you were delivered to me
I haven't participated in the id-fic meme-thing because 1. ridiculously busy with work and remix, and 2. because we all know my id contains SEKRIT INCEST BABIES so I don't know that there's much else to say. *snerk* (Here is a good explanation of what I'm talking about.)
I do think the discussion around what id-fic is, is interesting, though. [eta] Sorry! I didn't realize the post I was linking to is locked. [/eta] To paraphrase vaguely, it talked about how pro writers often "show their ids" unintentionally, in a way that makes us as readers uncomfortable, because we know it's not something they want us to see, or are even aware of themselves, a lot of the time. As opposed to a lot of fannish writing, which harnesses that narrative desire into stories that hit bulletproof kinks for the author and some number of readers.
***
I rewatched "Swan Song" yesterday and cried like a cranky baby. There's so much fic I want to write now. But one thing struck me this morning on my commute, about AHBL v. Swan Song, and then it made me think of Becoming v. the Gift.
It's a really interesting inversion in both cases, isn't it?
In "Becoming 2," Buffy has to send Angel to hell to save the world, and of course, he gets his soul back, so it really is Angel she's sending to hell, and not the soulless vampire psychopath Angelus. She has the strength to kiss him goodbye and then put a sword through his gut as the swirling hell-vortex opens behind him, shoving him through. She runs away, and she ends up in a hell dimension of her own, where she ends up having to reclaim her strength and her name, after spending the summer trying to be the normal girl, Anne. "I'm Buffy the vampire slayer. And you are?"
In "All Hell Breaks Lose 2," Dean can't bear to lose Sam; he can't bear to be alone, to have failed in his main purpose. He goes to the crossroads and sells his soul to bring Sam back. Though he doesn't know it at the time, this act has far-reaching consequences that will set off the apocalypse.
In "Swan Song," otoh, Dean is finally able to let Sam go, to admit that he's a grown man who can and should make his own decisions, and if Sam says this is the plan, then Dean is willing to back his play, up to and including being there for him even after it looks like he's been defeated and the whole thing was for nothing. It's Dean's refrain of "I'm not going anywhere, Sammy, I'm right here," the refrain Sam's heard his whole life, that gives him the strength to overcome Lucifer, and throw himself into the pit to seal the Lucifer back up in the cage. And then Dean has to continue on. The hardest thing in the world is to live in it.
In "The Gift," Buffy comes to the reverse conclusion. Dawn's not actually her sister, though Buffy has accepted her as such, and she didn't exist before this season, but Buffy can't bear to see her die, can't once again kill someone she loves so much, so even though it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever (*cough* I have a lot of issues with this episode), when the swirling hell-vortex opens and the only thing that can close it is her little sister's death, Buffy takes the sacrifice upon herself and throws herself in, sealing it up and saving the world, and dying in the process.
I don't want to argue about why one show is superior to the other or whatever. I just thought it was an interesting case of mirroring/inversion for each character and their development (and what it says about each show's take on family and heroism), and pleasingly symmetrical that for both shows it was the s2 and s5 finales.
***
Man, I'm tired. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/173098.html.
people have commented there.
I do think the discussion around what id-fic is, is interesting, though. [eta] Sorry! I didn't realize the post I was linking to is locked. [/eta] To paraphrase vaguely, it talked about how pro writers often "show their ids" unintentionally, in a way that makes us as readers uncomfortable, because we know it's not something they want us to see, or are even aware of themselves, a lot of the time. As opposed to a lot of fannish writing, which harnesses that narrative desire into stories that hit bulletproof kinks for the author and some number of readers.
***
I rewatched "Swan Song" yesterday and cried like a cranky baby. There's so much fic I want to write now. But one thing struck me this morning on my commute, about AHBL v. Swan Song, and then it made me think of Becoming v. the Gift.
It's a really interesting inversion in both cases, isn't it?
In "Becoming 2," Buffy has to send Angel to hell to save the world, and of course, he gets his soul back, so it really is Angel she's sending to hell, and not the soulless vampire psychopath Angelus. She has the strength to kiss him goodbye and then put a sword through his gut as the swirling hell-vortex opens behind him, shoving him through. She runs away, and she ends up in a hell dimension of her own, where she ends up having to reclaim her strength and her name, after spending the summer trying to be the normal girl, Anne. "I'm Buffy the vampire slayer. And you are?"
In "All Hell Breaks Lose 2," Dean can't bear to lose Sam; he can't bear to be alone, to have failed in his main purpose. He goes to the crossroads and sells his soul to bring Sam back. Though he doesn't know it at the time, this act has far-reaching consequences that will set off the apocalypse.
In "Swan Song," otoh, Dean is finally able to let Sam go, to admit that he's a grown man who can and should make his own decisions, and if Sam says this is the plan, then Dean is willing to back his play, up to and including being there for him even after it looks like he's been defeated and the whole thing was for nothing. It's Dean's refrain of "I'm not going anywhere, Sammy, I'm right here," the refrain Sam's heard his whole life, that gives him the strength to overcome Lucifer, and throw himself into the pit to seal the Lucifer back up in the cage. And then Dean has to continue on. The hardest thing in the world is to live in it.
In "The Gift," Buffy comes to the reverse conclusion. Dawn's not actually her sister, though Buffy has accepted her as such, and she didn't exist before this season, but Buffy can't bear to see her die, can't once again kill someone she loves so much, so even though it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever (*cough* I have a lot of issues with this episode), when the swirling hell-vortex opens and the only thing that can close it is her little sister's death, Buffy takes the sacrifice upon herself and throws herself in, sealing it up and saving the world, and dying in the process.
I don't want to argue about why one show is superior to the other or whatever. I just thought it was an interesting case of mirroring/inversion for each character and their development (and what it says about each show's take on family and heroism), and pleasingly symmetrical that for both shows it was the s2 and s5 finales.
***
Man, I'm tired. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/173098.html.
people have commented there.