Because I'm bored . . . Shippy thoughts.

[eilowyn]

You people are so boring. What? Do you actually have lives outside the Buffy fandom  or something?! My f-list has kinda died down after last week's flailing and LOLz at the comics, and so I'm left with nothing to do but paint my nails and play Farmville on Facebook - not a good thing. You've left me no choice but to express thinky-thoughts that may

Comments

[2maggie2]

I've got nothing to add -- but this is great and right on the mark, IMO.

[eilowyn]

This is like Albert Einstein saying your physics homework was good.

[local_max]

Or my supervisor. (It's happened once. I'm in physics.)

[hazel75]

the majority of Spuffies I've encountered have an extreme preference for the free wil aspect of their relationship: their dream situation would be if Buffy got over her fantasy of first love, and freely acknowledged her feelings for Spike. This clearly isn't what's happening in the comics, and their displeasure with the direction the comics are going in really has little to do with shipping preferences.A friend of mine who is a Bangel shipper was speculating that Buffy will be leaving the universe at the end of S8 and no longer in the same 'verse as Angel and Spike. She fairly generous for a Bangel shipper and was saying that she hoped that, if her speculation were true, Spike and Buffy would get together before Buffy blasted off for some good-bye nookie. I thanked her for her generosity but told her this was the LAST thing that I wanted for my ship. Spike and Buffy hooking up for one last time achieves NONE of the goals that I want for their ship, and, frankly, as long as she's hung up on Angel, I don't want her and Spike together

[eilowyn]

I don't want Spike to be second (or even equal) fiddle: I want him to be the *only* fiddle

I know, me too. It often feels like S/B fans are forced to make concessions about how much Buffy loved Angel that Bangel fans don't ever make. They just ignore the "I love you" in Chosen, saying she didn't mean it or was just giving succor to a dying man. I can recall back a few months, before the Twangel leak, when I was feeling not exactly happy, but at least satisfied at the thought that neither Spike nor Angel would be making a major appearance in S8 because of those old licensing issues. I honestly wish they had kept it that way because of the ship wars now rising again.

[penny_lane_42]

OH I LOVE YOU

[angearia]

[eta] My flist has been boring lately, too! Where's Emmie?

I'm here! Now wish for a million dollars! Or fic! Wish for fic!

I can deliver fic! :D

[penny_lane_42]

OMG FIC! AND EMMIE! AND EMMIE!FIC!

I AM SO THERE!

After I wash my hair.

[eilowyn]

I LOVE YOU TOO.

And y'know what?

I'M REALLY STARTING TO HATE SEASON 8.

I'm getting tired of trying to fanwank my way into not necessarily liking it, but at least appreciating it. I'm tired of trying to be fair to Bangel fans who are crowing their little hearts out and ignoring all the badness implications of glowhypnol.

I would also be furious (as I am) that Buffy is either being manipulated by something or making horrible moral (and personal) decisions that the text doesn't critique the way it did her decisions in S6

THIS.

I'm thinking the comic medium is unable to represent the nuance of the show because of the lack of contributing factors other than the writers and artist. I'm kinda in shock that this is the best Joss can come up with, that this Bangel sex fest has been "ten years in the making," according to BM. Really, Joss? Really? I'd think you were far above this Twilight crap.

Side note: I do find Buffy's Twilight reference to be yet another example of discontinuity - this comic is supposed to be happening in late

[ever_neutral]

No argument here. And in case it wasn't clear enough the first 932 times - if it were Spuffy up there in space, I WOULD DIE OF HORROR. But before that, I would scream 'ABANDON SHIP'.

I really do think you've nailed the focus on character vs. focus on couple thing. Spike and Buffy were already two fully formed individual characters - with all the emotional damage that entails - when they became involved. It can't just be two random people having a passionate love affair - the story hinges on their character flaws. The iconic Angelus arc of S2 (as briliiant as it is) isn't psychologically driven the way Buffy and Spike's self-destructive trainwreck of a relationship in S6 is. I can't speak for every shipper - but the fact that Buffy is an emotionally stunted bitch with abandonment trauma and Spike a morally deficit douche with zero self worth, is ESSENTIAL to me being invested in them! *g* Their characterisation is why I can honestly regard their relationship as completely 'unique', as opposed to the cookie-cutter ideal of romance.

[penny_lane_42]

Hey! You! I like you! :D

I think, for me, I automatically reject anything where I'm told to root for two characters. Why should I root for Buffy and Angel? Well, because they love each other! Why do they love each other? Well, because Angel was created to be Buffy's love interest! I'm definitely going to reject something like that (see: Twilight. No, not that one. The other one. With the sparkles.)

That's why I love the ships that sneak up on you: Spike was invented to be anything but Buffy's love interest, so that by the time he becomes one, we've gotten to know him fully, as Spike, and not as an extension of Buffy. As a corollary, I don't start to appreciate Angel as a character until he got his own show, moved away from Buffy, and I could figure out who he was when he wasn't with her.

[ms_scarletibis]

Well, because Angel was created to be Buffy's love interest!

<--initially thought you were referring to the "Universe" making Angel space fuck Buffy cause they're "destined" or whatever to make evolution happen, but then realized you were talking about his initial purpose of the show...Also isn't sure why she's pointing that out ;)

[penny_lane_42]

Actually, I think if you want to read S8 on a meta level, you could totally make the connection there: The Universe wants them together = Joss the Writer wants them together. Does that make sense?

[prophecygirrl]

A wonderful post, beautifully laid out. Thank God you got bored tonight! :D