Forgive Me If I Talk In Circles

[shipperx]

The problem is... I just think Joss is WRONG.

Joss seems to create a universe where power is evil. You can't beat it so you give the finger and you rush headlong into your death. Have these heroes outlived their time? Why would any of us believe that? They are still fighting the good fight and the danger is ever present. We know that even if they put a spoke in the wheel, just LAST WEEK we were told if there's a power vacuum, chaos and death would follow. So what is Angel accomplishing here other than one statement of "he's his own man" after which the SP will simply regroup and go on. . .just as FOX and the WB will go on even though joss shoots THEM the finger.

It's a hollow gesture.

And why? WHY? Because they are such iconoclasts that they can't see the value in taking care of the small things? It has to be a big statement?

And an even bigger issue... I don't think Angel is RIGHT, here. The message is too muddled. If the problem with power and with evil is that you lose sight of the small things and end up being corrupted and doing evil. . .then isn't a plan where you discount the small things as unimportant because you're focusing on something MORE important sort of contradictory???! I know that Angel's goal is good, but isn't a Machiavellian concept of "the end justifies the means" edging pretty damn close to corruption in and of itself? (and lets just ignore last years "you can't do good by using evil")

I know there's something to be said of Heroes doing what others cant... but throwing yourself off the cliff like a lemming is throwing yourself off a cliff like a lemming. Think of the good that could be done.

Killing off the minions of evil? Dude, we've already seen that they're all over the place. Kill off the circle of the thorn and evil middle-management is going to be yelling "Woohoo! Time for a promotion!" Evil is replaceable. Look how incredibly easy the succession of heads of W&H has been. It never took a moment to replace them. . .whereas I think it's a hell of a lot more difficult to replace uniquely rare beings such as vampires with souls that help the helpless. Only TWO of those ever iin the history of existence. who takes THEIR place when they're gone?

And, again, beyond the Angel's questionable goal and tactics, I think my primary problem is that I just believe that Joss is WRONG. He sees this world as "this hell" and this ever continuing apocalypse. Evil is a real presence that CONTROLS all the power whereas there is not real ultimate power of good. You fight. You suffer. You lose. you die. Such is life in the Whedonverse... and its just WRONG. Glory isn't found in magnificent futile gestures that end in death... it's in LIVING in an honorable manner. Victory isn't in gestures but in pushing forward relentlessly. And, dude, JOSS, the world is NOT out to destroy you! Life doesn't always degenerate to hell. Evil isn't the only power that all you can do is struggle in vain against it.

The world simply IS. It's not "out to get you." The deck isn't always stacked against you. Good is not helpless or ineffective in the face of evil. I just don't buy into that! Joss seems to have a singularly depressive outlook at life. Struggle and die... Its a game. Meaningless but I'm compelled to play on.

Oh, Joss, grow up and get over yourself!

Life isn't a gamn. It's your freaking LIFE. Live it. Enjoy it. Don't waste it. Do what you can to make your life and the lives around you BETTER. That was the message of Epiphany (and probably belonged to Greenwalt) and it's a hell of a lot better message than this one.

I'm no pollyanna that things that good should and does triumph over evil. I don't think that human nature is inately good. I don't think the WORLD is innately good. On the other hand, I don't think mankind is inately evil. I don't think the world is inately evil. I think the world simply IS. I think that people are complex and they are indivuduals. Some are good. Some are bad. Most are mixtures. And you try to do what you can to see that more good is done than bad is done and if enough people do that then the world becomes a better place.

It's not about futile gestures. It's about doing what you can, where you can, and you don't waste your life.

Sigh. I have issues with Joss. I just don't like his world philosophy. I think he just needs a nice dose of lithium or prozac or zoloft, because railing at fate and giving corporations the finger as you go down in flames really isn't accomplishing much. Corporations are just going to go replace you with some bullshit like "The Mountain" or "Jack and Bobby." Meanwhile you sacrificed your heroes for. . .not so much.

It's depressing. And so is Joss. And I simply reject it.

When do we start writing Virtual Season 6?