Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor & Morality

by Field, Mark

  Making choices requires that you accept the consequences of those choices. From my post on Lie to Me: committing yourself means that your actions “become something that I myself own up to, become responsible for.” Existentialists don’t get to make excuses or invent new rules that apply uniquely to them; those are just attempts to avoid responsibility rather than accept it. As long as Faith is lying about the incident, she’s acting in bad faith under any definition of morality. And yes, I do think her name was intentionally chosen for its resonance with that concept.

  It’s therefore important to understand that Faith’s fundamental problem was not that she killed Allan Finch. That was an error – she was negligent (at best) or reckless (at worst) in her behavior, depending on how you interpret the scene. But her real flaw was her lack of remorse, the fact that she was “utterly unable to accept responsibility”, in Giles’ phrase, for her actions. It’s that failure which puts her at risk of “having [or developing] a taste for [killing]”, as Angel says. Because Buffy interprets her rescue from Trick as a sign of Faith’s remorse, Buffy’s “not gonna give up on her”. It was Faith who gave up on herself when she showed up at the Mayor’s door.

  Some additional points:

  Remember Faith’s arguments here. All of them will be relevant in later episodes.

  Despite his seeming flash of insight in The Zeppo, Xander continues to behave cluelessly in this episode. His attempt to intervene with Faith was clumsy at both ends. First he managed to disclose the fact that he had sex with Faith in probably the most emotionally painful way possible for everyone, then he didn’t realize how he’d been used, then even after Buffy had told him that as nicely as she could, he persisted in his mistake and said things to Faith that wound her up to the point of trying to rape/murder him. Ironically, perhaps, Angel’s a real hero in rescuing the guy who hates him and tried to kill him. Angel really did take to heart what Buffy said in Amends.

  Just when you thought it wasn’t possible to dislike Wesley more, he proves you wrong. He actually does conduct an intervention that manages to be even less successful than the ones with Buffy in Dead Man’s Party and Revelations. I think his behavior may have stemmed from resentment at the way his failings were exposed in Bad Girls, but that’s hardly a defense, and in any case he’s plenty officious enough to have acted that way without any other motive. Just one more reason to dislike the WC (as if we needed more after Helpless).

  Lastly, Faith, whose behavior has careened even more out of control since she last spoke to Buffy, posed a challenge to Buffy on the docks:

  “Faith: I've seen it, B. You've got the lust. And I'm not just talking about screwing vampires.

  Buffy stops in her tracks.

  Buffy: Don't you *dare* bring him into this.

  Faith: (taunting her) It was good, wasn't it? The sex? The danger? Bet a part of you even dug him when he went psycho.

  Buffy: No! (continues walking)

  Faith: (follows) See, you need me to toe the line because you're afraid you'll go over it, aren't you, B? You can't handle watching me living my own way, having a blast, because it tempts you! You know it could be you!”

  Given Buffy’s reaction, Faith struck a nerve with these comments. Buffy’s at least worried that Faith might be right. That, after all, is what a shadow self is and does:

  “In Jungian psychology, the shadow or ‘shadow aspect’ is a part of the unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses, shortcomings, and instincts. …’Everyone carries a shadow,’ Jung wrote, ‘and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.’ It may be (in part) one's link to more primitive animal instincts….

  According to Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to projection: turning a personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in someone else.”

  So I’ll leave you to think about whether Faith is projecting her own weaknesses on Buffy or whether she’s truly articulating what Buffy knows about herself deep down inside. You might keep in mind Cordelia’s request for a book when she walked into the library: “[P]sych class. Freud and Jung.”

  Trivia notes: (1) Apparently Cordy’s a Star Trek fan (“Giles: The Next Generation”). (2) Detective Stein makes his third and last appearance on the show. (3) The Mayor loved the idea of a Slayer “up for Murder 1”. This is a good example that we can’t take a character’s statements at face value. Murder 1 requires premeditation (with exceptions not relevant here), so that wouldn’t be the charge. Of course if we were being “realistic”, both Slayers would be guilty of obstruction of justice for giving false statements to the police. (4) Goody Two Shoes (you know you’ve always wondered where that came from) was the title of a 1765 book. It was a morality play on the benefits of virtue.

