I've found fandom relies on the metaphor and kind of forgets the actuality of the characters. Giles is the father figure, Willow the quirky sister, Xander the loyal brother, etc. They tend to forget a lot of the crap they pull. And it goes the opposite way too. Cordy gets a lot of crap for being the cruel bully and her better qualities are ignored. I liked Helpless as an episode, but I do think it was a pretty big dropped ball. I guess it's the "everyone loves S3" factor. :P
But if you want to lead the way on that discussion I'll gladly follow! One of the reasons I love the episode "Him" is the way it once again subverts romantic tropes, comedically rather than tragically - or in this case, Buffy's romances, in a way that I think also subtly pokes fun at fandom taking the tropes seriously - Dawn spouting "it would be true, forever" and "it's real!", while under the spell - the Bangel and Spuffy catchphrases - just makes me grin like a mad thing.
Yeeeees. TGIQ is kind of like that. It's actually kind of sad because a lot of the jokes were lost on fandom. At the time I didn't care for mocking fans, but I guess I've become more mean over the years. Both Spike and Angel arguing over who gets credit for helping save the world in S2 is hilarious, especially if you've read some of those SvA debates. They're arguing over who's better...she's moved on--her story is beyond them and isn't directly tired to them.
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I guess it's the "everyone loves Giles" factor?
I've found fandom relies on the metaphor and kind of forgets the actuality of the characters. Giles is the father figure, Willow the quirky sister, Xander the loyal brother, etc. They tend to forget a lot of the crap they pull. And it goes the opposite way too. Cordy gets a lot of crap for being the cruel bully and her better qualities are ignored. I liked Helpless as an episode, but I do think it was a pretty big dropped ball. I guess it's the "everyone loves S3" factor. :P
But if you want to lead the way on that discussion I'll gladly follow! One of the reasons I love the episode "Him" is the way it once again subverts romantic tropes, comedically rather than tragically - or in this case, Buffy's romances, in a way that I think also subtly pokes fun at fandom taking the tropes seriously - Dawn spouting "it would be true, forever" and "it's real!", while under the spell - the Bangel and Spuffy catchphrases - just makes me grin like a mad thing.
Yeeeees. TGIQ is kind of like that. It's actually kind of sad because a lot of the jokes were lost on fandom. At the time I didn't care for mocking fans, but I guess I've become more mean over the years. Both Spike and Angel arguing over who gets credit for helping save the world in S2 is hilarious, especially if you've read some of those SvA debates. They're arguing over who's better...she's moved on--her story is beyond them and isn't directly tired to them.