From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V3 #64 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Tuesday, April 17 2001 Volume 03 : Number 064 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: b/&spike2 ["David S. Bratman" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 00:00:24 -0700 From: "David S. Bratman" Subject: Re: b/&spike2 At 11:31 AM 4/15/2001 -0400, DGK wrote: >I tell you, I'm ready to tear my hair out over this Buffy and >Spike thing. It's currently, without further evidence, an insoluble problem. >I was at a party the other week and ran into several people I >haven't seen in a while who I know are =Buffy= fans, and I >asked them the vexed question. And in every case I got the >same reply: > >"Buffy must have feelings for Spike, otherwise she would have >staked him by now." > >I can hardly express how much I don't buy this idea; but it >seems a firmly-entrenched opinion. The problem is, as I've noted, that the real reason Buffy doesn't stake Spike is because of James Marsters' place in the show. But that's a primary-world reason, and a secondary-world explanation hasn't caught up. You say, >=We only have negative evidence of Buffy's feelings for >Spike=. But we do have positive evidence. She hasn't staked him. Anticipating this reaction, you say, >As for this not-staking business, let me present two pieces >of evidence. ... > >The crux of the matter, I think, is that =Buffy doesn't like >to kill=. This was the whole argument she was having with >Faith in "Bad Girls"/"Consequences": Buffy only kills because >it's her job (sacred duty, =dharma=, whatever), and if she >can come up with a reason for =not= killing something, she >will let it live. And I think that she clearly feels that >Spike "doesn't fall into the Deadly Threat to Humanity >category" any more, so she lets him live despite her very >negative feelings towards him. True as far as it goes, but not conclusive. Buffy may not like to kill, but she does so without compunction when she does feel there's a threat. I mean, if she really felt that way she could figure out a way to knock down and lock up the run-of-the-mill vampires that she offs so casually. And the very viciousness of her attitude towards Spike includes an understanding that he is still a serious threat even if he cannot kill. The panic that she expressed on seeing Dawn with him was intense enough. And I seem to recall that Buffy passed up some opportunities to kill Spike even before the chip was implanted. No, I don't believe that Buffy really has tender feelings for Spike. But I have seen enough fiction in which tender feelings are hidden beneath revulsion that I believe that it is still consistent with what we've seen so far. And further, I'm guessing that this ambiguity is deliberate on the creators' part. If only because they're stuck for a better answer, which I hope is not the case. ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V3 #64 ****************************