Ugly Betty: It ain't so superior
Oops, this is in response to someone else's post. It was too long to leave as a comment so I'm posting it here. I'm so not used to actually posting my own journals that I forget others can read it and would appreciate not having a 14000 character post so I'll put it under the cut and you can move along if you wish.
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But I guess I should give my rebuttal, so to speak. And I'll try to keep it short where possible. (...Right.)
The fact that you base your enjoyment of your ship on the original is understandable, I think. Though I'm kind of horrified by the original because I just came from portiaslegacy's journal where she wrote a scathing critique on the Colombian original of Betty La Fea and romance in general. It may be biased but piecing together some of the comments on how "Armando" behaved and how manipulative and dark their romance is, well... I can appreciate good angst and drama where necessary as long as it's balanced by some fun and fluff. Actually, my mentality as a shipper may probably be why I like some ships and not others. In short: I've always been a sucker for ships where the guy pines for the girl who doesn't seem to realize it. The reverse, where the girl has a crush on the guy and he doesn't seem to notice (or keeps her at arms length), appeals to me somewhat less. (Especially after my encounter with CSI and the Grissom/Sara relationship. But I promised to try and keep this short so I won't delve to far.)
Point is, yes Ugly Betty has flaws, in fact the fluctuation of writing from character to character and episode to episode is a pet peeve of mine, just in case you didn't know from many other comments I've made on Fanforum. We can both agree that the writing and characterization is all-over-the-place and it most definitely turned off many a viewer but, I dunno, I guess I let it slide because for all the Betty mis-characterization and nonsensical twists, the show was initially different from what much of American TV had to offer. We had America "Real Women Have Curves" Ferrera representing the normal girls. Not only normal but minority too. (Just compare her to the pretty and thin Anne Hathaway from the similar-premise movie The Devil Wears Prada or blonde sweetheart Renée Zellweger in the plucky gained-pounds-just-for-that-role Bridget Jones's Diary. Ugly Betty was a very different kind of leading lady.)
With this in mind, I must admit I was surprised to see the writers of UB making Daniel and Betty friends. Like many shippers who knew the source material, I really thought they would end up together and the difference in our version would be how they developed the relationship; Daniel falling for Betty and vice versa by establishing their friendship first and having it grow into love would've been totally doable and fine with me. (My first X-Files ship, Mulder & Scully, has a perfect quote about friendship evolving into love. The enigmatic Dana Scully sums it up thusly:
"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."
(And I think this quote was actually used by a D/B shipper which tickles my XF bone because I know the episode, the scene, and the context of it. I'd elaborate but it would put me past the character limit... which I think I've already surpassed. Oops.
Okay, lemme make a part 2 reply.)
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However, may I ask, (and this can be for any D/B shipper who would like to answer) does Daniel's feelings of love seem just a little bit rushed? Especially given the brother/sister crap you've been getting from Silvio and how Daniel and Betty could've easily had more flirty moments than they should've. Because really, the core of my original post was that Daniel's jealousy and possible deeper feelings seemed to come out of nowhere, in the second to last episode. Maybe if I saw it through the shippers' eyes I'd see the "build-up" but then again, he was sleeping with Amanda not too long ago and he was dating some airhead model in that very same episode, so if I was a shipper, I'd be a bit annoyed at Daniel over that. I think a few episodes of build-up would've really, really worked wonders. I would've been heartbroken as a Henry/Betty fan but I could not say I didn't see it coming and I would definitely have no reason to be pissed off. (And actually, I'm not anymore. I'm just mildly annoyed and confused at the writers and possibly Silvio for letting this lack of proper foreshadowing slide.)
P.S: Community is one of the few shows where I rather like the supposedly "rival ship". (Annie and Jeff are adorable! And Troy and Britta satisfy the weird, crack!ship side of me, which I never knew I had!) Also, for the record, I stick with Jeff/Britta because they seem to have the fewest fans and there's that whole guy crushing on a girl thing I seem to gravitate towards. (Jeff's pursuit of Britta in the first few episodes was unlike any of the previous guy-crushing-on-girl interactions I've ever seen. He's so snarky and self-assured and yet I love him! Plus Britta rocks as the kickass feminist who isn't perfect.) I feel I am destined to be in the ship with the fewest fans.
But I agree in the brilliance of Dan Harmon, and I would love to read that recommended fanfic you have! I don't read enough fanfics about Community and if I wasn't so busy on other things I'd been having some serious Community withdrawal.
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However, may I ask, (and this can be for any D/B shipper who would like to answer) does Daniel's feelings of love seem just a little bit rushed? Especially given the brother/sister crap you've been getting from Silvio and how Daniel and Betty could've easily had more flirty moments than they should've.
he was sleeping with Amanda not too long ago and he was dating some airhead model in that very same episode, so if I was a shipper, I'd be a bit annoyed at Daniel over that.
If you're asking if I would have wanted a couple more episodes with scenes like Betty inviting Daniel to the wedding and Daniel teasing her about whether or not it's a date? Absolutely. You're talking to a shipper. Many shippers I know ranted at the absolute lack of D/B screen time in some of the of the previous episodes...probably starting around the Bahamas eppie. It's why were pleasantly shocked by what transpired in the last episode. A lot of people were thinking the lack of scenes was Silvio running from the ending that D/B fans wanted to the point he was blatantly ignoring their friendship.
The A&D casual sex part didn't bother me, per se. I actually thought the Bahamas hook up made sense in context. The continuation of it was what it was. I didn't like it because the relationship really didn't do much for either character but I don't think it damaged them either, just kept them stagnant. Again, just typical of Silvio's consistent reboots of characters. But I really got annoyed when it seemed like they were trying to build a triangle out of a relationship built on casual sex. I was more frustrated when they had Daniel do scenes with Amanda that he'd otherwise have with Betty based on previous history.
As for it being "rushed" and the "jealousy coming out of nowhere." Henry and Matt have gotten under Daniel's skin before. And from a shipper POV, there have been many moments where you sensed something from Daniel in the way he looked at Betty. If you're not a shipper, then maybe you just chalk it up to being a good friend. There was one moment in the past season where Betty was crying because she found Jesse making out with Amanda. Daniel found her and told her she was beautiful. She sort of brushed him off and he grabbed her, turned her around and basically said something to the effect of "Guys are idiots. They go for the obvious. I should know. I still do it and I should know better. But trust me when I tell you, you are beautiful." I think he was navigating his way through his fog.
Daniel does have epiphanies where things just suddenly make sense to him. The combination of Betty's newfound mature confidence, the protective feelings Henry stirred up and Hilda's words just sort of hit him at the right time. I don't know how far he is in the process and we won't know that until Wednesday. I guess it's "rushed" because most shows at this point would have him do the longing thing for a while--which this should would have been smart to do if SH hadn't wasted time and the season hadn't been shortened. But I don't have a hard time buying that once Daniel realizes what he wants, he commits to it fully.
So for me, it was believable coming from Daniel. Had Betty had that moment *then* I'd agree that it was out of nowhere.
I would love to read that recommended fanfic you have! I don't read enough fanfics about Community
I thought I remembered you being very open but it has been so long since I've been to the Community threads in FF that I couldn't be sure.
http://cereal.livejournal.com/148012.html
I love her fic. She writes both J/A and J/B. That particular story has endings for both.
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