"I stopped watching when Tara died."

[WillowTaraHolic]

I completely agree with you. I love Tara and Willow more than other characters in the entire world of fiction, whether it be TV, movie, or literature. I understand why Joss killed her off, but I don't agree that it should have been done.

The world is a cruel place. To state an all-too familar quote, "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it."

By the way, are you the same WillowTaraHolic from Archive Of Our Own? Off-topic I know, but I'm just curious. (VampWillowAddict over here 🙂 )

Oh my god! I am one and the same! *hugs* Your writing is really awesome by the way. 🙂

But on another note, yeah, I hated that Joss killed Tara and I spent days moping before watching the next episode. But I understand now that it was for some reason, and it teaches us all an important lesson. 🙂 It just makes me like Tara that much more.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

Honestly, I think that for a lot of people, there is a very simple explanation.

Tara was killed in a manner which is far more realistic to our own existence: she was shot, with a gun, by a human being.

No demons, no supernatural powers involved.

A gun. And a human being. And the slayer couldn't do anything about it.

"Buffy" is a show with metaphors and parallels which constantly harken back to our reality. But since it is ultimately supernatural, it affords us the luxury to detach somewhat. The notion that killings come from vampires and demons attacking humans--and that a slayer can stop them--is somewhat comforting.

The stark realism that Tara's death represents is too much for a lot of people to embrace, and they likely are hesitant to watch the show for a while.

I imagine the same thing happened with Joyce's death. Certainly it did for me, for a few years.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

Oh my god! I am one and the same! *hugs* Your writing is really awesome by the way. 🙂

But on another note, yeah, I hated that Joss killed Tara and I spent days moping before watching the next episode. But I understand now that it was for some reason, and it teaches us all an important lesson. 🙂 It just makes me like Tara that much more.

*Hugs* Thank you! 🙂 Glad you enjoy.

I just kinda went through the last four episodes of Season 6 at once because I knew I wanted to get out of the season quickly, but I still wanted to see Dark!Willow.

I agree. Tara's made me be more kind to everyone around me than I was before.

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

Honestly, I think that for a lot of people, there is a very simple explanation.

Tara was killed in a manner which is far more realistic to our own existence: she was shot, with a gun, by a human being.

No demons, no supernatural powers involved.

A gun. And a human being. And the slayer couldn't do anything about it.

"Buffy" is a show with metaphors and parallels which constantly harken back to our reality. But since it is ultimately supernatural, it affords us the luxury to detach somewhat. The notion that killings come from vampires and demons attacking humans--and that a slayer can stop them--is somewhat comforting.

The stark realism that Tara's death represents is too much for a lot of people to embrace, and they likely are hesitant to watch the show for a while.

I imagine the same thing happened with Joyce's death. Certainly it did for me, for a few years.

Ah. A very good point there! It also goes with the whole mortality thing. There are some things that no one can stop, like the bullet of a gun. It's just real.

And somehow, I sorta like the realism of Joyce's and Tara's deaths. Both were painful, but real. The reason why they're so painful and probably two of the most talked about deaths is because how real they were and how well we can relate to them.

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Tara's made me be more kind to everyone around me than I was before.

I think a lot of people have been affected by Tara (Including me!) and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. 🙂

One of the ways I cope with the pain of her death is by writing fanfiction. It's just a way of escaping the reality of it all. (Well, the reality in the fiction... I'm confused)

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I think a lot of people have been affected by Tara (Including me!) and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. 🙂

One of the ways I cope with the pain of her death is by writing fanfiction. It's just a way of escaping the reality of it all. (Well, the reality in the fiction... I'm confused)

That's also how I cope. In my Fanfiction world, everything is happy 🙂 <3

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

That's also how I cope. In my Fanfiction world, everything is happy 🙂 <3

Happiness is amazing! (In my world, Miss Kitty Fantastico has anger issues. XD And she can talk.)

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Happiness is amazing! (In my world, Miss Kitty Fantastico has anger issues. XD And she can talk.)

Which is better than what happened in the show in "End of Days 7ABB21" when Dawn doesn't know yet that Xander is about to kidnap her to get both of them out of the fight:

DAWN

Xander, my crossbow is not out here. I told you, I don't leave crossbows around all willy-nilly. (pauses guiltily) Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico.

 

[EVIL UU]

@Blaze
It seems to me that Willow and Tara have their own fandom, one that's pretty much detached from the Buffy fandom, and these days, even from BtVS in general. Their fans have their own boards and their writers and their fan fiction archives and whatnot. It's interesting.

