My List of (Possibly) Unpopular Fannish Opinions
Ganked from buffyannotater here.
WARNING: I don't spare Spike. I'm a little hard on Joss. And I scratch my head over certain het pairings.
1. If Angelus had been the vampire and Buffy had been the Slayer battling to the death on a New York City subway in 1977, and Angelus had snapped Buffy's neck, taken her leather coat as a trophy, and left Dawn without family, I think fandom would have been way more reluctant to use phrases like "noble death", "fair fight", "beautiful dance" and "omgsexay" to describe the scene.
2. The West Wing fans who bash Rob Lowe and/or Sam Seaborn in order to demonstrate their adoration for Brad Whitford/Josh Lyman need to get the hell over themselves. (I'm not referring to anybody here on LJ, but to old posts from 2002-2003 left up on websites, in which "fans" react to the news of Rob Lowe leaving the show. You ask me why I'm reading these things -- I dunno, I'm a masochist?)
3. I appreciate Joss Whedon and I appreciate that he's a feminist. But I find the execution of some of his feminism (in the Buffyverse, etc) to be kind of... not to my taste. Also, the way he handles race. And, um. Middle vs working class. But he's really good at emotional truths!
** please feel free to skip #4 as I get kinda negative **
** also, I have a zillion het pairings so, seriously folks, don't anybody dare tell me I hate het because I will delete your ass with impunity **
4. Not sure this is an "opinion", exactly... There are certain canon pairings I've never liked much. These pairings have a lot in common, so I've often wondered what it is exactly that I'm reacting to with such vehemence. Maybe it's the blonde thing (I prefer brunettes), or maybe it's the "why can't they just be friends/co-workers, dammit!" thing, or maybe I over-identify with the girl pining after the guy and get too disgusted/embarrassed to sympathise. Anyway, canon pairings I don't like (though I respect some of them) are:
a) Angel/Cordelia Chase, Angel: Strongly disliked. Didn't buy most of the subtext. DB and CC didn't have much sexual chemistry. Felt Cordy got character-assassinated. Didn't help that she dyed her hair blonde.
b) Wesley Wyndam-Pryce/Fred Burkle, Angel: Strongly disliked. Never bought the subtext. Never understood why Wes liked Fred or Fred liked Wes. Felt kinda like Joss decided they should have UST but never got around to building a convincing case. It just... lay there.
c) Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter, Stargate SG-1: Strongly disliked. Probably my most disliked pairing next to Spuffy. Never bought the subtext. Felt RDA and Amanda Tapping had no chemistry.
d) John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir, Stargate Atlantis: Disliked attempts at subtext, though I stopped watching in Season 2 so I haven't seen much. It helps that Weir is a brunette and that she's the boss.
e) Batman/Wonder Woman, Justice League: Strongly disliked. No chemistry (if I can say that about cartoons). I love both characters but can't stand the pairing. I don't even care that Diana is a six foot Amazon with black hair. At least they don't pine.
f) Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, The West Wing: Disliked pairing on spec but occasionally find myself succumbing to their charm. I try to ignore subtext, but Sorkin writes the pairing really well and I love both characters. This is the only canon pairing I dislike that I sometimes accept as canon with good grace.
g) Gregory House/Allison Cameron, House, M.D.: Strongly disliked. Don't see any chemistry. I find them both awful to watch whenever the show tries to goes there. Cameron is a brunette, but it doesn't score her enough points. Give me Cuddy if you have to do het.
I will say one thing for Aaron Sorkin: the man sure knows how to write male/female pairings. Look at the canon pairings which should push my "I hate this on spec" button, but don't: Casey McCall/Dana Whitaker (blonde boss pines for employee, it should push all my buttons but I don't mind it), Josh/Donna (which I don't like, but don't hate). In Studio 60, Matt Albie/Harriet Hayes (UST between perfect blonde woman and her boss) should annoy me but I love them oh so much.
