Rebecca:
Thanks,
Amber, for being on the show today. How have you been?
Amber Benson:
I've been really good. I'm really enjoying
Perth.
Rebecca:
Awesome.
It's always good to hear, people enjoying my hometown. So how's the Comic-Con lifestyle? Have you been really busy?
Amber:
Yeah, they've kept us hopping. I mean, I don't think I've sat down, other than to
sign pictures for, like, five minutes. Literally it's, like, now go here, now go there, now you're going to do a panel, now you're going to sign more pictures, now you're going to take photos. It's super insane.
Rebecca: Is your hand cramped from, like, signing your name so many times?
Amber:
Everybody always assumes that your hand cramps. They're pretty strong wrist muscles that I have. I spend a lot of time, cuz I write now mostly, so I spend a lot of time on the computer. So I'm building them up.
Rebecca: Oh, yeah. You don't forget how to spell your name or anything.
Amber: Oh, gosh. You would think. The time that I spend on the computer, without writing, you know.
Rebecca: It really does change what your hand does, doesn't it? I find I'm typing and then I'm, like, ooh, what does this do?
Amber: It's true. It's, like, way looser. It's, like, loosey goosey. Your signature.
Rebecca: Yeah, your handwriting starts out nice and neat, and then it gets worse.
Amber:
Mine's never been neat. Mine's a scrawl, chicken scratch.
Rebecca: Awesome. So let's talk about "
Buffy."
Amber:
Yes.
Rebecca: An amazing series.
Amber:
Thank you.
Rebecca: Quite groundbreaking for its time. What was your experience like on the show?
Amber: We had a blast. I mean, very infrequently do you get to work on a show that is not only well put-together, well-written, well-acted, but actually has like the ability to change things a little bit. Because of the character that I played, I feel like we opened a lot of doors to the
LGBTQ community by portraying a lesbian couple, who just happened to be lesbians. They were just really well-drawn, beautiful characters.
Rebecca: I loved that because it wasn't called out as, oh, and now we've got a couple of lesbians. It was just this beautiful part of the storyline and it's, two people fell in love.
Amber: That's right. And if you're lucky enough to find somebody you love, it doesn't matter, the gender of you, or the other person.
Rebecca: And so what were the fan responses at the time like? I mean, was that really positive for the burgeoning community?
Amber: Yeah. I've been super-lucky. I haven't had a lot of bad experiences via my work on "Buffy." You know, I got a lot of letters from young people around the world saying, you know, "I live in a very small town, where nobody is gay.
Nobody talks about being
LGBTQ.
And I feel like it's okay to be who
I am, because of this relationship."
Rebecca: That's amazing.
Amber: Yeah. So, you know, like I said before, when you're working on a show that's not just well done, but actually has the power to impact the way people perceive the world, you know, that is a rare thing indeed.
Rebecca: It really is. And around that time, as well, you know, the
Internet wasn't as prolific as it is today.
Amber: No.
Rebecca: So that would have really started that whole movement, of making people feel a lot more accepted. Cuz these days, I mean, everything's out and proud on the Internet. But still, you've still got some of those
...
Amber: It's
2015, but we still live in a world where it's still not
100% okay to be who you are. And it's going to change. We're going to change it.
Rebecca: We're changing everything.
Amber: But it's a slow process.
Rebecca: It is.
Amber: You know, and it takes little baby steps and I think, you know, the
Willow Tara relationship on "Buffy" was the beginning of cracking that glass ceiling.
Rebecca: And it was, and I think it was in the way it was presented, as well. Like we said before, it was just a relationship. There was nothing, they weren't hanging bells and whistles on it. It wasn't
...
Amber: No, it wasn't gratuitous.
Ooh, two girls making out, woo. I mean, I think we had the best relationship on the show. We, like, raised Buffy's sister,
Dawn, so...
Rebecca: Yeah, and it was so sweet.
Amber: We were.
Rebecca: You guys were so sweet together.
Amber: We were adorable.
- published: 24 Jun 2015
- views: 946