Too Awesome to be Rescued
I've been thinking about romance in fanfiction. Prompted by many different things. A while back, urania_calliope posted this image about Disney Princesses (Edit: Whoops. That post was flocked. Click the cut below for the image. It comes from Sociological Images) which is spot on. Plus, ladyofthelog and angearia have had posts somewhat lately about the wussification of Buffy in Spuffy fics.
Hold on. I'm going somewhere with this.
How do you get two characters together without resorting to putting one partner in peril to be rescued by the other? Whether we like it or not, that trope is so completely common, it's recognized as the standard way to do a romance. Its variations include hurt/comfort and 'Buffy Learns a Lesson About How Awesome Spike Is' fics.
I'm mainly thinking of Spuffy here, as that's the ship I'm most familiar with. I'm not sure if this can be generalized so well, though I have a feeling it can be.
A common way to get Buffy and Spike together in fics is to have Buffy disabled or weakened in some way, whether through emotional or physical injury or by tweaking the character so that she's substantially wussier. With this, Spike has the opportunity to rescue/comfort/prove himself to her and win her over.
It's not the only way, of course. There's plenty of fic out there that tortures Spike to have Buffy rescue and comfort him. But you don't see the same OOC wussiness on Spike's part that you'll often see with Buffy's character.
Why do we resort to this trope in order to get these two, incredibly strong, characters together? Is it just because we don't know how else to develop a romance?
No, really. Do we not know how to do a love story with two characters on completely equal footing? With two characters who may get injured but can save themselves and remain emotionally strong?
This isn't a condemnation, but just a puzzled thinky-thought. Cause, truth to tell, I like hurt/comfort fics. I even enjoy fics where Spike rescues Buffy. I know intellectually that those fics play into old sexist tropes, but I like them despite myself. Cause I, too, grew up with Disney Princesses.
And as I was puzzling around that, I started to wonder what a more egalitarian love story would look like. How do you hook the two characters up without wussifying one or the other? I suppose we still have the "Buffy and Spike are isolated and must rely on one another" trope, though that usually incorporates hurt/comfort in some way.
I guess it bothers me on some level that we link being rescued with romance in such a way - that I link the two. That being weakened is romantic. That a person can't fall in love with you when you are strong and powerful - you must be injured and vulnerable. What, then, are they falling in love with?
Or I suppose Spuffy is often the reverse. Buffy falls in love with Spike when he takes care of her in her weakened state. Why? Why does Spike have to prove that he can "take care of" and save Buffy before Buffy can fall in love with him? There's so much traditional gender roles-y going on with that scenario when Spuffy is anything but traditional with gender roles.
Then I feel myself conflicted because what appeals to me about the ship in canon is that it is so subversive and different than the traditional romance. And yet, when reading fanfic, I find myself enjoying when authors stuff Buffy and Spike into those age-old boxes.
Ah, my random thoughts...let me show you them. I have no conclusion on this one. Just sharing the puzzlement.
How bout some Spuffy fic recs that have Awesome Buffy? You know, Buffy being strong and kick-ass, yet still developing a romance with Spike. Got any? You must share!
Hold on. I'm going somewhere with this.
How do you get two characters together without resorting to putting one partner in peril to be rescued by the other? Whether we like it or not, that trope is so completely common, it's recognized as the standard way to do a romance. Its variations include hurt/comfort and 'Buffy Learns a Lesson About How Awesome Spike Is' fics.
I'm mainly thinking of Spuffy here, as that's the ship I'm most familiar with. I'm not sure if this can be generalized so well, though I have a feeling it can be.
A common way to get Buffy and Spike together in fics is to have Buffy disabled or weakened in some way, whether through emotional or physical injury or by tweaking the character so that she's substantially wussier. With this, Spike has the opportunity to rescue/comfort/prove himself to her and win her over.
It's not the only way, of course. There's plenty of fic out there that tortures Spike to have Buffy rescue and comfort him. But you don't see the same OOC wussiness on Spike's part that you'll often see with Buffy's character.
Why do we resort to this trope in order to get these two, incredibly strong, characters together? Is it just because we don't know how else to develop a romance?
No, really. Do we not know how to do a love story with two characters on completely equal footing? With two characters who may get injured but can save themselves and remain emotionally strong?
This isn't a condemnation, but just a puzzled thinky-thought. Cause, truth to tell, I like hurt/comfort fics. I even enjoy fics where Spike rescues Buffy. I know intellectually that those fics play into old sexist tropes, but I like them despite myself. Cause I, too, grew up with Disney Princesses.
And as I was puzzling around that, I started to wonder what a more egalitarian love story would look like. How do you hook the two characters up without wussifying one or the other? I suppose we still have the "Buffy and Spike are isolated and must rely on one another" trope, though that usually incorporates hurt/comfort in some way.
I guess it bothers me on some level that we link being rescued with romance in such a way - that I link the two. That being weakened is romantic. That a person can't fall in love with you when you are strong and powerful - you must be injured and vulnerable. What, then, are they falling in love with?
Or I suppose Spuffy is often the reverse. Buffy falls in love with Spike when he takes care of her in her weakened state. Why? Why does Spike have to prove that he can "take care of" and save Buffy before Buffy can fall in love with him? There's so much traditional gender roles-y going on with that scenario when Spuffy is anything but traditional with gender roles.
Then I feel myself conflicted because what appeals to me about the ship in canon is that it is so subversive and different than the traditional romance. And yet, when reading fanfic, I find myself enjoying when authors stuff Buffy and Spike into those age-old boxes.
Ah, my random thoughts...let me show you them. I have no conclusion on this one. Just sharing the puzzlement.
How bout some Spuffy fic recs that have Awesome Buffy? You know, Buffy being strong and kick-ass, yet still developing a romance with Spike. Got any? You must share!