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Buffy Fan... No Mention of Apologies Anywhere In this Post
I realize now that I don't think I will ever be able to have a rational conversation with someone that does not like Buffy, possibly because my love for her is not rational.
I also hesitate to post my thoughts about Buffy and the seasons because it seems whenever someone tries to post why something works for them - what it is about the show that just made them very, very happy -- the people that respond to that post are overwhelmingly negative and insist on recounting, to infinity, their own issues.
Issues that we have already covered and which have nothing to do with the poster's statement get brought up, again.
And I understand that if you watched Season whatever of a television show and it did not work for you, that you possibly will want to discuss this. And I think that responding to a positive post with reservations is a perfectly reasonable response.
I cannot help the part of me that then just wants to scream "SHUT UP, SHUT UP!! I AM SO SICK OF THIS, SHUT UP!
I don't think I will ever be rational. I also don't think that I will ever convince anyone who felt betrayed by Season Whatever that it wasn't actually personal and that Joss is not Satan and Marti Noxon does not eat babies, and it isn't all about Spike or it isn't all not about Spike and Buffy is actually very likeable and so is Xander, Willow, Dawn and Spike. Yes, even Spike. And Giles had a role and instead of bitching about it, let's find out what that role is.
And I know this to be true because season 7 has only been finished for 2 years and already I am weary and ready to abandon the fight and hide out in a cave until it all blows over and I know that Buffy wouldn't do this. She would hit the comment button and respond to the negativity. Actually, she'd probably make it worse as talking things out is something she struggles with - but you see where I am going here.
I just can't do it anymore. My blood pressure can't take it. I am tired of the same damn arguments and it bugs me and it isn't rational and it isn't in the spirit of whatever, I am just sick to fucking hell of all of this shit.
Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find it. Want to argue that it went downhill after Season 3? Fine. Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find better arcs, better continuity of characters, better dialogue and emotional depth. Find it.
God, most of our shows are killed before they have time to even try to achieve something close to what BtVS did accomplish. This sucks - I hate it. But in this one instance we were given a complete run of a girl to woman's story and I love that we have that. I love the story that was told and was it perfect? Hell, no. Nothing is ever perfect. It feels more real because of the flaws, actually.
But to me - there could not have been a more perfect story told to me over the course of the six years I watched. It was told to me. And I loved it and it made me so happy in those years and so I am not rational.
I am also a person who grew up attached to a television. I have watched much TV my friends. Oh, the TV I have seen. I might not be a scholar of pop culture or whathaveyou, but I can tell you the song that was playing in the background when Alex P Keaton got his first serious girlfriend and I can explain the intricacies of the Ewing clan and why Ray and Lucy getting it on was seriously gross and that once upon a time, Sarah Jessica Parker was not only likable, she was inspirational. I can tell you that there always had to be a blond(e) and brunet(te) in any dyad and cite examples of Dukes of Hazzard and Too Close for Comfort.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the best television series I have ever seen. This statement is mired in emotion and yeah - I won't ever be able to rationally discuss it.
So I give up. Not on Buffy. On being rational.
I also hesitate to post my thoughts about Buffy and the seasons because it seems whenever someone tries to post why something works for them - what it is about the show that just made them very, very happy -- the people that respond to that post are overwhelmingly negative and insist on recounting, to infinity, their own issues.
Issues that we have already covered and which have nothing to do with the poster's statement get brought up, again.
And I understand that if you watched Season whatever of a television show and it did not work for you, that you possibly will want to discuss this. And I think that responding to a positive post with reservations is a perfectly reasonable response.
I cannot help the part of me that then just wants to scream "SHUT UP, SHUT UP!! I AM SO SICK OF THIS, SHUT UP!
I don't think I will ever be rational. I also don't think that I will ever convince anyone who felt betrayed by Season Whatever that it wasn't actually personal and that Joss is not Satan and Marti Noxon does not eat babies, and it isn't all about Spike or it isn't all not about Spike and Buffy is actually very likeable and so is Xander, Willow, Dawn and Spike. Yes, even Spike. And Giles had a role and instead of bitching about it, let's find out what that role is.
And I know this to be true because season 7 has only been finished for 2 years and already I am weary and ready to abandon the fight and hide out in a cave until it all blows over and I know that Buffy wouldn't do this. She would hit the comment button and respond to the negativity. Actually, she'd probably make it worse as talking things out is something she struggles with - but you see where I am going here.
