Quotes from Psyche Transcripts, ATP & B C & S board posters where noted. Very Long!! So I've decided to post it in sections. Right now Spoilers only to Villians!
"To create great drama or comedy, it is important to put the characters in a place where they are the least comfortable, the place they least want to be."
Before I go into this analysis - I want to point out something: Buffy the Vampire Slayer operates on at least three different levels, any speculation regarding future character development or meaning, needs to take into consideration these three levels.
Level One: Plot - Buffyverse Mythos - this is the whole general plot line of girl is vampire slayer fighting the demons and BB and her journey. Soul canon fits here.
Level Two: Psychological, Literary and Dramatic Metaphor. This incorporates Joseph Campbell, Fairy Tales, Wizard of OZ…etc. The hero's journey or philosophy.
Level Three: Reality, the literal view. Buffy and Spike = bad boyfriend S&M, Drug addictions. Accepting responsibility by doing an ordinary job, etc. This is how it relates to the real world.
And of course there's irony. The writers will always do the opposite of what we expect and always take us to that dark place. My writing challenge is take all the above into account in this analysis/speculation - if I fail - I'm sure someone will tell me. I plan to do this with a little help from some great posters-hope you guys don't mind me quoting you - but I think combined your posts show where these characters are headed and why.
Spike and Willow: The Bloody Awful Poet meets Captain of the Nerd Squad. Unlike Xander and Buffy, Spike and Willow don't mind the monster that much, actually they sort of prefer it, the monster makes them feel powerful, important. It's that small shy geeky nerd that resides inside that they fear and detest. This is a common theme for Joss Whedon, who realizes that as we move into adulthood, we need to learn how to let go of the pains and torments we received in the past. We need to learn new coping skills. Like Spike and Willow, we need to learn how to embrace our inner geek.
Origins of William & Willow: Bloody Awful Poet & Captain Nerd
In Season 1, Btvs we are introduced to shy, nerdy Willow, who wears odd clothes and spends all her time in the library. She squeaks when she speaks like a scared little mouse, jumping when Buffy asks her a question. When Buffy discusses going after Vampires - Willow suggests somewhat timidly calling the police. As Caroline points out in her post, Willow's Journey Through the Underworld posted 5/14/02 on ATP board, Willow of Season 1 is a girl with a lot of fear inside her. "We're not privy to details of her pre-Buffy life or her life with her parents, but I think it's fair interpretation that the child of two psychologists may have some issues. Willow's parents seemed to have practiced a form of benign neglect. As long as she got good grades, didn't put crosses on the wall and wasn't a witch, everything was okay. I think Willow is a good example of the adapted child. It's quite possible that many of the traits she expressed as a child were frowned on by her parents and she eventually developed an external persona that was more pleasing but this is a false sense of self." Caroline's argument is backed up in several different episodes of Btvs. In Passion, Season 2, we see Willow mentioning off-hand, that she's going to have find a way of explaining crosses on the walls to her father, Mr. Rosenberg. In the third episode of Season 3, Faith, Hope, & Tricks - "Willow protests leaving campus for lunch, even though she now has permission: Oh, but, no! What if they changed the rule without telling? What if they're lying in wait to *arrest* me a-and, and throw me in detention and mar my unblemished record?" Then later in Gingerbread, here's the scene between Willow and her mother:
Willow: (surprised) Grounded? This is the first time *ever* I've done something you don't like and I'm grounded? I'm supposed to mess up. I'm a teenager, remember?
Sheila: You're upset, I hear you...
Willow: (stands up) No, Ma, hear this! I'm a rebel! I'm having a rebellion!
Sheila: (smiling) Willow, honey, you don't need to act out like this to prove your specialness.
Willow: Mom, I'm not acting out. I'm a witch! I-I can make pencils float. And I can summon the four elements. Okay, two, but four soon. (her mother doesn't react) A-and I'm dating a musician.
Sheila: (disgusted now) Oh, Willow! (Gingerbread, Season 3, Btvs.)
Breaking the rules - is a big thing for Willow. Clearly her parents wanted her to be the perfect little prodigy - go off do your studies, don't bother us. Having met a few of these children in my lifetime, they tend to adapt to the world as Willow has by being quiet good students, and eventually retreating into drugs. They look for ways to hide. In fact the biggest drug users often tend to be people who have spent their lives trying to be someone else.
