Re: Mad Hamlet's post

["sharp_nosed_fish" <g.nisbet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "ebailey140" 
<ebailey140@a...> wrote:
> 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.  

This is about the most concise and astute clarification of slash 
dynamics I've read. (Not that I'm well versed in this kind of thing, 
you understand -- first actual posting to the list here, in response 
to MH's entirely justified rant.) Where's the trauma?

"Oh Willow, you know I love you!"
"Oh Tara, you know I love you too!"
<kiss kiss, blow out a patchouli candle>
THE END

A recalled line from 'Jerry Springer: the Opera':
"What do we want?"
"LESBIANS FIGHTING!" -- and W/T doesn't get there until they break 
up; and Tara's being written by then as too smart and grounded to 
have the messy, traumatic breakup and post-breakup sex we crave.

> 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. 

Kennedy always seemed kind of (a) annoying and (b) an afterthoughty 
semi-apology to the audience for the really big mistake of killing 
off Tara; yes, we screwed up, but at least we didn't stick Willow 
back in the closet, we gave her a moving-on consolation prize. But I 
also wonder if she falls into that small, Riley-centred category of 
BtVS characters whom Joss clearly felt were *wonderful ideas*, and 
never mind how they panned out in terms of existing series dynamics. 
With the Riley/Initiative stuff, I often had a kind of Babylon 5 
feeling -- Joss as overambitious GM, losing sight of the actual cool 
stuff because he was fixating on his high-concept story arc. Scarily, 
I suspect that Joss thought Riley Finn was a great character that we 
fans just didn't 'get'.








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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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