I have to say that your take on the Spuffy stuff is more comforting to me than the initial squees I've read. I generally find a less starry-eyed take more convincing and thus more comforting.
The romantic one - or fable - about how giving into idealized romance...leads to nothing. Love comes first and foremost from like minds and friendship. If you can't trust your lover with your dreams and your nightmares, than he has no business being your lover.
The thing with Bangel, though is, do you believe your lying eyes or do you believe what everyone involved with the comics tell you. My first reaction to the whole Twilight/Spakking (Space fraking) thing was that it was massive, massive subversion of Bangel. Seriously, the whole arc couldn't be any more disrespectful to Buffy and Angel. Angel has been going around destroying Buffy's confidence, getting people killed, and destroying the world. This is not a hero, this is a dupe and a self-centered one at that because he hasn't been able to see beyond how 'special' he is. On the other hand all it took for Buffy to drop trou and ignore everything that was going on outside of 'her' was a ta-da! Beneath the mask is ANGEL! Nothing changed... except it because twu wuv mwahahahahaha! Icing on top with Buffy saying "Best day ever", which I honestly cannot find any way to possibly defend. The world is flipping destroyed. There's just no way with scruples that can be pushed aside for "best day ever" and it not say deeply horrible things about Buffy's character.
But... BUT every person involved with the comics has been quite insistent about not believing your lyin' eyes. It's wuv. It's not really so bad. They may be a little flawed but it's true love, baby! How... romantic. (And then there's the fact that there's a segment of the fandom where Bangel could set puppies and kittens on fire in front of them and it would still be the most romantic thing ever), so in a lot of ways even though there's great subversion and an astonishling derogatory depiction of Bangel in this, it's hard to really say with any confidence that it's intended because every one of the writers and editors involved clearly have no idea what in the frell fans are talking about when they say that these are truly deeply horrible depictions of Buffy and Angel. Meanwhile, the ones in charge talk about what an epic romance there are. So I sometimes it hard not to wonder whether it's subversion when no one involved seems to have any idea that it's being subverted. Maybe that's what Joss intends, but if it is, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone else.
That said, I think these comics have done some pretty horrible things to Buffy and Angel, things the show characters didn't deserve. I pity the show's characters. The comic-book Bangel, however, it's pretty darn difficult to pity.
no subject
I have to say that your take on the Spuffy stuff is more comforting to me than the initial squees I've read. I generally find a less starry-eyed take more convincing and thus more comforting.
The romantic one - or fable - about how giving into idealized romance...leads to nothing. Love comes first and foremost from like minds and friendship. If you can't trust your lover with your dreams and your nightmares, than he has no business being your lover.
The thing with Bangel, though is, do you believe your lying eyes or do you believe what everyone involved with the comics tell you. My first reaction to the whole Twilight/Spakking (Space fraking) thing was that it was massive, massive subversion of Bangel. Seriously, the whole arc couldn't be any more disrespectful to Buffy and Angel. Angel has been going around destroying Buffy's confidence, getting people killed, and destroying the world. This is not a hero, this is a dupe and a self-centered one at that because he hasn't been able to see beyond how 'special' he is. On the other hand all it took for Buffy to drop trou and ignore everything that was going on outside of 'her' was a ta-da! Beneath the mask is ANGEL! Nothing changed... except it because twu wuv mwahahahahaha! Icing on top with Buffy saying "Best day ever", which I honestly cannot find any way to possibly defend. The world is flipping destroyed. There's just no way with scruples that can be pushed aside for "best day ever" and it not say deeply horrible things about Buffy's character.
But... BUT every person involved with the comics has been quite insistent about not believing your lyin' eyes. It's wuv. It's not really so bad. They may be a little flawed but it's true love, baby! How... romantic. (And then there's the fact that there's a segment of the fandom where Bangel could set puppies and kittens on fire in front of them and it would still be the most romantic thing ever), so in a lot of ways even though there's great subversion and an astonishling derogatory depiction of Bangel in this, it's hard to really say with any confidence that it's intended because every one of the writers and editors involved clearly have no idea what in the frell fans are talking about when they say that these are truly deeply horrible depictions of Buffy and Angel. Meanwhile, the ones in charge talk about what an epic romance there are. So I sometimes it hard not to wonder whether it's subversion when no one involved seems to have any idea that it's being subverted. Maybe that's what Joss intends, but if it is, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone else.
That said, I think these comics have done some pretty horrible things to Buffy and Angel, things the show characters didn't deserve. I pity the show's characters. The comic-book Bangel, however, it's pretty darn difficult to pity.