It's kind of interesting for me to hear about shipping wars on Buffy because I think this is one show where I'm even less involved with it than usual. I mean, I enjoyed watching Buffy/Angel, but it was not a healthy relationship and so I never got very invested in it-- it was better for both characters that it failed. Buffy/Riley is probably the ideal relationship for her to have in the real world, but this is a Joss Whedon show and healthy, happy relationships are not allowed, so that had to go down (And Riley was, sadly, rather bland and boring). I don't know how I feel about Buffy/Spike; I haven't seen the later seasons so I don't know how it builds. From what I've had explained to me, I can somewhat understand the reasoning. But it's not very appealing to me emotionally, mostly because my general reaction (and this applies to Angel too) is that it is always a bad idea to date vampires if you are not also a vampire.
This goes for any mortal/immortal relationship really, but there's so many vampires in media now that it can stand on its own. Whenever I see some young girl swooning over a broody vampire guy, I just shake my head at the characters. It never works out. Interestingly, human guys don't seem to fall in love with vampire women as often-- I think the only pairing I've seen with that dynamic is Hoyt/Vampire Jessica on True Blood. But even that relationship has some major issues.
I'm actually not sure who I'd ship Buffy with, but I don't think it would be anyone on the show. It's a shame, because she goes through so much that I'd like to see her get some happiness, but as you noted before, the writers for Buffy seem to prefer will-they-won't-they drama rather than simply creating conflict through a continuing relationship.
Really the only ship I was completely behind was Willow/Oz because they were adorable, but again, happy stable relationships not allowed. Given that Seth Green left the show I think I'm mostly happy they didn't just kill him off. I enjoy watching Anya/Xander but I don't actually care about Xander as a character, so that's not as satisfying. So Buffy ends up being a really ship-free show for me. I suspect I'm probably in the minority on this one, though.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-03-21 05:32 pm (UTC)This goes for any mortal/immortal relationship really, but there's so many vampires in media now that it can stand on its own. Whenever I see some young girl swooning over a broody vampire guy, I just shake my head at the characters. It never works out. Interestingly, human guys don't seem to fall in love with vampire women as often-- I think the only pairing I've seen with that dynamic is Hoyt/Vampire Jessica on True Blood. But even that relationship has some major issues.
I'm actually not sure who I'd ship Buffy with, but I don't think it would be anyone on the show. It's a shame, because she goes through so much that I'd like to see her get some happiness, but as you noted before, the writers for Buffy seem to prefer will-they-won't-they drama rather than simply creating conflict through a continuing relationship.
Really the only ship I was completely behind was Willow/Oz because they were adorable, but again, happy stable relationships not allowed. Given that Seth Green left the show I think I'm mostly happy they didn't just kill him off. I enjoy watching Anya/Xander but I don't actually care about Xander as a character, so that's not as satisfying. So Buffy ends up being a really ship-free show for me. I suspect I'm probably in the minority on this one, though.