We are the authors, along with other members of The Kitten, The Witches, and the Bad Wardrobe (a popular Willow/Tara fan board), of an Internet FAQ titled "The Death of Tara, the Fall of Willow and the Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché." We are therefore likely part of what Stephanie Zacharek referred to as the "weeks of buzzing on 'Buffy' online message boards" regarding Tara's death and subsequent events on the show.

Zacharek stated that "some fans in the lesbian community have asserted that by killing off one-half of the show's lesbian couple ... Whedon destroyed one of the few positive lesbian role models on television." This is indeed something that we, at least, have said. She then went on to say, however, that the boards have, as a result, been saying that both "Buffy" and Joss Whedon are "anti-gay" and additionally "misogynist and/or racist."

That is not something we ever argued, nor is it something we have seen said by the vast majority of those angry about Tara's death. In fact, we went to great lengths to say that we decidedly did not think that Tara was killed, or that Willow turned evil, for homophobic reasons on the part of Joss Whedon or anyone else.

Our primary objection was that these events, however they were intended, still fall into the cliché of television lesbians dying, turning evil, and never knowing true happiness. This cliché is so pervasive that happy lesbian couples on television are almost impossible to find, whereas dead ones can be found -- or rather, no longer found -- on scores of shows. This matters: Heterosexual couples can look at the media and see hundreds of representations of themselves, some happy, some sad, some good, some evil, some alive, some dead. Lesbian couples see an almost uniformly bleak message informing them that they are doomed to misery and pain.

We are particular angry at "Buffy" because at various times the show's writers have indicated that they were aware of the cliché and said that this was exactly the kind of thing they wouldn't do. Obviously, after seeing a two-year lesbian relationship on the show, we are aware that Joss Whedon and Co. didn't kill Tara because she was gay. We are aware that Willow was not made into a "cut-out angry lesbian," as Ms. Zacharek put it, nor did we ever accuse them of doing so. We are aware that no couples on "Buffy" have ever ended particularly happily. We are also aware that they are under no obligation to anyone and can do whatever they like with their show.

However, we are saddened and angry that Tara has, for whatever reason, been added to the heaping pile of dead TV lesbians.

The full text of "The Death of Tara, the Fall of Willow and The Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché FAQ" can be found at the kitten board.

-- Amy Wilson and R. Herman

You don't get it. Fans are not upset simply because a gay character got killed on "Buffy," and we're not pleading for special treatment. What offends is the sudden descent to cliché. Two clichés in fact: First, whenever two lesbians are shown having physical sex (as opposed to soppy emotional hand-holding) one of them must die immediately afterward. And second, if one half of a lesbian couple dies, the other must immediately turn into an evil sociopath.

Now these are well-documented clichés -- there have been books written on them, doctoral treatises even -- and when "Buffy" introduced a lesbian relationship, the writers even commented about the existence of such clichés and promised they wouldn't stoop to using them.

But they did.

For the first time ever, Tara and Willow are shown naked in bed with conversation that implies they have just made love. (Bear in mind that in two and a half years they have previously had two on-screen kisses and some hand-holding.) Less than two minutes later Tara is dead by an "act of God." Punishment for her sins? Sure looks that way.

So what does loving, intelligent Willow do then. 911, CPR, break down and cry? Nope: a brief attempt at magical resurrection followed immediately by full-on sociopathic bitch-from-hell mode. Both clichés in under three minutes.

And then, to add insult to injury, the show treated the death lightly. Every other death of a character has been treated as significant. This time however, Tara (who has been on the show for two and a half years) dies, and yet no one apart from Willow has any grief. When Giles arrives he even comments on Buffy's new hairdo before casually mentioning that he's sorry about Tara.

And then, the hysterical Willow is saved by the one thing she really needs: a good man.

Now if this were any other show, people could shrug and go, "It's TV land. What do you expect?" But this is "Buffy" -- the home of some of the most intelligent writing on TV ever. We expect better, and we deserve better than this lame, sordid descent into banality.

-- Andy Brazil

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