Plus, every other male/female pairing he's created or even just hinted at I either love, enjoy, or don't mind. If he wrote Danny Tripp/Jordan McDeere, I'd be happy. Natalie/Jeremy = YAY! CJ/Danny makes me squeal with glee. Toby/Andy are lovely but painful. The Bartlets are a joy. Sam and his girlfriends are, heh, very entertaining. Josh/Amy are dynamite.
*sigh* Okay, I'm done with this topic now. I'm amazed if you're still reading this. Moving on...
5. I preferred Buffy/Spike when it was all fan speculation and not canon. Oh the good old Season 2 days! Oh the gratuitous sex and Angel-bashing! They were fun, once upon a time! They were romantic, they were cheesy and sweet and sexy and the best crack EVER. I was such a 'shipper. If you have a free evening and absolutely nothing better to do, google Spuffy fic from 1997-1999. Of course, back then they didn't use portmanteaus like "Spuffy"...
6. Spike in his leather duster = money. For the network, which provides us with DVDs and toys and other merchandising. I understand why they plastered James Marsters' face on the Season 5 DVDs instead of, oh, say, Alexis Denisof or JAR or Amy Acker. But hand to God, can somebody please give Robin back his mother's coat? I don't care how cool it makes Spike look to wear it. It doesn't belong to him. (I'm sorry, I really am, but I don't think I'll ever get over this one.)
7. I'm sure these shows are great. People tell me they're great. But I will probably never watch: BSG, Farscape, Alias, Lost, 24, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Doctor Who, Rome, The Office, Torchwood, and many more. I have nothing against these shows, but my time is limited and I'd rather re-watch a show I know I love than try out something new.
8. Not exactly an unpopular opinion in fandom, but perhaps for some folks my flist... I love Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. I'm not watching them at the moment, but I do love them. They're not always great shows. In fact, most fans would tell you that there are a dozen shows much better written. But oh the fandom. Oh the potential for stories. Oh the heartbreak of the characters and the snark and the ridiculous sci-fi and the gun porn! The Stargate franchise knows it's a franchise, and not Great Art. In some of their storylines, they aim for epic and much of the time they really do hit it. Daniel? Epic. Atlantis? Epic. But they don't take themselves too seriously. They're FUNNY and they mock and they do their best to entertain us.
9. When it comes to Joss, I tend to prefer female characters who are more definitively written as women and not girls. Don't get me wrong, I love the "girl" characters too. But there's a quality to some of the females that pings me as "Joss sees her as a girl" (okay, I could use a different phrase to describe what it is Joss thinks, but I won't), and it's all the others for which I have an affinity. So anyway. Tara, not Willow. Lilah, not Fred. Inara, not Kaylee. Zoe, not River (though I adore River). Dawn, post-Season 6. Faith, post-"Sanctuary". Darla, not Dru. Anne Steele, not... okay, she doesn't have a corollary. I'd say Buffy and Cordy, but the writing for them is so problematic... They're wonderful as girls though. Season 7 didn't do Anya justice.
10. Give me two male characters with chemistry, who are best friends or co-workers or even just strangers getting to know one another, and I'm a happy slasher. I love female characters, don't get me wrong. I have plenty of het pairings. But Buffy/Angel was probably my last true, forsaking-all-others het OTP, and that was years ago. Once Angel started and we got Angel/Wes? Yeah, that was the end of my het-only career. Now, give me Sam/Will, give me Sam/Dean, give me Jack/Daniel, Superman/Batman, Duncan/Methos, Jim/Blair, House/Wilson, et cetera, et cetera. The only fandoms I'm still primarily het are (1) youth fantasy books (eg Tamora Pierce), because the hero is a girl and the boys revolve around her; (2) Veronica Mars, because the protagonist is a girl and the boys revolve around her.
11. Here's a freebie. Supernatural is the best underrated show most of my flist isn't watching. Guys, you should be watching this!!! ladystarlightsj and I keep FLAILING. Our love for Sam and Dean is PURE AS DRIVEN SNOW. fresne and ninerva are watching too, and loving it!
