Buffy and Spike: Complete Friendship
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Buffy and Spike - Complete Friendship, Part 3
Season 7 – Complete Friendship
In complete friendship the will commands the inferior powers and moderates both reason and passion. The will values things for their own sake and provides the basis for complete friendship that is both beneficial and pleasurable. This is the relationship that Spike and Buffy were able to establish during season seven.
In season seven, Spike continues to be of utilitarian use to Buffy. He gives her valuable information about the coming evil; helps locate Willow while she is missing and is an essential ally in the fight against the First Evil, the 'big bad' of the season. He helps Buffy train the potential slayers and ultimately, bears the burden of the amulet that saves the world. He helps Buffy accomplish her task of keeping the world safe, while Buffy helps him reconcile with the soul that he won for himself at the end of season six. Her belief in him allows him to withstand the torture and temptation offered by the First and remain firmly on the side of good. In short, they bring out the best in each other. Buffy shows more compassion and understanding to Spike than she shows just about any other character, even after (or maybe because of) their chequered and messy past, while Spike is elevated to the status of ‘champion’ ably assisted by Buffy’s belief and good influence.
With the ambiguity over his position on good and evil resolved this frees the relationship to develop in a new direction. Buffy and Spike share a history of seeking each other out for both utility and pleasure but by season seven they have curtailed their physical relationship. The pleasure they gain from the other is intimate rather than overtly erotic. They obviously still find each other attractive and physical intimacy is a distinct possibility (if not an inevitability, depending on how you read the final episode). The important distinction is that the pleasure they gain from the other exists for its own sake and is not dependant on conditions but rather, stems from mutual admiration, respect and love. Spike says he loves Buffy, not because he wants her, but because of whom she is - one hell of a woman, the one. Buffy gets courage and support from Spike and comes to need his presence, above all else, in order to achieve her goals. Ultimately, they must team up, a unique combination, to save the world – she, an axe wielding Slayer and he the amulet bearing champion, her champion, who she loves.
When faced with almost certain death Spike refuses Buffy’s plea to come with her, rather her sends her out to the world and commands her to take her place in it. He gives up his life so that she, and the rest of the world, might live. Earlier in the season we have seen Buffy refuse to allow Spike to quit, despite his demand that she kill him for everyone’s own safety. She doesn’t let him take the easy way out just as Spike will never let Buffy quit her job as the slayer. He knows that Buffy has a job to do and doesn’t ever separate the girl from the job or try, as others have done, to separate the two for his own purposes. They are a package deal and he understands that. Spike knows Buffy intimately and intellectually, her good, bad, ugly, pretty, dark and light – just as she knows the same of him.
Complete friendship requires virtue: virtue is found in strength of character, strength of character is found in will power. Buffy and Spike have both demonstrated personal willpower on many occasions, the difference comes to their relationship when they master the will power to resist the purely sexual urges that they had previously allowed to drive it. Again, I reiterate, it is not that Spuffy sex is bad and should never happen again. The value of their season seven relationship is that it is a time of revaluation, renewal; it is when they really get to know and value each other with the assistance of all the data gathered during their history together. The result is an intense, trusting friendship that encompasses honesty, affection, loyalty and love – complete friendship. On a very basic level, he satisfies her need for the ‘bad boy’ while she gratifies his long-held attraction to slayers in general. Each fulfils for the other the need for an element of danger without the relationship being fetishistic or inappropriate.
Buffy and Spike are complete friends in a true sense. They value each other for their own sake; they trust each other, know each other, accept the good, bad and the ugly about each other and still share a bond that is as close, if not closer than any in the Buffyverse (perhaps only rivalled by Angel and Cordelia). This relationship stands as Buffy’s best chance for a satisfying, equal relationship that includes both complete friendship and erotic love. Buffy and Spike are physically compatible, are attracted to one another, have satisfying sex and have an intellectually intimate connection.
One can only hope that some day, in some circumstance Buffy and Spike can be reunited to allow their love to continue on the road that they’d venture so far down (because, great muppity Odin, she misses that sex!)
The End.
In complete friendship the will commands the inferior powers and moderates both reason and passion. The will values things for their own sake and provides the basis for complete friendship that is both beneficial and pleasurable. This is the relationship that Spike and Buffy were able to establish during season seven.
