Re: Mad Hamlet's post

["ebailey140" <ebailey140@xxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Exiled" <exiled@r...> wrote:
> >B/F is still going strong, so
> >strong it's become the main BtVS femmeslash ship.
>
> Just out of curiosity what data do you base this assumption on?  I
*thought* it was Willow/Tara because my impressions were that Willow
was a much more popular character than Faith.

Just check out any fic archive that isn't centered around a specific
pairing, like fanfiction.net or (especially) adultfanfiction.net.  In
the latter, Fuffy has consumed the Buffy femmeslash section.  Or,
check out one of our Yahoo lists, BuffyFemSlashers, which has more of
a mix, but is dominated by Fuffy.  The Fuffies also happen to be a
prolific bunch.  They've got a ton of epics going on, and beat every
other femmeslash pairing with sheer volume.  Why does B/F inspire more
stories than W/T?  Pretty simple.  Who's the more interesting couple
to write about?  While I love both Willow and Tara, as a couple
there's not really a lot to explore that the show didn't.  Willow/Tara
had the burden of being a Big Social/Political Statement.  They had to
be The Ideal Perfect Couple, once the subtext became text.  Tara HAD
to be the perfect, unimpeachable, saint.  So, until Willow got all
power trippy, they became, well, pretty bland.  Buffy and Faith,
always staying subtext, and therefore having plausible deniability,
were allowed to be as screwed up as all of Buffy's other
relationships.  :)  You'll even find B/F in archives that are, for the
most part, non-slashy, right there with the B/A and B/S fics.   

So, it's not a matter of Faith being more popular than Willow (She's
not), but Faith being more popular than Tara and, especially, Kennedy.
And, that's where we run into our other problem, who Willow got
saddled with.  Yes, there is a romantic fate worse than Riley Finn. 
:)  While people loved Willow/Tara, or just liked it, or at least had
no problem with it, Willow/Kennedy fell flat with most fans.  In the
Potter crossover series I mentioned in the earlier post, the writer
goes ahead and keeps Kennedy as Willow's girlfriend, but seems to have
no interest in that relationship.  Willow's close bond in the story is
with Buffy.  So, even a lot of folks writing Willow and Kennedy as a
couple aren't particularly interested IN them as a couple, preferring
to focus on the tight bond Willow has with that other Slayer. Buffy
and Willow are more interesting to write about than Willow and
Kennedy, even if there's no sex involved.  I say "sex" instead of
"romance" because it's a deeply romantic relationship, regardless.  
      





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                     'Choices'

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