Dawn's Keyness and the Art of Speculation
Jun. 13th, 2010 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maggie2My poll about Dawn's keyness has provoked some vigorous discussion, so I just wanted to state my own position about how her keyness might (or might not) relate to season 8. It is simply this. That a season named Twilight began with the character named Dawn as a giant has always seemed to me like a strong suggestion that Dawn is going to matter. We've since had enough references to her latent keyness for that to be available for the story as it unfolds. #25 describes Dawn's status as a doll in a way that to me is highly resonant with her status as a key. #25 also contains lines that would foreshadow Dawn's death (possibly even at Buffy's hand) if that's what turns out to happen.
This is not a prediction. It's just reading the tea leaves to see what possible directions the story could go. There are literary markers in the text that would make a story about Dawn's keyness seem rich and well-foreshadowed. What that story would be I have no idea. I'm not a creative writer. Maybe it will be cool. Maybe it'll be lame. Maybe it won't happen at all. I don't know. All I'm doing is pointing to some details available to serve a literary function if the story goes a certain way. It's just some speculation.
Over on Buffy forums, King of Cretins replied that we'd need pages of exposition to explain how Dawn is still a key and available to be used in this story. That was the main impetus for the poll. Along the way there have been complaints that it would be bad writing if the story went this way. Since my argument just was that there are literary markers available for use if the story goes that way, I obviously don't think a story going in this direction would necessarily involve lame out of the blue writing. But it could still turn out to be a craptastic story. I have no idea what Joss will do in his last arc, much less how well he's going to do it.
End of my part of the mountain made out of a very, very small molehill.
This is not a prediction. It's just reading the tea leaves to see what possible directions the story could go. There are literary markers in the text that would make a story about Dawn's keyness seem rich and well-foreshadowed. What that story would be I have no idea. I'm not a creative writer. Maybe it will be cool. Maybe it'll be lame. Maybe it won't happen at all. I don't know. All I'm doing is pointing to some details available to serve a literary function if the story goes a certain way. It's just some speculation.
Over on Buffy forums, King of Cretins replied that we'd need pages of exposition to explain how Dawn is still a key and available to be used in this story. That was the main impetus for the poll. Along the way there have been complaints that it would be bad writing if the story went this way. Since my argument just was that there are literary markers available for use if the story goes that way, I obviously don't think a story going in this direction would necessarily involve lame out of the blue writing. But it could still turn out to be a craptastic story. I have no idea what Joss will do in his last arc, much less how well he's going to do it.
End of my part of the mountain made out of a very, very small molehill.
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Date: 2010-06-14 01:29 am (UTC)You have every right to debate ideas with me. You do not have the right to judge my behavior in how I disseminate ideas. And you certainly don't have the right to discuss me under the guise of anonymity and pretend like you're not personally attacking me by doing so.
The bad writing opinion was on the speculative theory. And bringing the Key back to the forefront does change the past messages (as Beer Good as eloquently explained). It's about writerly intent, about suddenly finding Dawn convenient after years of pushing her away. Dawn's character deserves better than to just be used when convenient. That's the point.
I'm so "hot" about this mostly because I've felt personally attacked by *you*. I'd actually made my first post explaining my thoughts private and then got multiple messages from people asking why. I'm not personally attacking you, but you are personally attacking me.
So I'm asking you to stop. Or maybe you could have the decency to leave the personal "bashing" to private messages so I don't have to read it ad nauseum. Or read my opinions being distorted, presented to friends with my identity wiped clean, and then going through a line of WTF reactions.
I've been pushed by you into defending myself. And I'm upset by it. I've been guilty of taking a conversation to another post and talking about a person who isn't present, only to realize how horrible that behavior is. I try not to do it anymore and I have that crash-and-burn past to remind me.
It's pretty basic. Talk about the IDEAS, stop talking about me.