Examples of Media Coverage on:
The Death of Tara
Tara was murdered in episode 19 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season six. Willow immediately plunged into 'dark magic' driven vengeance, resulting in the torture and murder of Rack and Warren. She almost ended the world before being "saved" from herself by the "love of a good man" (Xander) and his yellow crayon. On May 10, 2002, the Boston Herald's Mark Perigard sounded the first salvo of criticism of these events, calling Tara's death "another cruel twist in a cold season," and noting that the preponderance of significant deaths on the show are those of women and racial/sexual minorities. Mr. Perigard declared, "We knew that Buffy lived on a hell-mouth. Who knew she lived in Klan country?" Thus the flood gates were opened and a torrent of media coverage followed. Now, a year later, the issues that Tara's death and Willow's turn to murderer raised are still being debated. Below are just a few examples of vast amount of media coverage given to Tara's death.
May 10, 2002
Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald opened the flood gates:
Television; The Friday Rant
Boston Herald; Boston, Mass.
May 10, 2002; Mark Perigard
Strip UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" of good writing, clever dialogue, frightening menaces and believable characters and you are stuck with this season. This week's episode was especially depressing, capped by the murder of Tara (AMBER BENSON) in the closing moment, another cruel twist in a cold season. Over on FX, where the good seasons of "Buffy" are repeated, the show's writers brag during commercial breaks about how no character is safe on the show.
But examine that body count for a moment. The most significant character deaths - Jenny, Calendar, Joyce Summers and now Tara - are all women. The show's two gay characters, Tara and high school jock Larry, both slain (ALYSON HANNIGAN's Willow does not count.
Creator JOSS WHEDON told the Herald last year that she is at best bisexual) The show's black characters? Kendra, Mr Trick and oh yeah, that guidance counselor who hung around for half an episode - all dead. We knew that Buffy lived on a hellmouth. Who knew she lived in Klan country?
Links & Excerpts
From Relevant Media Coverage that followed:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ar...241518.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle
by Tim Goodman
San Francisco Chronicle TV critic
tgoodman@sfchronicle.com
"Sorry for the delayed rant -- it gets awfully busy during finale time -- here's hoping another favorite series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," gets a lot better in a hurry next year. If the writers need to work out personal issues, let us know in advance so we can watch "Gilmore Girls" instead. Finale: subpar."
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http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue05_17_02/studentcamp.htm
Letters from Camp Rehobeth
Student CAMP: Heterosexuality Wins
"The disturbing impression that I was left with after watching The Children's Hour is that decades later little has changed. Exhibit A: The television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer which just last week killed off lesbian witch Tara (Irredeemable), sending her lover Willow (who has dated men, making her the Innocent) to go on a murderous rampage. So much for innocence. This was, incidentally, the episode where the two characters were shown in bed naked together and kissed throughout the episode. For those of you in the back that missed the point, here it is: lesbian sex is a cardinal sin that leads to death. "
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http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2002-06-06/Arts.asp
Sacramento News and Reviews
Witch Love Spells Death
"imagine our elation when the Willow/Tara relationship was portrayed as a real relationship with real love, real problems and genuine affection. Now imagine our feelings of shock, horror and betrayal when the character of Tara is suddenly killed right after having sex and Willow goes insane with grief, turning into a murderer bent on world destruction. The cliché plays out as if scripted by a '50s pulp writer with a "no happy endings" edict. Unlike other clichés on the show that are turned on end and spun into something powerful, this story became a doomed lesbian relationship that fits squarely with the portrayal of every other doomed lesbian relationship. Willow isn't the only one wanting explanations, apologies and vengeance. Disenchanted fans have reacted with talks of boycotts, tune outs and merchandise shredding."
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/3623355.htm
Miami Herald
Cracking the closet door
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave pixie-witch Willow (Alyson Hannigan) a devoted girlfriend -- and also let Willow spin out of control, capping the season by trying to snuff the world in revenge for her lover's murder."
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http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/b/buffy-the-vampire-slayer2.shtml
http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/b/buffy-the-vampire-slayer3.shtml
http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/b/buffy-the-vampire-slayer4.shtml
Pop Matters Magazine
Three articles from Pop matters, two pro-Tara, one pro-Whedon.
