dkissam

Andy, 2002-2007

2007-10-17T16:59:20Z

Andy died yesterday.

A trip through my neural pathways.

2003-05-31T02:11:42Z

These are notes, not arguments or theories. Come, venture inside the way my mind scampers about when I have all day off and nothing to do but care for kittens and play on the 'net.

Warning: Don't even bother reading this if you detest any of the characters or events of the show so much that you have become incapable of opening your mind and considering the text from angles that don't facilitate your ability to feel smug and correct in your irrational - yeah, I said irrational - hatred. Seriously. Go away. Shoo.

Following are some notes I've made today. Are they presented as a coherent argument? Aww hell naw. Just scribbled. I'm not arguing, just pinging ideas around, and want to ping at y'all and see if you ping back. =)

Looking at S4 as a whole, considering possibility that the entire season was a metaphor for the Jossverse "creation" myth, a 22 paragraph essay, if you will, with The Freshman and Restless (what does the order mean? Willow, Xander, Giles, Buffy - thus perhaps they represent a march through time, oldest to newest, else why does Buffy's focus so little on the past and so much on waking up, on the future?) as quite effective introductory and concluding paragraphs. Thought: High school = pre-history, a time of response purely to urges and passions. College = words, thoughts begin to take over, one is expected to conform to a new and possibly alien set of standards, analagous to recorded history. Back to the beginning, new meaning in this new context.

The Freshman

"Do you know if we're gonna cover operant conditioning in the first semester?" Operant conditioning: one type of associative learning in which there is a contingency between the response and the presentation of the reinforcer.

"You know of her treatise on Dietrick's work?" Kitsuse and Dietrick (the right Dietrick? Only one I could find) were concerned with the concept of "reaction-formation." ... (they) argued that the working-class boys did not strive for status in the middle-class system. The working-class boys resented when the school, which was an irrelevant institution to them, attempted to impose upon them an irrelevant way of life. (Kitsuse, J. I., Dietrick, D. C. Delinquent Boys: A Critique.) ALSO reaction-formation: A defense mechanism whereby an unconscious and unacceptable impulse or feeling that would cause anxiety is converted into its opposite so it can become conscious and be expressed. For example, a person adopts a set of attitudes and behaviors that are the opposite of his or her true dispositions.

"Of Human Bondage. Have you ever read it?" "No, I'm not big on... porn... I mean
I've cut way back." "No, there's no actual bondage." "...the turning-point of the book, from which the title derives, is his passionate and destructive relationship with Mildred, a waitress whom he finds common, vulgar, stupid and anemic, but whom he is desperately attracted to, against reason and his best interest. Because of this attraction, he will compromise his studies, loose his money and almost his sanity...(the main theme of) the book (is) the passage into adulthood, the opposition between passion and reason, bondage and freedom, and we see that even if Philip is completely aware of being used and ridiculed by Mildred, he cannot get away from her.(Hi there, ME's official take on S6 Spuffy. Good to see you showing up in ep 4.1!)

Klimt's The Kiss sure does look like a vampire biting a chick.

We are so dumb. Pangs is the whole mythos writ "small".

"The thing is, I like my evil like my men: evil. You know, straight up, black hat, tie you to the railroad tracks, soon my electroray will destroy metropolis BAD. Not all mixed up with guilt and the destruction of an indigenous culture." I'm sure you do, Buffy.

XANDER
I hate this guy.
WILLOW
He's just doing what was done to him.
XANDER
I didn't give him syphilis!
GILES
But you freed his spirit, and after a century of unrest he saw you as one of his oppressors.
XANDER
So he rises up and infects the first guy he sees? That's not fair.
WILLOW
Like you've never woken up cranky.
GILES
Hus won't stop. Vengeance is never sated, Buffy. Hatred is a cycle. All he will do is kill. (INTERJECTION)"I want to stop this guy. I just wish there was a non slayee way to do it." Maybe there *is* a non slayee way to stop some of her enemies? Because then there's a knock...(/INTERJECTION)
SPIKE
Help me...

"I am vengeance. I am my people's cry. They call for (pointing to himself) Hus, for the avenging spirit, to carve out justice." Are vampires vengeance demons? Were they made to wreak vengeance upon humanity for casting out the demons? Are Slayers vengeance demons, killing the vampire-vengeance-demons and continuing the cycle of hatred? Vampires and Slayers, women and men. Does Anya have any male VD coworkers? Lloyd could be in accounts receivable.

