Was Buffy hypocritical to Dawn in "Crush"?

[Joshua]

Do you think when Dawn tried to get under Buffy's skin, by saying she had a crush on Spike and Buffy said that Spike was a monster, Dawn was too young to be alone with Spike etc.

Was Buffy hypocritical saying this? I mean wasn't Angel just as monsterous as Spike was when he lost his soul in season 2, so why does Buffy look over that when arguing about Spike?

Also wasn't Buffy the same age as Dawn when she dated Angel?

 

[ladydorotea]

Do you think when Dawn tried to get under Buffy's skin, by saying she had a crush on Spike and Buffy said that Spike was a monster, Dawn was too young to be alone with Spike etc.

Was Buffy hypocritical saying this? I mean wasn't Angel just as monsterous as Spike was when he lost his soul in season 2, so why does Buffy look over that when arguing about Spike?

Also wasn't Buffy the same age as Dawn when she dated Angel?

Apples and oranges here. Angelus was monstrous, but Buffy never befriended or dated Angelus, exactly because she understood that without a soul vampire was a monster. In fact she was ready to kill Angelus, hunted him, and eventually sent Angel to Hell. So, no, it is perfectly reasonable of her to warn Dawn off soulless Spike and to make sure that Dawn understood that vampires were evil , and that even chipped Spike could be dangerous. And dating Angel with a soul is quite different from associating with a soulless vampire. As such I don't see much of hypocrisy - not until, Buffy herself starts boinking soulless Spike as a way of self-punishment and self-inflicted pain.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

Regarding the age thing, Buffy is a Slayer, and Dawn's just a normal sixteen year old girl. Big difference in the defense department there.

I agree with what ladydorotea said, Buffy understood that Angelus was a true monster, and that she loved the soul, not the monster.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Another point is that as the Slayer, Buffy was forced to grow up pretty quickly in some aspects. Dawn always seemed a bit more naive, which is why Buffy might have felt the strong need to protect her from things she didn't understand fully at that time. Even with Spike unable to hurt her, he would've still been able to make a deal or something with another demon. This was before he really gained Buffy's trust, so I can understand her concern.

Buffy had a much better understanding of what Angel was, at that time. Also before he turned back to Angelus, he had decades of behaving himself and doing good on his back. No one knew the Angelus thing would happen again. Spike, on the other hand, only qualified as neutral at the best at the time.

 

[Icarium]

Dawn was 14 in S5, not 16. And she often behaved as if she were ten (which had to with the character originally being planned to be about that age but they changed that when they hired MT). So even if we ignore the fact that Spike was a monster, Buffy would still have a point - what adult would approve of a 14 year old member of their family wanting to date say a 40 year old person?

 

[Kean]

From Dawn's perspective it is hypocritical, but in all fairness, at the time, Dawn had the emotional maturity of an orange.

 

[tkts]

It's pretty much an ongoing theme for Buffy to try to shield Dawn from things that she herself faced at about the same age.

But, (a) she was the Slayer and therefore able to kick the ass of anyone who messed with her, and (b), she's basically Dawn's mother for the last 2 1/2 years of the show, and how many parents really want their kids to do all the things they did as teenagers?

 

[white avenger]

Do you think when Dawn tried to get under Buffy's skin, by saying she had a crush on Spike and Buffy said that Spike was a monster, Dawn was too young to be alone with Spike etc.

Was Buffy hypocritical saying this? I mean wasn't Angel just as monsterous as Spike was when he lost his soul in season 2, so why does Buffy look over that when arguing about Spike?

Also wasn't Buffy the same age as Dawn when she dated Angel?

This goes back, I think, at least in part to the idea that Angel and Angelus are two separate people, rather than a single being with two drastically different possibilities, plus the apparent belief by Buffy that a "moment of perfect happiness" could only mean one thing, and that he could reach that moment with her and her alone.

Mostly, though, it was almost certainly for the simple reason that Buffy believed in, had faith in, and absolutely trusted Angel. She didn't have that sort of trust in Spike at that time, though she definitely did by Season 7. Also, at that time, she didn't believe that a soulless vampire was capable of having a "crush" on anyone, despite the fact that she had seen Spike's devotion to Drusilla,

 

[Wild At Heart]

Really, it's no different than a parent having done some of the same things in their past that they don't want their children doing. It's just because she loves her & wants to protect her.

 

[Robb Stark]

Not at all. The circumstances of Buffy dating Angel and Dawn having a crush on Spike were completely, totally different. For starters, when Buffy began dating Angel he had a soul and had proven multiple times that he was a hero. They had no idea that he could lose his soul.

Meanwhile, Spike at that point was only "behaving" so Buffy wouldn't kill him and because the only taste for violence he could get was by fighting other demons with the chip in his head. He'd tried to kill Buffy and the Scoobies multiple times, and quite simply, didn't have a soul. It's not even remotely the same.