Anyway, here is the cover
Benson Find Her Work Noble in Many Ways
By Al Thompson
Amber Benson was just looking for a little work. The 24-year old Birmingham, Alabama native knew she would be answering a lot of questions about same-sex relationships when she landed the part of Tara, Willow's girlfriend and second-in-command witch on Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Tuesday, 8 p.m. UPN).
In fact, the subject had almost reached the point of becoming old news. And judging from the response both Benson and Alyson Hannigan (Willow) have received from fans around the country, the couple had actually become more than accepted by many teens who had been struggling with his or her own sexuality.
But Benson, who helped write a comic book based on the two characters, never expected to be defending her character because of remarks made by Pat Robertson, a right wing self described "broadcaster, statesman, author, humanitarian, businessman and Christian." His remarks following the terrorists attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11 were blasted as "Un-American" by Newsweek after he claimed God allowed America to be attacked because of its pro abortion laws and tolerance for homosexuality. Benson said it's just her nature to defend people from intolerance.
"I've always stood up for anybody. I've always been like that," Benson told D&E Magazine by phone last week. "There's always going to be someone out there who doesn't like you. That's just life. But being on the show and having people make comments about you...'she's heavy,' or 'she's not this, she's not that'... or they don't like the character being gay or they didn't like me coming in and taking Seth Green's place. I was really very hurt from some of the comments on the Internet... I think People see you on a TV show and they feel like you are not a human being. You're a TV character. They don't quite put together that you are a real person.
"And that's kind of how it is with a guy like Pat Robertson, who gets up there and says this is the beginning of Armageddon because America is lenient with gays and with drugs, sex, abortion and all this other stuff. He doesn't see these people as real people. He sees them as somebody he can use to manipulate the situation as he wants it to be.'
Benson talked about how BUFFY may seem like a fantasy, soft-core, humorous vampire series on the surface, but the show picks its spots to send messages to its youthful audience. A teen audience that is filled with real-life angst and looking for clues to deal with growing up in a society that is getting harder and harder to define.
"We don't get on a soap box, but we use analogy," said Benson, who traveled to Romania during her summer hiatus to film TABOO with co-star Nick Stahl. "When we were talking about witchcraft all through the first two seasons I was on, we were really talking about the two of them being lesbians. Instead of getting on a soap box you can weave a little bit of a theme or a message in the story. Don't force it down people's throats, but let it be there. If they want to take it they can, if not they don't have to."
Buffy (the spirited Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her gang are all back: Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Anya (Emma Caulfield) and Spike (James Marsters). But alas, Anthony Stewart Head's beloved Giles is gone, as the actor returns to England, where he'll reprise the role in a new series for British TV.
Benson said she couldn't divulge what direction the show was headed in this season other than to reveal that episode seven would be made as a musical ... a musical? BUFFY?
"Just the shear fact that it's a musical is interestingly strange," Benson said. "But I think this season is going to see a lot of changing. A lot of relationships are going weird places. It's not going to be like it was last season. It was a cemented group and that's how it stayed the whole season. (This year) I think we're going to see a lot of people going off and trying new things. And maybe leaving and coming back."
Is Angel (Philly's David Boreanaz) making a network (WB) cross-over appearance? "I don't know. He hasn't come over yet," Benson revealed.
Like many people in America after September 11, especially entertainers and athletes, Benson had trouble finding importance in what she does for a living. With the heroicefforts in New York's World Trade Center unfolding in front of our eyes, many people looked at themselves and said, "Am I doing anything that is really important?" Benson said she turned to a film made in 1941 by the legendary director Preston Sturges entitled SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS. In the classic, frustrated film director Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is fed up with serving out easily digestible but ultimately meaningless chunks of comedy for the studios. He decides to set off across America to rediscover the daily lives of the common Joe as research for his socially responsible next film, 0 BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? Which is where the Coen brothers got the title for their movie (2000, George Clooney). Giving up all his unnecessaries, he begins his cross-country road trip in hobo's clothes with barely a dime in his pocket to regain his focus. Benson said the film's ending set her straight.
"I look at it this way, because if I didn't look at it this way I would have to go find an island somewhere and not leave," she said. "I watched the movie SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS. He thought, because they were comedies he wasn't impacting the world. So he set out to make this movie about the struggles of man, of the masses and decides he's going to live the life of a common man and be a hobo, find out what the common man is all about so he can write this movie. But he comes to the realization at the very end that making these comedies are impacting world. He thought they had no bearing on anything. He never realized he was taking people out of their own realities for two hours. He was affecting them in such a way that the misery they live in is put aside and they're able to laugh. So what I'm doing isn't brain surgery. But I take people out of their crappy day. They can turn on the TV and let us take them to another place and enjoy themselves."
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Tara: Trying to turn me on?
Willow: I have to try now?
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