Was it really a choice?

[Fredsicle]

When Buffy says "here's the part where you make a choice" she was saying the girls could choose whether or not to receive the Slayer power.
If one of the girls had said no, how would they have singled her out to not receive the power? It's not really a choice if they are going to get it anyways.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

I don't think it was a choice of 'do you want to be a Slayer or not' I think it was the choice of fighting or not.
Taking away the randomness of being 'Chosen'.

If they didn't want the power, they could have refused to go to the Hellmouth and go somewhere else.

 

[Fredsicle]

well she said "make your choice. are you ready to be strong" as if there were any alternative

 

[Willowsgirl]

I don't think it was a choice of 'do you want to be a Slayer or not' I think it was the choice of fighting or not.
Taking away the randomness of being 'Chosen'.

If they didn't want the power, they could have refused to go to the Hellmouth and go somewhere else.

That is what I took that statement to mean as well. However, if enough of them said that they didn't want to fight, I don't think Buffy would have done it. After all, whats the point of giving all of them the powers if they aren't going to fight with her?

 

[Fredsicle]

well of course not all the girls are going to say no
I'm sure most girls if faced with this choice, would fight.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

well she said "make your choice. are you ready to be strong" as if there were any alternative

Strong doesn't necessarily mean physically.

Are you ready to make your own decisions, make your own choices and don't let the Shadow Men from millenia ago dictate something for them.

---------- Post added at 02:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:10 AM ----------

well of course not all the girls are going to say no
I'm sure most girls if faced with this choice, would fight.

Incidentally, none of the girls were actually needed, the only one needed was Spike.

 

[Willowsgirl]

Buffy's tactics and leadership where called into question during this season. Willow wasn't sure if she could do it or whether she should do it, so it is possible that the others felt the same way. Also I didn't say ALL I said "enough" meaning the majority.

---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 PM ----------

Incidentally, none of the girls were actually needed, the only one needed was Spike.

In fairness, none of them knew that. Not even Spike.

 

[Fredsicle]

Incidentally, none of the girls were actually needed, the only one needed was Spike.

but then the ubervamps that got past Spike would have gotten past Sunnydale via the sewers.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

In fairness, none of them knew that. Not even Spike.

Thats why its an 'incidentally' - though knowing Buffy, if all the potentials had said no, she still would have gone through with it...being we've already seen she did!

---------- Post added at 02:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 AM ----------

but then the ubervamps that got past Spike would have gotten past Sunnydale via the sewers.

Which wouldn't be an issue because they couldn't go out in the sun and Sunnydale totally destroyed!

ALSO, the only reason the Ubers charged the gang was because they saw them, if they'd simply stayed hidden until Spike was used, there wouldn't have been a charge.

 

[Mazikeen]

Re:

When Buffy says "here's the part where you make a choice" she was saying the girls could choose whether or not to receive the Slayer power.
If one of the girls had said no, how would they have singled her out to not receive the power? It's not really a choice if they are going to get it anyways.

I think it was not so much a "choose to be a slayer" thing as it was a "choose to stand and fight" thing. I think if
one had chosen against it, she still would have become a slayer but the only defending she would be doing was for her seat on the bus on the way out of town.

 

[white avenger]

I took that scene as being sort of a parallel to the line in the sand that William Travis drew during the last days at the Alamo. Basically, Buffy, like Travis, was offering her troops a choice as to whether or not they would make the commitment to fight, not to become Slayers. Realistically, Buffy, one vampire, and a dozen or so inexperienced girls, Slayers or not, really shouldn't have been able to accomplish what they did. It was a suicide mission, and they all knew it from the beginning. That was the choice that they were called upon to make.

On that same note, I think when Buffy told Spike, "I just realized something. We're gonna win," she wasn't necessarily speaking about herself and her little band of fighters. Even if they had every one died there in the hellmouth, if the First Evil had escaped its confines and ran rampant throughout the world, it and its minions would face literally thousands of Slayers ready to continue the fight. (Don't ask me how she thought that all of those girls would somehow organize and coordinate the fight in time to be effective. She probably just figured that Joss would figure out a way if there ever was an 8th season)

 

[Fusions2]

Same to what most of said when Buffy asked them to make a choice she meant fighting with her against The First, not if they want to be a slayer. That part none of them could escape once Willow's spell kicked in, she was asking them to basically stand up and be strong because they were going to war and some of them weren't going to make it. You have to be pretty strong minded to say yes and join the fight regardless if you had slayer power or not on your side.

 

[Aly Fan]

I think the whole "Are you ready to be strong." wasn't meant as literally as, when we give you these powers you'll fight for us. I think it's more, are you ready to stand up and be counted for. The potentials had constantly been complaining that they weren't ready, or that they didn't have the power Buffy or Faith had. They knew that the bringers and the First were after them, and they needed protection. Buffy wouldn't have forced any of them to fight if they said no, and she'd have done it with or with out the potentials, because if she didn't try to defeat the first then she knew she would have lost anyway.

I agree that once the spell was done, no they didn't have a choice whether they became a slayer or not...BUT..they did have the choice in how to use there new powers! And i think that was the entire point of the statement Buffy was making..

 

[Silum]

I'd say it was more about rallying to troops than asking a question. Buffy was very 'general' like in the last moments, and this was more of a one-for-all speech than a literal question.

As far as how she phrased it, it was about taking control of what they forced on them. Both their slayer destiny and the situation they find themselves in with the fate of the world in their hands.