Calling a scythe a Scythe: what's in a name?

[Precursory tangent: Yay! WriterConUK MidiMeet tomorrow! Many apologies if I miss comments on this from mid-Friday through to Monday – I’ll be replying today and hopefully tomorrow morning, then after that as soon as I can. :) ]

angearia had a post the other day about the Scythe and why that’s an appropriate name for the weapon Buffy finds in EoD. I think her explanation works very well, but I was struck by the impression that it didn’t wholly take into account the external-to-text issue that the shape of the scythe was not a done deal. In terms of the way the weapon was introduced, it may have tied worlds together nicely to have Buffy’s ancient slayer weapon be Fray’s ancient slayer weapon, but it’s not as if there weren’t other options or ME couldn’t have ‘artistic licence’ in the transition from comic to screen. (After all, I imagine that red enamel blade, or whatever it’s meant to be, would have remained fairly distinctive.)

The confusion therefore, around whether the scythe (or sith!) is really a scythe or whether it’s an axe pretending to be one, strikes me as something that cannot be easily resolved. Because there’s actually a lot at stake.

( Psst – I think she’s railing on 'Chosen' again… )

Another thing that proves the world is more interesting than you might think:

Watching a documentary about a glamour model and her daughter, including a scene in a hotel room where, just after they've drained some more of the fluid from Mum's boobs after surgery, they sit down and play Scrabble.

On BBC iPlayer: Glamour Models, Mum and Me.

Watching this, it struck me that Alicia Douvall has probably always been very clever, only struck by trauma and lack of opportunities into a disrespected job. She knows exactly what she needs to do to stay secure financially (when she has a problem with an implant she spends about two days cancelling photoshoots - then turns around and sells the story to a tabloid), and has raised her daughter to be conscientious and open-minded. Even though she's scared of her daughter slipping into a new world she doesn't understand (of Biology! and Macbeth!), and wants her to stay in the world she knows of modelling/acting/singing/performing, she clearly hasn't skimped on her education and is willing to let her become who she wants. Especially by the end of the documentary, which is wonderful.

(And if she's hoodwinked me through this documentary, then clearly she's even cleverer than I'm giving her credit for.)

I think you'll enjoy it, UK friends who can see it, so check it out!