red_satin_doll: (Chosen One - purple)
red_satin_doll ([personal profile] red_satin_doll) wrote2013-03-11 05:02 pm

Meta Much More - or, Recent Fandom Reading

When I posted some of my favorite meta for 2012 on the buffyverse top5 last month, I wrote that I hoped for more of the same high-caliber meta in 2013.  Wish, granted:

"Why the Buffyverse?" by [livejournal.com profile] lostboy_lj Inspired by [livejournal.com profile] shapinglight 's "fanfic musings" (inspired in turn by [livejournal.com profile] brutti_ma_buoni .... and so it goes.  You get the idea.)   He takes on the  question why is anyone still writing Buffy fanfic at all?

"The Monomythology of Buffy"  also by  by [livejournal.com profile] lostboy_lj This is already on my best meta of 2013 list. Absolutely essential reading: Buffy's journey through the lens of Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" - a Cliff Notes version but a hell of a lot smarter, and with pretty visual aids.  One of lostboy's talents is laying out complex ideas boiled down to their essential components, with a great deal of wit. I've been linking to this on convo threads all over the place as if it was Apocalypse Season.

Speaking of must-read meta: a conversation between [livejournal.com profile] lostboy_lj  and [livejournal.com profile] local_max on the Monomythology post inspired max's musings about Ben's literal and figurative role in S5  as a "illusory comfort" and representative of the medical establishment, how he tries to placate Buffy regarding her mother's illness, and how he "self-medicates" to keep the reality of Glory at bay: it’s consistent with a pattern of Ben: he uses deception to placate Buffy (and others) into believing that a real problem, whether it be Glory, the string of crazy people in her wake, or Joyce’s upcoming death (though Ben is not actually aware of the last one), is not a real problem.  Don’t sweat it, no need to prepare (though, it’s not as if preparation is possible): your problem is in good hands. As per usual with max, penetrating intelligence, personal honesty, compassion and intellect come together in a fascinating consideration of a "key" (pun intended) but oft-overlooked character.

And of a more general nature (not specific to this fandom), [livejournal.com profile] angearia  has a thing or two to say about "authorial intent" and the complexity of determining who the "author" is, especially in a work such as BtVS in which there are so many hands, so many voices involved in it's creation (writers, producers, actors); a question further complicated (and multiplied to the nth degree) by the presence/participation of the readers/viewers as co-creators of a give work.  She argues passionately that "the reader" is also an author - and no greater example of this can be found than btvs fandom as we engage with the series over time, emotionally and intellectually. Long live the Revolution, indeed.

FYI: I am procrastinating on my "Ted" meta for the Big Damn Lovefest, and everything else on my to-do list, like a mad thing. Pain from a recent injury is about to do me in.
shapinglight: (Default)

[personal profile] shapinglight 2013-03-12 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
You're injured? What happened? I hope it's better soon, and looking forward to reading the meta.

[identity profile] red-satin-doll.livejournal.com 2013-03-12 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I guess I re-injured an old injury in my lower spine - pinched nerve, disks out of place, etc (I should know the technical terms they're right on the MRI report.) this was mid-November; and I've had 4 weeks of physical therapy but the cold and storm knocked me back to teeth-gritting levels of pain. (And that's probably more than you wanted to know. So - accident. Pain. Housebound. Painkillers Ick.) I'm supposed to see a pain mgmt specialist next week; it's taken forever to get that appointment.