It seems like there's just something awkward about subjecting your peers to the same scrutiny you'd subject the source material to - even though it's not necessarily negative criticism, and I think there are some fanfics out there that would certainly stand up to in-depth analysis.
I think you are right. The difference is that the original author or source author tends to be oblivious to our criticism of his/her work as do his friends, family, etc. (Although I have been ripped to shreds by fans regarding critiques of tv shows - Whedonesque board members really ripped me a new one for deigning to speak ill, even slightly so, of their precious Dollhouse during the first season. Poor Simon. It wasn't his fault.) Remember a professional actor telling me once that you should never read reviews of your work - the accolades will give you a big head and make you cocky, the criticism will kill your ego and make you self-conscious. Best to ignore both. Not bad advice. Except actors get applause, writers...we don't not unless we read our own reviews. And professional writers are no different than fanfic writers, they can't take criticism either - you should have seen Anne Rice attack her critics on Amazon.com. It was embarrassing. With fanfic, I think..it has a lot to do with the fact that we know we are playing with the forbidden, so much of fanfic is sexual fantasy, something the outside world scoffs at and makes fun of. That we can't tell people outside of fandom about. So...because of that, people are itchier and more nervous. It's almost more personal in a way, than ordinary fic is. Or at least that's been my impression.
Yeah... the problem Joss seems to have, though, is that when he tries to do that, the villain always comes across as ridiculous. Boyd's speech in Dollhouse seemed to come out of nowhere and was so bizarrely OOC. And the only way to make what's coming out of Angel's mouth sound reasonable is if we assume he's completely out of his mind on glow juice. Joss is dead on in thinking that the best villain believes he's the hero of the story. He just doesn't write them in a way that's at all convincing.
Agreed. I felt much the same way. Boyd as the head of Rossum did not work for me. It was set-up poorly. And felt very much out of nowhere. Did not help that he was my favorite character. Also felt a bit preachy.
Angel - while I can see Angel doing that, at the same time, the speech doesn't quite play, due to the fact that Angel has lived this storyline. Hello, Season 4 ATS. Cordelia gets all glowy in S3, goes to Heaven, comes back, gives birth to Jasmine - who pretty much gives exactly the same speech to Angel that Angel is giving to Buffy. Heck the same one that Skip gave to Cordelia. You'd think that Angel of all people would see through it? Granted it is ironic as all get-out, that Angel is pulling the Jasmine stick with Buffy. But...at the same time, it devolves the character a bit. Although I suppose you could argue that it doesn't really devolve him, that he's evolved into another sort of anti-hero? I don't know. I still think Hank Summers or Giles might have worked better. Granted there'd be no flying sex...
I think that would be a really interesting - and dark! - ending, except I don't see how that leaves much room for a Season 9, which Joss and Scott Allie definitely seem to be planning on.
Actually I don't think the whole sealing into another dimension thing will happen until S9. I think that may well be S9's arc. This is the set-up for that.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-03-11 02:08 am (UTC)I think you are right. The difference is that the original author or source author tends to be oblivious to our criticism of his/her work as do his friends, family, etc. (Although I have been ripped to shreds by fans regarding critiques of tv shows - Whedonesque board members really ripped me a new one for deigning to speak ill, even slightly so, of their precious Dollhouse during the first season. Poor Simon. It wasn't his fault.) Remember a professional actor telling me once that you should never read reviews of your work - the accolades will give you a big head and make you cocky, the criticism will kill your ego and make you self-conscious. Best to ignore both. Not bad advice. Except actors get applause, writers...we don't not unless we read our own reviews.
And professional writers are no different than fanfic writers, they can't take criticism either - you should have seen Anne Rice attack her critics on Amazon.com. It was embarrassing. With fanfic, I think..it has a lot to do with the fact that we know we are playing with the forbidden, so much of fanfic is sexual fantasy, something the outside world scoffs at and makes fun of. That we can't tell people outside of fandom about. So...because of that, people are itchier and more nervous.
It's almost more personal in a way, than ordinary fic is. Or at least that's been my impression.
Yeah... the problem Joss seems to have, though, is that when he tries to do that, the villain always comes across as ridiculous. Boyd's speech in Dollhouse seemed to come out of nowhere and was so bizarrely OOC. And the only way to make what's coming out of Angel's mouth sound reasonable is if we assume he's completely out of his mind on glow juice. Joss is dead on in thinking that the best villain believes he's the hero of the story. He just doesn't write them in a way that's at all convincing.
Agreed. I felt much the same way. Boyd as the head of Rossum did not work for me. It was set-up poorly. And felt very much out of nowhere.
Did not help that he was my favorite character. Also felt a bit preachy.
Angel - while I can see Angel doing that, at the same time, the speech doesn't quite play, due to the fact that Angel has lived this storyline.
Hello, Season 4 ATS. Cordelia gets all glowy in S3, goes to Heaven, comes back, gives birth to Jasmine - who pretty much gives exactly the same speech to Angel that Angel is giving to Buffy. Heck the same one that Skip gave to Cordelia. You'd think that Angel of all people would see through it? Granted it is ironic as all get-out, that Angel is pulling the Jasmine stick with Buffy. But...at the same time, it devolves the character a bit. Although I suppose you could argue that it doesn't really devolve him, that he's evolved into another sort of anti-hero? I don't know. I still think Hank Summers or Giles might have worked better. Granted there'd be no flying sex...
I think that would be a really interesting - and dark! - ending, except I don't see how that leaves much room for a Season 9, which Joss and Scott Allie definitely seem to be planning on.
Actually I don't think the whole sealing into another dimension thing will happen until S9. I think that may well be S9's arc. This is the set-up for that.