Buffy and the AR
I have read and heard a lot about how the journey of Buffy healing after the AR should be a main Buffy theme in early season 7 rather than focusing on Spike. I interpret this as
1) it’s a fuck-awful trope that we see too much of, and I completely agree.
2) The trope of woman going through hell to further a man’s arc is a horrific message - it excuses, romanticizes, and glorifies abusive behavior. A victim of assault will be damaged - and will need to recover - and that recovery is what the story has to concentrate on.
3) A real victim of an assault probably won’t be comfortable with his/her attacker alone out in the dark - or in a room with others during the day. An assault is horrific - even if you fight off your attacker and prevent him from raping you. To have someone you trust attack you is even worse. It would take some extreme circumstances to work through that and beyond.
Basically I agree with all three of these arguments as individual assertions.It’s when Doylist and Watsonian are combined that I have a problem.
2) Doylist - the writer - If I agree that in fiction there is only one way to handle a sexual assault, only one way a victim reacts, and only one way the story can be told then I am limiting my character’s reactions about all physical trauma - being beaten, being stabbed, being actually raped. They are also limited in deciding all interactions. Only one story can be told - and retold. As a writer, I don’t want that sort of restriction - it kills stories. That’s what tropes are - the same events repeated without a real exploration beyond trope limits
Not every story should always show a victim reacting in a certain way - because that isn’t the reality. Representation is important - victims who don’t fit into this portrayal are being told they are reacting wrong. In reality there are many ways to deal and showing just one version does a disservice to victims - future and past. One of the hardest things to do is realize the that your life is not ruined, that survivors won’t always be broken, that survivors aren’t damaged beyond repair. That is a toxic message which this trope reinforces to survivors.. It leaves survivors stuck in the problem stage forever.
3) Watsonian - Inside the universe, Buffy is a super hero. She has no reason to fear the dark - she isn’t weak physically. She could remove any threat with a flick of her hand. Physical intimidation is not an issue.
Buffy is not a normal girl - because if she were should would be dead in this universe. On the day of the AR Buffy was shot and killed (she flat lined). Her close friend was murdered. Her little sister spent hours sitting in the same room with her adoptive mother’s dead body - all alone. Her best friend went on a homicidal and incredibly deadly rampage of torture an murder.. Any single one of those things would cause deep and lasting trauma to a normal girl.
I lost a friend to murder - it changed my life. But In this universe, trauma is the norm. It is the metaphor that forces the journey So, if Buffy is still obviously processing the sexual assault then she shouldt also be processing her own death, the murder of a friend, her sister’s trauma, and her best friend’s murder spree. Those can’t be regarded as being of lesser import to the assault. The AR can’t be on the same level or worse than being killed by the master, or murdering the love of her life.
Let Buffy be a super hero because some survivors need that. Let her not be more traumatized by an assault than everything else. Let us see what a recovered survivor looks like. Because that’s good - that serves a real purpose for some survivors.
Buffy handles Spike like someone who has moved on from that trauma as well as she has moved past the other traumas. She isn’t intimidated - she sets boundaries, she chooses to hear him out - and she doesn’t rescue him!
Even after she learns about the soul she let’s him return to the basement of crazy - his trauma is not her problem. She lets him stay in the basement for 5 episodes, and doesn’t trust him for another 4. (more than a 3rd of the season). She reengages as she needs to. She finally decides to trust him once she is certain of him - which is when he takes her to the people he turned and asks her to stake him.
Buffy is a super hero because her world is not our world. Let her be a role model for recovery. People have different ways of recovering - they need different stories. Buffy’s story has purpose simply because some survivors need to see the goal line more than they need a proper victim trope however healthy it may seem.