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.

Comments

[justabi.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. My wife is all over Willow/Tara, because I may or may not have tragically resembled Tara in a physical and possibly wardrobe kind of way when we met, when I was 18. She was so upset when they killed Tara she wouldn't watch Firefly with me unless I bootlegged it in some way because she didn't want Joss get a single dollar from her viewership ever again. But I prefer Willow with Kennedy, because, of course, I always saw myself in Willow and my wife is feisty like Kennedy. *headdesk*

But ... I swear I never respected anyone's personhood or engaged in handholding. And I would rather have been stabbed than discuss my feelings!!!

[sapote3.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're like Season 6 Tara, minus the relationship problems and doom! I finally got to S6, and I like that Tara. Also, I totally dressed like Tara in high school.

Hee, I promise I am not accusing you of emotionally sensitive handholding? I promise I'm not trying to Essentialize Your Experiences! It's just, like, in season 4/ early 5, that's where it stops as far as developing Willow and Tara's relationship. I feel like.