I see it, her power has something to do with Buffy. She first did magic in the last episode of season two, and kept studying it in season three, but she didn't really start to become ridiculously powerful until after the penultimate episode of season four, when she and Giles and Xander joined their essences with Buffy's. A witch had never joined herself with a Slayer before, and that did something. I don't know. Maybe the Powers That Be had some idea what Buffy was going to do by the end of the series and figured she would need some extra protection. Maybe Willow is like Tiffany Aching - not born with a knack for witchcraft, but she found it and made it work for her, and had a lot of power because she needed it. I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that Willow went from being the most vulnerable character on the show to being (arguably) a demi-goddess . . . and she wouldn't have gotten there without Buffy.
Okay, that's all I've got for now.
You may be wondering why, if I've been watching it so damn much lately, I'm not writing about The Vampire Diaries. All I can tell you is, don't you worry.
More later. Much love,
Ryan
*How the hell did I ever survive without iTunes? Heh.
**Interestingly, both shows introduce us to vampires, witches, and werewolves IN THAT ORDER.
***I know, I know, Spike tried to drink Willow's blood on more than one occasion - but not after he got his chip, which was before she really started to get powerful.
****Which, as you may recall, had only ever happened once before in the history of vampires - and she was the only human who ever did it a) by herself or b) TWICE.
*****As I said before, Willow and Xander both become Buffy's best friends in the very first episode. So it's pretty interesting that, both times she's died trying to save the world, one of them has brought her back to life.
Now, to be fair, there aren't a whole lot of things on this Earth that don't get me thinking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but The Vampire Diaries is an especially egregious example, as both shows contain healthy helpings of vampires, witches, werewolves,** girls who kick ass, and the ominous feeling that ABSOLUTELY ANYBODY CAN DIE AND THEY MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT COME BACK. Yes, even main characters!
So anyway. What in the world is "headcanon"? Basically, it's, um, canon that happens in your head. It may outright contradict actual canon (for example, you may wish to pretend that a certain episode or a certain scene never happened); it may, technically, "work" within established canon (for example, Darla could have totally been a Slayer - think about it), but the actual writers have never officially confirmed it, and probably never will.
I do hope that made sense. Canon for a TV show is usually much more difficult to pin down than it is for a book or a book series - if J. K. Rowling says that only wizards and witches can become ghosts, then that's the way it is; if Damon spends the first few episodes affecting the weather and using a creepy crow as his harbinger, but the writers later decide not to do that anymore, then . . . okay.
Anyway. Buffy. As anyone who's known me for longer than two and a half seconds can tell you, it's my favorite TV show of all time. I've been obsessed with it for about a decade now, and there are MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY things that were never addressed because, well, there's only so much time to explore things in a 144-episode series, and so much of that time is taken up by a) saving the world from unspeakably evil forces or b) the horror that is growing up or c) both of these things at the same time that fans like myself have plenty of room to play around and let our imaginations wander.
Sooo yeah, that's why we're here.
7 Bits of Buffy Headcanon
1. Xander's parents were verbally abusive.
Sadly, this is just shy of being out-and-out canon. We never actually get to spend too much time with them (although, now that I think about it, did we finally get to meet them in season six? It's been quite a while since I sat down and actually watched the series for any length of time), mostly hear them holler at him from the top of the stairs, but the signs are definitely there: They are not nice people. They're not exactly Vernon and Petunia Dursley, but they have treated him like crap. It's amazing that he grew up to be such a good person.
(If you want proof of this one, watch "Restless" and pay attention to his dream.)
2. When Oz came back in "New Moon Rising," he lost control because Willow was with someone else - NOT because she was with a girl.
Apparently, he went off to learn how to repress his wolf side and convinced himself that she'd just be keeping her legs crossed and waiting for him to come back to her INDEFINITELY even though he never so much as called her.
(Also, you know, when he reveals that he has learned how to stop himself from transforming, he says something about how she's probably stopped paying attention to when the moon is full.
Right.
Because that's not at all interesting to a witch.)
All of that being said, believe it or not, but: Oz is actually one of my favorite characters. I was (obviously) psyched when Willow and Tara got together, but I genuinely felt bad for him when he came back and was clearly still in love with her; my reaction was something along the lines of GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW AND HOW TRAGICALLY DELICIOUS IT IS.
