Sort of along these lines, wasn't the premise of some Buffyverse episode (maybe Dopplegangland, I can't remember) the vampires building a blood sucking machine, to automate the process. I have a distinct memory of a human on an assembly line.

"The Wish." It was the Wishverse Master's plan.

But we know from Oz, that a werewolf can lock himself up, and not go hunt, and live.

No, we know that the human can choose to lock himself up before he becomes a werewolf. If the werewolf could choose, there would be no reason to lock himself up.

Unless this is referring to the "need to eat" thing. I don't have to eat every day, but it doesn't meant that I'm not hungry and won't eat if there isn't a reason not to.

The metaphor of the werewolf is that good people have dark, dangerous, beastial impulses inside. Oz did take responsibility for the werewolf manifesting by locking himself up, and fully understood the danger of losing control. When he felt that he needed further and deeper control over those beastial impulses, he went off and really mastered his wolf. t /porn

So, the same dynamic that Isiah addresses is in place, but it happens on both the metaphoric and the conscious/realistic level. Willow's journey plays out on the level of her own responsibility (barring the Actual Car Crash), where she's seduced by power, does harm, and has to learn to take responsibility for her power.

Though, of course, as we often discussed, they marred that arc by muddying it with the addiction allegory. (And some crazyheaded folks feel like she never did properly atone.)

No, we know that the human can choose to lock himself up before he becomes a werewolf. If the werewolf could choose, there would be no reason to lock himself up.

I'm sorry. I meant the human. I agree with what you're saying about the werewolf, when he's wolfie.

Oz did take responsibility for the werewolf manifesting by locking himself up, and fully understood the danger of losing control. When he felt that he needed further and deeper control over those beastial impulses, he went off and really mastered his wolf.

I think he did in the beginning, but in S4 his denial suggested that he didn't "fully" understand the danger. He believed as long as he locked himself up, he would be fine. He didn't feel he needed deeper control until he nearly lost someone he loved deeply.

I think of the people who would ban pornography or whatever it is they think cause the ills of society rather than confront the actual ills. They're Oz, trying to lock themselves up instead of going to Istanbul.

He didn't feel he needed deeper control until he nearly lost someone he loved deeply.

And oddly, the situation could have gone on indefinitely. Oz kept the wolf under control with the help of his friends. Yet when Veruca came on the scene, he went it alone.

That's where he made his mistake. Trying to handle Veruca alone.

And oddly, the situation could have gone on indefinitely.

Maybe. Certainly he'd have been okay for longer without Veruca. But I saw her more as a trigger than a cause. The fact is, he wasn't as in control as he thought he was.

I think of the people who would ban pornography or whatever it is they think cause the ills of society rather than confront the actual ills. They're Oz, trying to lock themselves up instead of going to Istanbul.

This is terribly interesting, and something that hadn't occurred to me.

It seems to me that Oz (and Nina) had no memory of what they were up to while in wolf form, rather waking up with "what have I done" their first thought. Veruca, on the other hand, implies that she enjoys being a wolf. I wonder if embracing one's wolf-nature allows the werewolf greater conciousness, and perhaps greater control, while in wolf form.

It fits the idea that in order to cease doing evil, you first have to own your evilness.

Maybe. Certainly he'd have been okay for longer without Veruca. But I saw her more as a trigger than a cause. The fact is, he wasn't as in control as he thought he was.

This, yes. He had the illusion of controlling the wolf because of being in physical custody, which really wasn't controlling it at all.

I wonder if embracing one's wolf-nature allows the werewolf greater conciousness, and perhaps greater control, while in wolf form.

I've seen other treatments similar to this (most notably the TV series Werewolf), in which the lycanthropic curse is presented as progresive, with the human and wolfen consciousness either merging or growing more alike as time goes by.