idle thought #278

[madimpossibledreamer]

okay, but, like...were they setting the US government up to be a Big Bad or what?  they never went into too much detail but someone had to put the stamp on the Initiative thing and there were a few other touches, most of which I don't remember, but there was the Collecting Invisible Kids thing from the episode with Marcie.  We know the Sunnydale officials are corrupt, incompetent, or both, but what about on the national scale?  (I mean, it definitely had an X-Files feel almost so what, is the CSM just going to pop out of somewhere?)

Comments

[gillo]

I think Government without controls is potentially a Big Bad in the Buffyverse, and too much at risk of corruption. There's the Senator near the end of AngelS5 too. Mob rule (as in MOO) is also dangerous. Jasmine might be considered a warning against populism. The Mayor and Snyder misuse their power. On the whole individuals have a duty to take a share in the responsibility of running the world as well as possible:

When nothing you do matters, the only thing that matters is what you do.

Chanterelle/Lily/Anne is a good example of a trajectory across seven years from helpless, inert and gullible to strong and determined to make everything she does count. Without even superpowers.

[madimpossibledreamer]

Thank you for filling in some of the gaps! I knew I was forgetting things. It's interesting how much corruption is a theme for a show which, for the most part, doesn't have the possess-y type demons. (Though maybe you could make a case that's the point of the First as a manifestation of that type of corruption capability? Or it's just something about the universe as written.)
It's a good point that you make about individual responsibility and power. That was definitely an ongoing theme-Buffy deciding how much of everything should even be her responsibility, Faith who got blinded by the power and had to learn that might doesn't make right, the whole magic corruption arc with Willow... And a lot of the Wolfram & Hart stuff on Angel-do you do the right thing knowing what kind of contract you've signed? How far can you change things in the system? (And, honestly, how does a toxic workplace break your sense of morality and professional norms?)
Anne's character arc was awesome!
~Dreamer~