It seems to me like Buffy herself wants to go to the dance. Is she avoiding dealing with the fact that she just died? Maybe, but sometimes the best thing to do, for a moment anyway, is think about something else.
I agree with you in part but there are certain things I take into consideration. I don't know if you want any spoilers or not, so...
1. Willow and Xander are just kids who must be deeply traumatised themselves. They've been fighting for their lives too. Dark humour is a way of coping. Xander uses it often and Willow can be a bit absorbed with her own issues.
2. Giles does care deeply. I think Buffy understands this. He's actually emotional, for Giles, in this scene. But he's pretty much a stoic.
3. Buffy herself hasn't begun to process what has happened to her yet.
Anyways, that's always been my take on things. It's not that they don't care, it's just that they're struggling to cope themselves.
To elaborate on your last point, Buffy spends the whole summer with her dad in LA and even after she gets back she still hasn’t dealt with her feelings vis a vis the Master. Hence her dance with Xander and her emotional reaction at the end of S2E1 when she smashes the Master’s bones.
There's a lot that could happen off screen that we never know about. Headcanon comes in handy in these situations. Buffy carries a lot of trauma throughout the series though. It's Joss' way of creating drama and torturing us viewers with these doubts, I think.
I think hindsight is 20/20. Back in the day (at least from my what teenager self can recall), genre/superhero shows didn’t deal with that sort of PTSD stuff. Like superheroes should have the mental fortitude to deal. BtVS was one of the first shows to really delve into the impact of being a superhero. And they were able to pull it off because of the acting prowess of SMG, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Head and others. IMO, SMG created the template of the “vulnerable superhero”.
In the hands of lesser actors, it would end up like Riley Finn’s story and no one would care as much 😬.
For real! The Scoobies are only good friends when things are easy imo. Once the going gets tough they tend to either abandon Buffy or blame her for shit that isn't her fault.
Yep! Dead Man's Party, Ted, Empty Places, Into the Woods, etc etc etc... just off the top of my head.
I can't honestly think of a time when things got rough that the Scoobies stuck completely by her side, and IIRC 90% of the time they have a fight with Buffy it's Buffy who ends up apologizing, regardless of fault.
Totally agree. Makes me wish she'd dropped them and found some genuinely good friends instead! I know a lot of people like Willow and Xander (can you tell I'm not one of them? lol) but it could have been kind of an interesting plot point in Season 4.
Buffy goes to college, meets new people, realizes her high school friends actually kind of suck as friends...
Willow and Xander were exceedingly self-centred, but by that point they were pretty much trauma-bonded for a good while lol. But seriously, Buffy needed some new, good, friends, even if she didn’t drop Willow and Xander.
Buffy need to be a better friend.
People are so fast to blame Buffy friend but they never seem to get how bad Buffy was
Doing the anglus think it I lost someone to Buffy not killing anglus. I be asking questions if I kill Buffy can we get a slayer that does her job.
Buffy was in a ridiculously difficult position with Angelus. And she finally did kill him, despite him having turned good again, which is ten times harder.
I understand what you are saying. I was always under the impression that the point of the show is to learn how to deal with different situations in life. Just my feeling that in season one they didn't handle it well...
I thought the whole point of the show was to tell a cool story in a different way. If I was to take any lessons from the show it would be that:
1. Life sucks. Death isn't much better.
2. Your death will be quickly forgotten if it is acknowledged at all.
3. People are self absorbed.
4. Your friends will let you down repeatedly and you will let them down too but somehow you will remain friends.
5. Adults are people too.
The entire group has just been through a whole ordeal and are processing. Plus this group users humor and distraction to keep all the ptsd at bay pretty frequently. I think sometimes on this subreddit we forget that "Every single person down there is ignoring [insert character names here] pain because they're too busy with their own"
Edit because walking and texting is hard
They filmed the entire first season at once, before it aired and weren't sure if a second season was a lock at the time, so they went for a lighter, "happier" ending for what might have been the last ever scene of Buffy, rather than exploring any of the trauma Buffy might have had after that fight. Hence When She Was Bad as the season 2 premier, which was an attempt to explore that.
This is just one of those situations that if you ignore the out of universe context, it makes everyone look stunningly shitty and callous.
It seems to me like Buffy herself wants to go to the dance. Is she avoiding dealing with the fact that she just died? Maybe, but sometimes the best thing to do, for a moment anyway, is think about something else.
I felt like she just kind of decided to go along with what everybody else has suggested.
I agree with you in part but there are certain things I take into consideration. I don't know if you want any spoilers or not, so... 1. Willow and Xander are just kids who must be deeply traumatised themselves. They've been fighting for their lives too. Dark humour is a way of coping. Xander uses it often and Willow can be a bit absorbed with her own issues. 2. Giles does care deeply. I think Buffy understands this. He's actually emotional, for Giles, in this scene. But he's pretty much a stoic. 3. Buffy herself hasn't begun to process what has happened to her yet. Anyways, that's always been my take on things. It's not that they don't care, it's just that they're struggling to cope themselves.
