Done in By Expectations?

[shipperx]

sueworld2003 linked to this conversation yesterday. Now, I've made my feelings clear about possible plot twists in the comics (and I just saw that I didn't comment on most of the responses in my linked post. I'm sorry! I don't know what was going on in my life at that point, but I didn't mean to ignore anyone. My bad). Anyway, what intrigued me in the current conversation wasn't anything in regards to the comics. It was the question posed in the debate about whether viewing BtVS in a marathon Buffyfest leads to a different reaction than having watched the episodes as they aired. ( Maybe I should amend that to "having watched and been involved in fandom" as it aired. ) In short, my answer is, yeah, I think it does.

Personally, I enjoy marathon watching of seasons and/or shows. I watched all of Seasons 1 & 2 of "Deadwood" that way. All of Season 1 "Rome" that way. All of Seasons 1 & 2 of "The Tudors" that way. And all of "Band of Brothers" that way. I even watched roughly half of "Farscape" in that manner. It's fun to watch a show all in one fell swoop. Cliffhangers are a hell of a lot easier when you don't have to wait six months to find out what happens next. There's nothing wrong with watching a show back to back to back. In fact there's a great deal to recommend it. However, I do think that watching a show in that manner is by its nature different than watching a series in the long, drawn-out method complete with sweeps and summer and winter hiatuses. There's a different pace, and that pace changes the way that we experience what we view.

I have always suspected that Season 6 BtVS would play better in marathon viewing than in the way it actually aired (though I've never had the masochistic need to watch it in a marathon). I suspect in marathon viewing that the season of depression doesn't feel as long. With watching in marathon you have, what? A few days of depression to watch? In 'real time' viewing of Season 6, it was eight or nine months of unrelenting depression. The faux epiphanies probably aren't as soul-killing when relief is a disk away. Watching in real time, it was easy to believe that this time the epiphany might stick... only it didn't. And after the third or fourth non-stick epiphany over the course of several months, it's somewhat more understandable to have the urge to see someone to yell at Buffy to get the hell over it, already! It had gone on more than long enough.

I remember quite well the minor implosion of fandom (and the tanking of the ratings) with "Hells Bells". It was like, if they could make Xander and Anya's comedic pairing into a thing of depression, then what in the hell was left? Exacerbating the situation was the fact that even as "Hells Bells" aired, spoilers for "Seeing Red" were out. That one-two punch proved too much for a lot of people. Ratings never really recovered. Kitten Jihad followed. And Spike fans were faced with... ::shudder:: At the "Hells Bells" juncture, not only was there no light left in the show, but also spoilers indicated that things were only going to get worse for the forseeable future, which at that time was three or four months! No wonder the fandom went batshit crazy. (ETA: And on further thought, another factor in viewing may be the real world in addition to show pacing. I'm sure that the dark pall of Season 6 probably felt more dark and less bearable due to the the fact that it was airing during the aftermath of 9/11 {I particularly remember the qualms I felt watching the Glory tower collapse a mere few weeks after the Twin Towers collapse.} In light of the general real-world atmosphere at that period, the fact that the fandom went insane doesn't even seem surprising.)

Time definitely impacts the way that we experience something.

But it isn't about time, or, rather it isn't just about time. I think it's partially about expectations. Time plays into expectations. When you're given an episode that is followed by a two month break, you (and fandom at large) then obsess on that the episode. Elements in those episodes (eye of botox, there is a 'vessel', it eats you from the bottom, etc) tend to take on an importance in that negative space that they probably would not have had the next episode been a DVD menu choice away.

I think when watching a series via DVD, it's easier to simply follow the story that is told. When watching, and involved in a fandom, during 'real time' seasons we're more aware of -- and more likely to mentally explore -- the roads not taken. And because it's real time, because we don't know whether that's the road that the show will take, we ponder all roads somewhat equally and pick the one that most suits us. Then, if the show chooses a different road, disappointment is bound to happen. Real-time viewers don't have foreknowledge, and sometimes canon writer paths only look inevitable due to hindsight, hindsight based on the cumulative choices canon made, as opposed to the ones they could have made. Episodes, when viewed in quick succession, can give an impression of inevitability that slower-paced extended viewing didn't give.

One reason I've been thinking about this isn't the BtVS conversation. While over on the OLTL TWOP board recently, I've noticed some clear divides in fans. There are definite differences based on what stories/characters/directions people are invested in. People who are quite invested in one character and in one specific trajectory for that character(or any character. There's more than one character/fan group who have this issue) are understandably bothered if the show goes a different route. And given the years long duration of characters and stories, there are fans with one hell of a lot of investment in a certain trajectory and thus are pretty intractable as far as what's "acceptable" to them.

