My Whedonverse Issues - Part 3,000,006
Apr. 14th, 2005 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxTurning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
~Yeats
You want to know what I think? I think Joss is a maddening, depressive git. No. Really. Ultimately, I think that's what a lot of my Whedonverse issues boil down to. Except it's not only that. I also (*gasp*) don't think Joss is anything like God. Or if he is, there's a reason why I tend to closely resemble an atheist.
Having read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deborahmm Alexis Denisof's interview and elsaf musing on Whedonverse "romance" I find my minds eye unhappily cast back to Season 6 BtVS.
I remember Joss's post Season 6arrogant quote about how once fans calmed down we would eventually see the brilliance of Season 6. Well, I don't know whether I'm calm, but it's been three years and. . .still not seeing the brilliance.
The thing is, Joss loves tragedy and subverting expectations. And while that's a valid method of storytelling, simply subverting expecations doesn't necessarily mean that it's good storytelling. Making fans scream doesn't cannote brilliance. Controversy is not an accolade. It's not brilliant simply because it is outside story convention. That isn't to say that one must follow expectations to be good. It's just that Season 6 isn't bad because it subverted expectations and went down a dark path. It's bad because it's bad. . . regardless of subverted expectations.
I come back to the line "the centre cannot hold". That definitely seems to have been the goal of Season 6 BtVS. (And a recurring theme for Joss in general). I believe Joss even produced that quote once. And if in doubt there, Mutant Enemy actually used "Slouching toward Bethlehem" as an AtS title that same season. And the line "best lack all conviction" definitely harkens back to the Season 5 AtS ep "Conviction." And I wonder whether Season 6 Spike was to be "...the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Again, nothing is inherently wrong with such a story direction. I don't always hate such a story direction. In fact, my "TV's perfect season" contender of Farscape Season 3 personifies the "centre cannot hold" motif.
So, I contend the problem isn't that Joss and Marti took such a direction. The reason that Season 6 is apalling is that it was very poorly DONE.
It's true that Farscape Season 3 and BtVS Season 6 share "the centre cannot hold" mentality. But my reactions to the seasons are night and day. Farscape's Season of Death (whole season not just that episode) soared with angst and heartache, ending the season with all of the characters hopelessly emotionally (and physically) separated. It was beauty in its terribleness. BtVS also ended the season in heartache and despair and yet. . .I find no beauty there, just pain.
I think that what makes the difference is that Farscape's season appeared generated by character. When the group falls apart in Season 3 Farscape you can see no way for it to have happened differently. Given the same circumstances, the same characters would have done just about the same things because it was all so very true to who they were.
Every character's choices, though painful, were motivated organically out of the character's unique sensibilities, strengths, and weaknesses. They didn't come out of left field and you cannot see how they could have chosen any differently even though you ache for them and wish that they could.
See, that's it. You ache for them. They never lose your sympathy as the season spirals toward tragedy, miscommunication, devestating choices and pain... so much pain. BtVS's characters in Season 6 seemed pushed and prodded into contorted positions to make for more angst. The characters could have made different choices, but those choices while still in character, wouldn't have led to as much pain as ME wanted to inflict.
I still find it improbable, nigh on impossible to see why they plotted the AR... except for the most mean and manipulative of reasons. Yes, any character could be pushed to that breaking point, not just Spike. But isn't good plotting to have things happen out of character, not forcing a character to an emotional meltdown simply to cause aberrant behavior, not cornering your character and pushing them off a cliff!
And then there's Buffy. I lost any and all sympathy with Buffy. Her circumstances by the end of Season 6 are not because of choices she would inevitably make, but by her refusal to MAKE any damn decisions. I don't sympathize with her or her angst. . . I want to kick her ass.
Whereas the implosion of the Crichton/Aeryn relationship at the end of Season 3 makes me love the characters even more in their frailties and mistakes. . . I still want to kick Buffy's ass.
There was the loss of potential in Season 3 FS. I weep for Aeryn when she says "I could have changed. . ." and "I would have gone to earth with you. . ." And I'm so frustrated when she looks at John and tells him, "It's too late. It's too late for me." But I also completely empathize with why she says it. I know why she feels that way. At that point in time, after all the death and destruction and hurt... how could she not?
And I ache for John and all his romantic (breaking) heart as he insists "I'm not letting the best thing in my life fly away..." and how "anyplace in the universe..." to be with her. Except, of course, it's too late. The center cannot hold. She leaves him... not in the dust in a "blowed-up-real-good" crypt, but stranded emotionally and physically in an abyss of black with nowhere to go. Utterly alone. Abadonned.
The Scoobs are scattered to the winds in Season 6 (though some halfhearted effort, crayola speech, and blooming oleander is supposed to patch over the emotional devestation) just as the crew of Moya have departed separate ways at the end of Season 3 Farscape -- Crais is dead, Talyn is dead, Chi is heading to...wherever, as are Jool, D'Argo, and Rygel. Crichton is left alone without even a home to go to (hell, even Moya inadvertantly abandons him).