In season seven, Spike continues to be of utilitarian use to Buffy. He gives her valuable information about the coming evil; helps locate Willow while she is missing and is an essential ally in the fight against the First Evil, the 'big bad' of the season. He helps Buffy train the potential slayers and ultimately, bears the burden of the amulet that saves the world. He helps Buffy accomplish her task of keeping the world safe, while Buffy helps him reconcile with the soul that he won for himself at the end of season six. Her belief in him allows him to withstand the torture and temptation offered by the First and remain firmly on the side of good. In short, they bring out the best in each other. Buffy shows more compassion and understanding to Spike than she shows just about any other character, even after (or maybe because of) their chequered and messy past, while Spike is elevated to the status of ‘champion’ ably assisted by Buffy’s belief and good influence.
With the ambiguity over his position on good and evil resolved this frees the relationship to develop in a new direction. Buffy and Spike share a history of seeking each other out for both utility and pleasure but by season seven they have curtailed their physical relationship. The pleasure they gain from the other is intimate rather than overtly erotic. They obviously still find each other attractive and physical intimacy is a distinct possibility (if not an inevitability, depending on how you read the final episode). The important distinction is that the pleasure they gain from the other exists for its own sake and is not dependant on conditions but rather, stems from mutual admiration, respect and love. Spike says he loves Buffy, not because he wants her, but because of whom she is - one hell of a woman, the one. Buffy gets courage and support from Spike and comes to need his presence, above all else, in order to achieve her goals. Ultimately, they must team up, a unique combination, to save the world – she, an axe wielding Slayer and he the amulet bearing champion, her champion, who she loves.
When faced with almost certain death Spike refuses Buffy’s plea to come with her, rather her sends her out to the world and commands her to take her place in it. He gives up his life so that she, and the rest of the world, might live. Earlier in the season we have seen Buffy refuse to allow Spike to quit, despite his demand that she kill him for everyone’s own safety. She doesn’t let him take the easy way out just as Spike will never let Buffy quit her job as the slayer. He knows that Buffy has a job to do and doesn’t ever separate the girl from the job or try, as others have done, to separate the two for his own purposes. They are a package deal and he understands that. Spike knows Buffy intimately and intellectually, her good, bad, ugly, pretty, dark and light – just as she knows the same of him.
Complete friendship requires virtue: virtue is found in strength of character, strength of character is found in will power. Buffy and Spike have both demonstrated personal willpower on many occasions, the difference comes to their relationship when they master the will power to resist the purely sexual urges that they had previously allowed to drive it. Again, I reiterate, it is not that Spuffy sex is bad and should never happen again. The value of their season seven relationship is that it is a time of revaluation, renewal; it is when they really get to know and value each other with the assistance of all the data gathered during their history together. The result is an intense, trusting friendship that encompasses honesty, affection, loyalty and love – complete friendship. On a very basic level, he satisfies her need for the ‘bad boy’ while she gratifies his long-held attraction to slayers in general. Each fulfils for the other the need for an element of danger without the relationship being fetishistic or inappropriate.
Buffy and Spike are complete friends in a true sense. They value each other for their own sake; they trust each other, know each other, accept the good, bad and the ugly about each other and still share a bond that is as close, if not closer than any in the Buffyverse (perhaps only rivalled by Angel and Cordelia). This relationship stands as Buffy’s best chance for a satisfying, equal relationship that includes both complete friendship and erotic love. Buffy and Spike are physically compatible, are attracted to one another, have satisfying sex and have an intellectually intimate connection.
One can only hope that some day, in some circumstance Buffy and Spike can be reunited to allow their love to continue on the road that they’d venture so far down (because, great muppity Odin, she misses that sex!)
The End.
Spike and Buffy: Complete Friendship - Part Two
Season 6 – Pleasure Friendship
Buffy returns from the dead via magical intervention from Willow. Spike has mourned Buffy’s death intensely and is shown to have kept count of the number of days she has been gone. Feeling detached from life, Buffy seeks companionship with Spike, the only person she can stand to be around (Life Serial). Her connection to Spike is beautifully presented in the episode After Life; he is quiet and caring where her friends are loud and demanding, he is interested in her where the others are interested in what she can do for them and in hearing gratitude that they’ve managed to bring her back from the dead. Is it any wonder she’s drawn to Spike? Their relationship is a logical continuation of the connection that was forged in the second half of season five and it’s something she doesn’t have to share with her friends. Of course she’s drawn to Spike!