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http://www.salon.com/ent/letters/2002/05/30/buffy/index.html?x
From Salon Magazine
Printed letters at Salon.com
"There is a pervasive cliché in popular culture -- writing, movies, television and more -- that, as one mother of a friend of mine said, 'Lesbians are such unhappy people.' That lesbians (and gay men, and anyone of alternative sexual persuasion) are unstable at best, secretly insane at worst. This cliché, which plays out again and again and again, usually involves the lesbian couple ending up dead, evil or both. The underlying cultural message is, "This is your punishment for being unnatural." (And this is only in the cases where one of them doesn't go off and discover that "she really wanted a man after all!" and "redeem" herself.) The issue at the heart of the fans' disappointment is that Mr. Whedon and his staff have repeatedly indicated their recognition of said cliché and their intention to avoid it at all costs. And then going ahead and doing it anyway. Mr. Whedon is not necessarily anti-gay or misogynist that's not what the majority are saying. He has simply lied, and that is the betrayal at the heart of the controversy of Tara's death. "
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http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2002-06-06/Arts.asp
Witch love spells death
Was the killing of Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer a bold plot
move or just another dead lesbian on TV? By Jennifer Greenman
Printed letters of response
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2002-06-06/letters.asp
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A Series of Articles by Robert A. Black
http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/homophobia.html
Xtreme Gaming
It's Not Homophobia, But That Doesn't Make It Right
http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/themessage.html
Xtreme Gaming
The Message Is - "Pay Attention to the Message"
http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/tarasdeath.html
Xtreme Gaming
Secrets and Lies Beyond the Fourth Wall:The part of Tara's death Mutant Enemy won't discuss
http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/clothes.html
Xtreme Gaming
The Executive Producer's New Clothes
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http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/rgreen.html
Xtreme Gaming
Roland Green "On Mutations: An Sf Pro's Polite Perspective"
" Having Tara randomly disposed of at that particular moment was an unnecessary and puerile way of ending the relationship, even if there were compelling reasons for ending either it or Tara at some point. Indeed, it was worthy of a Creative Writing 101 dropout, trying to demonstrate their pseudo sophisticated awareness of the darkness of the world by expunging characters in a totally arbitrary manner."
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http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/hillary.html
Xtreme Gaming/originally from the letters section of Lesbian Nation
"I Know Why Willow Weeps"
by Hillary Clay
"you can't claim equal treatment when you are talking about the only example of its kind. Anything that happens to Willow and Tara is necessarily excluded from equal treatment because they are the only lesbian couple of its kind on television. When you wipe them out, you wipe them all out. The fact is that the only equal treatment that Willow and Tara received was equal treatment with all of the other lesbians in Hollywood. Dead. Evil."
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http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2002-06/13/09.30.fandom
Sci fi Wire
Tara's Death Riles Buffy Fans, SciFi.com
"The season-ending story arc of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer-in which Tara (Amber Benson) dies and her lover, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), turns evil-is prompting a backlash among fans who argue in part that the finale undermined the series' otherwise positive portrayal of a lesbian relationship. Though many fans were dismayed at the loss of a crucial character, still others saw the turn of events as a repudiation of one of television's few realistic gay relationships. 'Devoted followers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are left devastated by the producers' ... decision to destroy what many have felt was a wonderful portrayal of a loving, honest and natural long-term lesbian relationship,' wrote Florida gay-rights advocate R. Zeke Fread on the 365gay.com Canadian Web site. 'Especially because such a relationship as that of Tara and Willow is rarely depicted on television programs.' More than 1,000 fans have signed a petition to resurrect Tara. Others have written in protest to various Buffy fan sites, Salon magazine, the Boston Herald and elsewhere. 'Examine that body count for a moment,' the Herald wrote. 'The most significant character deaths-Jenny Calendar, Joyce Summers and now Tara-are all women. The show's two gay characters, Tara and high school jock Larry, both slain. (Alyson Hannigan's Willow does not count. Creator Joss Whedon told the Herald last year that she is at best bisexual.) The show's black characters? Kendra, Mr. Trick and, oh, yeah, that guidance counselor who hung around for half an episode-all dead. We knew Buffy lived on a hellmouth. Who knew she lived in Klan country?' For his part, Whedon wrote on the official UPN Buffy posting board, The Bronze, shortly after the finale aired: 'I killed Tara. Some of you may have been hurt by that. It's very unlikely it was more painful to you than it was to me. I couldn't even discuss it in story meetings without getting upset, physically. Which is why I knew it was the right thing to do. Because stories, as I have so often said, are not about what we WANT. And I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I COULDN'T kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I DID kill her because she was gay. Willow's story was not about being gay. It was about weakness, addiction, loss ... the way life hits you in the gut right when you think you're back on your feet. The course of true love never did run smooth, not on my show. (Only [NYPD Blue's] Dennis Franz has suffered more than my characters.) I love Amber, and she knows it. Eventually, this story will end for all of them. Hers ended sooner.' As for whether Whedon will bring back the character next season, he told SCI FI Wire cryptically, 'Tara will not be back. But Amber will.'"