Spike is very similar to Willow in this regard. His parents may have also expected him to make tons of money and uplift their status by being a Gentleman. They no doubt sent him to quality schools, hence the scholarly demeanor and interest in poetry. As I've learned from my own experience, it takes more than schooling and money to learn the manners needed to fit within refined society, to be accepted by the elite. To deal with these demands, William developed an external persona that was more pleasing to his parents and teachers, but was false sense of self, easily shattered when he became a demon. (Yes - I know, William's soul is gone, but as Buffy mentions in Lie To Me and Darla states in Dear Boy, the vampire retains the memories and personality of the human it inhabits. The soul may be gone - but the personality and memories remain. So who William was and what William felt is still vitally important to the development of Spike.)
Like Willow, Spike was a geek as a human or as redcat states: William represents a certain recognizable historical character type from the late 19th century. The neurasthenic male. She decribes this person as "thin, slightly stoop-shouldered, fussily-dressed, clean-shaven, wearing glasses, carrying a book…A common linked attribute of this type of character ….was his over-identification with a usually widowed but always over-protective mother and the real or implied absence of a strong father." (See redcat's reply to Rufus's thoughts on Spike, 5/12/02, ATP board.) In this manner, William actually has quite a bit in common with Buffy, who also has the over-identification with the strong - over-protective mother and absence of the strong father figure. A point that both her mother and Professor Walsh comment on. Joyce mentions it in Becoming Part II - stating - "maybe this (vampire slaying and fighting) is the result of not having a strong enough father figure." Professor Walsh echoes her in A NEW MAN (Season 4 Btvs), telling Giles, that maybe Buffy's actions are the result of the lack of a strong father or disciplinarian. A point that Giles takes as an inherent insult. Redcat goes on to mention that "Buffy as the hero exhibits a number of the significant attributes that have been traditionally coded as "masculine."" Interesting - so William appears to take on more feminine attributes due to the lack of the masculine role model while Buffy takes on more masculine attributes - perhaps as a reaction to the lack of said model? In contrast to Willow - who has two parents who spend little or no time with her that we know of. So, do our parents create us? Are they inherently responsible to what we become?
Spike and Willow also mirror one another in their struggle for sexual identity. Willow is neurasthenic female, which is described in 19th century terms as "strongly feminist", pursuing intimacy with women, bookish, physically weak, reliable - all points that Willow initially works to refute. Her denial of these traits is seen as early as " I Robot You Jane" - her interaction with Moloch, showing Buffy and Xander that she too can interact with boys, albeit via a computer. Or later, when we see her dating OZ in "Surprise". She also refutes it in "Doomed", announcing that she is hardly a geek any longer because she is dating "a musician. In Dopplegangerland, she refutes Xander and Buffy's remarks about her being "old reliable" and Snyder's use of her bookish tendencies as well as Percy's comments by stalking off in a huff and deciding to eat a banana before lunchtime. Just as William's reaction is to ignore the aristocrats and go after Cecily, and after she rejects him, flee the scene in tears. It's not until the introduction of Tara and Drusilla, that Willow and William actually find an identity. Drusilla literally hands William his, by turning him into a monster and making him her sexual mate. Through Drusilla he is able to refute the weak-willed shy virginal William, by becoming the sexually aggressive, snarky, in your face Spike. The same thing happens with Willow through Tara. Tara enables Willow to embrace her homosexuality and access magic. With Tara- Willow has the power and is the controlling party. Before it was OZ who called Willow, baby. (Wild at Heart, Season 4, Btvs.) Now it's Willow calling Tara baby. In the scene from HUSH - we see Tara literally bolster Willow's magical powers, something she continues to do throughout Seasons 4 and 5. Although it may not have been intentional, Tara may be part of the reason Willow is as powerful as she is today.
Another important factor in the creation of the Spike persona was "the social class" William came from, which from the evidence presented in Fool For Love and Spike's subsequent reaction, appears to be the low middleclass. We could state this is similar to Willow, class-wise, but we have to be careful in the comparison. Since these two characters are separated by at least a century. A better comparison is how both are seen as outcasts in the social realities they inhabit.