On both shows, there's this spiral downward through the seasons as relationships fracture, hearts are broken, alliances lose their bonds. Yet, though Farscape's season finale is perhaps even more dark, it plays better. There is a sense in Farscape that these are good people who did their best, but it wasn't enough, the center simply could not hold (and each character returns the next season older, wiser, and more mature... unlike Buffy).
On BtVS... the characters were more often than not, simply hateful in Season 6. And while their behavior is no where near as consistently bad the next season, it never seems that it's because they learned and matured through Season 6. It's just "season 6 is over and we're trying not to be that dark now." Eh.
We don't blame Farscape's characters for breaking their bonds. Each choice is within character. How can Aeryn stay when being around John is killing her inside? How can John not be hurt by her turning away? Yes, Aeryn is harsh as she chooses to leave. Yes, John has his obsessions with home. I love the moment in the Season 3 finale when John realizes that his dream of home and his dream of Aeryn are mutally incompatible, when he admits aloud, "none of my dreams seem to work anymore." Yes, yes, yes. It's all there, in the characters. Not forced out of plot, but outgrowth of character. Whereas on BtVS Season 6, you want to shake the characters "Do something ELSE, you nitwit!" "God, you are CREATING this pain, you bitch!" Whereas you don't tend to feel that with Farscape's Season 3 characters. You hurt. It's terrible. But what else could they do and still be true to who they are? Aeryn would close down emotionally. Crichton would obsess. There would be jealousy. There would be heroism. There would be chances of death. They would hurt one another in a thousand ways. And the relationship... would implode.
Joss likes to claim that Season 6 is a disaster because people cannot embrace a dark tale of emotional destruction. I say, not true. Season 3 Farscape is that, and the season is GOOD.
I say Season 6 is a disaster because, isolated episodes aside, the arc isn't solid. It's often contrived and poorly told. It's frustrating, manipulative, ill-paced, and often acted listlessly [Yes, SMG I'm glaring at you].
It's either delusion or denial when Joss says that someday we'll all look back and realize how good Season 6 is. Er...uh... seriously, doubt it. There's not enough sea to change the current that significantly. I'm fairly certain I will always look back and see it as seriously flawed and a waste of potential. Not because it was dark. Dark can be brilliant, but because (again brilliant on-off eps aside) it isn't very good. The overall plot does not hold. The concept of the season could be done brilliantly (if it was character based more than "I want angst and pain" based). It isn't. Sorry, Joss, Marti. Angst in and of itself isn't bad... but bad angst is awful. Season 6 was a grand experiment gone woeofully awry with poor planning and spotty execution. (Which, sadly, still makes it superior to Season 7 that lacked due having no plan at all).
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
~Yeats
You want to know what I think? I think Joss is a maddening, depressive git. No. Really. Ultimately, I think that's what a lot of my Whedonverse issues boil down to. Except it's not only that. I also (*gasp*) don't think Joss is anything like God. Or if he is, there's a reason why I tend to closely resemble an atheist.
Having read
deborahmm Alexis Denisof's interview and elsaf musing on Whedonverse "romance" I find my minds eye unhappily cast back to Season 6 BtVS.I remember Joss's post Season 6
The thing is, Joss loves tragedy and subverting expectations. And while that's a valid method of storytelling, simply subverting expecations doesn't necessarily mean that it's good storytelling. Making fans scream doesn't cannote brilliance. Controversy is not an accolade. It's not brilliant simply because it is outside story convention. That isn't to say that one must follow expectations to be good. It's just that Season 6 isn't bad because it subverted expectations and went down a dark path. It's bad because it's bad. . . regardless of subverted expectations.
I come back to the line "the centre cannot hold". That definitely seems to have been the goal of Season 6 BtVS. (And a recurring theme for Joss in general). I believe Joss even produced that quote once. And if in doubt there, Mutant Enemy actually used "Slouching toward Bethlehem" as an AtS title that same season. And the line "best lack all conviction" definitely harkens back to the Season 5 AtS ep "Conviction." And I wonder whether Season 6 Spike was to be "...the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Again, nothing is inherently wrong with such a story direction. I don't always hate such a story direction. In fact, my "TV's perfect season" contender of Farscape Season 3 personifies the "centre cannot hold" motif.
So, I contend the problem isn't that Joss and Marti took such a direction. The reason that Season 6 is apalling is that it was very poorly DONE.
It's true that Farscape Season 3 and BtVS Season 6 share "the centre cannot hold" mentality. But my reactions to the seasons are night and day. Farscape's Season of Death (whole season not just that episode) soared with angst and heartache, ending the season with all of the characters hopelessly emotionally (and physically) separated. It was beauty in its terribleness. BtVS also ended the season in heartache and despair and yet. . .I find no beauty there, just pain.