3. In the first episode of season six, when Dawn tells Spike that she's not the Key anymore, she's wrong.
Just because, with Glory out of everyone's hair, it would be pretty cool if Buffy's annoying kid sister had the power to unlock portals between dimensions.
And hey, speaking of Glory . . .
4. Giles never told anyone about killing Ben.
Which I mention mostly because, in the commentary for "Lies My Parents Told Me," David Fury says that he considered having him tell Buffy in that episode, but decided not to because, since it takes place a season and a half after the fact, he figured no one would care.
Which I heard and went, "Are you kidding me?! That scene would be awesome!"
5. Witches cannot be turned into vampires, and
6. Witch blood is debilitating to vampires. It will, in fact, burn them from the inside out if they drink it (much like holy water).
Mostly just because these would be cool.
We never got to find out for sure, though, because no vampire ever tried either of them*** - basically, attacking a witch who's grown into her power is a really good way for a vampire to commit suicide.
7. Willow was not supposed to happen.
Let me explain . . .
When we meet her in the pilot, Willow is a shy, awkward, bookish girl who (along with Xander) quickly becomes Buffy's best friend. In the last episode of the series, she casts a spell to turn every Potential in the world into a Slayer. That shouldn't be possible, and she herself doesn't think she'll be able to do it.
Basically, after her power surge in the last half of season five, Willow Rosenberg quickly becomes one of the most powerful forces in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe (which probably should not come as a huge surprise to an attentive viewer, considering that her first foray into witchcraft was to restore a vampire's soul****): She's the only person who doesn't need a divine weapon to hurt Glory, WHO IS A LITERAL GOD; she brings Buffy back from the dead*****; she nearly destroys the world after Tara is killed; and The First Evil (who is basically the closest thing to Satan we ever got on this show) tries to convince her to kill herself because his plan would be much easier to accomplish with her out of the way.
But, as I say, she was not supposed to happen.
On Buffy, we got to meet several witches, but the only two who we got to know nearly as well as Willow, Amy and Tara, both inherited the craft from their mothers. Willow did not, and that is why I think she was an accident. I mean, living in Sunnydale, anybody with half an inkling can attract the attention of otherworldly forces without meaning to, so it's quite easy to be a "Wanna Blessed Be" - but, as Amy points out in season seven, it doesn't matter how hard natural witches like herself study and study and study: Willow has the kind of power the rest of them dream about. And she makes using it look easy.
Why?
The way I see it, her power has something to do with Buffy. She first did magic in the last episode of season two, and kept studying it in season three, but she didn't really start to become ridiculously powerful until after the penultimate episode of season four, when she and Giles and Xander joined their essences with Buffy's. A witch had never joined herself with a Slayer before, and that did something. I don't know. Maybe the Powers That Be had some idea what Buffy was going to do by the end of the series and figured she would need some extra protection. Maybe Willow is like Tiffany Aching - not born with a knack for witchcraft, but she found it and made it work for her, and had a lot of power because she needed it. I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that Willow went from being the most vulnerable character on the show to being (arguably) a demi-goddess . . . and she wouldn't have gotten there without Buffy.
Okay, that's all I've got for now.
You may be wondering why, if I've been watching it so damn much lately, I'm not writing about The Vampire Diaries. All I can tell you is, don't you worry.
More later. Much love,
Ryan
*How the hell did I ever survive without iTunes? Heh.
**Interestingly, both shows introduce us to vampires, witches, and werewolves IN THAT ORDER.
***I know, I know, Spike tried to drink Willow's blood on more than one occasion - but not after he got his chip, which was before she really started to get powerful.
****Which, as you may recall, had only ever happened once before in the history of vampires - and she was the only human who ever did it a) by herself or b) TWICE.
*****As I said before, Willow and Xander both become Buffy's best friends in the very first episode. So it's pretty interesting that, both times she's died trying to save the world, one of them has brought her back to life.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Lions and Tigers and Metaphors, Oh My
Last night it occurred to me that battling Depression is a bit like The Wizard of Oz (the movie; it's been years and years since I read any of the books): Your entire life gets uprooted by a storm that seems to come out of nowhere, so you have to go on this big long journey -- a journey full of irony and foreshadowing and other such things -- and face your worst fears, and meet all these people who either help you or harm you in some way, just to get home . . . only to discover that, in the end, you had the power to get what you wanted all along.