William is described in the Shooting Script to Fool For Love as a sissy or "nancy-boy" -a perfect descriptor "of dear, sweet, slightly pathetic and clearly virginal William." (redcat, ATP board) If Joss Whedon is truly a fan of Jane Austen, then there is another literary image we can reference - the poor lower class relation often featured in Austen's novels. As Malandaz points out, "I see William's family as being thoroughly middle class, but with a father who made money in some trade (unworthy of the aristocracy) like the up and coming families in Jane Austen's novels. They are treated with disdain by the old landed gentry….. His father made money through hard work and either his father or (more likely) his mother wanted to see William become a gentleman. But While William's money may buy him admittance into the upper class, it cannot buy him acceptance." (Malandaz, 5/13/02, Response to Rufus's thoughts, ATP board.) In Jane Austen's novels this relation was often the son or daughter of a solicitor, who while being accepted in the drawing rooms of their wealthier relations, remained on the outskirts, sneered at and never fully accepted. Money was very important to them, because money = class and potential acceptance. Without it, the individual was doomed to remain on the outskirts. Although in English society, even money didn't necessarily equal class, you had to be born into it, which Malandaz eloquently stated above: "it may give him admittance (hence the drawing room scene with Cecily) it cannot buy him acceptance (Cecily and the aristocrats utter rejection of him.)" Perhaps as a reaction to this, " William was not into participating in society, he was a more solitary type, one who was a bit of an academic snob in that he wasn't going to get his hands dirty with 'ugly business' he clearly wouldn't be involved in." (Rufus, post on Spike on ATP Board.)
MALE PARTYGOER: Ah William. Favor us with your opinion. What do you make of this rash of disappearances sweeping our town? Animals - or thieves?
SPIKE: I prefer not to think of such dark, ugly business at all. That's what police are for.
(Fool For Love, Season 5, Btvs.)
Does this remind you of anyone? Willow - in Season 1, Btvs, sits and struggles with breathing when she discovers there are vampires. Like William she almost gets vamped, seizing the moment with a vampire. She has just been rejected by Xander - the guy she adores and asks Buffy how to get a guy - Buffy suggests seizing the moment and off she goes. Lucky for Willow, Buffy is able to save her. William runs off after Cecily rejects him and is approached by Drusilla and likewise seizes the moment. When questioned about vampires - both mention talking to the police. Both are somewhat snobby and solitary - preferring libraries and books to people and mooning over the objects of their affection from afar. Willow dreamily listens to Xander practice asking Buffy out in Prophecy Girl while William dreamily writes poems to Cecily. (Fool for Love) When they approach the objects of their affection, both are summarily rejected. Willow is called one of the guys (Witch, Season 1) and William is told he is beneath her. (Fool for Love, Season 5).
The difference between William and Willow - is partly time period. As redcat notes - William was the product of his society. In doing their research - the writers carefully chose a model of the male outcast in English Society of the 1880s. Someone who was not born into the upper classes, was reduced to the scholarly or lower middle class and was tolerated by his wealthier relations and acquaintances. A character that populates most of Jane Austen's novels. Willow is the outcast of modern day society - called "Captain of the Nerd squad" by Percy in Doomed, Season 4, Btvs. The class brain who wears the weird clothes and hides her nose in books. Awkward in her own skin, Willow doesn't appear to know how to talk to her fellow classmates and her voice often comes out like a squeak. William's is halting and somewhat fussy like Giles, with a slight stutter. Both are gutsy in their own way - Willow striving to get closer to Xander in season 1 and William pursuing Cecily. Neither deal with the resulting pain well. As a possible result of this rejection - when the opportunity arises - both choose to reinvent themselves.
