Tara thoughts, and then vid rec.

[sapote]

So I've been rewatching a bit of BtVS season 5 and 6, and I still really struggle with the whole Willow/Tara thing. It's not Amber Benson's fault - she's a pretty girl with a great lopsided smile, and I haven't seen her in anything else, but I think she could have done a lot more than "meek" if the writing and direction had taken her anywhere but meek. But Tara's so meek! And she and Willow are almost never in the same frame, which, I understand that BtVS was breaking new ground and trying to be kind of proper about it, but is it necessary for Willow to always be sitting like five feet away looking like she's kind of scared Tara might try to hold her hand? Also, we all know that Amber Benson was a perfectly normal, healthy, one might even say svelte-for-a-normal-human weight on Buffy, so is it really necessary for the wardrobe department to go with "Renfaire-inspired tent" while dressing her? Willow's witchypoo outfits are no great shakes either, but at least they fit her.

(Also, I kind of feel like where lots of Media Lesbians are, like, projections of misogynistic and patriarchal ideas of "lesbians", Willow and Tara seem like kind of Sensitive New-Age Male projections of "lesbians": they hold hands - with respect! for each other's personhood! - and then have lots of polite conversations about their feelings!

All that aside! I have to jump on the bandwagon (late!) by recommending the vid Nineteen by ryty, which is a Willow/Tara vid that takes a lot of that footage-that-sapote-has-opinions-on and makes it into a vid that makes me feel like I'm fourteen years old and have just been bowled over by my first big girlcrush.