Depressed Spuffy fan here...

[francy_m79]

.. can someone explain to me why, after all these years, I keep reading fandom opinions on Spuffy, googling old and new discussions, while knowing perfectly fine that all I ever get from that is pain and depression and hopelessness, since 90% of the posts I find out there are negative, and tend to put down, denigrate and demeane the whole Spuffy

Comments

[francy_m79]

No, I don't think that that many neutral viewers actually believe that Buffy just 'cared for Spike as a friend'. In fact, many haters of Spike and Spuffy who detest season 7 argue that Buffy loved Spike and prioritized him over everything else. I don't know about Buffy-boards, but on Buffyforums the majority opinion of non-Bangel, non-Spuffy fans seems to be that Buffy loved Spike. I also don't think that the comics support the idea that she didn't love him. There are people who think that, and there are people who think the exact opposite (at least one person who didn't believe she was in love with him has changed his opinion since season 8 and thinks she did). Opinions on the comics Spuffy are very split; but it seems to me that many Spuffy shippers in fact tend to be most negative about it, while many neutral fans believe that Spuffy is either the endgame, or at least the main ship for this and the next season.

BuffyForums is pretty Spuffy-friendly, though, more than other places. On general tv/reviews site (non-Buffy sites) most viewers tend to think that Buffy grew to love Spike a whole lot (as much as she loves Willow/Xander/Giles) but not really in a romantic way, and definitely not like she loved/s Angel (barf at this sentence/concept. So sick of hearing it!)

As for the comics, I go back and forth. Sometimes I'm hopeful and sometimes I see a huge Spuffy-killing conspiracy. We will see!! LOL

The extreme negative opinion you quoted contains an utterly ridiculous statement that "first love is always true love, and in most shows, the first love is always the endgame". Um, right. Whatever. It's pretty easy to list many, many opposite examples, but why bother?

Yeah, that post was ridiculous, but it was just one among many other negative posts and the whole thing really got on my nerves. How can people watch a show and distort what happened in that way? I would pity them but they kind of deserve to miss the point for sucking so much.

The real question is, why do you care? The meaning of a fictional story is not determined by having all the fans vote what it is. IMO, you don't need a "definite statement in text" to prove to everyone that this or that is right; because it doesn't matter if not everyone sees things the same way.

But if I watch a show and most people don't see/interpret things the way I do, I question my view. It doesn't mean that I change my mind, but it means that at least I start taking into consideration the fact that I may be seeing what I want to see.

If someone puts a story with a message out there and no one gets that message, what does it mean? That the whole audience is dense, or that the story failed?

Most people who aren't Spuffy shippers don't care enough to really read between the lines and analyze every nuance of the complicated Spuffy storyline, therefore missing a lot.

It wouldn't bother me as much if I lived in a vacuum, but unfortunately I don't.

I want some kind of legitimization in the comics (even though only about 1% of the Buffy fandom are aware of them, so they don't count for much), I'm tired of the nay-sayers.

It's ok if you don't agree and you are confident and happy enough in your views and opinions and don't need validation. I do, though.

[sueworld2003]

"Sometimes I'm hopeful and sometimes I see a huge Spuffy-killing conspiracy. We will see!! LOL"

Personally, I think you're very wise to take that under consideration as I think thats where all this is heading. A negative thing to say I know, but it would fit in with how the story seems to be unfolding imo.

[francy_m79]

Let's hope we are wrong!