Reinvention of Self : Becoming the Monster
A. The Drug/Alcohol Metaphor - Buffyverse as Real World
Halfway through Season 2 , Willow begins to delve into magic, and it is at that point we see her begin to gain confidence in herself and her place within the gang. Willow's magic use, even at this early stage, can be used as a metaphor for drugs. As one poster mentioned, I forget who, hallucinogenic drugs have a similar affect on the user as magic - it changes your mental reality. The side effects are also similar: nosebleeds, dizzy spells. Mind- Altering dugs such as LSD, Ecstasy, and other milder hallucingenics can make the user feel freer creatively, more powerful, uninhibited, or in some regards merely different. Some drugs may even give the user a false sense of security or confidence. (Prozac, Paxil are current remedies.) In the 1960s, Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson used drugs to reach another level or higher level of consciousness. (See "Sex, Drugs & Magick" by Robert Anton Wilson.). In controlled settings drugs were used to alter personalities of psychopaths and schizophrenics. The government also experimented with drug use - just as Riley and Sam's shamans experiment with dark magics in the jungle. (As You Were, Season 6, Btvs) Unfortunately a prevalent side-effect of repeated/unmonitored use was the complete breakdown of the patient's psyche. Some users' minds were simply gone - reduced to states of catatonia in which they would never return. A description that is quite similar to Sam's description of the shamans in As You Were. " They got addicted, there was nothing left, they were simply gone."
This metaphor can be compared to Spike's reliance and craving for blood. Unlike Willow, Spike cannot exist without blood. But Spike could choose to exist on pig's blood instead of human blood. (This point was made by Leslie, Sophist, Rufus and Malandaz in my Angel/Spike comparison on the ATP board.) Spike's addiction to human blood -on a realistic level, works as a metaphor for alcoholism. If he bites the girl in Smashed - the implication is he won't be able to stop. The chip is what holds him back - but the desire for it remains. He lusts after it like an alcoholic peering in the window of a liquor store. "Look at all the goodies." He says in Smashed, just before he finds one and argues with himself about biting her. The argument reminded me of a drunk falling off the wagon after a fight with his girlfriend. (Smashed had two characters flirting with this - Willow in the Bronze, and Spike in the alley.) Just like biting the girl in Crush - implies that he has fallen off the wagon. (Season 5). Both times, he reacts to the temptation the way an alcoholic would, teary-eyed, debating it either aloud or internally, I shouldn't do this…but what the hell, I'm evil, and no one's looking and …But like the alcoholic, one bite is enough. Just as Angel begins to crave Connor's blood in Sleep Tight, Ats Season 3, because his pig's blood has been spiked with it. Angel makes this point on more than one occasion - that he can't bit humans, because if he does, he's lost, the bloodlust takes over. (See Season 1-2 Ats.) Human blood may make the vamps feel more powerful, just as Willow's use of dark magic makes her feel more powerful - but the consequences are that they end up falling under the compass of chaos. Chaos tempts them and they succumb - Willow in the Bronze, who after awhile wonders if there's anything bigger and Spike who tries to do it in the alley only to be curtailed by the chip. (Smashed Season 6) Just as the drug user and alcoholic become chaotic under the influence: they believe they are in control, but they aren't, the false sense of control is one of the side-effects. What's interesting about Spike, is the writers haven't stopped with the implied blood = alcohol dependency metaphor, they've also made Spike addicted to alcohol, he spends a good portion of Lover's Walk (Season 3), Entropy (Season 6) and part of Seeing Red (Season 6), drinking. Like Willow, Spike uses outside means to numb his pain.
Another far less literal and more psychological metaphor for Willow's magic and Spike's vampiric urges -is unleashing the dark part of their psyche or monster to hide the geek.
B. Changing Personas Through Costume and Outward Appearence
The more Willow uses the magic, the more confident and cocky and self-assured Willow becomes, almost as if she is putting on a costume, something she does literally and figuratively before and after she starts practicing witchcraft. In fact, both Spike and Willow change costumes to express the persona they wish the outside world to see.
Willow seems to wear many costumes in the beginning of Season 2. In Inca Mummy Girl, she is wearing an Eskimo suite that literally hides every portion of her body but her face. Later in Halloween, Buffy tries unsuccessfully to get Willow to wear a funky mid-driff revealing outfit instead of the ghost costume she bought at Ethan Rayne's. Willow freaks out, feeling overly exposed by the sexy clothes and puts on the sheet instead. Buffy tells her: "Willow, no one is ever going to see you if you don't stop hiding." In Halloween the ghost costume turns Willow literally into a ghost and everyone sees the revealing costume underneath. Willow's costume doesn't protect her. But, Willow doesn't get this. Instead of letting herself be truly seen as she is, she just finds another costume - this one being magic. In Restless - Willow is told repeatedly that she needs to remove her costume. But by Season 4, Willow's identity has become so tied up with her outward use of magic that she no longer knows it is just a costume until it is literally stripped from her.
