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Date Posted: 09:06:44 04/25/07 Wed
Author: Age
Subject: Re: L.W.Look at 8.1 (Spoilers) Part Four.
In reply to: Age 's message, "Re: L.W.Look at 8.1 (Spoilers) Part Three." on 09:04:35 04/25/07 Wed

I might add that there may be a continuation of the feminist theme through the focus on the phallic like cemetery marker pointing at the church, pointing at what was once one of the prime symbols of the male dominated culture. There’s certainly meant to be an irony seen between the futuristic newness of the Buffy team with their sci-fi special ops gadgetry and the crumbling age of the building from the past. In this panel there is a communication from elsewhere, a guide for the mission: as with the team of slayers, Buffy’s definitely broken the old rule that kept slayers in line, namely, that the slayer battles on alone. Even the idea of three Buffys confounds this.

The narration of the next panel tells the reader about the other two slayers pretending to be Buffy. Quite clearly, Buffy’s situation isn’t as rosy as the end of the last season would have the reader think; in fact, it’s the opposite. She has decoys to avoid danger; it really seems that she has to watch her back, as the two slayers in the foreground are literally doing. Note how the ‘green’ shirted slayer is aligned next to Buffy in a symbolic set up for the next panel in which Buffy reveals that things aren’t great at all and in fact she’s not sure of what she’s doing. In that next panel the ‘green’ slayer with her youngish attire is a visual metaphor reinforcing Buffy’s narration.

If the previous page split the panels into three to represent something about Buffy’s psyche, the fact that one decoy slayer is literally underground while the other is partying suggests a greater split between the sunny light of day consciousness where you ignore the ugly truth and life’s an ‘Immortal’ party, while you force the uncomfortable aspects down into the subconscious, underground. I may however be interpreting this incorrectly as the fact that Buffy knows that these others are decoys may imply that she no longer acts in this manner, but that the other two are false Buffys representing what she used to but no longer does to cope psychologically. She may indeed be coping with not having much of a personal life; or, it may just be that this issue itself focuses on the mission to the exclusion of her personal life because it’s a logical re-introduction. It remains to be seen. Also, the activity of the decoy slayers may simply be used as a contrast to show what real Buffy is doing: she hasn’t abandoned her responsibility by either going off partying or by falling off the face of the earth, so to speak, in adopting a completely normal life, going underground, as it were.

As the need for decoys suggests, Buffy and the Scoobs have gone from being the ultimate insiders possessing the knowledge and power to fundamentally change the world into the ultimate outsiders, in a secret headquarters, a castle, the ultimate symbol of defense, branded as terrorists possessing an ideology that goes against American interests. How could she ever go ‘home’ if she’s anathema to what has come to be defined, at least by Voll, as the culture of her native country?

The final panel of the page has Buffy again taking the lead, diving into the church. The question that Buffy poses in the previous panel about what the hell she’s doing is deliberately repeated by one of the slayers to create humour, perhaps to contrast Buffy’s humourless situation, and also to remind the reader of the inexperience of the other slayers and the work Buffy has to do; but it also may show a spark of spontaneity beneath the role that Buffy has adopted. As Buffy penetrates the arena of battle the reader is reminded of the raison d’etre of the series through the narration and its founding images, demons, personal or otherwise, the watcher and the slayer with stake in hand, although it’s really a humourous parody as the stake is actually a plank. Note that the vast majority of the final panel is empty space without stars, a visual metaphor perhaps for the unknown within the church and for the inexperience of the team.

Turning to the next page, the reader gets to see where the outside help is coming from. Note the colour contrast to the previous pages: a more masculine blue colour overall, although muted with a greenish hue to it to possibly suggest how new this all is. The panels are aligned vertically suggesting masculine hierarchy in contrast with the panels of the previous pages that were aligned horizontally to reinforce the idea of sisterhood. The central command is futuristic looking, enabled even by satellite connection, confirming the forward looking image of Buffy’s squad. Command Central looks like its in a huge basement somewhere, its (masculine) square shape contrasts with the round (feminine) podium that Xander is standing on, clearly the leader above the rest, all women, who appear as though they are office workers, data entry clerks (traditional worker roles for women) or their supervisors watching them. None are facing one another, producing, in my opinion, the initial impression of disconnection. They all just seem part of an organization to emphasize the idea that this is slayer business. The only connection, it seems on first glance, is between Xander and the team of slayers on the big screen. Note, that besides the two psychics in the glow of the round ball, the women are coloured either green or purple, perhaps to emphasize the idea that Xander as male doesn’t diminish them as women. Again, as with Buffy, Xander is in charge because of his previous experience. On second glance, the ‘workers’ of central command are connected, but through their consoles to, as the shape of the office implies, the four corners of the globe, the latter probably symbolized by the orb the mystics are gazing into. Also, Xander’s podium has no railing around it to symbolize a barrier between them.

Xander as central command leader and the general male imagery are meant to underscore the idea that the series isn’t about eschewing the masculine; it’s about the totality of humanity, masculine and feminine both valued to whatever extent it occurs in women and men; although the emphasis is on women. Xander clearly undermines any notion that his masculinity may make him intrinsically more important than the women through his conversation with Renee, when he attempts to get her to refer to him by his first, not his last name. Further, if this series were about denigrating the masculine, why would Buffy, and now a whole bunch of slayers, be kicking demon ass, a physical activity traditionally defined as masculine. In fact, the demon slaying symbolizes and values both the masculine and the feminine, the former in its literal physicality; the latter in the metaphorical representation of dealing with emotions, traditionally the province of the feminine. Where the girl power theme does come in as usual is the reversal of roles between the male and female leaders of the organization as it is Buffy who heads the away mission while Xander remains at central command. Also, while the two share the leadership role, the reader first sees Buffy in a slightly higher position; while Xander is seen below the perspective of the reader. This may simply be necessary for the layout of the panels, but could imply their importance relative to each other thematically as the series is about focusing on women and their potential.
End of Part Four.

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