Willow's drug metaphor

[WileyDairyGnome]

3. It sort of turned Giles and Anya into drug dealers.

I don't think they should be considered drug dealers... They never sold the magic stuff to Willow for abusive use, it's Willow's own fault for abusing magic like that.

 

[FlowerPower]

Any story about Willow being the world-destroying, "try to kill everyone in the group" is a total loser of one for me. Magic as drugs was a desperate, cheap way to get her there and it was a failure from top to bottom.

 

[Dagenspear]

I thought you hated everything that is a metaphor in the show, which is what the show is all about, so it didn't make sense to me why hate what the show is about and love it at the same time. I mean, why love a show that you hate its one of the most important aspects?

Well, like I said, not the metaphors themselves, just some literalizations of them. Like, for instance, Buffy sharing the power, as a metaphor, is amazing in a lot of ways. UNTIL you consider the real world applications. Thousands of girls, all with super powers. Now, how many out of that number, either A.) Don't deserve the super powers, B.) Don't want and didn't ask for them, or C.) Can't even begin to comprehend them? Like that little girl playing baseball... She's gonna kill someone. She's a child, with super powers. How's THAT supposed to work out?

 

[EvilWillow]

*Ahem*

As a recovering drug addict, it was kind of like therapy for me. I know that it made me feel better. I can't really explain how. But I feel like the people that hate the metaphor are either drug addicts, or people that have been affected directly by a drug addict.

I really liked that they added a huge flaw to Willow...because really, she didn't have one up until that point, and I feel like it made her even more human.

It made me identify with Willow even more, because that was a very dark time in my life. I had something traumatic happen, and I lost control. It was like it was my story being portrayed right in front of me, and I loved every minute of it, and that is a main reason why I love season 6 so much.

Please don't judge me.

 

[orpheusxi]

I didn't mind the drug/magic metaphor or parallel if you will but I agree with [MENTION=8821]Icarium[/MENTION] about the execution of the idea especially after re-watching it & I also agree with some things this website says http://www.criticallytouched.com/buffy/season_6_review.php about the Willow arc. They highlighted something specific in the episode "Wrecked" which I thought was interesting.

Even though the Willow thread was handled extremely poorly here, there's still some great dialogue in the conversation between Buffy and Willow towards the end. Willow finally admits that the reason Tara left was because of her magic overuse. It's also here, where we finally get an awesome piece of truth about what Willow's problem truly is: "I mean, if you could be regular Willow or super Willow, who would you be? ... Who was I? Just some girl. Tara didn't even know that girl." See, now that's more of what I'm looking for! Willow's magic use was always a cover for the insecurity inside her -- something that gave "mousey" Willow power. Tara didn't, in fact, ever know Mousey Willow, which is why her admission of that is so refreshing to hear. For proof of this, please direct your attention back to the Buffy character bible that is "Restless" (4x22).

Looking back on it I'd definitely change a few things. For Willow the focus would have to be on two things which would be her insecurity & her ability to want to help others, both of which are linked to the reason she uses magic. Throughout the season she would try to help but it wouldn't work. Despite Tara leaving her she would still continue to use magic to help herself and others until she would reach situations where they would be out of her reach. This would fuel her hunger to want more power to do good, but the power would become too much for her to properly control and cause a moment where she would harm herself and someone else in the process (similar to how she did Wrecked). This would cause her to realize that Tara didn't love her because she was super powerful but because she was Willow & that despite having powers to help others doesn't necessarily mean she could/should & people wont like her any more or less for it.

I'd tidy up Dark Willow a little too by changing her motives at the end. When she sucks the energy from Giles instead of ending the world she would attempt to suck the sorrow & pain from everyone in Sunnydale which would ultimately kill them unless stopped. The reason she'd do this is because it would be her yet again attempting to help everyone by extreme means.

I'm a bit sleepy & these are just some rough thoughts but I'd really like to know what you think [MENTION=8821]Icarium[/MENTION]

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

If you do hate that metaphor, could you explain how come? And do you think there could be another arc for that metaphor, or even another metaphor?

I think the issue fans have with that that particular metaphor was that it was so blatant. Willow's addiction to magic wasn't a metaphor - it was literal.

That said, Buffy is a show saturated with metaphors, most of which that were done very well. High school is Hell, for one.