Buffy's Choice and the "Evils" of Free Speech Fallout

One of the things I love about free speech is that it grants you the right to have--and express--your own opinions about anything you want.  You don't have to take small little things like etiquette, dignity, and respect for others who might be more involved in an issue, into account--and this of course is the hallmark of so many citizens of the Internet, who often feel that their views on something trumps everything else.

Including, apparently, their own dignity.

When I finally read about the goings-on in the current issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was shocked at the developments.  Buffy Summers, the heroine and protagonist, had apparently made a bad decision at a party, gotten black-out drunk, and ended up sleeping with some guy.  She was too wasted to even remember who it was, but apparently she became pregnant as a result.  In thinking about her circumstances--which are, to say the least, unique--she has apparently resolved to have an abortion, reasoning that she simply doesn't feel ready to bring a child into the world.

It is, of course, at this point where the free speech kicks in, and every anti-abortion crusader from underneath the rock springs up and decries what a horrible development this is.  They berate everything they can: Buffy is supposed to protect the weak; Buffy shouldn't have made such an irresponsible decision; why can't she just consider adoption; and so on and so forth.  I've seen articles and comments from idealogues galore--many of whom freely admit they've never read this comic or seen the television series, but still feel they have the proper context to argue about this particular story.

Never mind that you had no interest in this series or story until it told this particular story, about this particular issue, in a way that seems to avoid the ending you'd want it to.  Never mind that you're now condemning Joss Whedon and his creative team based solely on this issue.  Never mind that this decision is rarely addressed in a respectful way in the mainstream storytelling media--it's not going the way you want it to, so you're going to scream and shout and bitch to anyone who will listen that this Joss Whedon and all these evil liberal leftist comic book readers are tearing up the nation and sending it straight to hell in a hand-basket.

Ah, irony.

I'm usually not given to this level of derision, but I've seen so many posts that support this stance that I can't help but transfer the sentiment to this one.

I probably won't be reading the current issues of Buffy anytime soon.  I don't know all of the specific details of that plot, aside from the occasional sample page put out on the Internet.  But I do have an abiding faith in Joss Whedon's ability to tell a story that is involving, insightful, and above all, respectful of the human issues involved.  That's simply what the man does: he tells stories well.  They may be stories about vampires and monsters and captains in tight pants, but they are also stories about suddenly losing a family member, dealing with a betrayal from a friend, and struggling through drug addiction.  They are stories of human beings: wonderful, horrible, flawed, fantastic human beings, and if we know anything about Buffy, she's one of the most human protagonists he's come up with.

And humans, as so many of us know, are prone to make at least the occasional bad decision.  And those bad decisions often end up coming back to haunt us, and force us to confront them, however uncomfortable they may be and however much we'd like to simply ignore them or gloss them over.  That's exactly what Buffy is doing right now, and we as observers of this story should think about the agony, the seriousness, and the life-changing potential of that confrontation--not doling out knee-jerk reactions immediately based on our own personal beliefs.  It's fine to have your own opinions about abortion--but focusing only on the outcome without respecting the heroine's struggle through the narrative is, at the very least, flagrantly insensitive.

And, while I could be wrong, I get the distinct feeling that most of the pro-lifers here have simply gotten word of this headline, and then set out to spread their displeasure about it without even giving the issue a read.  I point them out mostly because they appear to be reacting negatively to the apparent direction of the narrative.  I have yet to see any pro-choice posts trumpeting this as "Abortions for all!" or anything like that.

If the Komen Foundation debacle has proven anything, it's that pro-lifers have a long way to go before they're going to take away a woman's right to choose.  The fact that women mostly have the right to choose in this country is not something you'd know by watching the mainstream media these days, astoundingly enough, and that is undoubtedly due in no small part to influence from those who are outraged at the very notion that some woman somewhere should have the right to decide what's going on in her own body.  With this story at least, now even that is under fire.

