(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Well, tornado warnings are all called off now. New York is hilarious when it comes to tornado warnings. They aren't quite sure what to make of them. LIRR suspended service. Let's face it if a Tornado hit - we'd be dead. This was a weird ass storm....haven't seen anything like it.

Read this blurb in an interview with Brian Lynch regarding the Spike mini-series which more or less captures in a nutshell what I look for in leading male character or hero:

CBR asked Lynch about the dynamics of having Spike in the lead rather than as a supporting character, however prominent. "Having Spike headline a comic definitely makes for a different story than if Angel or Buffy took the lead," Lynch said. "He handles things differently, he's got a great, dark sense of humor about most situations, but above and beyond all that, he leads with his heart. He's emotional, and that can either pay off great for him, or blow up in his face. Now that he's taking the lead, he has this huge responsibility on his hands: not only to deal with the big threats but to look out for the core group he's assembled. So there are some growing pains. It's much easier to be part of a team than to lead it. And his solutions to things aren't always clean or easy.

Now here's the thing - why do so many heroic characters on tv, comics and books lack a sense of humor? Also why are villains gifted with a dark sense of humor (and a smoking habit) while the heroes don't? It's unrealistic. I have a dark sense of humor, most of my family does, and
I know or have met more than a few horrific nasty people who don't.

It's poor writing. I give Whedon a lot of credit for giving Buffy, Wash and Mal a dark quippy sense of humor, as well as Xander. Not to mention Willow. Angel and Riley would have been more interesting to me if they were a bit less stiff and had a bit more wit - both characters take themselves far too seriously. I kept wanting to say, lighten up! Have the same problems with Vampire Diaries, Lost, Smallville, and Being Human. Humor is important. Characters with no sense of humor aren't fun to watch or read...at least for me. Life is tough enough, I need to laugh, people! Supernatural - at least has wit. Dean is snarky as all get out. Is there like an unwritten rule that good guys shouldn't have a sense of humor?

Comments

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you on the necessity of a sense of humor. It's why I adore Buffy and Mal and despise Angel: Angel needs to get over himself and laugh every now and then. It's probably one of the main reasons why I'm always drawn to the secondary snarky guy instead of the primary broody guy (BtVS, Lost, The Vampire Diaries, even Eric of True Blood has more of a sense of humor than Bill!) because the snarky guy makes me laugh while the broody guy makes me yawn. So you're cursed with a soul/have daddy issues/hate being a vampire/think being a southern gentleman means having a stick up your ass? So what! Get yourselves some antidepressants and shut it with the woe-is-me angsting already!

I have a lot of thoughts on the subjects of the broody guys, but that's the gist of it. And I will always love Spike for the reasons Brian mentions: his sense of humor and his heart.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

I could not agree more with the necessity for the funny. There are whole swaths of shows I do not watch because they are so self-serious, and others that I would like a whole lot more with a little more levity. On the other hand, it's a rare sitcom that has enough weight to interest me...picky, picky, picky.

[harsens-rob.livejournal.com]

I'm not ordering the Spike mini, but would like to know what happens in it, in case it is referred to later in Angel or BTVS. If you are going to collect, do you think you could do a summary - maybe even reviewage for those of us who won't be spending money on it (I already feel guilty enough on the amount I'm spending on S&H with the two main Buffyverse titles).

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Now here's the thing - why do so many heroic characters on tv, comics and books lack a sense of humor?

That's actually a very good question (though I think there are quite a few who do). Here's one possible meta-ish answer: The hero of the story is also the one to whom things happen. A sense of humour is not only about being funny, but also about subverting expectations - for instance, coming up with new exciting challenges for our protagonist to overcome. In other words, the hero is often the butt of the big cosmic joke, rather than the teller of it. (Of course, as Buffy and Mal and the Doctor and John McClane etc etc etc show, that shouldn't mean they can't have a sense of humour of their own about it.)

[local-max.livejournal.com]

Agree generally. Though I actually really like Riley's understated sense of humour. "Yes, I am a lesbian." "It's not petroleum fun, but it passes the time." "I have to recharge these every few hours or they'll go out" (referring to Xander's clown-pants). Since Riley (especially!) was a commentary on the square-jawed hero type, I liked that his jokes were less frequent and less biting.