Willow's use of magic or adoption of this costume starts after Jenny Calendar is killed in Passion. Willow takes over her classes, her computer and her studies in magic, discovering another way to hide. And it doesn't hurt that she is really good at it. But
Willow doesn't just use magic to hide, she also uses it to feel valuable to the group. She started out helping with her ability to hack into computers, but as time passes she uses magic. As Rufus states in her essay about Pain as a Barrier to Light, "Willow has always been the geek type, insecure little girl who felt powerless, unable to see her positive attributes as she was so busy ruminating over her failings or perceived flaws. Then she found something she was very good at - magic. Willow started her trip into the magical arts like one would embark on a science experiment, then she found out that she had actual talent beyond the beaker and burner experiments in magic." Rufus goes on to point out that Willow remains in Sunnydale to help the others, keep them safe from danger.
Buffy: Okay, well, there are safer schools. There are safer prisons. I can't let you stay because of me.
Willow: Actually, this isn't about you. Although I'm fond, don't get me wrong, of you. The other night, you know, being captured and all, facing off with Faith. Things just, kind of, got clear. I mean, you've been fighting evil here for three years, and I've helped some, and now we're supposed to decide what we want to do with our lives. And I just realized that that's what I want to do. Fight evil, help people… (Choices, Btvs Season 3)
In using her magic to aid in the good fight, Willow comes forward out of the dark library and computer room. She is no longer hidden. In The Zeppo and Choices (Season 3), we see Willow with Buffy on the front lines, casting spells. Xander, who used to be the one fighting alongside Buffy in Harvest and Prophecy Girl (Season 1) and Innocence and Becoming Part II (Season 2) is now relegated to Zeppo status or left out as the weak party. Willow has taken his place.
Before Spike becomes a vampire - we see him in a tweed suit and glasses, not unlike the suit he is wearing in Tabula Rasa or the suit that Giles wears through the majority of Season 1 Btvs. He's accent is refined scholarly English - similar to Giles and Wesely's English accents. (See Fool for Love, Season 5 Btvs) After he is turned into a Vampire and changes his name from William the Bloody to Spike, we see him in worker's clothing, suspenders, a white shirt, and overalls. His accent is North London, cockney similar to the accent Alex uses in A Clockwork Orange or Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. The suspenders and loose white shirt are the clothes he wears when he kills the slayer during the Boxer Rebellion. It's interesting to note that his clothing, accent and overall demeanor is much more lower class than Drusilla, Darla and Angelus' who wear full suits befitting upperclass ladies and gentleman of the period. Spike's outfit makes him appear to be their hired hand or servant. His hair is tied back during this period and still a natural light sandy blond. (This is his first costume - Spike wears on in his quest to distance himself from "nancy-boy" William, whom he detests. (See Fool for Love, where Spike insists on using the name Spike. Or the number of times he uses the word "nancy-boy" or "poof" to describe someone who is fussily dressed or poetic. In Season 2, in response to Buffy's comment, "do we really need weapons?"- he states "No, but they make me feel all manly," stroking his groin as he says it.(School Hard, Season 2.)
Dochawk is right when he/she states in posts that Spike is not a truthsayer. Far from it, Spike may occasionally reveal emotional truths about the others - but this is either by accident or to further his own opportunistic ends. Spike is constantly lying to himself. When it comes to his own situation - Spike is essentially blind. Most of what he says is a lie or a charade. He plays the Big Bad for all it's worth. Because the alternative, the pathetic, weakwilled, William he once was - is something he can't stand to contemplate. Yet Spike's version of the Big Bad is nothing more than a black and white 1930's villain. A poser or sideshow freak. Not a true threat. (See Joss Whedon's commentary on Restless, Season 4 DVD, as posted by Rahael on ATP board.)
