looking for a way to help, to be as useful as Buffy
Yeah, I do think Willow has some very good motives mixed in with the control issues. And as ever, I am really uncomfortable with the 'verse's dichotomy of evil and selfish/good and self-sacrificing. Expecting someone who knows the world and especially her home is crawling with vampires and demons not to utilize her innate ability to protect herself is kind of like telling her to bring a spork to a gunfight. If she said she wanted to protect herself, that wouldn't be well-received, even though it is perfectly reasonable. Of course she decides they are trying to keep her vulnerable and subservient, because they are. They tell themselves it's for her own good, so she doesn't become a bad person, but that's only part of it.
she learned a lot about the importance of being a good person, but less about the how.
...oh. That's kind of perfect. She knows not to be bad, she's very seldom naughty, but how to be good is a different story. Which kind of makes me rage at the Scoobies - well, Giles - all that much more, because she does try to learn.
This conversation will probably have more of a home in later seasons? But I guess it starts off here. I think Willow's power is such that it's as innate a part of who she is as as Slayer strength is to Buffy, Willow, and Kendra; as the demon is to the vampire. S3/4 Faith is a story of what happens when you go the wrong way about training people to use their power; Dark Willow is what happens when you pretend the power isn't there and if it is it's something innately wrong with the person who has it. (There's got to be something in here about how the magic/sexuality metaphor could work here.) It can be used as much for good as for bad, just like Slayer strength, but you need guidance. She's not just a better person when she comes back from the coven in S7, she's stronger magically than she has ever been.
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Date: 2010-09-16 09:02 pm (UTC)Yeah, I do think Willow has some very good motives mixed in with the control issues. And as ever, I am really uncomfortable with the 'verse's dichotomy of evil and selfish/good and self-sacrificing. Expecting someone who knows the world and especially her home is crawling with vampires and demons not to utilize her innate ability to protect herself is kind of like telling her to bring a spork to a gunfight. If she said she wanted to protect herself, that wouldn't be well-received, even though it is perfectly reasonable. Of course she decides they are trying to keep her vulnerable and subservient, because they are. They tell themselves it's for her own good, so she doesn't become a bad person, but that's only part of it.
she learned a lot about the importance of being a good person, but less about the how.
...oh. That's kind of perfect. She knows not to be bad, she's very seldom naughty, but how to be good is a different story. Which kind of makes me rage at the Scoobies - well, Giles - all that much more, because she does try to learn.
This conversation will probably have more of a home in later seasons? But I guess it starts off here. I think Willow's power is such that it's as innate a part of who she is as as Slayer strength is to Buffy, Willow, and Kendra; as the demon is to the vampire. S3/4 Faith is a story of what happens when you go the wrong way about training people to use their power; Dark Willow is what happens when you pretend the power isn't there and if it is it's something innately wrong with the person who has it. (There's got to be something in here about how the magic/sexuality metaphor could work here.) It can be used as much for good as for bad, just like Slayer strength, but you need guidance. She's not just a better person when she comes back from the coven in S7, she's stronger magically than she has ever been.