I find it highly disturbing that as a generalisation people will look at Faith as being more important because she was, for the most part of Buffy's life a nasty person. I think Tara had a much higher influence over the show, and therefore Buffy, to me because it was positive. Buffy's one on one time with Faith has always seemed like more but look at how many times Buffy has turned to Tara for guidance and help...
And there's no way you could say that Tara hasn't had a huge influence over the show... When Tara got shot Willow tried to end the world. When Faith was put in a coma noone cared. The influence that Faith has had to the characters in the show is nowhere near as large as she would like people to believe... Because at the end of the day she was always begging for attention so she got some. But Tara never wanted all the attention on her so she left people to come to her and choose what they wanted to think - therefore her attention on the show has been a lot more.
Wait now, the thread was why Faith is portrayed as a more "important" character than Tara. I adore Tara, personally. And she impacted Willow a LOT.
However, if we look at both characters as rocks tossed into a pond and the other characters as surrounding reeds in the water, Tara's "ripples" touched only a few people. She touched Willow, Oz, Dawn and Buffy a lot. Xander, Anya, Spike and Giles a little too. Although, there wasn't a whole lot of active interaction other than her being there and they accepted her. She interacted with people, and in a very likable way and they seemed to enjoy her. Oddly, Willow seemed to be really the only person (other than us) effected by her death. Everyone else, but Dawn, seemed to kind of gloss over it.
Faith left ripples with EVERYONE. I don't think she was really "nasty", I think she just was lost. Angel saw it. She'd made mistakes, and like many of us, wasn't sure the most productive way to get OUT of them.
Her actions had ripple effects all over the whole Buffy/Angel-verse. I can't think of a member of the Buffy cast that she didn't upset in either way...good or bad. She upset the entire Watcher's Counsel, but they NEEDED upsetting.
She worked both with and against Wolfram and Hart, with and against Angel and Co. Her story....whether nasty or nice, shorter or longer than Tara's, was most complex. Being a Slayer, on top of that, makes her an integral part of the story.
I don't think it's because she was a mean and nasty person. I think it is more about the complexities of it and her effect on the rest of the characters. She was the contrast for what Buffy COULD be. The evidence of what Angel was and how deeply he felt about his redemption and helping others. She was an example for taking the "easy" way out of problems or really aiming to redeem yourself and make yourself a better person. She's the one that started the ball rolling for us to see that the Counsel was a bunch of nim-wits. She held many different roles in both shows and really showed how people can grow and change into different people.
It's nothing AGAINST Tara. I think she's fabulous. I know one or two people like her. On the other hand, I know a LOT more people who have a little "Faith" in them. The wanting to fit in, the wanting things for yourself without thinking of the impact to others. The wanting to get OUT of trouble and into people's good graces without realizing that when you screw up and hurt people that it takes a LOT to redeem yourself in their eyes. The hurt when you realize that if you just take what YOU want without thinking of others that you end up totally off the path you wanted to be on.
Besides, how Willow handled Tara's death is really more of a story about Willow, in my opinion, and not one about Tara. Especially since we know Tara would NOT have approved of any of Willow's actions.