When Spike next appears in a subway train attacking the NY slayer, he is punk rock Spike, with white hair, cut short to his head and slicked back, eyeliner, a safety pin through one eyebrow, sliver rings on both hands, a sliver necklace and pierced ears. He is wearing black jeans. A sleeveless white t-shirt and a black leather vest with sliver studs. He looks like a combination of Sid Vicious and Billy Idol. This is when he picks up his trademark leather jacket. (Fool For Love, Season 5 Btvs, flashbacks). Through the drastic shifts in costume - Spike goes from shy scholar to ruffian to bad boy punk to shadowy sexual predator - the image represented by the black duster, which almost operates like a cape.
When Spike first enters Sunnydale - he wears the long black leather duster, red shirt, black t-shirt and black jeans with black boots. His hair is platinum blond or white. His fingernails are painted black. And we seldom see him wearing any jewelry. He also drives a De-Soto with painted windows. When he returns to Sunnydale in Season 4, he is still wearing this outfit, only occasionally dropping the red shirt or the jacket when he's indoors. But the jacket is still clearly part of his persona - which he makes sure he always has nearby. It is not until Season 6 after he starts his sexual relationship with Buffy, that we begin to see a few alterations in this costume: he starts wearing jewelry, his fingernails are no longer black, and he begins wearing button-down shirts instead of the trademark black-t-shirt. Also we see less of the red shirt.
Then in Seeing Red, he does the unthinkable, he sheds the trademark black leather duster, leaving it behind. Now he rides a motorcycle not the black De-Soto. He wears a long-sleeved black t-shirt and black jeans. No jewelry. Spike has changed his costume. He is no longer wearing the cape or trophy from the New York Slayer - his outfit of sexual seduction.
Willow also changed her costume. She goes from wearing fuzzy pink sweaters and clothes that make her look like a child or a as she puts it in Wild at Heart like a "birthday cake", to wearing cool t-dyed t-shirts, leather jackets, peasant shirts, and regular t-shirts.
In Season 1, she wears the school girl uniform, complete with tights and tied back hair. This is similar to Willaim's tweed suit - symbolizing Mommy & Daddy's good little girl. A doll that they've dressed up and sent to school. In Season 2, she wears clothes that almost completely hide her physique such as the Eskimo costume, but starts to loosen up when she begins dating OZ and practicing magic. In Season 3, she's practicing more magic and wearing t-shirts, jeans and fuzzy sweaters. At this point - we see warm, fuzzy, loving Willow. By the time we reach Season 6, Willow has begun to wear black leather jackets, jeans, and mid-riff peasant shirts. This is confident, cool, in control of the world Willow.
In Seeing Red, Willow has red hair, white peasant shirt and blue jeans. She continues to wear this outfit until the end of Act I in Villains, when she changes to black jacket, black jeans and her hair becomes completely black. Willow like Spike becomes stripped of color in Villains. Her skin is white, her hair black and her clothing black. Spike's hair is white and his clothing is black in Seeing Red.
Both characters have changed their costumes to fit their new persona or the persona they wish to convey, which at this point is one of pain and rage. The Big Bad person, the monster that prefers simplicity and has no need for artifice. Yet there may be a difference here, however slight: Willow strips herself of her soft comfy persona down to the dark villainous one. Spike on the other hand, becomes a blank slate - black and white with no adornments. He appears completely uncertain of who or what he is.
Through these alterations in costume or outwardly appearance, the writers have been able to express how the characters wish themselves to be perceived. As both characters grow in confidence, they begin to choose the costume that they feel best expresses their feelings about the world and themselves in general. In this case the absence of color is important, because prior to this both characters liked a spot of color. Spike often would throw something on to make himself pretty for Buffy. Willow did the same for Tara. Their clothing was an expression of the sexual identity, an expression of who they were. It was also used to impress those around them. As Willow fusses over her shirt in OAFA when Tara shows up or Spike changes to the blue shirt and necklace in Smashed to impress Buffy. Now that Buffy and Tara are gone, Spike and Willow have stripped themselves down to the bare essentials, basic black and white. Now that this identity has been ripped from them by either death or removal of the object of their affection - all color and decoration goes with them.
(Okay end of section one and two. Coming up - Spike and Willow's trajectory, use of dark power to do good and problems with that in Jossverse, Tara and Dru as guides, and whatever else I dream up…)
