Buffy star Amber Benson reflects on impact of Willow and Tara romance: “Iconic in so many ways”
Amber Benson has continued to celebrate the impact of Willow and Tara’s relationship on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The iconic fantasy drama, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular hero, memorably blazed a trail for LGBTQIA+ representation with the two aforementioned witches, making history as mainstream television’s first long-term lesbian romance.
To celebrate the release of the series on Tubi, Benson attended the streamer’s Buffy’s Biggest Slays event in West Hollywood, where she reflected on the groundbreaking relationship and how it’s impact on LGBTQIA+ viewers.
“As an actor, you do a ton of work where you’re like, ‘Okay, I did this thing and it’s fine and I paid my bills.’ But with Buffy, I felt like I was part of something important and that what we were doing was not just a television show,” Benson told Out.
“It was at hand to people who were living in places where there wasn’t a community. I know Aly[son Hannigan] felt the same way, that this relationship was iconic in so many ways. It was also about empathy and love.
“Willow and Tara raised Dawn [Michelle Trachtenberg], you know, and before all the bananas stuff happened, their relationship was so special and important.”
Benson made her debut as Tara in season four, and played a pivotal role in the “Scooby Gang” until her controversial death in the season six episode, ‘Seeing Red’.
Although her romance with Willow was, undeniably, Buffy‘s healthiest and most beloved by fans, “a lot of pushback from standards and practices” resulted in a lack of on-screen intimacy for the couple. Because of this, their first kiss didn’t occur until ‘The Body’ in season five.
“They were like, ‘Oh, girls kissing girls in bed together. Oh my gosh. We just, we don’t know what to do with this.’ It was very frustrating,” she explained of pushback from the network.
However, Benson recalled a enlightening conversation with an employee from Buffy‘s art department, who said: “It’s stupid and annoying that you guys can’t kiss or you can’t be in the bed or whatever but what you have to understand is that this relationship, this positive relationship goes into people’s homes every week.
“You are changing people’s perceptions of what it means to be queer. You are talking to people in other parts of the world, our crazy country especially, who are watching this show but have never met a queer couple in real life but love Tara and Willow.”
The conversation “totally changed how we saw things”, Benson continued: “We were like, ‘Yeah, doesn’t matter what we do anymore. It’s just that we exist in this moment and we are a hand to people who don’t have that.’”
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During its seven-season stint on air (and the years since), Buffy inspired an entire generation of LGBTQIA+ viewers.
As well as Willow and Tara’s relationship, the queer allegories – from Buffy’s need to conceal her true self to her reliance on her chosen family, and having to “come out” as a vampire slayer – have been attributed to helping queer fans feel represented.
Despite major award ceremonies snubbing Buffy during its run, the series has continued to receive universal critical acclaim 27 years on – with many individual episodes hailed as some of the finest in television history (‘Hush’, ‘The Body’, ‘Once More, With Feeling’).
Gellar’s classic hero is also widely regarded as one of the best female characters of all time.
Reminisce on the queerest moments from Buffy the Vampire Slayer here.
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Author: Sam Damshenas