The real conflict in season six, perhaps the central one, is the Metaphor Frame vs. Real Life Frame
Oh yes, absolutely. They've spent five years inside a traditional* fantasy narrative. Then Glory's spell breaks down the walls between realities (!) and when they wake up again, not only is the fantasy narrative out of juice, but it actively clashes with the real life one. (And agreed with all your comments on Willow.)
* Subverted, but the thing about subversions is that they need to acknowledge tropes and clichés even more than stories that don't try to subvert them.
We are all trapped in a narrative, which is that we will live until we die
"You die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Ask me what happens if you die in reality." "What happens? "You die, stupid. That's why it's called 'reality'."
the pain that accompanies it, *except death*, which, even then, is not really an escape
It can be argued that "The Gift" is Buffy trying to escape (in "Normal Again", the Doctor hints that she had a previous "lucid" episode over the summer). But the narrative changes that she's set in motion, by already redefining the role of the Slayer and adding sidekicks to the "she alone", won't let her; Buffy The Vampire Slayer, through Willow (and the magic of ad revenue) tells her that oh no, you're not done yet, there's more to this story.
I think that "Storyteller" deals with the negative side of fannish engagement as well as preparing fans for the upcoming bittersweet separation from the narrative.
You know, having poked at this post for over a week, I'm probably the last person who should be criticising fannish engagement... :) But:
Buffy tells Andrew that he should NOT be using her story, and his imagined role in it, as an excuse to avoid dealing with his actual life.
The flipside of that is "use it to deal with your actual life." Which of course is the central role of any myth, or at least was before we started taking them literally...
It's interesting that the two women you explicitly identify as being stifled by the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" narrative (Faith and Willow) are also the two women who I was thinking could be argued as being "above" Buffy in season seven
Heh, lucky coincidence (or just fannish preference) that I picked those two; I could have come up with endless examples. :) But yes, agreed. Faith's (and Kendra's) role within a story called Buffy The Vampire Slayer is always going to be secondary - which is why I think the conversation between Faith and Buffy in "End Of Days" is pivotal; Faith understanding Buffy a little better, and then reminding her they're "hot chicks with superpowers" - there's a we in there.
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Oh yes, absolutely. They've spent five years inside a traditional* fantasy narrative. Then Glory's spell breaks down the walls between realities (!) and when they wake up again, not only is the fantasy narrative out of juice, but it actively clashes with the real life one. (And agreed with all your comments on Willow.)
* Subverted, but the thing about subversions is that they need to acknowledge tropes and clichés even more than stories that don't try to subvert them.
We are all trapped in a narrative, which is that we will live until we die
"You die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Ask me what happens if you die in reality."
"What happens?
"You die, stupid. That's why it's called 'reality'."
the pain that accompanies it, *except death*, which, even then, is not really an escape
It can be argued that "The Gift" is Buffy trying to escape (in "Normal Again", the Doctor hints that she had a previous "lucid" episode over the summer). But the narrative changes that she's set in motion, by already redefining the role of the Slayer and adding sidekicks to the "she alone", won't let her; Buffy The Vampire Slayer, through Willow (and the magic of ad revenue) tells her that oh no, you're not done yet, there's more to this story.
I think that "Storyteller" deals with the negative side of fannish engagement as well as preparing fans for the upcoming bittersweet separation from the narrative.
You know, having poked at this post for over a week, I'm probably the last person who should be criticising fannish engagement... :) But:
Buffy tells Andrew that he should NOT be using her story, and his imagined role in it, as an excuse to avoid dealing with his actual life.
The flipside of that is "use it to deal with your actual life." Which of course is the central role of any myth, or at least was before we started taking them literally...
It's interesting that the two women you explicitly identify as being stifled by the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" narrative (Faith and Willow) are also the two women who I was thinking could be argued as being "above" Buffy in season seven
Heh, lucky coincidence (or just fannish preference) that I picked those two; I could have come up with endless examples. :) But yes, agreed. Faith's (and Kendra's) role within a story called Buffy The Vampire Slayer is always going to be secondary - which is why I think the conversation between Faith and Buffy in "End Of Days" is pivotal; Faith understanding Buffy a little better, and then reminding her they're "hot chicks with superpowers" - there's a we in there.