truth/illusion

Absolutely loved "Normal Again". The ambiguity factor that reared its head in episodes like "The Replacement" is ramped up to eleven in this episode. For what it's worth, I also loved the meta-commentary on how implausible certain aspects of the show are, like Dawn's sudden appearance a few seasons back. To reimagine these writerly inconsistencies as the deranged, desperate acts of a broken mind is pretty freaking cool, to be honest. Whedon is taking these extradiegetic concepts (things like the audience's necessary suspension of disbelief, which exist outside of the imaginative world of the show) and reinventing them as diegetic -- that is, reinserting these concepts back into the context of the show itself. Thus we have a character essentially breaking the fourth wall and meditating on her constructed status as a "character."

The whole thing was just incredibly postmodern -- in a good way! It was definitely thought-provoking. I know that it's really difficult to describe exactly what postmodernism is, but if I may put forth a partial definition, I always thought that one of the central tenets of the movement was the notion that truth and illusion were no longer distinct -- in fact, each flows into and informs the other. After all, who is to say what is real and what isn't? We are all the protagonists of our own lives, the heroes of our own quests, the characters at the center of our respective solipsistic universes. Even as you (rhetorical "you") read this, you have no definitive proof that the person you think wrote it -- that is, me -- actually exists separately from you. Perhaps, as Spike grumbled, I'm just a figment of your supposed reality. Fact is, you don't have proof that anything exists outside of you, because it is impossible to completely remove yourself (your "Self") from your powers of perception; in other words, it is impossible to experience anything 100% objectively. (A good deal of Eastern religion would argue that it is possible, however, if you practice meditation.) You have always seen out of your own eyes, heard from your own ears. You cannot inhabit anyone else's consciousness but yours (though who is to say there are "other" consciousnesses anyway)? In a sense, you are the God of your own life, because everything you've ever perceived has been mediated, translated, constructed by your brain. Consciously and unconsciously, you write it all; you are your own author.

Which leads to Buffy's interesting case: at the end of the episode, the distinction between truth and illusion no longer matters for her. It only matters that she is happy and that she is surrounded by love. And if that means she must live an illusion, then so it goes. Even in the final minutes, she still isn't sure whether Sunnydale is an artificial reality (I mean, who can really be sure of anything?) but nonetheless she consciously chooses her Slayer life, which could very well be a fantasy, because it is more personally fulfilling than the truth. She prioritizes subjectivity over objectivity.

On a semi-related note, I was reading this fascinating study earlier that corresponds to this discussion. It has been reported that some victims of torture, during the act, really would retreat into a fantasy world from which they could not wake up. In this catatonic state, the victim lived in a world just like their normal one, except they weren’t being tortured. The only way that they realized they needed to WAKE UP was a note they found in their fantasy world. It would tell them about their condition, and tell them to WAKE UP. Even then, it would often take months until they were ready to discard their fantasy world and please WAKE UP