Well, ME used that Myth in Ats too, hence the episode "Orpheus" !
The writers used consciously or not, a lot of stuff. Concerning Spuffy I'm still convinced that they were influenced by "Tristan and Isolde" (see one of my previous entries on it) but there are also other possible connections and William......Shakespeare is never far away.
At the beginning, Spike the Slayer of the Slayers fights Buffy The Vampire Slayer who killed the Master. She is a challenge for him, as Catherine is for Petruccio in “The Taming of the Shrew”. IMO he wants to surpass her instead of killing her (but how could he surpass her without killing her?). Then “Something Blue” came. It is a great bit of comedy where we find the “Taming” leitmotiv again. Spike says he is unable to protect her, but she doesn’t need protection! He is the one who needs it. Of course, even under Willow’s love spell, Buffy isn’t really tame (but I am not sure that Catherine is tame at the end of the Shakespeare’s play, she may fake…). Petruccio apparently succeeded, but Spike failed. The Buffybot was the only one tame Buffy which he has ever got! The Slayer is an untameable animal.
But maybe it's Spike who is the one to be tamed in BTVS...he was the beast after all. And thanks to the Initiative and its famous chip, ME manage to invert the leitmotiv. From this moment we have seen another thing: “The Taming of the Spike” until “Grave”. The return of his soul completes it. Soulless vampires are supposed to be wild creatures. But , Spike wanted to be tame! First we believed that the chip is what neutralizes him, but after “Fool for love” we knew who William used to be. Spike could have been harmful despite the chip. That’s Love which makes him tame (his love for Buffy AND his love for Dawn). Anyway the chip was a great and a useful invention.
Spuffy also reminds me of another Shakespeare’s comedy: “Much Ado About Nothing”. The Spuffy fights are very similar to the verbal fights of Bénedict and Béatrice. I guess that JW has been inspired by those very popular characters to build Spuffy relationship. Besides Bénédict says he suffers love because he loves Béatrice against his will (like Spike in "Crush"!). Their friends and relatives bet they could make them love each others (as Willow did by using magic in SB). And it worked!IMO it works because they are predisposed to love each others.
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The writers used consciously or not, a lot of stuff. Concerning Spuffy I'm still convinced that they were influenced by "Tristan and Isolde" (see one of my previous entries on it) but there are also other possible connections and William......Shakespeare is never far away.
At the beginning, Spike the Slayer of the Slayers fights Buffy The Vampire Slayer who killed the Master. She is a challenge for him, as Catherine is for Petruccio in “The Taming of the Shrew”. IMO he wants to surpass her instead of killing her (but how could he surpass her without killing her?). Then “Something Blue” came. It is a great bit of comedy where we find the “Taming” leitmotiv again. Spike says he is unable to protect her, but she doesn’t need protection! He is the one who needs it.
Of course, even under Willow’s love spell, Buffy isn’t really tame (but I am not sure that Catherine is tame at the end of the Shakespeare’s play, she may fake…). Petruccio apparently succeeded, but Spike failed. The Buffybot was the only one tame Buffy which he has ever got! The Slayer is an untameable animal.
But maybe it's Spike who is the one to be tamed in BTVS...he was the beast after all. And thanks to the Initiative and its famous chip, ME manage to invert the leitmotiv. From this moment we have seen another thing: “The Taming of the Spike” until “Grave”. The return of his soul completes it. Soulless vampires are supposed to be wild creatures. But , Spike wanted to be tame! First we believed that the chip is what neutralizes him, but after “Fool for love” we knew who William used to be. Spike could have been harmful despite the chip. That’s Love which makes him tame (his love for Buffy AND his love for Dawn). Anyway the chip was a great and a useful invention.
Spuffy also reminds me of another Shakespeare’s comedy: “Much Ado About Nothing”. The Spuffy fights are very similar to the verbal fights of Bénedict and Béatrice. I guess that JW has been inspired by those very popular characters to build Spuffy relationship. Besides Bénédict says he suffers love because he loves Béatrice against his will (like Spike in "Crush"!). Their friends and relatives bet they could make them love each others (as Willow did by using magic in SB). And it worked!IMO it works because they are predisposed to love each others.
Sorry I digressed...