  Doppelgängland

  Doppelgänger is a German word meaning “a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune.” Wikipedia tells us that “Doppelgängers, as dark doubles of individual identities, appear in a variety of fictional works …. These doppelgängers are typically, but not always, evil in some way. The double will often impersonate the victim and go about ruining them, for instance through committing crimes or insulting the victim's friends. Sometimes, the double even tries to kill the original.”

  Given this meaning, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Doppelgangland appears at this point in the season, right after two episodes showing Faith as the dark side of Buffy’s Slayer half. It’s the same basic theme. And if it’s the same basic theme, that means I think there’s a message about Buffy in the episode even if it seems to focus on Willow.

  It’s easy to identify the other doppelgänger in this episode: Faith is Buffy’s doppelgänger. And just as Willow was trying on the role of being bad in the main plot, so is Faith. She’s not entirely there yet, as we see from her hesitation when The Mayor suggests killing Willow. But the more she practices that role, the better she’ll get.

  The issue with both Faith and VampWillow is how much of the real person is contained in the doppelgänger. Buffy mused at the beginning that “different circumstances, that [Faith] could be me.” Willow reassured her that this isn’t so: “No way. Some people just don't have that in them.” Given the parallels between Willow/VampWillow and Buffy/Faith, is one of them right in both cases?

  In my view, the answer is a resounding “yes and no”. At the ending Buffy affirms her statement at the beginning. Buffy responded to Willow’s insistence on sending VampWillow back to the Wishverse with “there but for the grace of getting bit”. That’s the same point she made in the beginning, this time about VampWillow rather than Faith. Willow, however, didn’t change her view either: “Willow: (hesitantly) I mean, I know she's not me. We have a big nothing in common, but... still.” That leaves the issue open within the context of this episode alone.

  Normally I’d side with Buffy, but in this case there are a couple of points on the other side which persuade me. One is the statement by Joss which I quoted in the post on Consequences, that Buffy “would never let herself be” Faith. This statement is not entirely free of ambiguity, but I read it as saying that Buffy isn’t Faith.

  The other reason goes back to the business I left unfinished in my post on The Wish. I mentioned then that I had to leave open one issue because of spoilers, and what I had in mind was the reappearance of VampWillow. My interpretation of VampWillow, and therefore my interpretation of how we’re to see the doppelgänger characters, obviously depend on how I interpreted The Wish.

  Here’s how I described my view at ATPO 10 years ago, which is essentially what I said in my post on The Wish:

  “The Wish was a message to Cordy after her break up with Xander. The alternate universe represented her worst fears about Xander and Willow. We were not meant to see VampXander or VampWillow as "real" aspects of either, but as representations of Cordy's internal, emotional state after Xander betrayed her….

  In short, Willow's "vampire" side wa
s never truly Willow, but only Cordy's mental construct of Willow, born of anger. That "side" never really existed in this universe. Even in the alternate universe, that dark side was destroyed.”

  To say this view is controversial would be understating it quite a bit. If any other commenter at ATPO agreed with me, they were silent about it. Most viewers do see VampWillow as very similar to Willow herself. Nevertheless, that earlier post is the way I still (mostly) see the episode today. I would add a perhaps critical amendment, though, one which I noted in my post on The Wish: that Cordy didn’t merely imagine Willow’s flaws. Cordy has known Willow for a long time and has an idea of Willow’s weaknesses (real or perceived). She may have exaggerated those weaknesses, she may have interpreted them in a highly prejudiced way, but there’s a basis for Cordy’s view.

