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I've probably talked about this before (well I feel like I've talked about everything Buffy-related at this point lol), but I've just been re-watching a few Buffy episodes and OAFA does such a terrible job with setting up Dawn's PoV as this neglected child. Firstly the opening seems to want you to feel badly for Dawn because Buffy is rushing off to patrol, so IMO it would have made more sense to then show that Buffy was secretly slipping off to be with Spike or something and covering up, or even just using vampire slaying in general as an excuse to stay disconnected. Instead we immediately see that Buffy *was* telling the truth about tracking down a new demon, in which case we are supposed to feel that she was being unfair to Dawn there how exactly? Or when Dawn asks Xander, Willow, and Anya if they can go shopping at the mall with her, and they explain very nicely that they can't because they have other commitments (work-related commitments for Xander and Anya). They even ask if Dawn is okay going alone, but apparently again we're meant to feel badly for Dawn because her older sisters friends can't make spur of the moment plans with her in the middle of the day, never mind that Dawn should have her own friends if she just wants someone to hang out with at the mall?
It seemed like the final message of the episode was that Dawn wanted everyone's lives to revolve around all staying together in her house all the time playing cards and having a slumber party, even though that's not remotely practical for adults. And it would be one thing if it was presented as Dawn being over emotional because of Joyce's death and having a skewed perspective, but the episode absolutely seemed to endorse everyone else being the bad guys and neglecting her, even though they were talking about having to leave for perfectly reasonable things like work or college classes. We're shown them all looking guilty when Halfrek talks about how much they're been ignoring Dawn, even though most episodes showed Buffy, Willow, and Tara particularly all making a big effort to babysit Dawn and look out for her (and Tara continues with the milkshake dates even after she breaks up with Willow). If anything they were over-protective of ever leaving Dawn by herself.
I can agree that Buffy was emotionally neglecting Dawn in season 6, but that didn't really seem to be what the episode was saying, it was all about them not spending enough of their time with her, even though I don't see how they were supposed to manage it differently when they had their own lives as well? And it ends on Buffy choosing to stay in with Dawn instead, but presumedly that meant that she would then be skipping patrolling for that night, so apparently the message is that keeping Sunnydale safe isn't as important as making time to hang out with her ignored younger sister? As Buffy once argued in Real Me, she only can't babysit Dawn because she's patrolling, it's not like she's not available for her sister because she's going to the sock hop
I really can't work out the perspective of the ME writers at times, one minute they're telling us that 20 year old Buffy is a failure as a grown-up because she's not able to run a household and financially support herself and Dawn without assistance from Giles, but then in other episodes they're telling us that 15 year old Dawn's emotional pain should take priority over the scoobies having work/college/patrolling to do
It seemed like the final message of the episode was that Dawn wanted everyone's lives to revolve around all staying together in her house all the time playing cards and having a slumber party, even though that's not remotely practical for adults. And it would be one thing if it was presented as Dawn being over emotional because of Joyce's death and having a skewed perspective, but the episode absolutely seemed to endorse everyone else being the bad guys and neglecting her, even though they were talking about having to leave for perfectly reasonable things like work or college classes. We're shown them all looking guilty when Halfrek talks about how much they're been ignoring Dawn, even though most episodes showed Buffy, Willow, and Tara particularly all making a big effort to babysit Dawn and look out for her (and Tara continues with the milkshake dates even after she breaks up with Willow). If anything they were over-protective of ever leaving Dawn by herself.
I can agree that Buffy was emotionally neglecting Dawn in season 6, but that didn't really seem to be what the episode was saying, it was all about them not spending enough of their time with her, even though I don't see how they were supposed to manage it differently when they had their own lives as well? And it ends on Buffy choosing to stay in with Dawn instead, but presumedly that meant that she would then be skipping patrolling for that night, so apparently the message is that keeping Sunnydale safe isn't as important as making time to hang out with her ignored younger sister? As Buffy once argued in Real Me, she only can't babysit Dawn because she's patrolling, it's not like she's not available for her sister because she's going to the sock hop
I really can't work out the perspective of the ME writers at times, one minute they're telling us that 20 year old Buffy is a failure as a grown-up because she's not able to run a household and financially support herself and Dawn without assistance from Giles, but then in other episodes they're telling us that 15 year old Dawn's emotional pain should take priority over the scoobies having work/college/patrolling to do
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