*sits back and watches the flames climb*
WARNING: I don't spare Spike. I'm a little hard on Joss. And I scratch my head over certain het pairings.
1. If Angelus had been the vampire and Buffy had been the Slayer battling to the death on a New York City subway in 1977, and Angelus had snapped Buffy's neck, taken her leather coat as a trophy, and left Dawn without family, I think fandom would have been way more reluctant to use phrases like "noble death", "fair fight", "beautiful dance" and "omgsexay" to describe the scene.
2. The West Wing fans who bash Rob Lowe and/or Sam Seaborn in order to demonstrate their adoration for Brad Whitford/Josh Lyman need to get the hell over themselves. (I'm not referring to anybody here on LJ, but to old posts from 2002-2003 left up on websites, in which "fans" react to the news of Rob Lowe leaving the show. You ask me why I'm reading these things -- I dunno, I'm a masochist?)
3. I appreciate Joss Whedon and I appreciate that he's a feminist. But I find the execution of some of his feminism (in the Buffyverse, etc) to be kind of... not to my taste. Also, the way he handles race. And, um. Middle vs working class. But he's really good at emotional truths!
** please feel free to skip #4 as I get kinda negative **
** also, I have a zillion het pairings so, seriously folks, don't anybody dare tell me I hate het because I will delete your ass with impunity **
4. Not sure this is an "opinion", exactly... There are certain canon pairings I've never liked much. These pairings have a lot in common, so I've often wondered what it is exactly that I'm reacting to with such vehemence. Maybe it's the blonde thing (I prefer brunettes), or maybe it's the "why can't they just be friends/co-workers, dammit!" thing, or maybe I over-identify with the girl pining after the guy and get too disgusted/embarrassed to sympathise. Anyway, canon pairings I don't like (though I respect some of them) are:
a) Angel/Cordelia Chase, Angel: Strongly disliked. Didn't buy most of the subtext. DB and CC didn't have much sexual chemistry. Felt Cordy got character-assassinated. Didn't help that she dyed her hair blonde.
b) Wesley Wyndam-Pryce/Fred Burkle, Angel: Strongly disliked. Never bought the subtext. Never understood why Wes liked Fred or Fred liked Wes. Felt kinda like Joss decided they should have UST but never got around to building a convincing case. It just... lay there.
c) Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter, Stargate SG-1: Strongly disliked. Probably my most disliked pairing next to Spuffy. Never bought the subtext. Felt RDA and Amanda Tapping had no chemistry.
d) John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir, Stargate Atlantis: Disliked attempts at subtext, though I stopped watching in Season 2 so I haven't seen much. It helps that Weir is a brunette and that she's the boss.
e) Batman/Wonder Woman, Justice League: Strongly disliked. No chemistry (if I can say that about cartoons). I love both characters but can't stand the pairing. I don't even care that Diana is a six foot Amazon with black hair. At least they don't pine.
f) Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, The West Wing: Disliked pairing on spec but occasionally find myself succumbing to their charm. I try to ignore subtext, but Sorkin writes the pairing really well and I love both characters. This is the only canon pairing I dislike that I sometimes accept as canon with good grace.
g) Gregory House/Allison Cameron, House, M.D.: Strongly disliked. Don't see any chemistry. I find them both awful to watch whenever the show tries to goes there. Cameron is a brunette, but it doesn't score her enough points. Give me Cuddy if you have to do het.
I will say one thing for Aaron Sorkin: the man sure knows how to write male/female pairings. Look at the canon pairings which should push my "I hate this on spec" button, but don't: Casey McCall/Dana Whitaker (blonde boss pines for employee, it should push all my buttons but I don't mind it), Josh/Donna (which I don't like, but don't hate). In Studio 60, Matt Albie/Harriet Hayes (UST between perfect blonde woman and her boss) should annoy me but I love them oh so much.