Printed letters of response:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue268/letters.html
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue269/letters.html
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue270/letters.html
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue271/letters.html
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue274/letters.html
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue276/letters.html
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http://www.scifidimensions.com/Jul02/whereartthou.htm
Sci fi Dimensions
Lesbians, Where Art Thou?
If they're not dead, they're evil. Why are lesbians denied a sane reflection of themselves in today's media?
Printed letters of Response:
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Aug02/letters_lesbians.htm
http://www.puk.de/ivanova/toaster_neub.html
Sex, Lies & btw.: Don't Buy Their Video Tapes!
(compares quotes from ME writers over the last year.)
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http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/TBCBuffyFansOutraged.htm
The Death of Tara Exposes Willow's Darkside and Fans Outrage
" 'I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but, the idea that I COULDN'T kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I DID kill her because she was gay.'- Joss Whedon, (www.cise.ufl.edu/~hsiao/media/tv/buffy/bronze/upn/20020522.html).
This can only show that he has absolutely no clue what so ever, as to what BtVS fans are actually feeling. Not one of all the letters I received, and I received a ton, stated the reason they were so upset and outraged with Joss, the producers or writers, was they couldn't or did kill Tara because she was gay. What is truly offensive, is the insensitivity shown to what the throngs of BtVS fans and viewers are so distressed and upset about. It is the refusal to consider, that their actions destroyed something that was special and meant a great deal to so many. This excerpt from one letter I received, expresses the feelings what many others had expressed in their letters also. 'I am not gay. I am a straight married father in my 30s and I loved Willow and Tara. They meant so much to me. To watch them destroyed in a very real sense for a weak plot point is beyond forgivable. In fact I know of many straight Willow/Tara fans that are just as outraged. They understood what they meant. I can only imagine how this must feel to that gay, lesbian or questioning teen out there that watched them and thought "I am ok. And like Willow and Tara I can find true love.'"
Printed letters of response:
http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/516JessiLetter.htm
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http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Wanda/Archive2002/020726c.html
The Reign of Tara
Wanda talks with Joss Whedon on fan outrage.
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002/streaks/deathOfTaraQuotThe.html
Ink19
The Death of Tara and "The Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché"
Round table debate on the Finale of Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
By Kyra Roc/Julio Diaz/Ben Varkentine
"in the end, what I saw on TV was another evil lesbian, another dead lesbian, and another broken lesbian relationship in a TV landscape already littered with them. It affects people that those are the only images out there, I'm personally angry and tired of seeing those images, and Buffy, for all the merits which made me a fan in the first place, is no exception. If anything, those merits make the show's current flaws all the more palpable. And, at the end of the day, without anything to make it less of a cliché, Tara's still dead."
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http://www.gaytoday.com/entertain/072902en.asp
Media Matters
A Heinous Cliché Raises Its Ugly Head
By Rodger Streitmatter
"know that those of us in academia can be criticized, and often rightly so, for indulging in too much analysis. But it doesn't take a PhD in critical studies to recognize these recent plot turns as fitting into what I will label the "dead/evil lesbian cliché." According to this heinous formula, no lesbian-and certainly no lesbian couple-can ever find true happiness but ultimately will suffer a tragic end."
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Curve Magazine
Printed Letter
"Disappointed in Buffy"
"I know that your publication has supported Willow and Tara on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and I hope you plan to voice your disappointment about the recent lesbian cliché storyline on "Buffy" ("Seeing Red," season 6, episode 19). In the past, Joss Whedon and his writers promised not to invoke the lesbian cliché on "Buffy" because they were aware of how often lesbians in the media are sentenced to death, evilness, or never ending heartbreak...Yet, in an attempt to boost ratings during May sweeps, the two lesbian stars suffered just that fate. Tara was senselessly killed in front of her lover (after many hours of sex together) and Willow became evil. "Buffy" has had four gay characters - Larry, Andrew, Willow, and Tara. Two are dead and two became evil. So much for fighting the cliché... Many of the show's fans are boycotting "Buffy" based on the "Seeing Red" episode and are also boycotting "Buffy" merchandise. I urge you to publicize the gay community's reaction concerning the show's recent developments and the devastating impact they are having on a community that was told it was safe to believe."