Buffy and Spike consummate their relationship in ‘Wrecked’. It is not a typically romantic seduction but is gritty, dirty, violent and very sexy. Spike finds that his chip doesn’t recognise Buffy, so he’s able to hurt her, if he chooses. They fight and this turns into a sexual encounter that literally brings the house down. One of the defining features of season six is the dangerous and confronting nature of Spike and Buffy’s sexual relationship. Buffy knows that Spike is a soulless vampire, but is drawn to him just the same. The sex becomes addictive, though personally destructive as she fights the conflicting emotions and feelings that they bring out in each other. Buffy is ashamed of the relationship and cannot bring herself to confide the truth to her friends. She knows Spike loves her but feels that she is using him for her own sexual gratification. Desire and need, excitement and danger control the relationship making it the very definition of a pleasure friendship. Reason and logical consideration is given away completely to desire and want. Ultimately, the relationship is shown to be very unhealthy for both of them. Spike loses his way on his road to self improvement with his attempts to draw Buffy to the darkness, while the very foundations of Buffy’s calling are challenged. It is easy to dismiss this relationship as ‘bad’ because it defied conventions of a ‘normal’ sexual relationship with the heavy implication that Buffy and Spike indulged in more than vanilla, missionary position sex. It must be stated that it is not what they did that was wrong, no, that was consensual and enjoyed by both. The fault with the relationship was that Spike was a soulless vampire, and Buffy the fated vampire slayer. It is not compatible, particularly when he is still ambiguous in his position of good vs. evil. The ‘good’ slayer cannot be sleeping with the ‘bad’ vampire and still go out and do her duty with a clear conscious. It is interesting that Buffy only breaks up with Spike when she admits to herself that she has ‘feelings’ for him (As You Were). While it was purely sexual, she could handle the relationship but as soon as it was in danger of developing into something more serious on her side, that’s when she ended it.
To Be continued.....
Season 6 – Pleasure Friendship
Buffy returns from the dead via magical intervention from Willow. Spike has mourned Buffy’s death intensely and is shown to have kept count of the number of days she has been gone. Feeling detached from life, Buffy seeks companionship with Spike, the only person she can stand to be around (Life Serial). Her connection to Spike is beautifully presented in the episode After Life; he is quiet and caring where her friends are loud and demanding, he is interested in her where the others are interested in what she can do for them and in hearing gratitude that they’ve managed to bring her back from the dead. Is it any wonder she’s drawn to Spike? Their relationship is a logical continuation of the connection that was forged in the second half of season five and it’s something she doesn’t have to share with her friends. Of course she’s drawn to Spike!
Buffy and Spike consummate their relationship in ‘Wrecked’. It is not a typically romantic seduction but is gritty, dirty, violent and very sexy. Spike finds that his chip doesn’t recognise Buffy, so he’s able to hurt her, if he chooses. They fight and this turns into a sexual encounter that literally brings the house down. One of the defining features of season six is the dangerous and confronting nature of Spike and Buffy’s sexual relationship. Buffy knows that Spike is a soulless vampire, but is drawn to him just the same. The sex becomes addictive, though personally destructive as she fights the conflicting emotions and feelings that they bring out in each other. Buffy is ashamed of the relationship and cannot bring herself to confide the truth to her friends. She knows Spike loves her but feels that she is using him for her own sexual gratification. Desire and need, excitement and danger control the relationship making it the very definition of a pleasure friendship. Reason and logical consideration is given away completely to desire and want. Ultimately, the relationship is shown to be very unhealthy for both of them. Spike loses his way on his road to self improvement with his attempts to draw Buffy to the darkness, while the very foundations of Buffy’s calling are challenged. It is easy to dismiss this relationship as ‘bad’ because it defied conventions of a ‘normal’ sexual relationship with the heavy implication that Buffy and Spike indulged in more than vanilla, missionary position sex. It must be stated that it is not what they did that was wrong, no, that was consensual and enjoyed by both. The fault with the relationship was that Spike was a soulless vampire, and Buffy the fated vampire slayer. It is not compatible, particularly when he is still ambiguous in his position of good vs. evil. The ‘good’ slayer cannot be sleeping with the ‘bad’ vampire and still go out and do her duty with a clear conscious. It is interesting that Buffy only breaks up with Spike when she admits to herself that she has ‘feelings’ for him (As You Were). While it was purely sexual, she could handle the relationship but as soon as it was in danger of developing into something more serious on her side, that’s when she ended it.
To Be continued.....
Friday, March 30, 2007
Hello!
