Metaphors in 6 and 7

[Cookie Dough]

Most people consider seasons 6 and 7 different from the first 5. In the first seasons there were metaphors for every problem that a person faces in highschool and college. In 6 and 7 there were less metaphors and it became more like a soap opera. Do you think that is what caused people to feel differently about the last 2 seasons? Or were there still metphors in the last two? I know there were some for feminism in season 7 but that was more of a long span of things rather than a different metaphor from episode to episode like it was in the beginning.

 

[Spike My Darlin]

The entirity of season 6 was a metaphor. Willow's was drug addiction. The big bad for the season was not the Trio or Evil Willow, it was life itself. There's was Dawn's stealing and her isolation. There was the depression that both Spike & Buffy went through because of their relationship and Buffy being yanked out of a heaven.

Don't know any for season 7.

 

[SlayerThe]

I always thought everything about Season 7 had the whole "back to the beginning/train the next generation" vibe.

Buffy teaching Dawn to slay, the reopening of Sunnydale High, the emergence of the oldest evil, the creation of a new slayer army, passing of her power, et cetera

Season 6 was completely about falling down to your darkest level to me. The depression and angst was too much. Everyone made bad choices and then suffered the consequences. Buffy's sleeping with Spike, Spike's attempted rape of Buffy, Willow's foreshadowed addiction to magicks, Xander leaving Anya at the altar, Anya going back to being a venegance demon, Dawn thieving, Giles leaving (rhyme lol)

Season 6 was also the "Gotta grow up and deal with your crap" season

 

[Blessed]

I totally agree that the last 2 seasons were very different from the past 5. But in a good way. I don't think the issues were metaphors because Season 6 and 7 were full of metaphors. I mean look at your username...Cookie Dough. Buffy's death definitely changed things for the show. But I happen to like these two later seasons the best. So the change was good.

 

[phoenixrising]

Joss Whedon said that by the time of the sixth season they had to lay their cards on the table and say somethings without metaphor, hence the rather graphic sex scene between Buffy and Spike. But in that same scene, they're in something that will be a metaphor for their relationship, a collapsing house.

Buffy relationship with Spike was also the classic 'relationship that is bad for you and would make anyone with an ounce of sense run in the other direction at top speed' taken to the typical Sunnydale level.

The Trio were also a metaphor. While everyone else was dealing with growing up, they were the ones that don't grow up.

The metaphors didn't disappear in seasons six and seven. They just became subtler and more adult.

 

[LadyLavinia]

I totally agree that the last 2 seasons were very different from the past 5. But in a good way. I don't think the issues were metaphors because Season 6 and 7 were full of metaphors. I mean look at your username...Cookie Dough. Buffy's death definitely changed things for the show. But I happen to like these two later seasons the best. So the change was good.

Actually, I think that both Seasons 6 and 7 were metaphors for growing up. And in an ironic way, we were given a hint of things to come in S4's "Restless", and this metaphor probably began in Season 5 with Riley's departure in "Into the Woods", Joyce's death, and Buffy assuming responsibility for Dawn.

In facing the onslaught of adulthood, Buffy, Spike and the Scoobies had to face the dark sides of their natures. And by Season 7, they had to learn how to deal or form a balance between the darkness and light within themselves . . . and how the two sides dealt with power.

Very interesting. The metaphors in the last two seasons become more complex for our main characters, as they discover that life isn't as simple as black and white.

Buffy relationship with Spike was also the classic 'relationship that is bad for you and would make anyone with an ounce of sense run in the other direction at top speed' taken to the typical Sunnydale level.

Are you referring to Season Six only?

 

[Spike My Darlin]

Buffy relationship with Spike was also the classic 'relationship that is bad for you and would make anyone with an ounce of sense run in the other direction at top speed' taken to the typical Sunnydale level.


Are you referring to Season Six only?

That person has to be because in 7 that was the healthiest relationship I have ever seen and they never once had sex.