Write and Wrong

[butterfly]

People don't like to admit to being wrong. I know that I don't.

And people tend to see themselves as the good guy. Joss Whedon - on the commentary for Serenity - mentions that he had to tell Adam to stop playing Jayne like a villain. That Jayne sees himself as the hero

Comments

[dlgood]

See, to me, understanding is akin to liking. Once I understand someone, it's hard for me to stay mad at them. Once they click in my head, once they make sense, then I get why they do the stupid things that they do and I forgive them. I can't hate someone for being themselves.

I understand that. For me though, understanding doesn't always equate to liking. I understand having flaws and occaisionally giving in to them, but what drives me nuts is when characters recognize flaws and wear them like badges or wallow in those flaws, rather than trying to overcome them.

I want to like everybody. I want to like each of the characters in a story, even the villians. In some cases, it's because I understand a character, that I stop liking them.

But that's colored by my perspective as well. I've known what my major character flaws were since I was ten - and I get upset at myself when I'm not trying hard to overcome them.

[butterfly]

Well, part of owning your flaws is trying to overcome them. You can't even start if you can't get a handle on what's wrong. People who do know what's wrong and revel in it tend to annoy me (see: Spike), but characters who are entrenched in self-denial bother me more (see: pre-S7 Willow).

And like doesn't always come with understanding with me - it's just more likely.

[dlgood]

characters who are entrenched in self-denial bother me more (see: pre-S7 Willow)I understand that too. I see them as different flavors of disappointment. With Willow, I sometimes wonder how much of that was intentional characterization, how much was because the writers hadn't decided themselves what the flaws were that they were exploring, and how much was just a case of writers not following through

[butterfly]

I just wish that Faith had apologized to Xander. My one big thing with Faith is always going to be the Xander thing. I mean, I had a hard time with Andrew until Storyteller for similar reasons.

But I admire Faith for going to jail and for breaking out for the right reasons.

And the most important thing about Willow is that she's a hacker. That's been a very consistent thing about her.

Thanks for this

[masqthephlsphr]

It's given me an appreciation for fan fic I didn't have before. I am a fiction writer, working on a novel with my own original characters, but when it comes to fandom, I'm an essay writer. I don't enjoy reading fan fic, and I don't write it.

But I can see how approaching the characters in a fictional story setting can give you an appreciation of them that writing an essay can't. You engage the characters from a more intuitive/right-brained/whatever you want to call it perspective rather than an analytical/left-brained/whatever perspective.

That's cool.

Re: Thanks for this

[butterfly]

Essays are fun, love to write them, but they do allow a certain amount of distance that isn't there in fanfic.

I like both analyzing and playing with the characters. Gives you more than one handle on them - you can see them from the outside and from the inside.