Wow, was that ever easy! i just set up my blog as a sort of experiment and now its up and running! Too easy! Now that it's done i'm not too sure what i want to talk about!
I'm a university student, studying for my Master of Learning Innovation. This blog has been created as a way of teaching myself about cyberlearning and to famiarise myself with some of the technology that is available and might be able to be used for educational purposes. that being said i have no intention of making this a 'boring' theoretical blog! I'll probably use it to ramble on about my hobby - discussing the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
So here is my first entry:
Buffy and Spike: Complete Friendship - Part One
Written as an addendum to 'Buffy in the Buff: A Slayer's Solution to Aristotles Love Paradox' by M. Milavec and S. Kaye (pp. 174-184) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale edited by James B. South (2003) Carus Publishing Company: Illinois
In the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, A television series driven by characters rather than plot, the characters of Spike and Buffy share one of the most complex and compelling relationships featured in the program. The relationship has proved pivotal for character growth for both characters and indeed, has provided the show with much of the impetus on which the overall story moves forward. Beginning as bitter enemies, their relationship changes and grows through numerous phases until they share a level of trust and respect that cannot be matched by any other relationship in the entire Buffyverse. I would argue that Buffy and Spike’s relationship is a demonstration of all three levels of Aristotelian friendship.
Season 2, 4 and 5 – Utility Friendship
Spike arrives in Sunnydale in the landmark episode “School Hard” and is immediately highlighted as a very unusual Vampire. He’s bold and ballsy, shuns vampire tradition, and is a killer of slayers. But this is contrasted explicitly by his beautiful appearance and love and concern for his partner Drusilla. From the first fight, Buffy and Spike share a connection. They both talk, big, tough guy talk as they fight, they both prefer hand to hand combat over the use of weapons – Spike is like the vampire version of Buffy (a fact that becomes more and more obvious as the series progresses). Throughout the second series, Buffy and Spike operate on the level of enemies until Bargaining (part 2), the final episode of the season. With a mutual enemy in the form of Angelus, Spike approaches buffy with the proposal of a temporary alliance to defeat the ruthless vampire despite their mutual hate of each other. At this point their intense dislike is based on the roles that they occupy – vampire hates slayer and slayer hates vampire. They are fated enemies, yet they work together in a common purpose.
In season four Spike returns to Sunnydale in ‘The Harsh Light of Day’. Spike finds the legendary gem of Amara and the first thing he does is seek a confrontation with the slayer. He is thwarted, only to be caught and implanted with a cerebral chip by a secret government agency known as ‘The Initiative’. The chip stops Spike from harming humans, causing great pain if he attempts, with intent, to harm someone. Unable to function effectively in the world of vampires, Spike, the ever adaptable, goes to seek asylum from his enemy, the slayer. With the promise of information about The Initiative, another common enemy, Buffy takes him in and he becomes a (very) reluctant ally to Buffy and her gang.
Thus, Spike and Buffy’s relationship to date is the very definition of utility friendship: A relationship based on mutual benefit irrespective of whether or not the two parties especially enjoy each other. The relationship exists in order to accomplish particular goals. Spike is useful to Buffy in that he provides information and strength. The Slayer is useful to Spike as she provides protection, income and a way to function in a world where he has no defined place. He understands her world (the realm of vampires, demons, combat, evil), increasing his functionality as a tool in her work. At this stage, of course, Spike has his own agenda (to have the chip removed and return to ‘normal’) and uses his connection to Buffy to try and accomplish this end.
Season 5 sees the utility friendship continue, though in an enhanced version. Spike provides crucial insight into the role of the slayer, helping Buffy understand herself and her calling better (Fool for Love) while Buffy casts Spike in the role of protector for her sister and mother from the dangerous and vengeful hell-god Glory. His strength and fighting ability transcend the fact that he has no soul. He is useful and important, probably her most useful ally to date. Spike accepts the role wholeheartedly, developing a big-brotherly bond with Dawn and relishing the purpose that Buffy has bestowed on him.
Of course, in season five, Spike also finds that he is love with the Slayer. In ‘Out of My Mind’ Spike realises that he has developed romantic feelings for Buffy. He begins to want to help her, not to achieve his own ends but because he wants Buffy to notice him. She does not return the affection, yet he remedies this by becoming even more useful to her. He withstands torture to protect Dawn and assists the Scoobies in their battle against Glory finally winning gratitude and grudging respect from Buffy. He is genuinely devastated when Buffy dies in order to save her sister and the world from demonic invasion.
to be continued......
