From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V2 #115 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Sunday, May 21 2000 Volume 02 : Number 115 Today's Subjects: ----------------- b/buffybookupdate ["Donald G. Keller" ] b/faith3sins ["Donald G. Keller" ] b/divinetwins ["Donald G. Keller" ] Re: b/divinetwins [GHighPine@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 23:15:55 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/buffybookupdate So here's the latest news about =Fighting the Forces=, the upcoming book of academic essays on =Buffy=. I heard back from co-ediotr Rhonda Wilcox, who informs me that they would like to have =two= pieces from me, the dream-analyses and "The Dharma of Buffy." Due August 1st. Further, not only are they putting out the book, but also planning to release a CD-Rom featuring =another= 30 essays (one of my essays will be in each medium); and on top of =that=, they're planning an online academic journal called =Slayage= (which they explicitly compare to the existing =Xena= journal =Whoosh=, which I'm sure Meredith can describe for us). And they want me to be on the editorial board. (Sounds like fun.) They seem like quite a busy crew. So I'll forge forward and work up the dream-analyses I've posted here into a smoother, more integrated form (for possible use at Readercon as well), and hit the Dumezil trail again. In fact... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 23:17:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/faith3sins ...I got a temp shift today with lots of downtime, and took several books with me to do research in. And as seems to happen to me constantly with this stuff, I hit paydirt almost immediately. And I wasn't even reading Dumezil himself, but Jaan Puhvel, a student of his, whose =Comparative Mythology= (Johns Hopkins, in print) is a useful survey of the Dumezil method and usual material. And it wasn't even anything in the text per se that set me off, but simply encountering the theme of the "three sins of the warrior" again (most notably a central concern of Dumezil's =The Destiny of the Warrior=), which I'd been too busy reading Jung to think about lately; and the way I experienced the moment was that the theme (or archetypal pattern in the Jungian sense) seized the recent twin two- parters about Faith as new examples of its kind. So consider this a probable insertion (unless I get pressed for space) into the section of "The Dharma of Buffy" entitled "The Three Sins of the Slayers." But first a brief recap of Dumezil. He divides Indo-European society (as reflected in its mythologies) into three functions: 1) sovereignty (rulers and priests), i.e. authority figures in general; 2) warriors; 3) the economic sphere (farmers, herdsmen, artisans, and by extension the general populace). Dumezil points out how the mythological warrior-hero (Indra in Hindu myth being his main example) typically commits, during his career, three sins, one against each of the three functions, taking the form of, for example 1) killing a sovereign (king or Brahman) 2) betraying a fellow warrior (or similar offence such as cowardice in battle) 3) killing for money, or sexual betrayal (sins against property), or other sins against "civilians." While the application of this pattern to Faith's exploits this season was percolating, I was also seized by the realization that the twin two-parters ("This Year's Girl"/"Who Are You" on =Buffy=, "Five by Five"/"Sanctuary" on =Angel=) are both variants of the same myth-pattern: 1) Faith shows up, assaults regular citizens (and police officers). 2) She comes gunning for the show's title character. 3) The first encounter is (literally) a hit-and-run incident. 4) She holds hostage someone close to the title character to get the latter's attention. 5) She battles the title character hand to hand, at the end of which she suffers a psychic break. 6) The last shot shows her quiet, confined, and meditative. The major difference between the two, of course, is the treatment of #5. On =Buffy= it is doubled, the two occurrences divided by the extended motif of the body-switching; on =Angel= it is separated from #6 by the extended negotiation with Angel (constantly interrupted by other characters). But it's clearly "the same story." Now let's look at how the "three sins" motif manifests in each "same story." =Buffy= 1) Faith hits Joyce (mother of her double Buffy, = authority figure), holds her hostage, and threatens her with a knife. 