You're right in that Buffy had a lot of time to develop as a character, whereas Penny had very little. But my point was to compare and contrast how Whedon painted these triangles. I think that we are so used to seeing a character choose between two love interests that we don't stop to consider a third option. In Buffy, when Angel presses her to choose between him and Spike, she refuses. She chooses neither. Penny might have gone the same way, if she'd had the chance, but as an audience, I think we all assume Penny would have chosen (or even been better off with) Billy.
Billy wants two things: 1. To get into the ELE 2. To have a romantic relationship with Penny
Those two things are mutually exclusive. He can't have them both. He never could.
And that's where this false dichotomy comes in again. We assume Penny would go to Billy, but it seems unlikely that she would have dated him. His values directly conflict with hers, and he lies to her to make himself seem more appealing to her.
So, at the end, when we might think, "Oh! If only his gun hadn't broken! He might've been happy!" I think we're wrong. I don't think he would have been happy. And I don't think Penny would have been, either. Not with Billy.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-09-21 06:25 pm (UTC)Billy wants two things:
1. To get into the ELE
2. To have a romantic relationship with Penny
Those two things are mutually exclusive. He can't have them both. He never could.
And that's where this false dichotomy comes in again. We assume Penny would go to Billy, but it seems unlikely that she would have dated him. His values directly conflict with hers, and he lies to her to make himself seem more appealing to her.
So, at the end, when we might think, "Oh! If only his gun hadn't broken! He might've been happy!" I think we're wrong. I don't think he would have been happy. And I don't think Penny would have been, either. Not with Billy.
Thank you! I *adore* meta!