I was originally going to title this blog “You are Your Own Greatest Enemy,” but I thought that would be just a tad too unoriginal, perhaps even cliché, in fact not at all unlike the ending of the finale for season 6. Everyone has seen some major hero brought back from the dark side by hearing the words “I love you” at least once if not a dozen times. Seriously, if you didn’t see that one coming, then you haven’t been exposed to enough mythology and popular culture. I was really hoping for a finale that was a little more...new. I guess they just couldn’t best the death of the main hero.
Anyway, whether the ending was creative or not is beside the point. I am not trying to analyze the series according to whether it makes a good show but as literature, as art. Art has meaning and reason, and those pre-requisites were definitely present in the three episodes we watched.
One of the articles we read for class said, “fiction represents [things] as they might be and ought to be.” I think that is what this scene was trying to do. We all struggle with a darker side of ourselves. We might not all submit to the level of addiction that Willow has but we are often the ones we must fight most strongly against; I hate to use this line but, we are our own greatest enemy. What saves us, what prevents us from giving in to ourselves is the people we love or, more accurately, those who love us. All of season 6, has been about fighting yourself and fearing who you are or might become; it is only right that the finale depicted how we are rescued when we lose this fight. Personally, I think Whedon could have shown us a little better style in his presentation of this point, but the point was clearly made.
Beyond this though, season six has been about life. There is no great evil; there are only humans, criminals yes but still just human. It has been about trying to find your place in the world, about where we all fit into the grand scheme of life. I think that the end of season six and the beginning of season seven really show that it’s all just a circle, and we journey along the wheel.
When Xander saves her, Willow reverts not to who she was right before Warren killed Tara, not even to who she was before the magic started to become an addiction, but to who she was at the very beginning. She looks like the Willow we knew in high school. She isn’t the only person we see circling back to her roots; Dawn has become who Buffy was complete with her own version of “Xander” and “Willow.” Buffy has even finally found her own place in the world, right back at the high school where her journey began in a position where she can guide others along the same (or at least similar) path.
Can we say crone, anyone?
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Dr. Rose says:
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but doesn't Buffy have some more to learn in this journey? Many of you are commenting on Buffy's apparently limitless need to control. Is that perhaps indicative of the work she has to do? To learn what she can and cannot do, and more importantly, accept it?