(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Things amusing me at the moment:

1. Lost - was actually enjoyable this week. Not a lot happened. They are basically building up to the grand finale. So a lot is being rushed. This happens a lot on tv shows, they spend a lot of time telling us what we already know, then rushing on the more interesting, end-game points. Making me wonder about the huge disconnect between writers and viewers of their work? I've been seeing this a lot lately. May write more later. But bed calls. So no time. Lost- still feels a bit a like a funky and somewhat failed logic game to me, plot-wise, but explaining why requires a lot more brain energy than I really want to expend at the moment.

2. Buffy/Angel Comic Fandom has exploded over how the comic book writers are currently depicting their beloved and favorite characters. This is by the way is not a new phenomena nor limited to Buffy fandom or comics, specifically. I've seen similar explosions over soap opera characters, X-men comics, literary characters, and film characters. Does anyone remember how fandom wanted to tar and feather George Lucas for ruining Star Wars with the introduction of Jar Jar Binks, the re-editing of the prior films, and how he ret-conned Han Solo? Or how about Arthur Conan Doyle who got raked over the coals for daring, daring, to kill of Sherlock Holmes? Want to something even nuttier? Fans of Dorothy Dunnett's Chronicles of Lymond - initially refused to finish the last novel, Checkmate, and wrote angry letters to the writer - because they were convinced she'd killed the title character. (This boggled my mind. The final chapter was three pages long. And it was revealed that he was alive on the first page. All they had to do was turn the frigging page. Presumed dead on one side, alive on the next. It's not about being spoiled. Geeze. If you've made it through 800 pages of a book and only have three to go...or that very least, read ahead. Clearly not everyone has common sense.) And do not get me started on adaptations of novels - the fan outrage over the Keira Knightly Pride & Prejudice is legendary. Personally, I liked the film, but shhhh...don't tell them that.

Note to writers - most of your readers (there are exceptions of course but not many) really don't give a shit about you, they care about the fictional characters you have written or are taking over from someone else, and more to the point what you are doing with them. Take on a beloved fictional character at your peril dear writer - even if you created it, because now that character lives inside your fans imaginations and they will fight for the character's rights. If they don't like what you are doing, watch out. Wait? What? You thought they were your fans??? HAH! Noooo, you poor deluded soul, you don't exist - except as the Godlike creator to rail against and rescue their beloved character from. If you died, they might shake their heads in remorse, but only because your fictional character may have died with you. It's a rare writer who has fans who follow him and not his characters.

Have to admit am rather amused by the flailing at Willingham. (It's regarding his treatment of Spike, which bothers others more than it does me for some reason. Maybe because I find it really hard to take any of it seriously or Willingham for that matter - be a bit like I don't know taking Sarah Palin or Rush Lumbaugh or Glenn Beck seriously - much better to ignore the blowhards of the world, don't you think? If you ignore them, they will eventually go away. And all it's doing is making me happy I gave up on the IDW comics until Lynch comes back.) I don't like Willingham. He's a misogynistic bastard who thinks women are toys for his pleasure. Think Rush Lumbaugh but as a comic book geek, and you get my drift. I couldn't make it through Fables. Which was odd, since I happen to love stuff like that. So - Willingham even went past my limits of endurance. Bought first issue of Angel that he wrote? And promptly threw it out. Crap on a stick. Boring. And Spike was barely in that one. Bad dialogue. Sloppy art. And bad characterization. Not worth my time or money. Plus the guy is an ass. Sorry, buddy, you're never gonna be Alan Moore. You just don't have the stones.

Whedon, I've a bit more respect for, even if his comics currently feel like the twisted brain child of Salvadore Dali and Alan Moore on Crack. Whedon is not an ass. A bit whiny perhaps...but no worse than Russell T Davies or any number of other sucessful tv writers that I can think of. Brad Meltzer on the other hand - is an ass, and sort of falls within Willingham territory. And I still prefer Franco Urru to George Jeanty as an artist and a person, even if Jo Chen kicks both their asses to hell and back in the artistic department. Hire more women artists fellas! You'll have more readers. Trust me.

3. Glee - enjoyable episode about Madonna - which even Madonna appreciated. Don't see why not - was quite the homage. Also highly satirical - which is Madonna in some ways. Main impression though? Madonna's music really does sound all alike. That's the problem with Madonna - you listen to a tape of it and you feel like you've listened to the same melody just with different arranging and words for fifty minutes. There's no chang-up. No variation. Don't get me wrong, I like Madonna, quite a bit actually. But...she's not as good a musician/songwriter as she is a performer. That said - rather loved some of the renditions. Missed the one I really really wanted to see - the butch boys singing "What it Feels Like to be A Girl" - because American Idol went too long, so as a result, I got ten minutes of American Idol and lost ten minutes of Glee. Ugh. Oh well, it will be repeated at some point. Or it will appear on youtube. Other main impression? Ryan Murphy really has been reading people's blogs on Glee. (He said they were reading people's blogs on Glee and taking their fans suggestions on how to better the series to heart.) Until this episode, I didn't believe him. But it was obvious here - the shout-outs to female empowerment and how men view it as being all about them, and all about sex, and their getting sex - was quite amazing. Also there's a whole bit about how being a virgin is not a bad thing or something to be embarrassed about. And causal sex not the best thing ever! Hollywood? TV writers everywhere??? Please take notes. Thank you.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the work in question, but I gather he wrote a Sandman spin-off about the character Thessaly aka Larissa, which fans who did read seemed to think was mostly about demeaning an extremely powerful (if not wholly sympathetic) female character.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I know from Wiki - that he did actually write a spin-off of that character, also took over the Robin comic. He's not a favorite with female fans, but alas, this is actually true of most comic writers. They aren't exactly female friendly. X-men was amongst the few exceptions within the mainstream action/superhero comics genre that catered to a female audience, Wonderwoman was another one. Traditionally, we've had to go to the underground comics or fantasy comics, such as Elfquest, and Neil Gaiman's Sandmen. Japan, interestingly enough, has been better about that - creating a whole genre of comics geared towards women. The artwork in Buffy is similar to the artwork in the Japanese books, as is the story telling. Very similar in places. Not sure if it is deliberate or not.