2. Pain and Suffering
Whedon has always told us that the key to his characters is making them - and through them the audience - suffer. Suffering is good and Whedon knows this, partly down to his strong humanist beliefs which suggest that human growth is the only true goal that we should all be headed towards (and suffering and pain is part of human life). His suggestions offer plenty of chance for debate - is suffering really ever the key to a) great television and b) character growth? The cards fall in his favour however, when we view the characters that have been put through the wringer time and time again. Let's take the Buffyverse characters for example - would Buffy had been as heroic if she hadn't had to go through killing her true love? Would Dawn's rise out of awkward adolescence into competent heroine been as satisfying if she hadn't hadn't had to deal with her mum's death? Without Dark Willow and Tara's unfortunate passing, would Willow's moment of white-haired earth goddess have been as spine-tinglingly wonderful? I can't help feeling they might not have been, indicating Whedon's need to put human suffering as a catalyst for growth - without pain, without suffering, we can't reach inside ourselves and become the people we're meant to be.