  There are a couple of obvious objections to my interpretation of the two episodes which I need to address here because I couldn’t do so previously. If Doppelgangland is a Willow POV episode, and VampWillow is a mental construct of Cordy, then why does Willow see VampWillow as her double? One important factor is, of course, her looks. That’s enough to make anyone think so, as we can see from Buffy’s reaction. Buffy was prepared to believe it was Willow even though in Buffy’s view “a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.” Identifying VampWillow as Willow would be even more likely because Cordy is not entirely wrong in her assessment of Willow, so there was enough resemblance to make the identity seem plausible. In the end, as I quoted above, Willow herself decided that she and her evil twin “have a big nothing in common.”

  The next problem with my view stems from the premise of the episode. Because it’s a POV episode, we see the world as Willow does. This means that everyone is constantly ordering her around and she’s never able to assert herself. It also means that Willow’s still a little unhappy about Buffy’s rejection of her in Bad Girls and thinks that bad girls get to have all the fun without the responsibility she’s being saddled with. The episode is Willow’s exploration of what it would be like to be bad for a change.

  That’s fine, but Willow doesn’t know anything about the Wishverse nor VampWillow and didn’t even ask for her in any case. She therefore can’t have just imagined the same exact character. For this we need to rely on Anya as the common factor. Anya doesn’t really know Willow, but she does know VampWillow and the Wishverse. When the spell is interrupted (Willow blocks the falling sand), what’s retrieved from the Wishverse is what Willow secretly wanted rather than what Anya secretly wanted. Willow got a bad version of herself, one which couldn’t possibly have been her own version but was close enough for everyone’s purposes.

  The net effect is that Willow gets to see what a bad version of her might be like without having to become evil. This is exactly the role Faith serves for Buffy.

  Willow also got her other wish, namely to participate in Buffy’s fight against evil just as she wanted to do in Bad Girls. Her bravery in going into the Bronze teaches her that she can assert herself a bit more, which gets at the root of what was bothering her about herself: “She bothered me. She's so weak and accommodating. She's always letting people walk all over her, and then she gets cranky with her friends for no reason. I just *couldn't* let her live.” A little more self-assertion and she won’t have to die a virgin with perfect teeth.

  At least Buffy still does have perfect teeth.

  One final point to tie up the issues regarding The Wish. If you see Anyanka’s pendant/necklace as a tangible, physical thing, essential for her power – and there’s certainly dialogue to support that – then obviously my interpretation of the events of The Wish as occurring entirely in Cordelia’s mind would be problematic. As I said in that earlier post, I see the pendant/necklace as more of a metaphor. Giles describes it as her “power center”, so I see the destruction of the pendant/necklace as the destruction of Anyanka’s power over Cordelia (and other women scorned). The spell here was simply an attempt to regain that power. There are future events which I believe support my reading, but they involve spoilers so I’ll wait until we get to the relevant episodes. I will also put a comment below which explains this point in more detail.

  Personally, I love this episode and never get tired of watching it. AH is fantastic and Oz gets one of my all-time favorite lines: “I’d call that a radical interpretation of the text.” Best I can tell, the fan base feels the same way. Myles McNutt summarized it pretty well in his review I think: “’Doppelgangland’” is momentous not because it changes or shifts the series in any particular way, but because it offers a microcosm of the show’s ability to engage with complex notions of plot and character while still capturing the little things which endear us to the series as a whole.”

  Trivia notes: (1) The Creature From the Black Lagoon was a 1950s horror movie. (2) Notice Buffy’s reflexes in pulling back the stake from VampWillow when Willow shouts for her to stop, and compare to Faith stabbing Allan Finch in Bad Girls over Buffy’s shout. Buffy said at the beginning of the episode that she wanted to do better than Faith, and here she demonstrated that in what is, under the circumstances, a very meaningful way. (3) Buffy’s “there but for the grace of getting bit” plays on the phrase by John Bradford while watching another man being led off to execution: “There but for the Grace of God goes John Bradford”; we usually generalize it to say “there but for the Grace of God go I”. (4) AH loved her VampWillow makeup so much that she repeated it for a Halloween party. (5) Because the future episodes which impact my interpretation of The Wish are far away in S6 and S7, those who want to read it now can skip ahead to the trivia notes for the episode Selfless.

