Watching Dead Things today (and As You Were - funny thing, gang, I actually love Sam; also, I entirely forgot the scene with Buffy staying up late to try and clean her coat existed - it was like ENTIRELY NEW BUFFY SCENE, made my heart ache - and Fool for Love), what really strikes me about soulless Spike is not his lack of morality (though that is somewhat in evidence), but his lack of shame. It just isn't there. Now, I've thought this before - it was a blunt instrument in my characterisation for To Apprehend Air - but I find it really interesting. I mean, I spend most of my time giggling at or cringing away from Spike through the middle of S6, all because of the outfits (/lack of) and the jewellery and the cheesy lines, but it's not just that. As much as Spike is shameless in putting on the act of the slinky vampire seducer man, he's equally shameless in his acknowledgement that it is an act - the moment Buffy seems receptive to it, he'll happily switch into hearts and flowers mode.
And that's the complete opposite of Buffy, who not only feels shame by the bucketload but equally is certain that her actions and presentation have to match what's going on inside her. When she realises she's 'right' she completely changes, blowing up the crypt and breaking up with Spike - and yet she equally admits that there's a William inside Spike somewhere, which comes across to me now like an admission of something even queerer and more insurmountable as when she saw him as an ugly soulless thing (becauseBuffys Williams should never be able to act like ugly soulless things; it's not their nature).
[My use of queer, by the way, and probably a lot of these thoughts is brought to you by one of the few actually decent articles on Buffy I've managed to find in print - Dee Amy-Chinn's Queering the Bitch: Spike, Transgression and Erotic Empowerment in the European Journal of Cultural Studies 8.3 (2005), which basically says what![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rahirah's been saying for years, that Spike is one big giant queerfest of queer. (She also says that this is empowering to Spike over the course of the show, but I'm not entirely sure about that one.)]
I feel like this reflects somewhat the idea that heroes' bodies(/selves?) should be hard, perfect and impenetrable (ie. in no way shifting or fluid). As much as she rejects that in Intervention, Buffy's definitely trying to achieve that persona by S7. I just wonder whether, when she's covering up all her bruises and putting on her massive BOTN/Showtime front, she thinks that's who she is on the inside too, or whether she's mastered the idea of identity performance. Hmm. More thought required.
And that's the complete opposite of Buffy, who not only feels shame by the bucketload but equally is certain that her actions and presentation have to match what's going on inside her. When she realises she's 'right' she completely changes, blowing up the crypt and breaking up with Spike - and yet she equally admits that there's a William inside Spike somewhere, which comes across to me now like an admission of something even queerer and more insurmountable as when she saw him as an ugly soulless thing (because
[My use of queer, by the way, and probably a lot of these thoughts is brought to you by one of the few actually decent articles on Buffy I've managed to find in print - Dee Amy-Chinn's Queering the Bitch: Spike, Transgression and Erotic Empowerment in the European Journal of Cultural Studies 8.3 (2005), which basically says what
rahirah's been saying for years, that Spike is one big giant queerfest of queer. (She also says that this is empowering to Spike over the course of the show, but I'm not entirely sure about that one.)]I feel like this reflects somewhat the idea that heroes' bodies(/selves?) should be hard, perfect and impenetrable (ie. in no way shifting or fluid). As much as she rejects that in Intervention, Buffy's definitely trying to achieve that persona by S7. I just wonder whether, when she's covering up all her bruises and putting on her massive BOTN/Showtime front, she thinks that's who she is on the inside too, or whether she's mastered the idea of identity performance. Hmm. More thought required.