I just can't do it anymore. My blood pressure can't take it. I am tired of the same damn arguments and it bugs me and it isn't rational and it isn't in the spirit of whatever, I am just sick to fucking hell of all of this shit.
Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find it. Want to argue that it went downhill after Season 3? Fine. Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find better arcs, better continuity of characters, better dialogue and emotional depth. Find it.
God, most of our shows are killed before they have time to even try to achieve something close to what BtVS did accomplish. This sucks - I hate it. But in this one instance we were given a complete run of a girl to woman's story and I love that we have that. I love the story that was told and was it perfect? Hell, no. Nothing is ever perfect. It feels more real because of the flaws, actually.
But to me - there could not have been a more perfect story told to me over the course of the six years I watched. It was told to me. And I loved it and it made me so happy in those years and so I am not rational.
I am also a person who grew up attached to a television. I have watched much TV my friends. Oh, the TV I have seen. I might not be a scholar of pop culture or whathaveyou, but I can tell you the song that was playing in the background when Alex P Keaton got his first serious girlfriend and I can explain the intricacies of the Ewing clan and why Ray and Lucy getting it on was seriously gross and that once upon a time, Sarah Jessica Parker was not only likable, she was inspirational. I can tell you that there always had to be a blond(e) and brunet(te) in any dyad and cite examples of Dukes of Hazzard and Too Close for Comfort.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the best television series I have ever seen. This statement is mired in emotion and yeah - I won't ever be able to rationally discuss it.
So I give up. Not on Buffy. On being rational.
no subject
In lurking around the edges of Buffy fandom, I found immediately that not everyone else shares my opinion on this. Point of fact, there are these people who HATE Buffy and who HATE Angel (and who even more irrationally hate Buffy and Angel together, but I won't go into that :-P) My response to that has been to choose to ignore most meta discussions, except for those I choose to conduct from time to time on my own journal...because I just don't want to hear it. I respect and value the opinions of those who dislike the show. They can post about them wherever they want, including the front page of the New York Times, if they can get it to run. I just won't be reading it, because I don't want anything to tarnish my shiny little Mary Sunshine view of these shows. They are the most beautiful thing since sliced bread, and I just don't even want to know anything that can destroy that. Rational? Who cares whether it is or not :-P
So, yeah, I'm with you through all that. The only thing where I disagree slightly is this:
Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find it. Want to argue that it went downhill after Season 3? Fine. Find a better show that had a seven year run. Find better arcs, better continuity of characters, better dialogue and emotional depth. Find it.
I have little to no experience with TV outside of BtVS/AtS/QAF, so I don't know whether or not there is something "better" out there. I tend to think not, because I love these characters so very much and I don't think that most mainstream TV is going to sell me quite this well. BUT, I don't think that means that dissatisfied fans/former fans can't express their opinions to the contrary. That is, the very fact that "nothing better" exists doesn't mean that the current thing is perfect (although I believe it is, dammit!) or that there aren't flaws to point out legitimately. I know what it's like to care about a show so intensely it hurts - and then to feel that it took a dramatic turn downwards and is now going down the tubes. Three letters: Q A F. And when you feel like that, you want to vent, and you want to express that opinion - not because you don't care about the show and want to proclaim to the world that it sucks, but because you DO. And I *get* where people who feel that way about Buffy (no, I refuse to even acknowledge that people can feel this way about Angel BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR THEM LA LA LA :-P) are coming from. I disagree with them strongly, and try to avoid reading their thoughts, but I get that.
Just rambling around to say that I mostly agree with you, but also understand people who need to vent about things, and why they need to do that. I will shut up now :)
no subject
I think everyone can have their opinion. I just can't process the negative rationally anymore. So I rant. Because that is what I do. Rant. Sometimes I vid. Sometimes I rant and vid and those times? My vids suck.
Ranting levels increasing directly affect vidding outputs in the negative. Since not vidding is also directly proportional to me not being relaxed or happy -- I try not to rant. But then I do. Cause I am weak and petty and just me and so I can't feel to bad about the weak and petty part. Cause we all are weak and petty in our own ways. My way just happens to be Buffy-related.