More Death of Tara Analysis... by Hjermsted

BUFFYVERSE

More Death of Tara Analysis...

POSTED BY: HJERMSTED
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 07:51
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Tuesday, June 18, 2002 6:37 AM

There is an excellent article on the subject of Tara's death posted here:

http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/b/buffy-the-vampire-slayer3.shtml

Read it then come back here and discuss!

I would only add this to the article:

I believe that during the early development of Willow and Tara's relationship, the writers were testing the waters of what they could "get away with" so-to-speak re: exploring a lesbian relationship. This explains why a year passed before viewers saw them kiss (they met in season four's "Hush" and first kissed on-screen in season five's "The Body"). During that stretch of the show the magic-as-sexual-innuendo was being used liberally, I feel, as a way of working around network censors and as a way of slowly acclimating Buffy viewers who had only previously seen hetero-love on the show. I vaguely remember reading an interview with Whedon at the time where he acknowledged most of this was deliberate.

You'll notice that the magic-as-sexual-innuendo diminished considerably after that first kiss in "The Body". From then on Tara and Willow were just a couple in love dealing with couple in love issues. Magic use from that point on becomes more about demonstrating Willow's increasing power and eventual addiction... not to mention her anger management problems and arrogance.

mattro

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Tuesday, June 18, 2002 10:12 AM

ZICSOFT

I was just about to post that same link. I particularly like this passage near the end:

Proposing that Willow's magic addiction is somehow a punishment for being a lesbian, or that Willow and Tara were degraded simply because the complexities of "real life" assailed them, is to ignore seasons worth of episodes that argue the exact opposite. Attaching veils of nonexistent symbolism and sexual politics obscures what the couple really was, right up until the end: the very model of healthy stability in the Buffy universe. But nothing good can remain in Sunnydale. As Whedon himself put it in a post to Buffy fans: "Willow's story was not about being gay. It was about weakness, addiction, loss... the way life hits you in the gut right when you think you're back on your feet. The course of true love never did run smooth, not on my show."

Indeed. I'm sure everybody's noticed that all three of the main characters have been forcibly unattched -- under progressively more tragic circumstances!

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Tuesday, June 18, 2002 11:40 AM

BOBKNAPTOR

It's true. Everyone is free to start fresh. Even lil sis Dawn cast off her whiney teenager routine in the last couple episodes. I think this leaves us all wondering what the entire cast wondered at the end of Once More With Feeling...

"Where do we go from here?"

What can't we face if we're together?
What's in this place that we can't weather?
There's nothing we can't face.
Except for bunnies.

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Tuesday, August 13, 2002 7:51 AM

POINTYSTICK

lets see

Buffy and Spike (still living/still undead)
Xander and Anya (still living/still living)
Willow and Tara (still living/oops dead dead dead)

sorry I fail to see the parallels in the treatments of these three relationships.

Missy

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