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Jun. 12th, 2012 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Mark Watches has got to be the only reviewer that I've run across who actually loves Spiral from S5 Buffy. Remarkable. That episode has been ripped to shreds on the boards. I was always rather fond of it, however. But then the cheesy Byzantine Knights that go Nee...reminded me a great deal more of Monty Python than of...King Arthur.
This quote from Mark made me laugh:
I basically feel like anyone who isn’t Buffy can die. [Well, except some people don't stay dead...]
No, more likely, anyone who isn't Xander and Willow can die. And possibly Dawn.
Plus, horror/fantasy tv soap opera, no one stays dead as long as the writer can bring the actor back the next season and figure out how to make it work.
2. There's an article that I ganked from shipperx entitled Why Academics Study Buffy the Vampire Slayer More than the Wire". Without even reading the article, I can answer that one.
I've watched both, and while The Wire is brilliant in places, it doesn't really tell me anything I didn't already know or shed light on anything or break new boundaries - except possibly in creating a novel for tv, but even that has been done before. Sure, it is brilliantly written in places, deftly realistic, creates amazingly interesting characters, and is inter-racial...but, it's still a show about cops, drug dealers, and reality.
It's dark nasty reality at that. The humor is often twisted as well, with dark wit.
It's not pulp.
Writing an analysis of The Wire is a bit like writing about The Maltese Falcon or Chinatown or The Godfather, or maybe the novels of Raymond Chandler and Richard Price - such as Clockers, which I read and felt no desire to write about, because seriously why relive it? Feel much the same way about tv shows like The Sopranoes, Breaking Bad,
Rescue Me, The Shield, Dexter, and Damages. Of that group...I think I've only consistently watched Dexter all the way through, but Dexter doesn't take itself quite as seriously.
I need a bit of humor and wit with my violence. The Wire is also amongst the few in that genre I've watched all the way through and yes, I blogged about it as I watched it.
And fell in love with it. Then it was over. And after a few months I moved on. This too happened with Farscape. What did both have in common? They are about men. Male power. Male struggle. Male angst. Male issues. Women are pretty much either supporting characters or in the background of both Farscape and The Wire, even though there are some awesome female characters in both - they are in some respects very masculain and tough.
Buffy on the other hand...is unlike anything I saw on TV. It did change the landscape. It is pulp, but pulp like William Shakespeare's plays are pulp. And in some respects it has more in common with Shakespeare in that it takes risks and ruthlessly panders to its audience and fans, yet tortures them at the same time. I never felt like I was watching a trapeze act without the net on The Wire - everything felt carefully planned, carefully vetted, carefully plotted. Buffy...on the other hand..felt like the writers were pushing the envelope, playing with what network tv would permit, and playing with the art form.
There's so much to play with on Buffy as a meta writer. Or scholar. The writing isn't as tight. Yet, there's so many film and pop culture references. The story, unlike most popular television dramas is about a woman, and most of the cast are women. It's a female coming of age journey. A Heroine's Journey NOT A Heroes. The damsels are the men.
It flips the standard trope, while The Wire merely plays into it. Buffy subverts old horror tropes, The Wire reasserts them. Writing meta on Buffy was like writing meta on Shakespeare or Ulysess or Greek Myths or Celtic Myths or books like Faulkner's Sound and the Fury and Gabriel Marquez's One Thousand Years of Solitude...so many layers, so much metaphor, and like unraveling a puzzle. I could see where the Wire was going most of the time - it was that tightly plotted, Buffy - I often had no clue.
And well, there's more to complain about in Buffy - the loose plotting for example, the cheesy monsters. And Buffy in some respects is more relatable...everyone's gone to high school, everyone has wanted to go to college, some do, some can't, some could care less...and everyone has struggled to figure out what to do next. It's easier to see yourself or your life or your fears in Buffy, fantastical as it may seem, then in a story about a bunch of cops trying to convict a bunch of drug dealers in the inner city. Also, Buffy is safer...it's message is behind metaphors, not clear and directly in your face.
3. Romance novels...the more I read the more it is clear they are about the battle of the sexes. Men vs. Women. In the Romance novel it's never quite clear who will win though.
Often it's a draw. The better novels it is a draw. At any rate they are doing a wonderful job of helping me deal with work-stress. Which has gotten worse believe it or not. I can't see my desk any more. And...I'm beginning to feel buried.
This quote from Mark made me laugh:
I basically feel like anyone who isn’t Buffy can die. [Well, except some people don't stay dead...]
No, more likely, anyone who isn't Xander and Willow can die. And possibly Dawn.
Plus, horror/fantasy tv soap opera, no one stays dead as long as the writer can bring the actor back the next season and figure out how to make it work.
2. There's an article that I ganked from shipperx entitled Why Academics Study Buffy the Vampire Slayer More than the Wire". Without even reading the article, I can answer that one.
