Buffy The Vampire Slayer

This past May controversy erupted when the popular television show Buffy, The Vampire Slayer killed off one of their characters. It was a gay character. After spending all day in bed the couple in question were standing near their second story bedroom window when Tara was shot. Following this her lover Willow went crazy. She killed Tara’s murderer, tried to kill her friends, and even attempted end the world. A large group of fans went crazy right along with Willow claiming that the plot was a rehash of the old Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché. However it was clearly not as there was no intent on behalf of the staff of Buffy to slander gay people, or to promote a homophobic message, the death of Tara was unmistakably in keeping with the history of the show, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, and lastly the cliché itself is old and no longer fits into todays more tolerant world.

When the character of Tara was first introduced the Buffy staff was forced by the network to use metaphors to show the budding relationship between Tara and Willow. Some fans refused to see the relationship for what it was, and then the episode `New Moon Rising’ aired. In it Willow has to make a choice between ex-boyfriend Oz and new girlfriend Tara, Willow ends up choosing Tara and coming out to her best friend Buffy.

Some fans that didn’t approve of the relationship and were livid, posting scathing homophobic attacks on the Buffy posting board. They took aim at Creator/Writer Joss Whedon, the actress who portrayed Tara, Amber Benson, and at the gay community itself. Then on May 4, 2000 Joss Whedon responded, "Okay, let’s do this. For real: how @#$%&ing disappointed was I in the American public after Tuesday right?" The same day Amber Benson posted saying that she hoped people would realize that there was no need to be up in arms, Buffy was only a show, and love is love no matter who it is between.

Early on in the relationship the network set a rule, there could be no kisses shown between the two women. And in fact it wasn’t until the middle of the following season that viewers saw their first onscreen kiss. In the episode `The Body’ Buffy’s Mom dies suddenly, and the show is about the group of friends trying to deal with her death. In a touching and heartfelt scene Tara kisses Willow to comfort her. Unlike shows such as Ally McBeal and Dawson’s Creek that heavily advertised gay kisses, the promo’s for Buffy didn’t say anything. The kiss was merely a natural thing to include. It wasn’t there for increased ratings.

At a convention this summer Amber Benson told the audience that while she was sad that her character had been killed she understood why, and that Joss didn’t think of Willow and Tara as a gay couple, but as just another couple. This certainly doesn’t sound like a group of people intent on promoting homophobic messages.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show that uses the supernatural to represent all the things that go wrong in real life. From the very beginning it’s been made clear that relationships on this show will not be ending happily ever after. In episode 8 of the first season this conversation takes place:

Buffy: Let’s face it: none of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship. Xander: We’re doomed!

And this concept has never been strayed from; all romantic relationships on Buffy end, and end badly. Buffy’s true love Angel turns evil, has to be killed by Buffy to save the world, turns good, is killed by Buffy anyway, comes back from hell, and finally leaves for LA. Willow and Tara were like all Buffy relationships, however while they were together they were the most stable couple ever shown on Buffy, and they lasted longer than any other, but this is still Buffy, and on Buffy all good things come to an end.

Relationships not working aren’t the only way in which killing Tara was par for the course. Over the 6 seasons Buffy has been on the air they’ve killed a lot of characters. Angel was killed, although later he was brought back, joining him on this list are Buffy’s Mom Joyce, Giles’ girlfriend Jenny Calendar, Kendra fellow slayer and friend, and even Buffy herself has died, 3 times and counting. So killing beloved characters isn’t anything new on this show, relationships ending badly isn’t new either, it’s just how things work in Sunnydale, and anyone who has watched the show from the beginning knows this.

The Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché goes as follows. The couple is miserable and doomed. They are not happy, and have no chance of ever being happy. Either one goes crazy and murders the other, or one commits suicide and the other goes crazy killing the people who made their life miserable.

Today people are more tolerant. While there are still people out there with homophobic views such people have become the exception and are no longer the rule. On television now you can find many shows with gay characters, and more pop up every year. Tara and Willow were one of the most realistic lesbian couples on television.

All gay people have ever wanted is to be treated like everyone else, and have the same rights afforded to others. On Buffy that’s what they got. Would it have been any better if it had been decided that Tara couldn’t be killed merely because she was gay and thus different than the other characters. Does this mean in real life when a gay person is killed it’s a cliché? I think not. We’re all human. We all love. And we all lose. And on Buffy that happens regularly. Tara was killed because it furthered the plot. The cliché once upon a time was real, but now it is but a memory.

I enjoyed every moment Tara and Willow spent onscreen together. It was a joy to see a lesbian relationship portrayed as just another relationship. The Buffy staff obviously wasn’t out to promote homophobia, they just wanted to tell their story. In the end Tara was treated as many other characters and was killed off, she wasn’t the first character to be killed and I’m certain that she won’t be the last. And finally in this day and age the old Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché no longer is needed. Now when gay couples are represented it is not likely that they are doomed. They don’t usually kill themselves or each other and when they do it is just a good plot and nothing more. If the gay community really wants to be treated just like everyone else than the ones who so over reacted to Tara’s death need to take a step back and look at just how the world around them has changed.