Plus, every other male/female pairing he's created or even just hinted at I either love, enjoy, or don't mind. If he wrote Danny Tripp/Jordan McDeere, I'd be happy. Natalie/Jeremy = YAY! CJ/Danny makes me squeal with glee. Toby/Andy are lovely but painful. The Bartlets are a joy. Sam and his girlfriends are, heh, very entertaining. Josh/Amy are dynamite.
*sigh* Okay, I'm done with this topic now. I'm amazed if you're still reading this. Moving on...
5. I preferred Buffy/Spike when it was all fan speculation and not canon. Oh the good old Season 2 days! Oh the gratuitous sex and Angel-bashing! They were fun, once upon a time! They were romantic, they were cheesy and sweet and sexy and the best crack EVER. I was such a 'shipper. If you have a free evening and absolutely nothing better to do, google Spuffy fic from 1997-1999. Of course, back then they didn't use portmanteaus like "Spuffy"...
6. Spike in his leather duster = money. For the network, which provides us with DVDs and toys and other merchandising. I understand why they plastered James Marsters' face on the Season 5 DVDs instead of, oh, say, Alexis Denisof or JAR or Amy Acker. But hand to God, can somebody please give Robin back his mother's coat? I don't care how cool it makes Spike look to wear it. It doesn't belong to him. (I'm sorry, I really am, but I don't think I'll ever get over this one.)
7. I'm sure these shows are great. People tell me they're great. But I will probably never watch: BSG, Farscape, Alias, Lost, 24, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Doctor Who, Rome, The Office, Torchwood, and many more. I have nothing against these shows, but my time is limited and I'd rather re-watch a show I know I love than try out something new.
8. Not exactly an unpopular opinion in fandom, but perhaps for some folks my flist... I love Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. I'm not watching them at the moment, but I do love them. They're not always great shows. In fact, most fans would tell you that there are a dozen shows much better written. But oh the fandom. Oh the potential for stories. Oh the heartbreak of the characters and the snark and the ridiculous sci-fi and the gun porn! The Stargate franchise knows it's a franchise, and not Great Art. In some of their storylines, they aim for epic and much of the time they really do hit it. Daniel? Epic. Atlantis? Epic. But they don't take themselves too seriously. They're FUNNY and they mock and they do their best to entertain us.
9. When it comes to Joss, I tend to prefer female characters who are more definitively written as women and not girls. Don't get me wrong, I love the "girl" characters too. But there's a quality to some of the females that pings me as "Joss sees her as a girl" (okay, I could use a different phrase to describe what it is Joss thinks, but I won't), and it's all the others for which I have an affinity. So anyway. Tara, not Willow. Lilah, not Fred. Inara, not Kaylee. Zoe, not River (though I adore River). Dawn, post-Season 6. Faith, post-"Sanctuary". Darla, not Dru. Anne Steele, not... okay, she doesn't have a corollary. I'd say Buffy and Cordy, but the writing for them is so problematic... They're wonderful as girls though. Season 7 didn't do Anya justice.
10. Give me two male characters with chemistry, who are best friends or co-workers or even just strangers getting to know one another, and I'm a happy slasher. I love female characters, don't get me wrong. I have plenty of het pairings. But Buffy/Angel was probably my last true, forsaking-all-others het OTP, and that was years ago. Once Angel started and we got Angel/Wes? Yeah, that was the end of my het-only career. Now, give me Sam/Will, give me Sam/Dean, give me Jack/Daniel, Superman/Batman, Duncan/Methos, Jim/Blair, House/Wilson, et cetera, et cetera. The only fandoms I'm still primarily het are (1) youth fantasy books (eg Tamora Pierce), because the hero is a girl and the boys revolve around her; (2) Veronica Mars, because the protagonist is a girl and the boys revolve around her.
11. Here's a freebie. Supernatural is the best underrated show most of my flist isn't watching. Guys, you should be watching this!!! ladystarlightsj and I keep FLAILING. Our love for Sam and Dean is PURE AS DRIVEN SNOW. fresne and ninerva are watching too, and loving it!
*sits back and watches the flames climb*