Wednesday 12 April 2017

J is for Joyce

This month I'm participating in A to Z Challenge, where 100's of bloggers around the world challenge themselves to write every day for the month of April, working their way through the alphabet.  I'm stitching the Buffy The Vampire Slayer alphabet cross stitch pattern (available from my Etsy store).  Each day I will share that letter's stitching, as well as a bit about the relevant character.

J is for Joyce Summers



Joyce Summers is Buffy and Dawn's mother, and she was never given much more of a backstory than that.  Joyce and her husband Hank divorced not long after Buffy became the Slayer, and Joyce subsequently moved Buffy and herself to Sunnydale to start a new life, and where Joyce would own and operate an art gallery.  

Joyce was ignorant of Buffy's status as Vampire Slayer for the first couple of years, finally learning the truth at the end of season 2 (although after Dawn appeared it seemed that Joyce (and Dawn) had learnt the truth a lot earlier).
Buffy: Open your eyes, Mom. What do you think has been going on for the past two years? The fights, the weird occurrences... how many times have you washed blood out of my clothing, and you still haven't figured it out?
Joyce was one of the few characters on the show to have a natural death, dying of a brain tumour in season 5.  This left Buffy alone to raise and protect Dawn.

Joyce was the maternal figure for the show.  She played the visible, loving supportive mother to Xander's abusive, neglectful mother and Willow's absent one.  She was caring, and looked out for the others, even welcoming Faith and Spike into the fold.  But she was also absent from a lot of the story lines, and never a main character.  I feel like there was a lot more to Joyce that we never got to see, and it would have been nice to have seen her relationship with Buffy explored a lot more.

Happy Stitching

10 comments:

  1. yeah us mothers are always neglected.

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  2. This is my first visit to your site. Found you through AtoZ linkies and I am glad I did. Your patterns are lovely:)
    Celebrating 'Women & their work' all April @NamySaysso: A reason to stop hatred, live every second to the fullest and run after our dreams

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    1. Glad you found me :) Thanks for stopping by

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  3. Roslyn,

    I like the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I probably prefer Buffy to Angel, though. Now that TVD and True Blood has ended what other vamp type of series are there to watch? Great cross stitching job!

    Please JUMP over to look at today's edition of Art Sketching Through the Alphabet Letter "J"

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    1. I have to admit Buffy is the only Vampire series I ever really watched. Thanks for stopping by :)

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  4. The episode where Joyce died was different from the rest, in showing deep emotions with practically no supernatural overlay at all. Just a kid mourning, forced to deal too young with this pain. It made me cry.

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    1. It was a really powerful episode, all the more so because there was no background music at all throughout the whole episode. My teacher friend uses it regularly in her Film and Television class to show the impact music has (and to traumatise the students I'm sure!)

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  5. I always thought Joyce was a pretty developed TV mom, all things considered. I loved her in Band Candy - one of my all time favourite episodes. I also really enjoyed the reflection of all the characters on her death in the Body. Always thought that was really well done. - Louise

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  6. Hopping around your A to Z, so don't mind me today :)
    I was never a fan of Joyce...I think because she came across as so ignorant. I think the writers did her a diservice and should have delved a bit deeper into her character.
    ~Katie
    TheCyborgMom

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