by MaClayMagic » Mon Oct 14, 2002 12:50 pm
Thanks everyone for your support. I have just finished transcribing the piece for you. They changed some of what I wrote we noticed but the piece still has bite! Here you go!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RIP Tara: Lesley Davis mourns a much-loved television lesbian and asks, why did she have to die?
Theres something new stalking the streets of Sunnydale: the worn out clich. Its the one where the lesbian has to die and her girlfriend goes crazy with grief and has to destroy the world or something equally extreme. Sadly, the writers of Buffy The Vampire Slayer decided to resurrect this plot for the programmes sixth season. The final episodes saw a beloved character killed and her girlfriend turn evil. Why? Joss Whedon, the shows writer, confessed: I killed Tara. Some of you may have been hurt by that. Its very unlikely it was more painful to you than it was to me. I couldn't even discuss it in story meetings without getting upset, physically. Which is why I knew it was the right thing to do. Because stories, as I have so often said, are not about what we want. And I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I couldnt kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I did kill her because she was gay.
Offended doesnt begin to cover how watching one half of TVs most loving lesbian couple brutally slain has caused people to react. Willow, (American Pies Alyson Hannigan), the computer whiz, left her werewolf boyfriend and fell for Tara, a shy, blonde witch played by Amber Benson (writer/producer of the film Chance). They practiced magic but also did spells. The whole spells thing soon was translated to mean sex. But Warner Brothers, distributors of Buffy at the time, were uneasy with the lesbian angle. The spells were alluded to, there was only one full-lipped kiss, given in solace. Tara and Willow were loving lesbians who werent allowed to be seen to love. It was better for them to go and do a spell together than it would have been to announce they were fully-fledged lesbians who had sex together. Substitute lesbian for Wicca in Season Fives Tara-centred episode Family, for example, and its obvious what everyone is talking about.
XANDER: Well, that's sort of her deal. Her and Willow are all Wiccie. Swingin' with the Wiccan lifestyle.
With the move to a new network, UPN, in Series Six, the show became much darker. They were able to show more kissing; Willow and Tara were allowed to become more than the token lesbians. Oddly, they stood out as the only real couple on the show, in part due to the little touches both actresses brought to their characters. Buffy slept with the enemy, bad-boy vampire Spike, which ended up in a scene of attempted rape. The other straight couple, Xander and Anya, argued their way nearly to the alter, until that turned sour too. Even Willow and Tara eventually broke up because of Willows dependence on dark magic.
The blatantly rushed reunion of Willow and Tara was every fans dream: they kissed, they clung, they lay naked in bed and hardly ever left the sheets. When they did eventually leave the bedroom, however, we were forced to witness the sight of Willow covered in her lovers blood. It was cruel, senseless and disturbing. In grief and rage, Willow turned bad, wreaked havoc and skinned the man who murdered Tara. Man- hating lesbian, now theres a new theme. Then she tried to destroy the Earth. Her friend Xander managed to stop her when he told her how much he loved her.
The bad lesbian brought back to earth by the love of a good man. Only not that kind of love. No, Willow will probably go on to be the token lesbian character in the show, one safely rendered asexual without Tara by her side.
Everything Mutant Enemy (Buffys production company) built up in these characters was ruined, wasted, debauched. Characters who had been held up as role models by Whedon were then reduced to ratings fodder. The programme championed feminism and showed that good triumphs over evil, but it has also shown that if you are a lesbian, sooner or later you are going to pay for it.
Buffys writers constantly reassured the fans that Tara would be staying. Every season they said she was safe, they wouldnt get rid of her, they were aware of her following. In January of this year, Joss Whedon told Entertainment Weekly; "I have no plans to send Tara anywhere. Amber (Benson) and Alyson (Hannigan) have such great chemistry; they're so great together, and they're very romantic together
They lied. The Internet is rife with petitions, chat boards, Tara lists, all up in arms. Its not just lesbians either; Tara was seen as an excellent role model for everyone, seen as more than just her sexuality.
Stories, as I have so often said, are not about what we want. Joss Whedon.
Whedon believes we needed to see this happen. I didnt. If you have the power to create a world of fantasy, why not indulge it a little further? Make a place where gays dont get punished because of who they love. Mutant Enemy needs to see that doing something because they didn't like being told they couldn't isn't a good enough excuse. What kind of message are they broadcasting? Not the sort that I, as a lesbian, want to watch. If I want that kind of thing, reality has enough to show me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yahoo!!! Have to go buy this asap!!! Well done!!! 
