by Sheridan » Sun Aug 25, 2002 2:01 pm
1.The burning question: Did Tara have to die? No. She didn't. However I think the writers realized that death brings out the rawest emotions in a person. In The Body we saw Buffy go through a gamut of emotion in just a few minutes.
[b:836c541c7a] Yes we did so why do it again? Using Tara as a means to wring pain out of the audience was a cheap trick.[/b:836c541c7a]
2.What happened to Tara is not unique. Take the case of one Jenny Calender. For the most part Jenny was not a Scooby. She was Giles love interest. Here's a pattern I see in both her and Tara: Suspicion--Acceptance--Death. When Tara first appeared she came off as suspicious. Not because she was a lesbian(I admit my gaydar only works on guys. I wouldn't know a lesbian if I attended The National Association of Lesbian Lawyers convention.). It was the fact that she seemed to be holding back. In Family we find out that she thought she was going to turn into a demon. After that I came to really like her alot. And in the Buffyverse when you start to like a character or ship its days are surely numbered.
[b:836c541c7a] Sorry but it doesn't wash. The only reason B/A ended was to do Angel the series. Every other relationship broke up for real world reasons, ie the actor/actress wanted to leave. In short the plot was wrttien around the actor not the other way round.[/b:836c541c7a]
3.Was Tara really a Scooby? I'd say she was a Scooby by association. Mainly because she wasn't in every episode of any of the seasons she's appeared in. Mostly she was portrayed as Willow's girlfriend and as a secondary witch. The writers used Tara to show off the many facets of Willow while not really telling us anything about her and I think Tara suffered as a character because of it.
[b:836c541c7a] In S5 perhaps, but by S6 she was a mother to Dawn, a confidante to Buffy, and a foil to Spike, she had become in every sense a part of them.[/b:836c541c7a]
4.BtVS has a rather dynamic storyline. Characters are added and deleted as needed. Alot of people said that Anya should have died instead of Tara. I disagree with that. Anya has played an extremely active role in the Scooby Gang and stayed with the SG even after her breakup with Xander. Tara stayed away from the gang and Willow after Tabula Rasa and if she and Willow had never made up I have reason to believe that she would have continued to stay away. Maybe coming around to act as Dawn's babysitter/mother figure now and then.
[b:836c541c7a] Well as my last answer pointed out not so. Who else were the gang going to look to for magical support, and watch the scenes between Tara and Dawn, they are parent and child, not simply child and babysitter. Should Anya have died? No, there was no 'need' for anyone to die.[/b:836c541c7a]
5.People lie. I knew Steve DeKnight was lying when he said Tara wasn't going to die. Once I heard that Willow was going evil I knew it would be because Tara died.
[b:836c541c7a] Read Bob's essay, it contains a cogent outline of how they could have Willow go evil without the death of Tara. Basically her death only became necessary when they changed from a 'power corrupts' to a 'just say no' drugs plot midway through the season.[/b:836c541c7a]
6.Willow's journey with magic has been a long one. Sometimes amusing and sometimes frightening. I thought Willow would go over the edge alot sooner than she did. I think that Tara leaving her at the end of Tabula Rasa actually made the situation worse. Willow does not deal with loss or pain well. She has always buried herself in magic to drown it out. If Tara hadn't come along in s4 she might have been the big bad that season. Willow's going evil was just a build up of all the loss she never wanted to face. Oz's leaving. Buffy's death. Tara's leaving her. Tara's death. She had to face it all at once and she went off the deep end. The fact that she is a lesbian really has nothing to do with it.
[b:836c541c7a] It does when magic is used as a metaphor for sex for the best part of a season and a half. Watch any of the spells in the latter half of S4 and tell me you couldn't see the subtext. And Tara is gunned down as she is getting dressed after having sex with Willow, we didn't make the association, ME did.[/b:836c541c7a]
7.Willow and Tara truly had a beautiful relationship. It made me feel good about TV and the world in general. Why concentrate on the negatives? Look at the big picture for a sec. Buffy left an unhealthy relationship and never looked back. Xander finally had to be the grown up and act like a real man. For the first time Willow had to deal with loss in a natural way. And somewhere in LA...a black guy and a white girl are in a positive relationship. ME's report card: B-
[b:836c541c7a] ME took all the praise they got for their portrayal of W/T, they lied about Tara's death, fine to protect their storyline. But nothing, nothing can excuse their crassness and insensitivity in the aftermath of the death. They could have sympathised, instead is was sarcasm and one tasteless comment after another. Their B- has to be revoked in light of the fact that they cheated on the exam.[/b:836c541c7a]