I'm a university student, studying for my Master of Learning Innovation. This blog has been created as a way of teaching myself about cyberlearning and to famiarise myself with some of the technology that is available and might be able to be used for educational purposes. that being said i have no intention of making this a 'boring' theoretical blog! I'll probably use it to ramble on about my hobby - discussing the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
So here is my first entry:
Buffy and Spike: Complete Friendship - Part One
Written as an addendum to 'Buffy in the Buff: A Slayer's Solution to Aristotles Love Paradox' by M. Milavec and S. Kaye (pp. 174-184) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale edited by James B. South (2003) Carus Publishing Company: Illinois
In the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, A television series driven by characters rather than plot, the characters of Spike and Buffy share one of the most complex and compelling relationships featured in the program. The relationship has proved pivotal for character growth for both characters and indeed, has provided the show with much of the impetus on which the overall story moves forward. Beginning as bitter enemies, their relationship changes and grows through numerous phases until they share a level of trust and respect that cannot be matched by any other relationship in the entire Buffyverse. I would argue that Buffy and Spike’s relationship is a demonstration of all three levels of Aristotelian friendship.
Season 2, 4 and 5 – Utility Friendship
Spike arrives in Sunnydale in the landmark episode “School Hard” and is immediately highlighted as a very unusual Vampire. He’s bold and ballsy, shuns vampire tradition, and is a killer of slayers. But this is contrasted explicitly by his beautiful appearance and love and concern for his partner Drusilla. From the first fight, Buffy and Spike share a connection. They both talk, big, tough guy talk as they fight, they both prefer hand to hand combat over the use of weapons – Spike is like the vampire version of Buffy (a fact that becomes more and more obvious as the series progresses). Throughout the second series, Buffy and Spike operate on the level of enemies until Bargaining (part 2), the final episode of the season. With a mutual enemy in the form of Angelus, Spike approaches buffy with the proposal of a temporary alliance to defeat the ruthless vampire despite their mutual hate of each other. At this point their intense dislike is based on the roles that they occupy – vampire hates slayer and slayer hates vampire. They are fated enemies, yet they work together in a common purpose.
In season four Spike returns to Sunnydale in ‘The Harsh Light of Day’. Spike finds the legendary gem of Amara and the first thing he does is seek a confrontation with the slayer. He is thwarted, only to be caught and implanted with a cerebral chip by a secret government agency known as ‘The Initiative’. The chip stops Spike from harming humans, causing great pain if he attempts, with intent, to harm someone. Unable to function effectively in the world of vampires, Spike, the ever adaptable, goes to seek asylum from his enemy, the slayer. With the promise of information about The Initiative, another common enemy, Buffy takes him in and he becomes a (very) reluctant ally to Buffy and her gang.
Thus, Spike and Buffy’s relationship to date is the very definition of utility friendship: A relationship based on mutual benefit irrespective of whether or not the two parties especially enjoy each other. The relationship exists in order to accomplish particular goals. Spike is useful to Buffy in that he provides information and strength. The Slayer is useful to Spike as she provides protection, income and a way to function in a world where he has no defined place. He understands her world (the realm of vampires, demons, combat, evil), increasing his functionality as a tool in her work. At this stage, of course, Spike has his own agenda (to have the chip removed and return to ‘normal’) and uses his connection to Buffy to try and accomplish this end.
Season 5 sees the utility friendship continue, though in an enhanced version. Spike provides crucial insight into the role of the slayer, helping Buffy understand herself and her calling better (Fool for Love) while Buffy casts Spike in the role of protector for her sister and mother from the dangerous and vengeful hell-god Glory. His strength and fighting ability transcend the fact that he has no soul. He is useful and important, probably her most useful ally to date. Spike accepts the role wholeheartedly, developing a big-brotherly bond with Dawn and relishing the purpose that Buffy has bestowed on him.
Of course, in season five, Spike also finds that he is love with the Slayer. In ‘Out of My Mind’ Spike realises that he has developed romantic feelings for Buffy. He begins to want to help her, not to achieve his own ends but because he wants Buffy to notice him. She does not return the affection, yet he remedies this by becoming even more useful to her. He withstands torture to protect Dawn and assists the Scoobies in their battle against Glory finally winning gratitude and grudging respect from Buffy. He is genuinely devastated when Buffy dies in order to save her sister and the world from demonic invasion.
to be continued......
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