I've watched both, and while The Wire is brilliant in places, it doesn't really tell me anything I didn't already know or shed light on anything or break new boundaries - except possibly in creating a novel for tv, but even that has been done before. Sure, it is brilliantly written in places, deftly realistic, creates amazingly interesting characters, and is inter-racial...but, it's still a show about cops, drug dealers, and reality.
It's dark nasty reality at that. The humor is often twisted as well, with dark wit.
It's not pulp.
Writing an analysis of The Wire is a bit like writing about The Maltese Falcon or Chinatown or The Godfather, or maybe the novels of Raymond Chandler and Richard Price - such as Clockers, which I read and felt no desire to write about, because seriously why relive it? Feel much the same way about tv shows like The Sopranoes, Breaking Bad,
Rescue Me, The Shield, Dexter, and Damages. Of that group...I think I've only consistently watched Dexter all the way through, but Dexter doesn't take itself quite as seriously.
I need a bit of humor and wit with my violence. The Wire is also amongst the few in that genre I've watched all the way through and yes, I blogged about it as I watched it.
And fell in love with it. Then it was over. And after a few months I moved on. This too happened with Farscape. What did both have in common? They are about men. Male power. Male struggle. Male angst. Male issues. Women are pretty much either supporting characters or in the background of both Farscape and The Wire, even though there are some awesome female characters in both - they are in some respects very masculain and tough.
Buffy on the other hand...is unlike anything I saw on TV. It did change the landscape. It is pulp, but pulp like William Shakespeare's plays are pulp. And in some respects it has more in common with Shakespeare in that it takes risks and ruthlessly panders to its audience and fans, yet tortures them at the same time. I never felt like I was watching a trapeze act without the net on The Wire - everything felt carefully planned, carefully vetted, carefully plotted. Buffy...on the other hand..felt like the writers were pushing the envelope, playing with what network tv would permit, and playing with the art form.
There's so much to play with on Buffy as a meta writer. Or scholar. The writing isn't as tight. Yet, there's so many film and pop culture references. The story, unlike most popular television dramas is about a woman, and most of the cast are women. It's a female coming of age journey. A Heroine's Journey NOT A Heroes. The damsels are the men.
It flips the standard trope, while The Wire merely plays into it. Buffy subverts old horror tropes, The Wire reasserts them. Writing meta on Buffy was like writing meta on Shakespeare or Ulysess or Greek Myths or Celtic Myths or books like Faulkner's Sound and the Fury and Gabriel Marquez's One Thousand Years of Solitude...so many layers, so much metaphor, and like unraveling a puzzle. I could see where the Wire was going most of the time - it was that tightly plotted, Buffy - I often had no clue.
And well, there's more to complain about in Buffy - the loose plotting for example, the cheesy monsters. And Buffy in some respects is more relatable...everyone's gone to high school, everyone has wanted to go to college, some do, some can't, some could care less...and everyone has struggled to figure out what to do next. It's easier to see yourself or your life or your fears in Buffy, fantastical as it may seem, then in a story about a bunch of cops trying to convict a bunch of drug dealers in the inner city. Also, Buffy is safer...it's message is behind metaphors, not clear and directly in your face.
3. Romance novels...the more I read the more it is clear they are about the battle of the sexes. Men vs. Women. In the Romance novel it's never quite clear who will win though.
Often it's a draw. The better novels it is a draw. At any rate they are doing a wonderful job of helping me deal with work-stress. Which has gotten worse believe it or not. I can't see my desk any more. And...I'm beginning to feel buried.
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 02:00 am (UTC)I liked Spiral. Did others really not?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 10:35 pm (UTC)I honestly think your reaction to it has a lot to do with how much you like:
a) old John Wayne Westerns
b) The Bysantine Knights - who I though were hilarious and I adored, because, I kept thinking The Knights who Say Ni!
c) Glory (who fascinated me and I loved, while others hated her to pieces.)
I'm amazed at Mark's reaction which is closer to mine.
Least favorite episodes in S5? Family, Weight of the World, Shadow, Listening to Fear, Buffy vs. Dracula.
Oddly? I liked those episodes better than several in S1, S2, S3,S4, S6 and S7, which is probably why S5 is my favorite.
Clearly it's very subjective.
Although I will admit I had issues regarding Family...another episode Mark loved to pieces, but he saw it in a way I didn't. I don't know if that was Whedon's intent or not. I clearly read the episode too literally and didn't see the gay references, not surprising, since I'm not gay.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 11:52 pm (UTC)I go back and forth on my favorite season between 2, 5, and 7. S5 is a great season, and I liked Glory as the BB. I didn't like Shadow at first, but I've come to like it. And I always liked Family -- I did see the gay references even then (unusually for me, since I'm frequently oblivious). It's still a bit sweet for my taste, but it's solid. I agree with you on the others.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-14 01:33 am (UTC)Granted they weren't often, people were mostly whining over S6 or S3 Angel at the time.