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The Advocate
August 20, 2002
Lesbian Sex = Death
By Andy Mangels
"In more than five years on TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has endured more than a few bloody scrapes. Even as the series dealt with changing networks and Emmy snubs, the characters in Sunnydale faced death every night. In a series in which the lead character has died and returned twice, perhaps the biggest stake in the heart came in May's controversial finale to the sixth season.
In it powerful witch Willow and her female lover, Tara, who was often the show's most responsible and mature character, got to have glorious, sweaty lesbian sex on camera. And then, moments later, Tara (Amber Benson) was killed by a stray bullet to the heart, launching Willow (Alyson Hannigan) on a descent into black magic vengeance that not only turned her into a killer but imperiled her friends, her sanity, and eventually the world itself. The resulting public backlash against the series' events has ignited newspaper columns and Internet Web sites.
But to what end? According to many fans the season finale reversed anything good that was accomplished by this all too-rare TV lesbian relationship. Fan E. M. Colson notes that "whether viewers are conscious of the juxtaposition or not, murdering a lesbian just minutes after she has sex suggests a causality between lesbian sex and death."
Printed letters of response
September 17th 2002
Reign of Tara (Yes, this is the actual title they gave this section)
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http://www.afterellen.com/TV/buffy.html
AfterEllen.com
Killing Tara: the Demise of an Exceptional Lesbian Relationship on "Buffy"
"Maybe in all this slaying, "Buffy" has forgotten that when a television show starts being careless with its viewers attachments and emotions, it starts to lose them. That would be a shame, since lesbian/bisexual fans have been some of the show's biggest supporters. This isn't exactly your average show. People die every week on "Buffy." It's just that usually they're vampires or demons, not lesbians (even though some people on the Far Right get us confused occasionally). After killing Tara, they're going to have to try harder to keep my loyalty next season. Bringing her back would be a start, but if that can't happen then at least give Willow (and the fans) another shot at a happy lesbian relationship."
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http://www.scoopme.com/tv/articles/default.asp?article_id=67668
Scoopme.com
Dust to Dust: Death Becomes Them
By Carter Bell
"The methodology that Willow could only betray her friends and her morals after having witnessed the murder of her girlfriend seems spurious at best; especially when one considers that months earlier she felt confident enough to order a once prized paternal figure, (Giles), not to piss her off. After having likened Willow's penchant for magicks to uncontrollable addiction for so long throughout the season, I would have thought the act of Warren mortally wounding Buffy enough to send our red headed sorceress over the out of control, magic-wielding edge. The sad fact is that Willow and Tara were the only committed, romantic, ongoing, and sexual lesbian love story on network television. For two and a half years their relationship had been nurtured and developed and by the time viewers got to witness their first true love scenes and applaud them along with Dawn, they were over. Sure, Amber Benson got her name in the opening credits and she and Alyson Hannigan finally got a bed scene together, but it was as if the writers were teasing us with the ideal of an all female televised relationship only to rip it away when it finally matured. "
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http://www.divadirect.co.uk/divadirect/?sub=38&pos=0&Sin=8182
Diva Magazine
November, 2002
The death of Tara and the madness of Willow...lesbian cliché anyone???
"RIP Tara: The writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have fallen for the oldest cliche around. If a lesbian couple is happily in love, one of them has to die.
Lesley Davis mourns a much-loved television lesbian and asks, why did she have to die?
Excerpts:
"There's something new stalking the streets of Sunnydale: the worn out cliché. It's the one where the lesbian has to die and her girlfriend goes crazy with grief and has to destroy the world or something equally extreme. Sadly, the writers of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" decided to resurrect this plot for the programme's sixth season. The final episodes saw a beloved character killed and her girlfriend turn evil. Why? Joss Whedon, the show's writer, confessed: "I killed Tara. Some of you may have been hurt by that. It's very unlikely it was more painful to you than it was to me. I couldn't even discuss it in story meetings without getting upset, physically. Which is why I knew it was the right thing to do. Because stories, as I have so often said, are not about what we want. And I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I couldn't kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I did kill her because she was gay." Offended doesn't begin to cover how watching one half of TV's most loving lesbian couple brutally slain has caused people to react."
