Two questions

[lirazel]

1. What happens to potentials after they age out? Once they are old enough that they know they won't be called, what do they do? From what we see of Kendra, they've been raised to deny their emotions and not to know how to relate to the larger world. It's all dutydutyduty. How do they ever acclimate themselves to the rest of the world? I can imagine some of them becoming Watchers--Lydia, for example, could have been a potential at one time. But obviously they can't all go into that line of work.

Also, as a sort of corollary to that question, from what I can tell, the WC does a really bad job of finding all the potentials, since Buffy, Faith, Rona, Chao-Ahn, and aaaaalll those girls who were empowered by Willow's spell in "Chosen" had no contact with the WC. And was Giles trying to actively find little baseball girl and the girl in the trailer and all the other girls who became Slayers that day? If they're just going about their business, wouldn't the First have been after them?

Any thoughts?


2. I'm going to ramble a bit about this here because I don't want to get into another fight on whedonesque.

So there's this discussion about whether Angel was a better show than Buffy (it wasn't, but I'm not going to argue with someone over their own taste ;) ). What I'm finding really fascinating about the discussion is that the guys in the thread are all saying they liked Angel better because there are more strong male characters to relate to.

I think the main reason I'm finding it so interesting is because Joss has specifically said that he wanted men to be able to relate to Buffy. He talks in the Equality Now speech about how he wants men to find things to relate to in a woman's story, things they might not be comfortable embracing otherwise.

Besides, as a woman, I've been inundated with male stories from birth, and I have zero problem relating to men. For instance, Spike is the character I most relate to out of the whole universe (even if Buffy's my favorite, I don't start relating to her at all until her commitment to protecting her sister and her struggles with clinical depression in the later seasons. Early-seasons!Buffy and I have nothing in common). Any given book in lit class or any show that I watch, it's a toss-up whether it'll be a woman character or a man who I most relate to. I mean, favorite literary character ever? Quentin Compson. I have nothing in common with Caddy.

I've always found it endlessly fascinating that women can always relate to male characters but men can't relate to women. It's all about the ways in which our culture privileges male stories and marginalizes female ones. I definitely plan on making a commitment to having my sons read/watch stories from the female perspective so that they can learn to relate. There are tons of awesome young adult books out there with girls as heroes, and then there’s shows like Buffy and Veronica Mars when they get a little older. I want my sons to have no problem with embracing Buffy or Meg's adventures in A Wrinkle in Time or Mary Lennox's transformation in The Secret Garden or Mara's courage and resourcefulness in Mara: Daughter of the Nile (my favorite book in my early teens, and one that's basically a historical spy novel that I think would be awesome for both genders, but the title discourages guys from picking it up). Obviously, I want my daughters to relate to boys and men, too, but they'll have no problem picking that up--it's what our culture teaches them to do from birth.

I don't know, I guess I just found it discouraging that all those guys can't relate to women. I'm always more disappointed to see sexism or racism or just plain cluelessness on whedonesque precisely because I expect more of the people who embrace those shows, and even though this isn't nearly on the level of the arguments I've gotten into over there with guys who think objectifying women is no big deal, it still disappoints me.

So my question is: am I absolutely ridiculous to be disappointed?

Plus, I think I'm a bit annoyed because every show/movie/book ever has strong male characters for them to relate to. Ever. Show. Ever.

Comments

[deird1]

the WC does a really bad job of finding all the potentials, since Buffy, Faith, Rona, Chao-Ahn, and aaaaalll those girls who were empowered by Willow's spell in "Chosen" had no contact with the WC.

Yeah, but I'd say that's largely because the Potentials with Watchers were much easier to find, and thus got slaughtered by Bringers first...



From what we see of Kendra, they've been raised to deny their emotions and not to know how to relate to the larger world. It's all dutydutyduty. How do they ever acclimate themselves to the rest of the world?

I've never really seen Kendra as the Standard Model Potential. I'd think of most of the Potentials as being similar to Kennedy.
And yeah, I think a lot of them would have become Watchers.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Yep, I agree with this. *nods*

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

That's no doubt true. I think if I understood the limits of the First's powers more, I'd be able to reconcile it. It's not omniscient, obviously, but just how much can it see/how many places can it be at once? Other people might not have this problem, but I'm always unsure of what the rules are with it, besides the fact that it's incorporeal and can only appear as dead people.

However, what I meant by that original statement was that the WC is bad at just finding the Potentials to get them prepared to be the Slayer, even before the First appears on the scene.


I've never really seen Kendra as the Standard Model Potential. I'd think of most of the Potentials as being similar to Kennedy. That's interesting. I always liked the idea of Kendra being the Standard Model because it made Buffy even more special and her standing up to the Council even more bad ass. I have some problems reconciling earlier Slayer knowledge with what we see in S7, though, so it could be just me.

[next_to_normal]

Re: the Standard Model Potential - I think it really depends on the culture in which the Potential is raised. Kendra says that the calling is taken very seriously by her people, and that's why her parents gave her up to her Watcher to be trained from a young age.

I don't want to get too stereotypical about developed countries vs. developing ones, but I would imagine that a Potential growing up in the US, like Kennedy, would get a VERY different reaction from her parents. Slayers and vampires are not part of Western culture (except as myths), so the obedience to duty and custom Kendra's people practiced would be absent. The Council would just have to adapt their methods to whatever the Slayer and her family would accept.

I still think Buffy's special, though. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

No, I think you're probably right. I would still think that the Council would try to lessen a girl's distractions--Kennedy might be able to interact with her family, but I can't imagine they would let her be on a sports team or go out clubbing with friends on a regular basis, you know? But the extent to which they restrict a Potential's interactions with the greater world could definitely be dependent upon what culture they're in. And what era she's living in.

I still think Buffy's special, though. :) Absolutely. :)