In serialized entertainment, all characters, even the most complex and multilayered are inevitably stuck within their roles and are bound to repeat the same mistakes, only on a bigger scale. But fans don't want to suspend their disbelief. They judge the characters as if they're real people in real-life situations.
So I guess it's kind of an unsolvable situation.
I don't think so. Or, as a writer, I hope not. I mean, treating your creations as if they have reasons (emotional or intellectual) for the things they do, letting your audience in on what those reasons might be, and having them deal with the consequences of those actions in a way that makes emotional or intellectual sense seems like Storytelling 101 to me. Or, are you saying that if serial fiction paralleled real-life, that the characters would all learn, grow, solve their weird problems, get married, have 2.4 kids, and devolve into wearing khaki? In short, a serial that doesn't end in death will end in boredom? I...don't believe it has to be that way.
I mean, that, on one hand, Joss makes his characters so alive and compelling that they vecome real to us. They become our brothers and sisters. And we talk about the the way we talk about real people.
But, OTOH, they're characters of a heroic epic. They're they're bigger than life, and they make bigger-than-life mistakes. If we judge them by RL standards, practically all regular characters should be in jail.
And Joss needs to up the ante perpetually, to create new challenges for himself as a writer. I think that Buffyverse is the project where he can experiment freely, without studio constraints. Sometimes he fails, alas...
Sorry my incoherent ramblings - I'm a bit drunk, I had a very pleasant day at my friends' country house, and I'm afraid I can't think straight.
I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's too much to ask of any story - serialized or not - to expect some sense of consistency and logic? If I don't understand a character I can't feel for them much less be interested enough to care.
I don't think an "epic story" need get in the way of that - if anything, an epic story demands special attention to characterization, or else we wind up with what we've got now: "big" movies (action movies) with interchangeable cardboard characters. Baz Luhrmann made that mistake with his movie Australia, in a more "romantic" vein. Batman isn't interesting because he wears a cape, tv Buffy isn't interesting because she's the Slayer, but because of how she's characterized. Because of that, I can feel for her when she's less than heroic, or at least understand her motivations even if I'll never have a soulless vampire for a lover (or two) whom I may have to send to hell, etc.
the joy flowing through my veins at the possibility of this is indescribable. the only story arc i can think of that's more deserving of a retcon is chuck austens retcon of grant morrison's "planet x" from new x-men.
Did you get hacked yesterday (5th November)? There were a string of Cyrillic posts on your journal, too many to count posted only seconds apart, and (although I can't even recognise words in Cyrillic) they looked suspiciously similar to each other and contained dozens of links. I had to defriend you because it was filling up my entire Friends list but I checked today, they've gone, and so I've Friended you again. I presume that someone had hacked your journal and they were robot spam.
Yes my LJ was hacked. Maybe I'm paranoid, but Russian hackers became very active since the new law has passed in Duma (Russian parlament). Our government wants to block social networks because Russian opposition can organize anti-Putin actions in them. With TV and printed media under governmental control Internet stays the only free place. They can't block it for political content so they passed a law that sites that have pornography must be blocked. The law became effective November, 1, and the same day we've got a wave of pornography on LJ and other social networks popular in Russia. I'm afraid that soon LJ will be blocked here. :(
Thank you, honey! My life is pretty busy lately, I became a granny, and I try to help my daughter to nurse her little baby. Besides, politics in Russia became very interesting (if a bit too extreme), so it takes a lot of my time, although I mostly read news and analytical stuff, and go to demonstrations from time to time. I still read the comics, but I don't feel the drive to talk about them. Maybe it will change when Spike will get back to Buffy title. We'll see.
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So I guess it's kind of an unsolvable situation.
I don't think so. Or, as a writer, I hope not. I mean, treating your creations as if they have reasons (emotional or intellectual) for the things they do, letting your audience in on what those reasons might be, and having them deal with the consequences of those actions in a way that makes emotional or intellectual sense seems like Storytelling 101 to me. Or, are you saying that if serial fiction paralleled real-life, that the characters would all learn, grow, solve their weird problems, get married, have 2.4 kids, and devolve into wearing khaki? In short, a serial that doesn't end in death will end in boredom? I...don't believe it has to be that way.
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I mean, that, on one hand, Joss makes his characters so alive and compelling that they vecome real to us. They become our brothers and sisters. And we talk about the the way we talk about real people.
But, OTOH, they're characters of a heroic epic. They're they're bigger than life, and they make bigger-than-life mistakes. If we judge them by RL standards, practically all regular characters should be in jail.
And Joss needs to up the ante perpetually, to create new challenges for himself as a writer. I think that Buffyverse is the project where he can experiment freely, without studio constraints. Sometimes he fails, alas...
Sorry my incoherent ramblings - I'm a bit drunk, I had a very pleasant day at my friends' country house, and I'm afraid I can't think straight.
*hugs*
Reply
I don't think an "epic story" need get in the way of that - if anything, an epic story demands special attention to characterization, or else we wind up with what we've got now: "big" movies (action movies) with interchangeable cardboard characters. Baz Luhrmann made that mistake with his movie Australia, in a more "romantic" vein. Batman isn't interesting because he wears a cape, tv Buffy isn't interesting because she's the Slayer, but because of how she's characterized. Because of that, I can feel for her when she's less than heroic, or at least understand her motivations even if I'll never have a soulless vampire for a lover (or two) whom I may have to send to hell, etc.
Reply
the joy flowing through my veins at the possibility of this is indescribable.
the only story arc i can think of that's more deserving of a retcon is chuck austens retcon of grant morrison's "planet x" from new x-men.
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Yes my LJ was hacked. Maybe I'm paranoid, but Russian hackers became very active since the new law has passed in Duma (Russian parlament). Our government wants to block social networks because Russian opposition can organize anti-Putin actions in them. With TV and printed media under governmental control Internet stays the only free place. They can't block it for political content so they passed a law that sites that have pornography must be blocked. The law became effective November, 1, and the same day we've got a wave of pornography on LJ and other social networks popular in Russia. I'm afraid that soon LJ will be blocked here. :(
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*hugs*
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