" The blatantly rushed reunion of Willow and Tara was every fan's dream: they kissed, they clung, they lay naked in bed and hardly ever left the sheets. When they did eventually leave the bedroom, however, we were forced to witness the sight of Willow covered in her lover's blood. It was cruel, senseless and disturbing. In grief and rage, Willow turned bad, wreaked havoc and skinned the man who murdered Tara. Man- hating lesbian, now there's a new theme. Then she tried to destroy the Earth. Her friend Xander managed to stop her when he told her how much he loved her. The bad lesbian brought back to earth by the love of a good man." "Everything Mutant Enemy (Buffy's production company) built up in these characters was ruined, wasted, debauched. Characters who had been held up as role models by Whedon were then reduced to ratings fodder. The programme championed feminism and showed that good triumphs over evil, but it has also shown that if you are a lesbian, sooner or later you are going to pay for it. Buffy's writers constantly reassured the fans that Tara would be staying. Every season they said she was safe, they wouldn't get rid of her, they were aware of her following. In January of this year, Joss Whedon told Entertainment Weekly; "I have no plans to send Tara anywhere. Amber (Benson) and Alyson (Hannigan) have such great chemistry; they're so great together, and they're very romantic together..." They lied"
"Whedon believes we needed to see this happen. I didn't. If you have the power to create a world of fantasy, why not indulge it a little further? Make a place where gays don't get punished because of who they love. Mutant Enemy needs to see that doing something because they didn't like being told they couldn't isn't a good enough excuse. What kind of message are they broadcasting? Not the sort that I, as a lesbian, want to watch. If I want that kind of thing, reality has enough to show me."
Printed Letters of response: http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/default.asp?topic=bb&action=showtopic&but=1&show=15&tsort=down&psort=up&top=382
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http://www.ltmiz.com/wtrm/links/theguardian.html
The Guardian
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http://www.btinternet.com/~mikb/ukarticle/
London Daily Mail
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September Issue of "Lespress"
The Kitten, The Witches And The Bad Ending
The lesbian theme in "Buffy's" 6th season
translation by kukalaka
"At the end it's her old childhood friend Xander, who overcomes the evil power by telling Willow that he loves her again and again until the black magic disappears and the young woman breaks down crying in his arms to finally mourn. The spell is broken and we too finally realize that this is the end of a wonderful female relationship - in contrast to the explicit promises of the "Buffy"-executives by the way! No wonder the lesbian fans of the series cried out against this conclusion of the lesbian plot in the USA."
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Orlando Sentinel
NFL: From bait to worse
Published October 8, 2002
"Allow me to pause in this NFL obit to explain "jump the shark," in case you do not know the phrase. It comes from a Web site of the same name (www.jumptheshark.com), designed to point out the moment something good began to go bad. Why "jump the shark?" That's from the moment in Happy Days when Fonzie -- wearing his leather jacket while on water skies in the Pacific -- indeed does jump over a shark. At that precise moment, Happy Days went into the Dumpster. Everybody can think of that terrible moment for former favorite TV shows -- When The X-Files made the movie -- when they killed Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- when Niles and Daphne got together in Frasier -- when everybody got together in Friends.
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Siren Magazine
article by Susan Shea
"The second major letdown occurred on the mostly dyke-positive Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where everyone's favorite couple of dyke-lettes, Willow and Tara, finally enjoyed some explicit onscreen action. This pleasing development was largely negated seconds later by the murder of Tara, a gratuitously violent plot twist used to advance the finale's wholly unbelievable premise. Executive Producer, Joss Wheldon, was reported to have cavalierly remarked, about killing off half of TV's only lesbian couple, that 'gay is passe' and that fans forced him into the decision by imploring him not to do it."
