Buffy 5x04 Out of My Mind

[oyceter]

Buffy 5x04 Out of My Mind

The Riley liking hit a peak in The Replacement, with his little thing to Xander on how he adores Buffy and loves her so much, and then goes on to say that she doesn't love him back, all with the same smile on his face, like he was sad but sort of accepted it because it was worth it to be by her.

Then it took an abrupt dive during Out of My Mind. What is he thinking? Argh. And yeah, I can see it as being sort of like Willow's self-image issues, how he thinks he has to be all Superman (versus Willow's witch), because who would want to deal with normal Joe him? I would buy it except for the fact that previously they've played Riley as someone who admired Buffy for her strength and her Slayerness (with a few exceptions) -- he was really nice before about it and about not posturing, about being kind and not stupid macho army male for the majority of the eps. Obviously, some notable exceptions to this, but the niceness and the laidbackness was what I liked.

And now he's all like he just found out Buffy was the Slayer again. I think I would be more okay with the entire self-worth-tied-to-other-things issue ala Willow if they hadn't stuck the whole sort of gender role thing in! The whole you can't be fulfilled if your girlfriend is more powerful than you, and you should be macho and you belong in the army thing that Initiative Guy feeds him, along with the fear that Buffy won't love him if he's not physically strong. I mean, I understand the fear, I just don't like where it's going (and I know how the arc ends, which bodes ill...). Am frustrated. Was pleased before because of things like Buffy asking him in the Replacement: "Would you it better if..." and him saying "no" without even letting her finish the thought because he loved all of her. I like that Riley.

Plus, if I were Buffy and my boyfriend pulled some stupid health thing like that, I would go ballistic. Particularly after having a near scare with my mother fainting. Also, I mean, that's how Buffy shows she loves him, I feel.

Small giggly thing: opening power shot of Buffy crouched on a crypt... turns out the name on the crypt is "Law." Hee. Buffy is literally above the law ;).

Also, despite knowing the Spike dream is coming up, the revelation that Spike is in love/lust with Buffy feels strangely disjointed and unconvincing.

And I adore bratty Dawn. Haha, my sister isn't like that, but I totally sympathized with Buffy and her whole "I want to be protected and taken care of, why do I have to take care of her?" rant. I just really like the sister thing.

Comments

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

The main thing that I took notices in Billy, that all males got declared primeval misogynist?!!. And there are countless of other example where Buffy/Ats writer, have a very negative angle on males The Beauty and the Beast, compare the suspect, and in the end non-consequential patriarchal Watchers Council with matriarchal Guardians. I do like the shows, but somebody should tell Joss, that being a feminist is not about showing males as an amoral sub-species of humanity.

[oyceter]

Yeah, the primal misogyny thing is pretty dumb. But I would also have to argue that Joss' version of feminism can be rather reductive at times -- witness the current gender imbalance on Angel and Angel the show's tendency to treat its female characters as perfect things to be protected or admired (and Angel the character, now that I think about it).

[jcalanthe]

I actually think the Jossverse has all sorts of examples of men as not amoral, as well as alternate versions of masculinity. I appreciate that they do acknowledge that living in the current society affects men too - of course Wesley, having grown up surrounded by the patriarchal Watchers Council, struggles with sexism. But I wouldn't call Wesley or Giles or Xander or Riley or Doyle amoral. Even Spike and Angel, male vampires who are supposed to be amoral, aren't.

As to Billy in particular, yea, I'm not really excited about the message that all men are primally misogynist either. I could have forgiven the clumsiness of the premise more if there'd been more payoff.