Dawn!
quote:
Anything is possible, but the internal logic of the show dictates that it’s probably not gonna happen.
Too reiterate: If the show continues on without SMG in the title role (as has been suggested by the network and producers), Dawn is most likely to fill Buffy’s shoes. Indeed, with talk about the new season going back to ‘ground zero’ and being set in and around Sunnydale High (again), Dawn is apparently going to be a mediating focus of sorts. Whether this is intended as preparatory for a new Slayer or signals a new dawn in the history of the show remains to be seen of course.
Insisting on what’s probably ‘not gonna happen’ or whether such a possibility may or may be ‘dictated’ by the show’s internal logic is only convincing us of the tenability of your own convictions Aleck.
It certainly fails to see how suggestive the ‘ground zero’ proposal might be, and ignores the possibility that the producers et al might want to rethink this ‘logic’ internally and from ‘the ground up’. Whilst I certainly agree that the idea is implausible – and possibly even unwelcome – such agreement presupposes the very things at issue, and begs the question I’ve raised ( not to mention, the possibilty those behind the scenes have themselves encouraged).
I recall Whedon being faced with the prospect of bringing Buffy back from the dead on another network (both literally and figuratively), and acknowledged the internal difficulties. Many people think – rightly or wrongly – that ‘displacing’ Buffy last season was a mistake, and that Whedon’s failed to convincingly pull off Buffy’s ‘resurrection’. I certainly thought the ‘it wasn’t her time’ excuse lame in the extreme, especially when it encourages notions of predestination at odds with the show’s arbritary and free will ethos.
The idea of her sleeping with Spike and Willow wanting to destroy the world might have also been thought ‘unlikely’, but Whedon somehow managed to render it thinkable anyway. And the very notion of Buffy suddenly having a sister and giving up her own life for a complete ‘stranger’ may have been thought equally ‘unlikely and illogical’ – but it happened and cohered in retrospect. Do I think the Dawn as Slayer idea is tenable ? Of course not. But how would I know? I’m yet to see the way Whedon is thinking about reconceptualising the Buffy universe, assuming that is what he really intends to do. For all I know, the close relationship between Dawn and Spike was prophetic in same way, and that him getting his soul back might even eventually render him her ‘Watcher’. It certainly would be consistent with the Slayer’s current ‘renegage status in modern times’ idea, and may even coincide with the show’s ostensible theme of ‘growing up’.
But like you -I’m just speculating about my understanding of ‘the past’. Unlike you, I’m not trying to convince you (or anyone else) that I might be right – and to be frank, I actually hope that I might be wrong. The fact that Whedon has gone on record to almost implore Faith to find time to return to the fold this season might even be suggestive of something else entirely, assuming the powers that be decide to continue on without Buffy. And the idea of Faith: The Vampire Slayer is certainly more appealing (not to mention, convincing as Squish was quck to point out). Given her troubled soul, however, this idea would have to be taken on faith – not something the council would be entirely comfortable with. It would also render the very idea of the Slayer both unstable and untenable. Maybe being ‘slayerish’ is the best we can hope for in all possible worlds – an idea that would cohere with one of Wheden’s major thematic of learning to accept who we are and de/limited responsibilities.
For or all we know, the question of the status of Slayer might be contingent upon a completely ‘external’ factor – like whether Firefly is a success or not.
You’re relentless need to be be right – coupled with your tendency to structure discourse around your own beliefs and desires – borders on pathology. To repeat smart Aleck : Whether ‘ground zero’ is intended as preparatory for a new Slayer or signals a new dawn in the history of the show remains to be seen .
[ 24-08-2002: Message edited by: bonnee ]