Ages ago rahirah discussed how fandom views Spike. How even Spike fans view Spike in a wide range of ways. And the degree to which "our Spike" overlaps the view of someone else's Spike or someone's fanfic Spike probably has a great deal to do with our experience of the fic and what we perceive to be "in" or "out" of character. (I know I'm mangling what rahirah wrote. I hope I managed to express the gist of it, though). There is subjective latitude in the viewing of a character. In the Spike fandom I've definitely learned that there's a wide range of views of Spike. And, even when people agree on aspects of his personality, what specific trait comes first for one person as opposed to another still differs. That degree of separation also exists between fandom and canon writers. What may be most important to me, or to my corner of fandom may have only cursory common ground with the way that the canon writers view it. In short, what's most crucial to me, may not be very important (or important at all) to the writer.

Back to the OLTL TWOP stuff, there are people quite unhappy about the direction of one character because they were quite invested in him being mostly a human being (rather than a pathological narcissist and probable sociopath). I understand (God, being a Spike fan boy do I understand) being invested in a 'redemptive' type plot. However, I think anyone with any objectivity regarding the OLTL character has to admit that while it may not have been the direction that they wanted the character to go, it's really damn difficult to come up with an argument that the character couldn't go down this path just because it's an unpopular one.

There is a difference in preference and "out of character" or "bad storytelling". It's perfectly possible to take the basic characterization and choose left instead of right. . . I just may not want the story to go "right". And, if it does, I may be haunted by the road not taken, perhaps convinced that I prefer the road not taken. Perhaps I even feel that the road not taken would have been the better road. And, because I watched in real time, I invested a lot of thought in what that road might be like, in where it might lead, and then for the show to chose a different road, going to an entirely different destination, I may end up wondering why the canon writer chose that road.

I don't think marathon viewing (as opposed to real-time viewing) leads to as many pauses at the junctures of diverging paths. You speed right past the four way stop, going with the road the writer chose, barely aware of the alternatives that flew by your window. Real-time viewing frequently left fandom at a stop light for-freaking-ever, allowing everyone on the damn bus to have their say as to merits of one road versus another, allowing people to become personally attached to "choose left" or "choose right," and leaving them screaming about road signs that led them to their particular road choice. Meanwhile, in the marathon viewing express lane, people never really noticed the roadsigns that the stalled "choose lefters" and "choose righters" obsessed upon, leaving the express laners to wonder why the "road not taken" crew are still bitching about the road sign at mile marker 98.

To pull out something I said on Daytime TWOP (and to change the analogy to an entirely different set if inanimate objects):

In response to this post:
[The Show] is sort of like a very well-baked cake that somehow still doesn't quite taste right. At least in my opinion. I know the show is well-constructed, and I know it's better than anything else in daytime, but I don't think the show needed to take the story turns they've taken in the past 6 months.

I wrote:
I think there's certain bit of it that is a matter of preference as opposed to whether or not it's well-made. {...}To go with the cake analogy. It may be a well-baked dark German Chocolate cake, but maybe you were wanting carrot cake or expecting milk chocolate icing on yellow cake or you prefer Red Velvet. You may be unhappy with the German Chocolate and think it tastes weird, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad German Chocolate (nor does it mean you're wrong in being unhappy you got German Chocolate when you don't like it. {The writer} didn't consult fans about what kind of cake to bake. Personally, I rather dislike German Chocolate cake, but that's a matter of preference not a critical judgment.)

To bring this full circle and the linked discussion regarding the comics, I don't think people expressing doubt that Joss will explore Spike's connection to Buffy is purely a matter of cynicism or bitterness. I think it's also a matter of observation. After a while, you learn that Joss has a preference for German Chocolate Cake. And, though we may want Red Velvet, and may think his purchasing chocolate means he still has the option to make Red Velvet, it doesn't mean that people are reacting bitterly when they say that Joss is probably making another German Chocolate Cake. Joss likes German Chocolate. And Joss is entitled to like whatever cake he likes. But it's also fair to suspect, due to his preferences, that he's making German Chocolate. And, if we have a hankering for Red Velvet, maybe we aren't interested in another German Chocolate cake. If you like German Chocolate, then eat up. Enjoy! If, however, you still want Red Velvet, you may be better served to bake your own.

I'm just sayin...