"The word demon is apparently derived from daio "to divide" or "apportion", originally meant a divine being; it was occasionally applied to the higher gods and goddesses, but was more generally used to denote spiritual beings of a lower order coming between gods and men." If Restless is a trip through the (pre)history of this dimension, we start with the presence of powerful women (Willow's) - perhaps supporting previous theory re: binding of First Slayer - then move to presence of the basic human (Xander's) who is curious about women and attracted to them but seeks not to bind them and who him/themselves may be bound to the earth like the Slayer (see Genesis- perhaps cursed like Adam, perhaps "the one who sees everything" refers to eating the fruit of the tree and seeing good *and* evil? Maybe the women who were already here showed the curious men what their God didn't want them to see and thus all were punished - maybe that's why Buffy gets distracted by Xander in her dream, stops talking to Mother, sees the man, is herself curious) then to patriarchy organizing itself (Giles's) - then to Buffy's. Buffy's seems to be a summary, a different view on some important points. What is a demon? Only something that's neither god nor man? Then Buffy probably *is* a demon. All women are. Tara's dad was right, in his way.

Now incoherent rambling about Sumerian mythology and Snow Crash.

Re: Snow Crash. In Sumerian, nam-shub means "speech with magical force". The nam-shub of Enki is how Sumerian mythos explains the divergence of human language. The nam-shub in its final lines states that Enki, "endowed with wisdom, changed the speech in their mouths, put contention into it, into the speech of man that had been one" (217). The nam-shub was a story, but it was a story that actually occurred as it was told, best translated into English as an incantation (WORD MAGIC). One theory to describe this is that "there was some kind off phenomenon" that, like computer virus, "coiled around the brainstem", causing humans to be unable to understand the Summerian language anymore (218). One character posits "that the nam-shub of Enki is a neurolinguistic virus" (218).

This is dancing in my head, how this is relevant to Buffy...but I can't really type it up right now, 'cause, hey, sleepy. Here are some words not joined together in a sentence: Dawn Sumerian Primeval spell also in Sumerian time before speech men with their sales the soul is a chip and demons and humans? Just botched science experiments, demons were phase 1. (Walsh = metaphorical G/god? God as experimenter, seeing what humans and demons and vampires will do if placed in a box - i.e. this dimension?) Riley Adam Primeval metaphor for the actual creation of man Riley Adam also linked in Restless naming things filing we're not demons is that a fact? Dismissal of old ways of doing things represents patriarchy takeover (ROOM 314: Genesis 3:14-3:15 - "And Jehovah God saith unto the serpent, `Because thou hast done this, cursed [art] thou above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field: on thy belly dost thou go, and dust thou dost eat, all days of thy life; and enmity I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he doth bruise thee -- the head, and thou dost bruise him -- the heel.') Why does Xander see everyone in his dream? Spike Giles Buffy all at once playing together peacefully before he is distracted by his whipping boy labors. Spike's like a son to Giles - did the Shadowmen father the vampires in some fashion like they somewhat fathered the Slayer?

Young's Literal Translation of the Bible - never says God created anything. Always says he prepareth or maketh. Never create, always leaves suggestion of pre-existing materials.

I love this fucking show.

2003-05-23T15:18:45Z

This is an expanded version of what I've been posting on the SiTs and CoW topic on TWoP this morning, with some stuff removed because I don't have to argue with the Buffy fandom version of right-wing ideologues here. VERY long, spoilery for the "payoff" of Fray, if you care:

Perhaps Buffy and Willow finding these girls and letting them know everything they know, giving them mentors - even if those mentors must move on to find and help others - is plenty. They'll have all the information they need - they can contact the traveling research branch and fax them a drawing of whatever strange demon they've run across, and Willow or Dawn or Giles or whoever can get them the info they need.

I'm opposed to the idea that any thought about the Buffyverse and the mythology thereof is sacrosanct. Real world, everyone can have all the unassailable institutions and idols they like, but I feel that attempting to cordon off any section of an invented mythology and naming it inviolable is something that only the creator of the mythology can do.

Maybe all the Googling is a thematic element. Along with Giles finally, in End of Days, coming together with Willow, a woman who really does IMO branch the "old" ways of doing research with the "new" ways - she's proven as adept at using dusty tomes as she is at hacking, after all - being willing to rely upon information found on the internet. I can see that they may have been developing a theme of modernization.

