The Cylon question is complicated. They were created by the humans became conscious and rebelled, fought a war agreed an armstice and disappeared for 40 years before suddenly unleashing a massive apparently unprovoked nuclear assault that killed most of the humans and sent the rest on the run. They were able to be so successful in their attack because they’d evolved to take human form 12 models with many copies of each. In its later stages the series although the Cylons are still the enemy they are less united, some seem to be developing an individuality and the origins of their initial strike have been questioned, whether it was blindly malevolent demon-style, pre-emptive or ordained by God. Roslin may be becoming more like the Cylons particularly on the genocide issue (and she orders that knowing how human they can be) but the Cylons are also becoming more like us. It’s interesting that S8 has already given us two different answers about which side of the magic fence Slayers belong to, human or demon and there have already been several magical creatures that weren’t clearly good or evil (take Kenny for instance) but I don’t think that’s a major issue at present
I think we’re both operating under the assumption that the bank job pre-dated the talk with General Voll so there’s no reason to think it was done to fund a war against humanity rather than in defense of it. Or to believe that Buffy decided on that course of action alone and not in consultation with at least the other Slayers, probably Xander and possibly even Giles (although he may now regret such a course of action for the same Realpolitik reasons Willow advanced). I think our basic difference is that I don’t take Voll at face value and I don’t think Buffy does either. He is human but that doesn’t mean he represents us (I certainly never voted for him) or that he’s correct in his somewhat misogynist fears about women being at the mercy of their demonic natures. Twilight doesn’t come across as having humanity’s best interests at heart either, as long as they help him end the magic he shows no sign of caring.
I read Buffy’s last line rather differently from you as I don’t see this issue as showing Buffy to be dead set against listening to other people. She’s not dismissing Sephrillian’s revelations - he *was* using them to play Willow and her off against each other but that doesn’t make them illusions. She’s worked with demons long enough to know they can use the truth as a weapon and she surely knows the truth of his revelation about her activities. Basically, Joss could be building up for a ‘Slayers against humanity story’ but the set up so far doesn’t leave that as the only option and I don’t believe it’s the most interesting one either. My main point with the Roslin comparison was that’s it’s perfectly possible to tell a well-rounded, complex and compelling story about a powerful woman responding to extreme circumstances without making her all saint or all sinner.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 09:02 pm (UTC)I think we’re both operating under the assumption that the bank job pre-dated the talk with General Voll so there’s no reason to think it was done to fund a war against humanity rather than in defense of it. Or to believe that Buffy decided on that course of action alone and not in consultation with at least the other Slayers, probably Xander and possibly even Giles (although he may now regret such a course of action for the same Realpolitik reasons Willow advanced). I think our basic difference is that I don’t take Voll at face value and I don’t think Buffy does either. He is human but that doesn’t mean he represents us (I certainly never voted for him) or that he’s correct in his somewhat misogynist fears about women being at the mercy of their demonic natures. Twilight doesn’t come across as having humanity’s best interests at heart either, as long as they help him end the magic he shows no sign of caring.
I read Buffy’s last line rather differently from you as I don’t see this issue as showing Buffy to be dead set against listening to other people. She’s not dismissing Sephrillian’s revelations - he *was* using them to play Willow and her off against each other but that doesn’t make them illusions. She’s worked with demons long enough to know they can use the truth as a weapon and she surely knows the truth of his revelation about her activities. Basically, Joss could be building up for a ‘Slayers against humanity story’ but the set up so far doesn’t leave that as the only option and I don’t believe it’s the most interesting one either. My main point with the Roslin comparison was that’s it’s perfectly possible to tell a well-rounded, complex and compelling story about a powerful woman responding to extreme circumstances without making her all saint or all sinner.