tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post6860584243488011719..comments2024-01-15T02:19:13.716-08:00Comments on Fragments Of My Imagination: InterventionMark Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-40642437633639680222023-01-05T13:43:37.733-08:002023-01-05T13:43:37.733-08:00Thanks for keeping this blog up and the comments o...Thanks for keeping this blog up and the comments open. It's proved enriching <br /><br />In the process of showing a friend Buffy and Angel [third watch on my end] and when we arrived at this episode, one of my top 20 or so from both series, I realized that there is a sort of inverted Pygmalion myth going on in this episode.<br /><br />Through the ruse of Buffy's acting as the Buffybot [Pygmalion's statue], her kiss breathes a sort of rudimentary life and conscience in Spike [Pygmalion], one that he earns through his battery from a god rather than granted by one.<br /><br />Buffy is not hard and cold like a statue or robot, but so full of love that she can imbue Spike with it.war and peachesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-90888180038989237512012-09-12T14:51:55.181-07:002012-09-12T14:51:55.181-07:00I'm entirely with manwitch when it comes to pe...I'm entirely with manwitch when it comes to people. I'm not sure the samw rule can or should apply to vampires.<br /><br />I agree with you about Spike's very narrow sense of morality at this point. Still, it's quite possible to interpret his situation as principally relating to Dawn and therefore his limitation as not all that important for this episode. Nobody knows, yet, what will happen if Glory gets Dawn, so it's not clear what other risks there might be.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-36444123940593689902012-09-12T04:59:55.974-07:002012-09-12T04:59:55.974-07:00Good writeup as always. Intervention is an intere...Good writeup as always. Intervention is an interesting, tricky episode. I tend to think that Buffy's right, too: what Spike did was real. It's not something that most people would be able to do. I find it telling that even Xander is sympathetic to Spike at the episode's end -- the guy really did go through hell for Buffy. And while I think you can still see that as essentially selfish, to view it as selfish pejoratively is to diminish almost all human emotions. If Buffy goes out and saves the world in Prophecy Girl because she doesn't want Willow to suffer, is that selfish because she cares about Willow? Maybe -- but it is at a point where it's hard to see what could qualify as not selfish.<br /><br />The downside to Spike's altruism here, genuine though it is, is that it's both limited to a very small circle of people, and that in order to have such altruism without a soul, he has to, basically, have his whole identity invested in Buffy. And I think that has to happen. I do think that a soul metaphorically carries a sense of ability to care for people outside yourself; Spike just has a very strong tendency to latch onto other people for his sense of self. When it's Dru, he's even more evil than he would be by himself, and when it's Buffy he's much better than most vampires have a right to be, but it's psychologically unstable. Buffy can risk her life for Willow but she can also risk her life for strangers and she can still have a sense of self separate from them; the other human characters can as well, though it's Buffy who's the show's primary hero. Spike's not there in this episode; his heroism comes at the expense of his ability to deal with and imagine a life not devoted to Buffy.<br /><br />I tend to take the manwitch approach and feel that good deeds are mostly what there is. I think a good person is mostly a person whose deeds are mostly good. I do think that a person who does good deeds for the "right reason" is perhaps more admirable and is definitely more trustworthy to repeatably do the right thing, but identifying the right reason seems pretty difficult to me. (Well, within reason. Acting for love is better than acting out of spite, e.g.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-46895565917282862292012-09-11T04:02:53.270-07:002012-09-11T04:02:53.270-07:00I love that line.I love that line.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-42607819325173186212012-09-10T16:30:24.385-07:002012-09-10T16:30:24.385-07:00"We will bring you the limp and beaten body o..."We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker."Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06283394667030940700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-68635985550440310882012-09-10T07:44:13.304-07:002012-09-10T07:44:13.304-07:00"He’s still alive, which probably means he ac..."He’s still alive, which probably means he actually is older than dirt."<br /><br />Amazing. :)Zelda Knapphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00654314419681927384noreply@blogger.com