But you couldn't have taught yourself how to use the power if you hadn't taken the journey.
P.S. Speaking of power, here are two quotes from high school that I've recently gained a new appreciation for.
"You believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world." - Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon
"There's only one thing on this Earth more powerful than evil . . . and that's us." - Buffy Summers
But you couldn't have taught yourself how to use the power if you hadn't taken the journey.
P.S. Speaking of power, here are two quotes from high school that I've recently gained a new appreciation for.
"You believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world." - Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon
"There's only one thing on this Earth more powerful than evil . . . and that's us." - Buffy Summers
Friday, July 29, 2011
"Helpful" Quotes
This morning was very special and somewhat stressful (we don't need to get into the details). To help deal with it, I thought I'd spend the last half of my walk to work thinking up quotes that were, well, helpful. This is what I came up with:
"Please let me get what I want." - The Smiths
==> Another quote by them that was suggested by my friend Kiki (who is one-third of the entire reason I have a Twitter): "You know where you came from, you know where you're going and you know where you belong."
"I hate that there's evil in the world. I hate that I was chosen to fight it." - Buffy Summers
"Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?" - Buffy Summers
"People say I'm pretty, and I guess I'm okay. People say I'm confident, and I know that's true." - Rachel the Animorph
"Maybe you die, but you never surrender." - Marco the Animorph
ANGELUS: Take all that away, and what's left?
BUFFY: Me.
". . . I know you love me, baby." - Lady Gaga
"It's not too late." - Aang
"You already have all the weapons you need. Now fight." - various characters from Sucker Punch
"The truth is important, but so are your friends. And if you can have them both . . . then it's a good life." - Harriet M. Welsch
"The end will justify the pain it took to get us there." - Relient K
"The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." - Relient K
"You are now at the hard part of getting better. But keep your head up, kid - you got this." - my friend Emily
(Sooo I clearly need to get my ass to the library sometime soon. Even when I quoted the main character of my favorite book of all time, I lifted a line from the movie.)
I may or may not have more to say about this later, but my whole experience with Depression has made me just slightly jealous of Buffy. Sure, every demon in the world eventually comes after her and her friends, whereas I only have the one to deal with . . . but, when she kills a monster, it (almost always) stays dead.
Depression never goes away forever.
At least, not so far.
But I've only been fighting him for about two and a half months. That's somewhat less than the seventeen years he's been trying to ruin my life.
I guess, when you look at it that way, it's sort of a mixed blessing that he doesn't stay dead.
Because killing him feels good.
"Please let me get what I want." - The Smiths
==> Another quote by them that was suggested by my friend Kiki (who is one-third of the entire reason I have a Twitter): "You know where you came from, you know where you're going and you know where you belong."
"I hate that there's evil in the world. I hate that I was chosen to fight it." - Buffy Summers
"Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?" - Buffy Summers
"People say I'm pretty, and I guess I'm okay. People say I'm confident, and I know that's true." - Rachel the Animorph
"Maybe you die, but you never surrender." - Marco the Animorph
ANGELUS: Take all that away, and what's left?
BUFFY: Me.
". . . I know you love me, baby." - Lady Gaga
"It's not too late." - Aang
"You already have all the weapons you need. Now fight." - various characters from Sucker Punch
"The truth is important, but so are your friends. And if you can have them both . . . then it's a good life." - Harriet M. Welsch
"The end will justify the pain it took to get us there." - Relient K
"The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." - Relient K
"You are now at the hard part of getting better. But keep your head up, kid - you got this." - my friend Emily
(Sooo I clearly need to get my ass to the library sometime soon. Even when I quoted the main character of my favorite book of all time, I lifted a line from the movie.)
I may or may not have more to say about this later, but my whole experience with Depression has made me just slightly jealous of Buffy. Sure, every demon in the world eventually comes after her and her friends, whereas I only have the one to deal with . . . but, when she kills a monster, it (almost always) stays dead.
Depression never goes away forever.
At least, not so far.
But I've only been fighting him for about two and a half months. That's somewhat less than the seventeen years he's been trying to ruin my life.
I guess, when you look at it that way, it's sort of a mixed blessing that he doesn't stay dead.
Because killing him feels good.
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