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

Which is better than what happened in the show in "End of Days 7ABB21" when Dawn doesn't know yet that Xander is about to kidnap her to get both of them out of the fight:

DAWN

Xander, my crossbow is not out here. I told you, I don't leave crossbows around all willy-nilly. (pauses guiltily) Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico.

Poor Miss Kitty. 🙁 She never deserved to die.

---------- Post added at 11:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 AM ----------

@Blaze
It seems to me that Willow and Tara have their own fandom, one that's pretty much detached from the Buffy fandom, and these days, even from BtVS in general. Their fans have their own boards and their writers and their fan fiction archives and whatnot. It's interesting.

There is? I need to search for that! (Not that I hate everything else on Buffy! Buffy herself is really awesome and I also love Anya. And Giles in the earlier seasons. Angelus was awesome too and Cordelia is the BOMB)

 

[Blaze]

@Blaze
It seems to me that Willow and Tara have their own fandom, one that's pretty much detached from the Buffy fandom, and these days, even from BtVS in general. Their fans have their own boards and their writers and their fan fiction archives and whatnot. It's interesting.

That's interesting, I didn't know that. It kind of make sense seeing as they are the staple TV lesbian couple, but I'm impressed that they were able to maintain a "fandom" on their own. Actually now that I think about it, there's kind of a lot of gay relationship on TV that seem to almost have their own separate fans from the overall series. Again, kind of makes sense seeing as a straight person wouldn't fallow a TV show because there's a straight couple, but a gay person would fallow the same TV show because of a gay couple. The rarity of believable gay couples on TV is to blame for that.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

Happiness is amazing! (In my world, Miss Kitty Fantastico has anger issues. XD And she can talk.)

That's awesome 😀

It is true. But again, there is a part of the W/T fandom that does scare me. I found out about them and I tried to fit in with them, since I figured I would be welcome since I was a W/T fan. Didn't really happen. I think it's mainly since I'm a guy, and the large majority of the W/T fandom is women. It sucks, but I learned to move on. I love W/T with all my heart, and nothing can take that away from me 🙂

They're...literally fanatical. And most of the time not in a good way.

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

That's awesome 😀

It is true. But again, there is a part of the W/T fandom that does scare me. I found out about them and I tried to fit in with them, since I figured I would be welcome since I was a W/T fan. Didn't really happen. I think it's mainly since I'm a guy, and the large majority of the W/T fandom is women. It sucks, but I learned to move on. I love W/T with all my heart, and nothing can take that away from me 🙂

They're...literally fanatical. And most of the time not in a good way.

The people in this world... they're crazy. (Got no problem with you being a guy! 🙂 )

What irks me about major fans is that they create the 'ideal fan'. Most 'ideal fans' of BtVS would be people who were there when 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' aired, and the people who watched all the episodes live, which is really dumb and should not give you a pass to being the 'ideal fan'.

I myself was born in 1994, so therefore I was too young to watch 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' when it originally aired. I get a lot of crap from so-called 'fans' about that.

There are probably similar regulations to being fans of Willow and Tara, which I find incredibly stupid and revolting. 🙁

 

[Blaze]

The people in this world... they're crazy. (Got no problem with you being a guy! 🙂 )

What irks me about major fans is that they create the 'ideal fan'. Most 'ideal fans' of BtVS would be people who were there when 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' aired, and the people who watched all the episodes live, which is really dumb and should not give you a pass to being the 'ideal fan'.

I myself was born in 1994, so therefore I was too young to watch 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' when it originally aired. I get a lot of crap from so-called 'fans' about that.

There are probably similar regulations to being fans of Willow and Tara, which I find incredibly stupid and revolting. 🙁

That's so weird to hear. I've only ever taken part in the fandom here on BB, and things aren't like that here so it's always a shock when I hear about the fandom outside of the board. I had never heard this concept of the "ideal fan", it sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

I had also never heard of those regulations to being a Tillow fan. I guess here, although many like the ship, there are only a handful of Tillow OTP shippers. Fine by me if that means we only get the sane ones.

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

That's so weird to hear. I've only ever taken part in the fandom here on BB, and things aren't like that here so it's always a shock when I hear about the fandom outside of the board. I had never heard this concept of the "ideal fan", it sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

I had also never heard of those regulations to being a Tillow fan. I guess here, although many like the ship, there are only a handful of Tillow OTP shippers. Fine by me if that means we only get the sane ones.

I've only been out a little in Buffy fan sites, maybe I've just been going to the wrong ones. 😛

The 'ideal fan' thing was just sort of an analogy created by me, people are more like: "A Buffy fan would say this" or "A Buffy fan would do that".