  Enemies

  The title of Enemies is ironic. Faith became Buffy’s enemy the moment the Mayor opened his door in Consequences. Buffy just didn’t know she had an enemy until now.

  When I first saw Enemies, I missed the clue that Buffy caught when she realized that Faith had killed the demon and had gone over to the Mayor. So for those watching for the first time, when she and Faith went into the demon’s apartment, they had no way to know what might be there. “Buffy: Faith, careful.” However, Faith entered the room without any concern that the demon might be still alive. Then she went straight to the light switch around the corner in the other room as if she knew where it was. Buffy even gave her a look at that point. It’s subtle, but the clue is there.

  I’ll start the discussion with the metaphor. When Faith first approached Angel with blood on her hands, she was trying to seduce him. We didn’t know that at the time, but the later conversation between Faith and the Mayor confirms it:

  “Faith: It's not like I wasn't trying, okay?

  Mayor: Hey, there's no need to convince me. I'm sure you gave it your level best. I just don't understand what that boy could be thinking?

  Faith: Try Buffy Summers, like in a big, fat, one track way.

  Mayor: Hey, come on, don't be discouraged. You're a bright, young, energetic girl with a whole life ahead of her. And I won't tolerate brooding. So you couldn't give him that one moment of true happiness.

  Faith: I was thinking more along the lines of a long weekend, but okay.”

  Had Faith been able to sleep with Angel, this would have accomplished three purposes. First, it would have meant that Angel betrayed Buffy. Second, it would, in Faith’s mind at least, have validated her superiority to Buffy. We see this in the later dialogue: “Faith: Why? So you can impart some special Buffy wisdom, that it? Do you think you're better than me? Do you? Say it, you think you're better than me. Buffy: I am. Always have been. Faith: Um, maybe you didn't notice. Angel's with me.”

  Third, it would have taken an ally away from Buffy and given one to the Mayor.

  When the original plan didn’t work, they opted to summon the Mage and use the spell. I see this as a metaphor for almost a kind of emotional blackmail. What the spell did, in essence, was allow Faith to say “sleep with me or I’ll tell Buffy you slept with me by showing her ‘evidence’ that you d
id”. It was important to her that she be able to flaunt such a ‘triumph’. The plan backfired because Angel merely pretended to demonstrate that “evidence” and he told Buffy the truth. I’ll elaborate on the context of this point in my post on Graduation Day.

  Now let me turn to Faith’s weaknesses, which the episode openly explores. Enemies marks a giant leap into the dark for her. Where she was willing to save Buffy’s life in Consequences and was reluctant to harm Willow in Doppelgangland, she now is willing to loose a monster onto the world. She’s become a monster herself (Joss’s word). And she’s doing it as much to hurt Buffy as for any practical benefit to the Mayor’s plans (which we get the first hints about).

  It’s resentment that’s driving Faith’s rage. We see it when she thinks she has Buffy helpless:

  “Buffy: Why, Faith? What's in it for you?

  Faith: What isn't? You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. What do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. And who's everybody thank? Buffy.

  Buffy: It's not my fault.

  Faith: Everybody always asks, why can't you be more like Buffy? But did anyone ever ask if you could be more like me?

  Angel: I know I didn't.

  Faith: You get the Watcher. You get the mom. You get the little Scooby gang. What do I get? Jack squat. This is supposed to be my town!

  Buffy: Faith, listen to me!

  Faith: Why? So you can impart some special Buffy wisdom, that it? Do you think you're better than me? Do you? Say it, you think you're better than me.”

  Faith’s basic complaints are all false. She wasn’t “doing her job better than anyone”. When she came to Sunnydale, she was running away and planned to dump her problem on Buffy. She cooperated only sporadically with Giles and Buffy in between her “walkabouts”. When she did act as the Slayer, her judgment was erratic and even dangerous when she went after Angel in Revelations. She failed to notice Buffy’s plight in FH&T and she was reckless throughout Bad Girls.