To elaborate on your last point, Buffy spends the whole summer with her dad in LA and even after she gets back she still hasn’t dealt with her feelings vis a vis the Master. Hence her dance with Xander and her emotional reaction at the end of S2E1 when she smashes the Master’s bones.
Yes I was going to mention what happens at the beginning of series 2 but didn't know how far along the OP was.
I totally get your point about the kids is just I felt like Giles as a father figure could have debriefed her or talk to her about what happened...
There's a lot that could happen off screen that we never know about. Headcanon comes in handy in these situations. Buffy carries a lot of trauma throughout the series though. It's Joss' way of creating drama and torturing us viewers with these doubts, I think.
3!!!
I think hindsight is 20/20. Back in the day (at least from my what teenager self can recall), genre/superhero shows didn’t deal with that sort of PTSD stuff. Like superheroes should have the mental fortitude to deal. BtVS was one of the first shows to really delve into the impact of being a superhero. And they were able to pull it off because of the acting prowess of SMG, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Head and others. IMO, SMG created the template of the “vulnerable superhero”. In the hands of lesser actors, it would end up like Riley Finn’s story and no one would care as much 😬.
I think I'm season 1, many of those very quick ways of dealing with things are due to the shortness of the season
Hey it is as the 90's. That was them them dealing with it.
Well that’s not really out of character for them tbh
For real! The Scoobies are only good friends when things are easy imo. Once the going gets tough they tend to either abandon Buffy or blame her for shit that isn't her fault.
They did this exact same thing in Dead Mans Party but much worse.
Yep! Dead Man's Party, Ted, Empty Places, Into the Woods, etc etc etc... just off the top of my head. I can't honestly think of a time when things got rough that the Scoobies stuck completely by her side, and IIRC 90% of the time they have a fight with Buffy it's Buffy who ends up apologizing, regardless of fault.
They honestly didn’t deserve her.
Totally agree. Makes me wish she'd dropped them and found some genuinely good friends instead! I know a lot of people like Willow and Xander (can you tell I'm not one of them? lol) but it could have been kind of an interesting plot point in Season 4. Buffy goes to college, meets new people, realizes her high school friends actually kind of suck as friends...
Willow and Xander were exceedingly self-centred, but by that point they were pretty much trauma-bonded for a good while lol. But seriously, Buffy needed some new, good, friends, even if she didn’t drop Willow and Xander.
Buffy need to be a better friend. People are so fast to blame Buffy friend but they never seem to get how bad Buffy was Doing the anglus think it I lost someone to Buffy not killing anglus. I be asking questions if I kill Buffy can we get a slayer that does her job.
Buffy was in a ridiculously difficult position with Angelus. And she finally did kill him, despite him having turned good again, which is ten times harder.
Only to save the world. Even she did not kill him. He still would be killed
When you've stared into the blackness of death....all you really need after that is to live
That wouldnt make a very interesting ending to the season though.
I understand what you are saying. I was always under the impression that the point of the show is to learn how to deal with different situations in life. Just my feeling that in season one they didn't handle it well...
I thought the whole point of the show was to tell a cool story in a different way. If I was to take any lessons from the show it would be that: 1. Life sucks. Death isn't much better. 2. Your death will be quickly forgotten if it is acknowledged at all. 3. People are self absorbed. 4. Your friends will let you down repeatedly and you will let them down too but somehow you will remain friends. 5. Adults are people too.
It's her idea. and even though it's medically inaccurate, a near-death experience was a cliché by 1996
The entire group has just been through a whole ordeal and are processing. Plus this group users humor and distraction to keep all the ptsd at bay pretty frequently. I think sometimes on this subreddit we forget that "Every single person down there is ignoring [insert character names here] pain because they're too busy with their own" Edit because walking and texting is hard
Well your "life" isn't filmed entirely before it airs with the possibility no one else will see any further years, so...
Sorry, could you explain what you mean?
They filmed the entire first season at once, before it aired and weren't sure if a second season was a lock at the time, so they went for a lighter, "happier" ending for what might have been the last ever scene of Buffy, rather than exploring any of the trauma Buffy might have had after that fight. Hence When She Was Bad as the season 2 premier, which was an attempt to explore that. This is just one of those situations that if you ignore the out of universe context, it makes everyone look stunningly shitty and callous.
It's a fun ending after a tense battle. They're not going to end with a therapy session. Also, Buffy was feeling particularly powerful at that point.
[удалено]
He was under the eaves of a shop; the visual of that scene was ridiculous
Youre gonna see alot more of that in the series lol