Giles's age-old distaste for computers and privileging of books doesn't, of course, make the idea of book research as intrinsically superior sacrosanct. Just because Giles thinks maintaining a cache of rare printed texts is superior doesn't mean he's right. Dad can be wrong. =) So, in a way, this may be the modernization of the CoW. And without computers, without that modernization, you could not have a distributed network of Slayers worldwide, each running their own teams, each relying on a centralized repository of information to help them do their work. When I think about it, Giles really never did help Buffy with training in a way that a gym membership and martial arts training couldn't.

Maybe the destruction of the CoW was to show that hoarding information in one place in single volumes is not the best idea. Well, it is if your goal is to control that information rather than see it used toward its ostensible purpose. While books are wonderful, every book on my shelf exists on a computer somewhere, and is only on my shelf because it was produced from a soft copy. And if there were no soft copies, the information contained within would be too rare and valuable for me to afford a copy. So really, Willow now has the tools and opportunity to create a mystical Project Gutenberg. And the existence of that, the sharing of knowledge, can facilitate pockets of Slayers and Scoobs all over the world.

And I've been really studying Restless this morning. Re-read Restless, particularly Giles's dream from the assumption that the shaman who eventually led the way to the formation of the CoW bound the Primitive, rather than created her. It's rather stunning. Defeated her, with their intellect. Crippled her with their thoughts.

Maybe Giles's dream just a microcosm of what the Shadowmen did? Each time Giles sees a Primitive aspect in Buffy, when she puts mud on her face --

Oh god, there it is. That's why the bag Buffy dipped mud from was the same bag the Shadowman puppets came from!

-- when she puts mud on her face, she threatens to return to her Primitive form. Giles, a hereditary Watcher, carries the Shadowman spirit within him as surely as Buffy carries the Slayer. He instinctively fears the Primitive, for he carries the memories of her binding. Look carefully at the segment that begins with Spike's "Come on! You're gonna miss everything!" This is where Giles loses Buffy. Joss is very specific about this. He doesn't see her again in his dream. He enters Spike's showroom and finds Olivia, attempting to fold the baby carriage. She fails, and cries about it.

TANGENT: In the Frayverse, Melaka has a twin brother. She learns late in the series that he did not die at the hands of vampires as she'd thought, but rather followed his own destiny, sent to him in dreams since birth, just like her Slayer dreams had been sent to her. His dreams told him of his destiny to become like, Vampire King or something. This suggests that Slayers and Vampires are linked. Confluence of events - a Slayer born with a twin brother. END TANGENT.

She fails, and cries about it. Giles watches Spike "act like a vampire". Perhaps part of the ritual that created the Slayer also created Vampires? Just because Giles repeated the CoW line that the last demon to leave the earth created the first vampire doesn't mean it's true. Perhaps the "Slayers" really were just very strong women - and perhaps their spirits/minds/hearts weren't separate from the "hand", so maybe they had the powers Buffy displayed in Primeval - , and perhaps the Shadowmen simply feared and bound them, and perhaps in the process created vampires, which would suck for them, since they'd just crippled the beings who could've defeated them. So they took the crippled girl they'd made and compelled her to fight these things they'd created. Girl, you have a sacred duty. Toward that end, I have some specific requirements for the manner in which you utilize your body. Isn't "Don't drop your elbow" just a riff on "Don't wear such a lowcut blouse?" Here's is the tiny window in which you may operate your body. Please maintain awareness of proper form at all times. The extreme peevishness with which he addresses her and the manner in which Buffy seeks his approval upon completing a task suggests that he sees her like a cur he's trained to heel - "I haven't got any treats."

Who is it that has been made Restless? Is it the Scoobs, or is it the Primitive? She looks so surprised when Buffy tells her that, no. No, actually, you're incorrect. I can have friends. It's changed, it's different now. What you thought were the rules ain't, so much. I think perhaps Buffy taught the Primitive something, opened up the spirit's mind, in that moment. With her word magic. =) The next time she sees the Primitive, in Intervention, the Primitive has many words. She says this is just a form and that she's the guide, but I can read her as symbolic. There's a reason she takes that form.

From here down is just me scribbling thoughts:

"Death is your gift" could also be the gift she's given to Spike, now. I'm assuming he'll shanshu, which, of course, means to live and die. So a mortal death for a vampire - perhaps that's the final form of "Death is your gift".

I'm also working on a theory about Xander's dream. He's the heart, the one who is simply human, the one who sees everything. He's the only one who sees all three elements - Watcher, Slayer, Vampire - together, at once, in his dream. Buffy and Willow don't see Spike. Giles doesn't see Spike and Buffy together.

