lirazel: An outdoor scene from the film Picnic at Hanging Rock ([btvs] not happy)
lirazel ([personal profile] lirazel) wrote2010-12-14 11:50 am

Annoyance of the day:

People who flat-out say that Buffy didn't love Spike despite the fact that she said she did.

She said she did. The only reason we have to believe that she didn't is one thing Spike said, and since when do people believe anything that comes out of Spike's mouth? Boy can speak the truth that no one else will, but he also says a ton of b.s., and everyone knows it.

I just hatehatehatehatehatehate all of these people sitting around telling a woman (and it would be a woman--if a man said, it I think a lot less people would disagree with her) who finds it nearly impossible to say the words "I love you" even to people she regards as family (remember "Intervention"? That's canon) that she doesn't love someone when she said she did.

I don't have a problem with people quibbling over the nature of her love. You can argue that she didn't love him romantically or as much as she did Angel or whatever (I would disagree with the first one and re: the second, I would remind you that, as [livejournal.com profile] the_royal_anna says, we don't love in amounts. We love in ways). That's legit. But to say, flat-out, that she didn't love him even though she says she did takes agency away from Buffy in a way that I am entirely uncomfortable with and that DRIVES ME CRAZY, OKAY. If she had said she loved Riley (she didn't, did she?), I would be pissed at people saying she didn't love him, either. Uuuugh why does this annoy me so much?

[identity profile] blackfrancine.livejournal.com 2010-12-14 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Fire = sparks = a very important part of their repertoire of symbols, right next to dirt, dancing and above/below dichotomies. Clearly a universal indicator of Buffy feeling. (See also: "I touch the fire and it freezes me". Also, I suppose, cleansing, new beginnings - the S3 finale. I, is there meta on this? Fire in the Buffyverse? There has to be.)

Yes. So, so much. Fire is CLEARLY set up in The Gift as being love. "Your love is like the fire--it's blinding." And then in season 6 when she's unable to feel connected, Buffy "wants the fire back."

And she gets it back. Boy howdy does she ever. The symbolism 100% supports that Buffy loved Spike, IMO.

And I totally think there's text there to support healing/cleansing/new beginnings fire, too. Because to me, it seems like when they burst into flames, her sword wound heals even faster (I've seen some people theorize that it's Spike's soul that heals her)--or you could say she's just surprised by the fire, and I'm totally reading too much into it. But whatever. I see healing flames. Sue me.

I'm sure there's some meta somewhere on this, but I don't know where.