There are plenty of things our Public Servants do that the general population isn't aware of - unless you want to go out and do a lot of research. Do we know exactly what the firefighters, police or coast guard do? But we fund them, and we also have oversight. It keeps them connected to society - so if a Firefighter gets hurt in the line of duty, we can take care of them and be responsible for them.
Well, it's actually obvious that at the very least the US government is aware both of the existence of demons and of the Slayer, since they created the Initiative. And as such, if they wished to offer assistance/input to the Slayer, they've known where to find her for several years.
I guess I'm asking you for an action plan, something that could've been achieved or an agenda that could've been articulated inside the confines of this television show. The questions that you're asking...I don't know, they don't seem to belong to BtVS. I can see them being addressed by AtS, which traditionally concerned itself with larger more pervasive institutions of power. BtVS...the question of the One Girl dealing with both the pressures and the rewards of being the One Girl belongs to BtVS very strongly and is a recurring theme. Buffy spent her life alternately bitching about being the One and then dealing with different feelings arising from situations in which she wasn't the only One; it's not just being a Slayer. Yes, she dealt twice with sharing that power with another woman, but she also saw herself replaced by Tara in Willow's life, and I think she recognized that from Willow's perspective, she herself displaced Willow's position as the only girl in Xander's life. Twice she experienced a situation in which the death of another woman meant that Buffy would be the only one to take over an enormous set of responsibilities from that woman; first as Slayer, then with her mother's death. So, to me, that question and dealing with that in the ending, a very fitting solution to a problem Buffy's been working to solve for 7 seasons, was proper for the show. Your question, while it's not unanswerable or irrelevant to the Buffyverse as a whole, seems out of place to me on BtVS itself. I do think the idea of a network of information sharing and a decentralization of power is alluded to earlier in the season; there is a scene with Giles and Willow (and perhaps Dawn?) in which Giles, for the first time, becomes interested in what possibilities the internet might have for sharing information, as opposed to being so rigidly in favor of books, rare books/single copy books strictly held and guarded by representatives of the WC, at that. So, sharing of information, information as power, sharing that worldwide among this loose network of Slayers (and perhaps Xander, Willow, etc., are functioning as local representatives, helping train, etc. rather than just vacationing in Africa and SA) and maybe humans helping the Slayers like Xander and Willow did...I think that's thematically resonant. I don't think your question is thematically resonant for this show. A possible question for some iteration of the universe to deal with, absolutely; I mean, I'm interested in the question, too. But Buffy's a show about a girl and her personal experiences, and it's never been about the larger sociopolitical system of the world, and I wouldn't feel that the show could or should try to contain that question unless it wanted to become a very different show. Any more than I'd want The West Wing to deal with the personal experiences of single teens and young adults. Every show isn't about every thing, you know? And I think that in the larger schematic of the Buffyverse, it's not yet "time" for the public at large to be made to deal with the existence of demons. And while the public doesn't know exactly what the police do, they know criminals exist, and the existence of those human criminals doesn't call their entire belief system into question.
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Date: 2005-04-04 05:08 am (UTC)population isn't aware of - unless you want to go out and do a lot of
research. Do we know exactly what the firefighters, police or coast guard
do? But we fund them, and we also have oversight. It keeps them connected
to society - so if a Firefighter gets hurt in the line of duty, we can
take care of them and be responsible for them.
Well, it's actually obvious that at the very least the US government is aware both of the existence of demons and of the Slayer, since they created the Initiative. And as such, if they wished to offer assistance/input to the Slayer, they've known where to find her for several years.
I guess I'm asking you for an action plan, something that could've been achieved or an agenda that could've been articulated inside the confines of this television show. The questions that you're asking...I don't know, they don't seem to belong to BtVS. I can see them being addressed by AtS, which traditionally concerned itself with larger more pervasive institutions of power. BtVS...the question of the One Girl dealing with both the pressures and the rewards of being the One Girl belongs to BtVS very strongly and is a recurring theme. Buffy spent her life alternately bitching about being the One and then dealing with different feelings arising from situations in which she wasn't the only One; it's not just being a Slayer. Yes, she dealt twice with sharing that power with another woman, but she also saw herself replaced by Tara in Willow's life, and I think she recognized that from Willow's perspective, she herself displaced Willow's position as the only girl in Xander's life. Twice she experienced a situation in which the death of another woman meant that Buffy would be the only one to take over an enormous set of responsibilities from that woman; first as Slayer, then with her mother's death. So, to me, that question and dealing with that in the ending, a very fitting solution to a problem Buffy's been working to solve for 7 seasons, was proper for the show. Your question, while it's not unanswerable or irrelevant to the Buffyverse as a whole, seems out of place to me on BtVS itself. I do think the idea of a network of information sharing and a decentralization of power is alluded to earlier in the season; there is a scene with Giles and Willow (and perhaps Dawn?) in which Giles, for the first time, becomes interested in what possibilities the internet might have for sharing information, as opposed to being so rigidly in favor of books, rare books/single copy books strictly held and guarded by representatives of the WC, at that. So, sharing of information, information as power, sharing that worldwide among this loose network of Slayers (and perhaps Xander, Willow, etc., are functioning as local representatives, helping train, etc. rather than just vacationing in Africa and SA) and maybe humans helping the Slayers like Xander and Willow did...I think that's thematically resonant. I don't think your question is thematically resonant for this show. A possible question for some iteration of the universe to deal with, absolutely; I mean, I'm interested in the question, too. But Buffy's a show about a girl and her personal experiences, and it's never been about the larger sociopolitical system of the world, and I wouldn't feel that the show could or should try to contain that question unless it wanted to become a very different show. Any more than I'd want The West Wing to deal with the personal experiences of single teens and young adults. Every show isn't about every thing, you know? And I think that in the larger schematic of the Buffyverse, it's not yet "time" for the public at large to be made to deal with the existence of demons. And while the public doesn't know exactly what the police do, they know criminals exist, and the existence of those human criminals doesn't call their entire belief system into question.