I'm a sane Tillow fan! 😀

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

Yeah, I hear you on that. I was born in 1995, so there was no-way I was gonna be able to watch the show and remember it 😛

The way I see it, if you enjoy Willow/Tara, if you love their relationship and you love them as characters, you're an ideal fan. That's the way it should be. There shouldn't be all this other stuff about doing stuff a certain way or doing things in a certain manner. If you love them, you're the ideal fan.

I'd like to consider myself a sane Tillow fan as well 😀 Writing fanfics is my way of giving back to the fandom.

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

Yeah, I hear you on that. I was born in 1995, so there was no-way I was gonna be able to watch the show and remember it 😛

The way I see it, if you enjoy Willow/Tara, if you love their relationship and you love them as characters, you're an ideal fan. That's the way it should be. There shouldn't be all this other stuff about doing stuff a certain way or doing things in a certain manner. If you love them, you're the ideal fan.

I'd like to consider myself a sane Tillow fan as well 😀 Writing fanfics is my way of giving back to the fandom.

The funny thing about my birthday is that I was born on the same day 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' aired, just three years before.

Totally agree with you on that. If ya like the characters, you're a fan. Ba-boom. No exceptions. People shouldn't exclude others from a fandom.

Sane fans are the best kind of fans. I don't get it when people start going off the deep end... it's bad when that happens.

 

[SRMarx]

That's awesome 😀

It is true. But again, there is a part of the W/T fandom that does scare me. I found out about them and I tried to fit in with them, since I figured I would be welcome since I was a W/T fan. Didn't really happen. I think it's mainly since I'm a guy, and the large majority of the W/T fandom is women. It sucks, but I learned to move on. I love W/T with all my heart, and nothing can take that away from me 🙂

They're...literally fanatical. And most of the time not in a good way.

I have had a very similar experience trying to fit in with some other groups of W/T fans and not always being welcomed. In fact, I've mostly been ignored, perhaps because I don't indulge in the same ways or agree with all their opinions. But like any group of people, you are going to have diverse individuals and sub-groups.

I've never understood the idea of "stop watching Buffy when Tara died", but I assume there is more than one reason. I think the main, or at least more prevalent reason, has already been mentioned multiple times in this thread:

Tara and Willow were openly lesbian characters on a major TV series, which was relatively rare at the time. Killing Tara (and so violently mind you) made a statement about lesbians. It reflected a common trope, that if you are lesbian, you will not have "a happy ending".

In a way, it is understandable and I wonder if I might have similar feelings if I watched Buffy when it originally aired on TV. But it is hard to imagine considering I love so much about the show beyond Tara and her relationship with Willow.

Anyways, just my two cents...

 

[Icarium]

Well, the whole drama unfolded years before I started watching, so I can only base my opinion on second-hand accounts and my personal feelings and conjectures on the subjects but here are my two cents.

First, as far as I know, Joss never missed an occasion to bask in the glory of being the first show runner whose show featured a lesbian romantic relationship, involving one of the main characters. No wonder the people for whom this topic was of particularly importance felt betrayed by him.

Second, the way the character was killed off was like a textbook case of unfortunate implications and of writers playing with the fire of fan indignation. Adding Amber Benson to the opening credits in the very episode her character is murdered is, frankly, stupid and childish. Then there was the episode writer, Steven De Knight, who flat out lied by saying that no, Tara was not going to die in that episode. Sure. you can't expect him to reveal the big twists but he could have just said "No comment" or "you will see".

Moreover, there is the blatantly manipulative plot that involves Tara and Willow being blissfully happy for the first time that season right before tragedy struck and the very unfortunate implication of the bullet hitting Tara in the very bedroom she had just had sex with Willow (and this was the first episode where their sex life was actually more than a metaphor or implication)

Last but not least, this came in one of the final episode of a season full of character assassination, in which Tara was arguably the only main character who stayed in character and behaved like an adult. Killing her off must have felt like one blow too many to some fans.

 

[The Bronze]

Well watching a TV show is a persons choice to spend their leisure time on. There's no point in watching something if you don't enjoy it anymore. So for anyone who was only watching Buffy to see lesbians on TV then it makes perfect sense to stop watching once that part of the show is removed. I think it's a bit of an odd way to enjoy a programme but to each their own.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I was never very attached to Tara. Her death shocked me, the way it happened, and I definitely thought it was sad, but it didn't move me nearly as much as it should have because she was one of those characters I didn't really care about.
I never understand when someone who calls themselves a fan of a certain show stops watching just because something doesn't go the way they wanted it to. If you love a show, you love it because of the show as a whole, not because you are obsessed with a certain character. I am not going to stop watching "The Walking Dead" if they kill Daryl off, and I'm not going to stop watching "The Vampire Diaries" because Damon and Bonnie died, you know? If I did, I wouldn't consider myself a true fan of the series.