BuffyThoughts
Potential
Excellent thread.
I take a more sanguine view of the Mayor and this relationship than most of you.
I think that so say the Mayor is evil is too simple. His behavior is not lawless or random. He has a definite sense of what ought to be. He is honorable in his own way, as Wesley says of W&H, and I don't see any reason to doubt his affection for Faith. Remember, Buffy was able to use his affection for Faith against him.
He seems immoral to us, if I understand it, because he has no sense of obligation to anything abstract. He isn't loyal to his planet or his species or his country or even his city. He is loyal to himself, though, and to a tiny group of people with whom he has formed definite relationships. Notice how he remains faithful to his former wife, even after she was dead. That's how I understand his morality. It's different from consensual morality, but it's not a moral vacuum.
Why does he trust Faith? Because he understands her, at a glance. Why is Faith loyal to him? Because he gives her what she needs, a father's love, first of all, and a sense of place and belonging. He gives her a place of her own to live in, which she's never had before, which none of the Scooby gang even thought of. Most telling, he puts her in a dress, so as to honor and affirm that tender girly part of her that had been denied and suppressed and tormented for so long. If Giles, or Wesley, had understood her half so well as the Mayor did, she would never have gone over.
Is this sick or weird? I may be in a minority, but I don't think so. Faith had needs, perfectly natural and legitimate needs, that weren't being met, and she saw no chance that her needs would be met on the "light side." She found a man who knew what her needs were and how to satisfy them. In return, he wanted loyalty and she gave it to him.
What was "weird and sick" was her relationship to Buffy. She wants Buffy's respect and acceptance, which so far is natural. She thinks she has no chance to get it, so she thinks something like this: "I can be her enemy and have her hatred; then I will be something to her, even if not what I want to be. Otherwise, I will be nothing to her."
That is very sad, but not unnatural.
I take a more sanguine view of the Mayor and this relationship than most of you.
I think that so say the Mayor is evil is too simple. His behavior is not lawless or random. He has a definite sense of what ought to be. He is honorable in his own way, as Wesley says of W&H, and I don't see any reason to doubt his affection for Faith. Remember, Buffy was able to use his affection for Faith against him.
He seems immoral to us, if I understand it, because he has no sense of obligation to anything abstract. He isn't loyal to his planet or his species or his country or even his city. He is loyal to himself, though, and to a tiny group of people with whom he has formed definite relationships. Notice how he remains faithful to his former wife, even after she was dead. That's how I understand his morality. It's different from consensual morality, but it's not a moral vacuum.
Why does he trust Faith? Because he understands her, at a glance. Why is Faith loyal to him? Because he gives her what she needs, a father's love, first of all, and a sense of place and belonging. He gives her a place of her own to live in, which she's never had before, which none of the Scooby gang even thought of. Most telling, he puts her in a dress, so as to honor and affirm that tender girly part of her that had been denied and suppressed and tormented for so long. If Giles, or Wesley, had understood her half so well as the Mayor did, she would never have gone over.
Is this sick or weird? I may be in a minority, but I don't think so. Faith had needs, perfectly natural and legitimate needs, that weren't being met, and she saw no chance that her needs would be met on the "light side." She found a man who knew what her needs were and how to satisfy them. In return, he wanted loyalty and she gave it to him.
What was "weird and sick" was her relationship to Buffy. She wants Buffy's respect and acceptance, which so far is natural. She thinks she has no chance to get it, so she thinks something like this: "I can be her enemy and have her hatred; then I will be something to her, even if not what I want to be. Otherwise, I will be nothing to her."
That is very sad, but not unnatural.
Tome
That's such an awesome take on it. *applauds*