Another observation: Buffy's dream. Look at this: "Have you seen my friends anywhere? (looking around) They wouldn't just disappear; they're my very good friends." This might've been what the poor Primitive felt when the others of her kind disappeared. Poor, poor Primitive. *sniffles* And Joyce could be symbolic of the chick who gave Buffy the axe. Mother figures behind walls. I have always, *ALWAYS* thought Joyce's "Well, you could probably break through the wall..." must mean something. Buffy's distracted from her statement by a glimpse of Xander, disappearing around a corner. Hmm...then she follows him, the simple man, to Riley, who reaffirms she is a killer, is disgusted by her mud ("Animal.") and says, If that's the way you want it, baby, you're on your own.

Also, consider the difference between these two sections (emphasis mine):

Shooting script segment of Adam/Buffy/Riley scene:
RILEY:
Buffy, we've got important work here.
A lot of filing, and giving things names.

BUFFY
(to Adam)
What was yours?

ADAM
Before Adam? Not a man among us can remember.

Writer's draft version:

RILEY
We were sitting here wondering why Maggie
chose the name Adam.

BUFFY
Because she lacks imagination.

ADAM
(smiles)
That's my theory. He wasn't the first, anyway.
I guess you know that.

BUFFY
What WAS your name?

RILEY
(sternly)
Buffy. That's his.

No thoughts yet. Just considering the difference. =)

Some thoughts on what's really going on with the Slayer line...

2003-05-22T17:32:55Z

Over on TWoP, some folks are ranting about how dangerous all these unWatched Slayers are. I disagreed, and posited that Angel does fine with his superpowers, and he never had a Watcher. And that put me in mind of something that led to a whole big theory, so here goes:

Angel does fine with his superpowers, and he never had a Watcher...and, according to Giles in Restless, neither did the First Slayer. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps the "demon mist rape" wasn't the instant where the shaman *created* the Slayer, but rather the instant where the shaman *bound* the Slayer. Maybe she already had power, and they feared it, so bound her. Maybe there originally *were* multiple Slayers, and the shaman's spell altered Slayers so that only one would be called at a time. It'd make a lot more sense thematically if the symbolic rape of the Slayer limited her power, rather than giving her power. And hell, who ever heard any ancient myths about males giving females *more* power? If they were making a Slayer, why'd choose a village wench? Why wouldn't they choose a man? And it's certainly not "canon" that what the Scoobs assumed happened in the little shadow puppet play is what actually happened.

One way to look at building a magic system is to say, spells hold until they break, and then they begin to fall apart. Now, that makes no sense. =) But what I mean is, a spell holds as long as no circumstances ever occur that contradict the spell. The spell can probably only be contradicted when a particular *cough* confluence of events occurs that causes a situation those who cast the spell never foresaw.

So, if the shaman decided that the existing group of powerful female warriors was too dangerous to their authority, yet they could not afford to actual destroy the line because they need a holy warrior against the vampires to exist, they may have simply bound the line so that only one Slayer could exist at a time. And if they cast a spell that said, "We shall bind the Slayers so that there will never be more than one in the world at a time. Thus we decree that when one Slayer dies, another is called", they couldn't possibly think ahead many thousands of years to a world in which CPR exists. So, when Buffy died and Xander brought her back to life, there you have a confluence of events that contradicts the spell they cast. Thus, the spell they cast would begin to dissolve, because...

...okay, word magic. Peirce, Speech Acts theory. Briefly, speech acts looks at words that *do* something. I looked at my dog and said, "I name you Andrew!" And even though all I did was *say* something, I committed an action. My words did something, created something, cast a spell - named a creature. Buffy's committed speech acts, reaffirmed them, several times. "I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.", for example. Big important moments for her.

So anyway, once the spell the shaman cast had been contradicted, their word magic began to break down. Thus, Buffy got increasingly strong and independent of her Watcher, and her Watcher broke bonds, as well. He chose his Slayer over his CoW peers. A series of things that weren't supposed to happen *did* happen, and may ultimately have led to the Slayer line going back to the way it was in the beginning, when there were many Slayers, all supporting each other. When Buffy rejected an injection of misty demon penis, she may have been rejecting an attempt at re-binding, not an extra dose of power.

And it could well be that the bonds falling away from the Slayer line represents a dissolution of all sorts of bonds. It could be that somehow the dissolution of that bond is tied with the dissolution of the bonds keeping the barriers up and the Old Ones out of this dimension. Things fall apart. The center refuses to hold. The falcon ignores the falconer, and flies off with her flock. =) And that could be why the shaman looked so terribly sad when Buffy rejected the binding. The binding may not have been entirely bad, and may have served a purpose, from his POV.