Emmie has ably handled this, especially the first one.
With respect to the second, I'd put it like this. I think these issues have very much been in play over the course of the series. Indeed, I think it's all part of a main theme: which is how much does a hero have to worry about the immediate results of an action versus how much does a hero have to worry about the big picture consequences. There was a steady trajectory in Buffy on this: from being unwilling to sacrifice a friend for the world in Choices; to seeing that she might have to sacrifice Dawn to save the world, but refusing to live in a world that demanded such sacrifices; to saying she's willing to make such sacrifices if necessary in Lies My Parents Told Me. There's a corresponding hardening of Buffy's heart, which I think is a pretty good critique of consequentialist reasoning (where the big picture is more important than the means employed to get there). Giles murder of Ben is a part of the commentary on consequentialist reasoning; and I think that it's a driving force in the rift between him and Buffy. With the irony that even as she resists that sort of logic (see her defense of Spike to Giles in season 7), she's steadily moving towards his position... or at least is taking on board his concerns much more than she did way back in Choices. So far from not being addressed, I'd say it's one of the main themes of the show -- one of the sorts of threads that nerdy academics would write essays about.
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Date: 2009-01-13 04:43 pm (UTC)With respect to the second, I'd put it like this. I think these issues have very much been in play over the course of the series. Indeed, I think it's all part of a main theme: which is how much does a hero have to worry about the immediate results of an action versus how much does a hero have to worry about the big picture consequences. There was a steady trajectory in Buffy on this: from being unwilling to sacrifice a friend for the world in Choices; to seeing that she might have to sacrifice Dawn to save the world, but refusing to live in a world that demanded such sacrifices; to saying she's willing to make such sacrifices if necessary in Lies My Parents Told Me. There's a corresponding hardening of Buffy's heart, which I think is a pretty good critique of consequentialist reasoning (where the big picture is more important than the means employed to get there). Giles murder of Ben is a part of the commentary on consequentialist reasoning; and I think that it's a driving force in the rift between him and Buffy. With the irony that even as she resists that sort of logic (see her defense of Spike to Giles in season 7), she's steadily moving towards his position... or at least is taking on board his concerns much more than she did way back in Choices. So far from not being addressed, I'd say it's one of the main themes of the show -- one of the sorts of threads that nerdy academics would write essays about.