Re: when did it all begin?

["ebailey140" <ebailey140@xxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Mike Cronin
<wizathogwarts@y...> wrote:
> What we all enjoy about the ships that appeal to us have little or
nothing to do with how open minded each of us are.  They have to do
with what appeals to our own personal experiences.  What satisfies our
own desires.  
>  
> I personally can't see Buffy with a significantly older person, let
alone an older man.  This includes Angel, Spike and Giles.  What
appeals to me personally is Buffy with a female, especially Willow. 
This is a personal preference, and our personal preferences make all
of us close minded to some extent.

But, if we look at the canon characters, as opposed to our fanon ones,
the B/G ship actually makes more sense than B/W, and is a lot easier
to argue for.  At least B/G has Buffy's established taste for older
men, and that the other women in the cast were attracted to him in
that way (Willow, Faith, Anya), whereas B/W requires changing Buffy's
long established sexual orientation.  ME offered the B/G crowd more
ammo than they ever gave B/W.  

Sure, the entire basis for B/G is a close friendship with great
chemistry, but that's all B/W really has as it's basis, too.  Sure,
there was nothing in the scripts to suggest that Giles saw Buffy that
way, but there wasn't anything in the scripts to suggest that Willow
ever did, either.   

That's one thing about these ships.  Canon has certain characters not
noticing others, but the shipper can't see how it would be possible. 
For example, with Giles, Buffy's a beautiful young woman that he loves
that's also the most important person in his life, who all the male
characters fall for.  Meanwhile, Giles is an attractive older man that
Buffy, who's tastes seem to primarily run to attractive older men,
loves, who all of Buffy's contemporaries are attracted to, from
Willow, to Faith, to Anya, the only exception being Tara (and, well,
we know Buffy's attracted to guys), demonstrating that we're not
supposed to see him as a shrivelled up old geezer.  Add the special
bond that the Watcher and Slayer have, and the B/G shipper sees them
as right for each other.  

Similarly, canon would have us believe that Willow, after all those
years around Buffy, Cordy, and Faith, NEVER got tingly feelings around
a female until Tara came along, even subconciously.  But, she loved
Tara, one could argue, and that was what brought the sexual
orientation out.  OK...  I can see Willow not having a lot of love for
Cordy or Faith, but never having as strong an emotional love for Buffy
after all those years as she had for Tara after one night fighting the
Gentlemen?  Now, don't get me wrong, I like Tara, a lot, but...  It
just doesn't seem possible, to me, that Willow NEVER had romantic
feelings for Buffy.  She seemed to, frequently, BEFORE she was "gay,
now".  And, if Buffy's completely straight, how do they explain Season
3?  ME tried to have their cake and eat it too, here, saying that
Buffy and Faith were sexually attracted to each other, yet also
insisting they were both completely hetero.  

So, in the cases of both B/G and B/W, it's fans making more sense out
of how people feel about each other ME wanted.  It was about making
sense with the characters established.  This also includes what the
actors, themselves, brought to their scenes.  It's said that a
character isn't entirely the creation of the writer, that what the
actor brings to what's written, how the actor interprets something, is
part of creating the character.  SMG, AH, ASH, NB, JM, and ED all
brought more to their characters, and the relationships between them,
than what Joss gave them, and, most likely, a lot more than what he
wanted.  That's the "problem" when you have a really talented cast
that aren't blank slates.  They're going to add things of their own,
pull from their own emotions and experiences, make the characters into
something other than what they were oriinally concieved to be.  Some
have speculated that we might have liked Riley, and Buffy's
relationship with him, if he'd been played by a different actor, say,
Christian Kane (Lindsey on Angel).  What would he have brought to the
role?  How would he have played with SMG, or the rest of the cast? 
Riley would have been a different character, entirely.  

E



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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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