Re: Ideas

posted by [identity profile] revdorothyl.livejournal.com at 02:28am on 06/10/2003
I think I quite agree with you about Willow (especially in season 6, where ME chose to talk about her problem as "an addictive personality" or "magic addiction", rather than calling it abuse of power and dealing with it as such). However, I think the casual treatment of sex IS one of the more talked-about interpretations of what happened after Angel and Buffy's first (and, as far as she remembers, only) sexual encounter in season 2 (Angel magically lost his soul and became a b*****d, literally the ex-boyfriend from Hell, rather than just turning on her through non-magical causes, because he'd gotten what he wanted and had no further need of her, as was the case with thrice-damned Parker in "Harsh Light of Day").

But for TARA, at least, I think we could say that magic was (or was ideally meant to be) like LOVE-MAKING (as so beautifully filmed in the climax of "I'm Under Your Spell" in OMWF) -- full of mutuality and responsibility, not coercing the natural world but working with it. That's why (even before she became aware that Willow had used that power to violate HER integrity, to invade her mind) Tara was so appalled at Willow's casual use of at times and her mechanistic interpretation of it (as if the magic they two had shared was no more sacred than decrypting a computer program). Does that make any sense?
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Re: Ideas

posted by [identity profile] claudia-yvr.livejournal.com at 02:31am on 13/10/2003
Sorry for the delay in responding; I haven't been online much this past week.

Although she had her own fair share of insecurities, unlike Willow, Tara was not one to abuse trust or power. When she and Willow cast spells together, it was cooperative and mutual, and that made the resulting magic/feelings all the more meaningful. Is that what you mean? If yes, I certainly agree. That said, I don't think that Tara only saw magic in terms of lovemaking. She also knew its usefulness as a weapon in fighting evil; it's just that she never expected her own lover to wield it as such against her, even though Willow never thought of herself as hurting Tara with her manipulations.

Willow and Tara had some fundamentally different values, and those differences spilled over onto their use of magic. What fascinates me most about their story is how Willow's betrayal was foretold back in Restless when the former wrote a poem (http://bothsidesnow.co.uk/bothsides2001/somesweets/willowpoem.html) on the latter's back.
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