2) She betrays her former fellow warrior Buffy by switching bodies ("You took my life, B," she says earlier, and could have continued "...so I'll take yours") and playing with Buffy's life; specifically, she seduces Riley (a sexual malfeasance). 3) She assaults the girl in the hospital for her clothes, assaults two police officers, threatens Willow, mortally insults Tara, teases and taunts Spike...did I leave anything out? =Angel= 1) Faith tortures Wesley (her former Watcher, = authority figure). 2) She takes money to put a "hit" on fellow warrior Angel. (And note, by the way, the sexual innuendo she puts into "the game.") 3) She puts several "civilians" in the hospital, assaults another cop, and decks Cordelia. The "payoff" of Buffy's sins (2nd season, particularly) was the loss of her will to slay (as for Indra it was loss of his powers); for Faith's sins the "payoff" is psychological breakdown (including self-loathing and quasi-suicidal feelings). While I'm on the subject...the oddest manifestation of this pattern was Buffy in "Graduation Day": 1) she defies the authority of Wesley and the Council 2) she sets out to kill fellow warrior Faith in cold blood (and fails only by happenstance) 3) she puts her life (and the lives of those it is her duty to protect) at risk by forcing Angel to feed on her (which has quasi-sexual connotations). All three "sins" due to her lingering feelings for Angel (the Council--and Wesley and Faith--were right that it was a distraction from her true task). Curiously, though, the situation plays out that rather than suffering for these sins, Buffy is =rewarded= instead: 1) Wesley comes to her and unofficially offers his help 2) Faith (in Buffy's dream) guides her to a way to stop the Mayor (or so Buffy believes) 3) Angel saves Buffy's life by taking her to the hospital after she cures him, and stays long enough to assist in the big battle. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 23:19:10 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/divinetwins And another thing. One of the Indo-European motifs I've been trying to find out more about is the Divine Twins, who tend to be representatives of the third function, and have a number of interesting characteristics I won't go into here; my theory is that they manifest in =Buffy= mythology as Willow and Xander. (Giles is first function, Buffy second function, in this logic.) So I was reading Puhvel's =Comparative Mythology=, and, following up a reference in a section on Indra and the Ashvins (the Hindu Divine Twins), I turned to the chapter on Baltic mythology (about which I know next to nothing), and lit upon this passage [p. 228]: "In those [Latvian folk songs] two...horsemen called =Dieva deli= 'sons of Dievs' [cognate of =deus= and Zeus, i.e. "god"] woo the Sun's daughter...and save her from death by water." Definitely a "holy @#%*!" moment--did anyone else instantly flash on "Prophecy Girl"? Remember that I've been postulating that the fundamental symbolism of the show presents Buffy as the blonde Day-Girl (= Sun) and Angel as dark Night-Boy (= Moon). And remember that Willow's Angel-equivalent Oz is, as a werewolf, even more Moon-controlled. And Puhvel points out that the "sons of Dievs" are often connected to the Moon. Take my word, for the nonce, that I have reason to think that in =most= contexts the Divine Twins are Willow and Xander; what appears to have happened in "Prophecy Girl" is a typical mythic "transaction," the twins "halved" and "redoubled" into female-female (Willow and Jenny Calendar) and male-male (Xander and Angel) pairs, with the latter better suited for the mythic task of "saving the Sun's daughter from death by water." Note that Xander and Angel are =both= "rejected suitors" (thus temporary doubles): Buffy gently refused Xander's taking her to the dance, and furiously told off Angel in her famous "I'm 16, I don't want to die" speech (still one of the great scenes of the "epic"). ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 00:18:19 EDT From: GHighPine@aol.com Subject: Re: b/divinetwins In a message dated 5/20/00 8:20:28 PM Pacific Daylight Time, dgk@panix.com writes: << "In those [Latvian folk songs] two...horsemen called =Dieva deli= 'sons of Dievs' [cognate of =deus= and Zeus, i.e. "god"] >> Cognate of "Joss," as well. :-) Gayle ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V2 #115 *****************************