This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Enchanter468: Where is everyone getting the idea that Blue Gender has this "Technology Is Bad" message? Yuji and Marlene end up living with a relatively low-tech society, but they didn't really have any other options, seeing as they couldn't travel too far through the jungle to look for survivors in cities. Bear in mind that the entire Darwinist thing is dependent on the "Technology Is Evil" idea, so if that's out then so is the other trope.
I'm not deleting it for the moment, but I would like to add the qualifier that this may not be the correct interpretation (in the absence of Word of God, anyway).
Vulpy: I did not watch the series beginning-to-end. However, the ending did leave a bad taste in my mouth. The cheery music told me I should be happy, but all I took from it was that—apparently—the TV I was watching the show on would one day rape dear Mother Earth.
On the subject of Anvilicious and unsatisfying Green Aesop endings, I wasn't happy with the ending to the Wolfs Rain anime either. I think I just missed the point there, though.
Fast Fingers: Esoteric - 1. understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite: poetry full of esoteric allusions. 2. belonging to the select few. 3. private; secret; confidential. 4. (of a philosophical doctrine or the like) intended to be revealed only to the initiates of a group: the esoteric doctrines of Pythagoras. 5. A rapper from Boston, MA
Shouldn't the trope be called Eccentric Happy Ending?
- Enchanter468: "5. A rapper from Boston, MA" Somehow, this entry just got hilarious.
Caswin: A counterpoint to the Buffy entry, that having thousands of Slayers out there rather than one or two and some friends fighting evil makes the burden far smaller, was deleted because "They seemed to be doing just fine without them." Something doesn't add up here. Could someone clarify this?
{{Patrick]]: The limited Slayers and friends saved the world a good six times without any need of a slayer army. The show makes it unclear why it was necessary...unless the whole purpose was to grant the main character a "Get Out of Jail Free" card by shifting the responsibility to someone else, which is hardly heroic of her.
Caswin: That's actually pretty close to the intended purpose, but there's a key difference: The responsibility isn't just shifted to "someone else", but spread among thousands of other people including herself, none of whom face anywhere near the responsibility Buffy had to shoulder.
Patrick: Fair enough: shall we agree to disagree on the matter?
Caswin: That still leaves the issue of the page entry. As evidenced by the fact that someone else added the comment to begin with, I'm not the only one who feels that it isn't a fair judgment of the ending.
Patrick: I'm not the only one who feels it is a fair judgment; I wasn't the one who initially posted it.
Caswin: No, but you did remove (as it has since been established just now) a legitimate point about the nature of the ending. I move that it should stay.
Patrick: Motion passed. It's back.
The Series Finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, wherein Buffy activates a magical artifact that gives thousands of girls all over the world the powers of the slayer. It's supposed to be feminist and uplifting, but after seven seasons of showing that Buffy is Blessed With Suck, it's not quite cheerful to see thousands of unwitting females be granted the same problem-causing powers. The comics rectify this a little. A little.
- The family bond that served as the heart and soul of the series is all but in ruins. And nobody seems to care.
- The uplift is supposed to be that Buffy and Faith are no longer the only Slayers out there. One or two people (and their Nakama) vs. a gajillion demons is not remotely fair. Theoretically, Buffy won't have to do 100% of the work any more, and that is happy. (Then again, the comics still make it look like Buffy is doing 100% of the work. Where are good Watchers when you need them?)
- It's a moot point: Fray seems to be officially canon, and it's back to one Slayer a generation. The implication is that Buffy's army is going to go down and go down hard - or, at best, only the death of Faith will create a new slayer.)
- At worst, Buffy's new army goes down hard, and the Slayer line clicks down the time spent all at once by all of the slayers one hour at a time, leaving the world open to demons with only the few remaining Watchers and possibly a year or so later later, some the remaining former population of Los Angeles, and some of the slayers' (human) remaining family members to fight them. Buffyverse Earth (especially California) got screwed over hard.
- Given that Fray says that no slayer has been called in centuries, that sounds horribly likely.
