random babble…

Special thanks to the technical savvy of The Guy!

Last week I posted the totally blubworthy clip from Buffy where they magically awaken all Potentials.  

One of the things I appreciate about the work that is done in the Whedonverse is that they often focus on the consequences of actions and decisions.  I really think that it is important to understand that sometimes something that seems like the ideal solution can often have consequences that we fail to count on, sort of a ripple effect, if you will (for those of you actually reading these links, I LOVE The 4400 and get really into that ripple effect).

After making the series finale of Buffy, the writers wanted to explore the idea of awakening all Potentials…what that meant.  What would happen if someone who was in line to possibly become a Slayer was never meant to receive that power and suddenly woke up one day w/that power?

And what if she couldn’t handle it?

What if events in her life had destroyed her, or Damaged her?

Here, in this clip from Season Five, Episode 11 (Damage) of Angel, we meet Dana. Dana was never meant to actually receive the powers that she was in line to possibly inherit, but b/c of the decision made by Buffy and Willow (which had very good intentions and also very good outcome for that situation) she did.

While this clip can be triggering and has a gruesome end I want to focus on what is trying to come across here.  We are not talking about a woman not able to handle her power.  We are not glorifying a tragically mentally disturbed young woman.  We are exploring that even though we make decisions that are meant to do good, meant to have a positive outcome (in this case, save the world from being sucked into a hellmouth) our actions can sometimes have dire consequences for people we have never met.  Our actions have impact on people who are not us.  Just like the way that words mean things, actions cause things.

The beauty that I find in the Whedonverse (which admittedly has it’s flaws) is that the story is not just a fluffy story.  The story has a place in an arc of events.  Every action has a ripple.  When Mal decided that the right thing to do is not to turn River and Simon over to the Alliance (a good thing), his good deed eventually caused the deaths of many people.  It didn’t make his deed any less meritorious for that situation but it completely affected the lives of other people in ways that Mal had not anticipated.  Buffy and Willow used magic to awaken every Potential Slayer to protect them all in the final fight and to save the world, but they also awakened Potentials like Dana, whom fate had decided was not to receive the powers.

Everything has to have balance.  Joss Whedon’s shows are full of characters who are faced w/ tough choices, choices that have consequences no matter what they decide.  Every action has a ripple.  And that is what this is all about.

*after watching the movie w/ the Guy I realize that what I was trying to think of was the Chaos Theory.  Both a butterfly effect and chaos theory would work…but I like the ripple.