Co- dependant Willow

S

spuffylvr

better late than never
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Aug 10, 2006
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So it seems to me that Willows character has also had her heart and love interest be her most prominant motivation. She seemed to constantly be defined by her love interest. Shy and in Love with Xander. Blossoming with Oz. Experimenting and growing with Tara, and questioning her self with Kennedy.

At the beginning of season 7 it was good to see her defined by her own sense of "self" and perhaps that is why I disliked the Kennedy character so much. However it wasn't until Kennedy and the mutinany that I began to examine Willows co-dependence. So my question is, was Kennedy an essential character to further illustrate that character trait or could it have been done without her? Or was she just another love interest for Willow?
 
I know. It's another example of S-7 falling apart in the second half, and forgetting what it set out to do in the first.

In the first half Willow was all about coming to personal terms with her dark side, and the personal control of her power, then in the second it's all Kennedy bringing Willow back from the dark, and anchoring Willow's power. It's kind of insulting to Willow in a way. There's no resolution to the Willow character's weaknesses. She's still depending on others for the quick fix, and getting by.
 
I always thought that after her and Tara (let's face it, we all knew THAT was gonna end) that she would go back to being straight. but then that one episode came that she explained to Tara that it wasn't an experiment, that it was the real thing. I was kind of disapointed. I loved her and Oz together, and he wanted her back. I wish they could have furthered their relationship. Anyone agree?
 
dont you think that if she wentback to straight it would kinda discredit alot of her character development? I have a hard time respecting the whole I'm gay no wait I'm straight crap in a real life person, let alone a character on tv. I'm glad she was actually gay. Otherwise I would always have wondered if her relationship with Tara was just for ratings.
 
nerd4hire said:
I know. It's another example of S-7 falling apart in the second half, and forgetting what it set out to do in the first.

In the first half Willow was all about coming to personal terms with her dark side, and the personal control of her power, then in the second it's all Kennedy bringing Willow back from the dark, and anchoring Willow's power. It's kind of insulting to Willow in a way. There's no resolution to the Willow character's weaknesses. She's still depending on others for the quick fix, and getting by.
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See, this Im not so sure about.

Yes she did seem to rely on Kennedy, but the way I see it, Kennedy really helped with Willows magic weakness.

Willow at the beginning of the season was too scared to do any magic at all. In fact even after she ended up with Kennedy, she was still scared.

Giles told her the power was always in her and she had to learn to control it. Kennedy was the one that helped her do this.

In Chosen, Willow was terrified that she'd turn dark again but Kennedy helped her deal and do the all important spell. And lo and behold, Willow became all-powerful-godess Willow.

She couldnt have done this without Kennedy in my opinion.

To me, this was a resolution to her weakness. She learned she could control her powers and made her more powerful and good because of it. She no longer needed to rely on anyone to do it. She knew she could do it herself.

And I dont think she was relying on Kennedy at all. She pushed her away a lot! Denied her help. She was too scared to let her in.
 
Wicked said:
She couldnt have done this without Kennedy in my opinion.

To me, this was a resolution to her weakness..
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I think that Willow like many real people are just generally co-dependant by nature. The fact that she couldn't resolve her internal conflict with the magics without kennedy just illustrates this point. But thats part of what is so endearing about willow. Great and powerful Wicca, but she still needs you. What I find so interesting is that Joss, who seems to be very obsessed with the archetypal strong feminist hero, allowed willow (an extremely strong chacter otherwise) to be saddled with a typicaly misogynist co-dependant personality. I find it very attractive and very believable, in that she maintains the vulnerability she had in the first 3 seasons.

So would she have been as good of a character (or easily identifiable) if she had overcome her "needyness"?

or do you think she did overcome her co-dependancy?
 
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