I don't mean for this post to be political, even if my loyalties are very clearly showing.  My main goal is to argue for the sanctity of storytelling, and respect for its ability to start a dialog about topics that are controversial or uncomfortable.  Many of the people and organizations that have responded to this news item have only argued their own points, seemingly just from the idea of this story's very existence, without having read it.  I think that's deplorable, and to me at least, it demonstrates a complete lack of respect for not only those who tell such stories and their fans, but also anyone who may have lived another version of the same story.

GN Review -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, v. 1: The Long Way Home / Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty

If you've been reading this blog, you know I've pretty well taken to reviewing Joss Whedon's Serenity comics.  I've waited a while to come around to other properties of his, partially out of concern for my blog being perceived as a Joss Whedon comics review blog, and partially because I haven't read some of them.  Where Buffy the Vampire Slayer is concerned, though, I've read plenty, and think it's a good time to start reviewing the post-television comics.

When volume one, The Long Way Home, starts, we see things are not necessarily the way they were left in the TV show.  In the wake of Sunnydale's destruction and Buffy Summers's victorious battle against the First Evil, the world has changed considerably for her.  She's gone from being a single, solitary Slayer to commanding a worldwide army of women Slayers.  Her sister Dawn has become inexplicably giant, and their home base has moved to a castle in the Scottish highlands.  She and her friends monitor demon and monster activity on a worldwide scale, and respond to threats with the help of squadrons of mystics, seers, and Watchers as they are able.

But things have also gotten more complicated.  The world is aware--and scared--of the sudden influx of Slayers, and military forces that can't control them are eager to wipe them off the face of the earth.  Old nemeses are eager to take advantage of the situation so they can resolve personal grudges, and the arrival of a new organization named Twilight is using both technological and supernatural means to fight them.  And the Scoobies, as Buffy and her gang are lovingly called by fans, have their own problems: Dawn won't talk to Buffy about her condition, Willow arrives in time to save the day but soon gets kidnapped, and Xander is just trying to keep from getting splashed while living among all these strong women.

As I'm sure you either know or can expect, the writing here is exceptional.  It's well plotted, paced, and characterized, and the dialog is typical Whedon intellisnark.  The characters feel exactly like they were portrayed in the show, and the plot involving the new nemesis, Twilight, sets up a potentially huge foe for them to fight.  The myriad of self-referential material will be a delight to devotees, and further serves to advance the plot as characters from the show emerge out of the woodwork, all over the world, old and relatively new, good and evil.  In the end, we're set up with the Slayers in an unenviable position, and Buffy, with her typical resolve, essentially acknowledges it with a simple okay.

The most questionable aspect I have about The Long Way Home is its viability as a stand-alone story for readers who may not be familiar with the Buffyverse.  I actually read this volume when I was only moderately familiar with the series--I certainly hadn't seen much of it--and I have to say that this could be an issue to someone who isn't an initiate.  Looking at it now, I can appreciate things like who Ethan Rayne is, why Buffy showed Amy Madigan her mother at a critical point, and what it meant for Willow to "go dark."  But back then, I really had to shove all that to the side to push on with the larger narrative.  The solid writing kept me from getting too lost, but I also had a modicum of familiarity with the show at the time.  It's obviously a great read for fans of the series, but Buffy newbies may find the constant self-references confusing, when they get them, and could be turned off by it.

The artwork here is pretty stunning, and I have to give Georges Jeanty props for not only faithfully recreating the characters from the TV show in comic book form, but for realistically extending them beyond their scope in the show, now that they're not limited by a television show budget.  Willow's brief aerial battle with Amy, for instance, was amazing.  Dawn as a giant was both hilarious and visually believable.  And the locales are very well done too, from a castle in Scotland to a military base.

Overall, I don't have any problems commending The Long Way Home as a worthwhile read.  It positively shines for Buffy fans, and while it can be considerably more confusing for the noobs, it's still very well written and beautifully illustrated.  A must-read for Joss Whedon fans, people who like vampires, demons and monsters, and anyone who enjoys witty writing.  Highly recommended.