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Dreamwatch Magaize (#96)
Printed letter to the editor:
Excerpts:
"When I first heard the rumors of a Big Scooby Death in the sixth season, I had no doubt it would be Tara. I knew it in my gut. Add to that the knowledge that Willow would be season six's Big Baddie and it was practically confirmed. I knew it would be tragic and tried to prepare myself - boy, was I not ready...but the way it was handled by the producers made it that much worse. I've never felt this angry about a TV show before. Sure, I've watched other shows in which my favorite character dies or leaves but never have I felt so disrespected as a fan. Personally, I wanted to watch an escapist TV show where I could see the characters get knocked down but rise to their feet again, beating adversity against all odds. I wanted to see the only lesbian couple on TV have a loving and happy relationship. I wanted angst, yes, but not brutality. As for my needs, I didn't need to see the tragic death of a wonderful character (seeing Buffy's mom in The Body was enough, thank you). Buffy and Angel have been brought back from the dead, I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult to find a way to bring Tara back as well. As for season seven, we have been reassured that, hey, at least Willow's still around, at least she's still gay. The producers seem to have missed the point. It was Willow and Tara together that was so special. I love Tara, I love Willow, but even though Willow will be in season seven, it won't be the same because they won't be together. It's their relationship I adored; it's their relationship that I'm in mourning for. Thanks again, Joss, for giving me what I needed. Katrina Wallace
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Cult Times Magazine (#83)
Printed letter to the editor:
"Thanks for your article on Buffy Jumping the Shark. I agree with everything you said about the sixth season. I'm one of the fans who feel the show jumped the shark when they killed the character of Tara in such a clichéd manner. Killing a lesbian after sex and/or turning one evil is a common cliché used in the media to show that gays are bad or immoral. This does not mean that Mutant Enemy is homophobic in any way. I do, however, think that they were aware of the cliché as this statement from one of the show's writers indicates:
Doug Petrie (Sci-Fi Universe, 21/2/00): "Willow and Tara are going to have a good, happy, satisfying relationship. That's something that we're more acutely aware of and we definitely don't want to touch on 'being a lesbian is bad.' We've all seen shows where if you have any kind of gay tendencies, you must be killed or made to suffer for no reason other than you're gay. We're hyper aware of that, so we're more predisposed to have things work out for Willow and Tara. In fact, if Tara were a guy, I would predict a near 100 per cent chance of a break-up for Willow. The fact that Tara is not a guy may make things work out better, because we can avoid what we feel is this old cliché." Buffy used to turn clichés on their head and now they can't even tell if they are doing one."
SFX Magazine #96
October 2002
Ta-ra, Tara!
Printed letter to the editor:
"intentions are irrelevant here. In my opinion, Tara's death and Willow's subsequent descent into evil was yet another example of the dead/evil lesbian cliché. Specifically, at the end of the episode where Tara and Willow were shown to have had their most realistic portrayal of lesbian sex for the first time on the show (no magical metaphors here), one of them was brutally murdered and the other became evil. Pretty much confirming that if you have gay sex, bad things are going to happen to you. Intentional or not, I find this perpetuation of the cliché disappointing, especially from a TV series that I thought was above using clichés. It doesn't help that ever since the episode aired, I've read numerous gay-bashing posts on posting boards cheering that Tara is finally dead and that she got what she deserved. Her death has certainly not helped the perception of gays in the media at all. I believe Joss' ignorance ultimately killed Tara. He knew what the Willow and Tara relationship signified to the gay community, he knew what Tara meant to the fans, but he disregarded the consequences of this storyline and underestimated the full impact that her death would have on people, and in my opinion that makes it worse, because he should've known better."
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Herizons Magazine
Printed letter to the editor:
In response to Rachel Thompson's article 'Staking it to the Man: Is Buffy a Feminist Icon?' (Herizons, Summer 2002 issue).
"instead of subverting women's relationship to sex and sexual roles, Buffy has completely degraded its main female heroines in this last season. One can not ignore how Buffy 's 'no means yes' approach to sex with Spike contributed to the widespread sexist myth that women are willing to have sex even if they say no. Similarly, Willow and Tara's ground-breaking and subversive relationship ended in a classic example of lesbian cliché, with one lover killed while the other turning evil right after sex. The message, though unintended, is clear: lesbian love and desire can only end in pain and self-destruction. In a show that originally sought to turn around clichés, Buffy has submitted to the most harmful ones of all. So, in my opinion, Buffy is not a feminist show, and now I 'm starting to wonder if it had ever truly been one."
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http://www.buffy.nu/article.php3?id_article=559
Ghoul power: Buffy sticks it to the system
"Celebrating Buffy merely because it shows a white woman kicking arse treads awfully close to the vacuous "girl power" politics so pervasive in the Spice Girls-saturated 1990s - a politics that is all surface presentation but poses no real challenge to oppression. Rather, Buffy reinforces white supremacy and depictions of the "dangerous classes" as intellectually and physically inferior."
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Cult Times Magazine
April, 2003
DeKnight of the Dark Realm
"DeKnight is probably more notorious as the man who killed Tara in
Seeing Red. Fans were saddened by her departure, while some raised hell over a
gay character being murdered in cold blood. "You know, what created an
even bigger uproar was my big fat mouth," says DeKnight about the
controversial topic. "I went on a college radio station and I have a
tendency to diffuse tense situations with inappropriate humor. Boy, was that
the wrong thing to do."
****
Girl Friends Magazine
April 2003
The Buffy Factor
Thanks to Buffy's