I think that what makes the difference is that Farscape's season appeared generated by character. When the group falls apart in Season 3 Farscape you can see no way for it to have happened differently. Given the same circumstances, the same characters would have done just about the same things because it was all so very true to who they were.
Every character's choices, though painful, were motivated organically out of the character's unique sensibilities, strengths, and weaknesses. They didn't come out of left field and you cannot see how they could have chosen any differently even though you ache for them and wish that they could.
See, that's it. You ache for them. They never lose your sympathy as the season spirals toward tragedy, miscommunication, devestating choices and pain... so much pain. BtVS's characters in Season 6 seemed pushed and prodded into contorted positions to make for more angst. The characters could have made different choices, but those choices while still in character, wouldn't have led to as much pain as ME wanted to inflict.
I still find it improbable, nigh on impossible to see why they plotted the AR... except for the most mean and manipulative of reasons. Yes, any character could be pushed to that breaking point, not just Spike. But isn't good plotting to have things happen out of character, not forcing a character to an emotional meltdown simply to cause aberrant behavior, not cornering your character and pushing them off a cliff!
And then there's Buffy. I lost any and all sympathy with Buffy. Her circumstances by the end of Season 6 are not because of choices she would inevitably make, but by her refusal to MAKE any damn decisions. I don't sympathize with her or her angst. . . I want to kick her ass.
Whereas the implosion of the Crichton/Aeryn relationship at the end of Season 3 makes me love the characters even more in their frailties and mistakes. . . I still want to kick Buffy's ass.
There was the loss of potential in Season 3 FS. I weep for Aeryn when she says "I could have changed. . ." and "I would have gone to earth with you. . ." And I'm so frustrated when she looks at John and tells him, "It's too late. It's too late for me." But I also completely empathize with why she says it. I know why she feels that way. At that point in time, after all the death and destruction and hurt... how could she not?
And I ache for John and all his romantic (breaking) heart as he insists "I'm not letting the best thing in my life fly away..." and how "anyplace in the universe..." to be with her. Except, of course, it's too late. The center cannot hold. She leaves him... not in the dust in a "blowed-up-real-good" crypt, but stranded emotionally and physically in an abyss of black with nowhere to go. Utterly alone. Abadonned.
The Scoobs are scattered to the winds in Season 6 (though some halfhearted effort, crayola speech, and blooming oleander is supposed to patch over the emotional devestation) just as the crew of Moya have departed separate ways at the end of Season 3 Farscape -- Crais is dead, Talyn is dead, Chi is heading to...wherever, as are Jool, D'Argo, and Rygel. Crichton is left alone without even a home to go to (hell, even Moya inadvertantly abandons him).
On both shows, there's this spiral downward through the seasons as relationships fracture, hearts are broken, alliances lose their bonds. Yet, though Farscape's season finale is perhaps even more dark, it plays better. There is a sense in Farscape that these are good people who did their best, but it wasn't enough, the center simply could not hold (and each character returns the next season older, wiser, and more mature... unlike Buffy).
On BtVS... the characters were more often than not, simply hateful in Season 6. And while their behavior is no where near as consistently bad the next season, it never seems that it's because they learned and matured through Season 6. It's just "season 6 is over and we're trying not to be that dark now." Eh.
We don't blame Farscape's characters for breaking their bonds. Each choice is within character. How can Aeryn stay when being around John is killing her inside? How can John not be hurt by her turning away? Yes, Aeryn is harsh as she chooses to leave. Yes, John has his obsessions with home. I love the moment in the Season 3 finale when John realizes that his dream of home and his dream of Aeryn are mutally incompatible, when he admits aloud, "none of my dreams seem to work anymore." Yes, yes, yes. It's all there, in the characters. Not forced out of plot, but outgrowth of character. Whereas on BtVS Season 6, you want to shake the characters "Do something ELSE, you nitwit!" "God, you are CREATING this pain, you bitch!" Whereas you don't tend to feel that with Farscape's Season 3 characters. You hurt. It's terrible. But what else could they do and still be true to who they are? Aeryn would close down emotionally. Crichton would obsess. There would be jealousy. There would be heroism. There would be chances of death. They would hurt one another in a thousand ways. And the relationship... would implode.
Joss likes to claim that Season 6 is a disaster because people cannot embrace a dark tale of emotional destruction. I say, not true. Season 3 Farscape is that, and the season is GOOD.
I say Season 6 is a disaster because, isolated episodes aside, the arc isn't solid. It's often contrived and poorly told. It's frustrating, manipulative, ill-paced, and often acted listlessly [Yes, SMG I'm glaring at you].
It's either delusion or denial when Joss says that someday we'll all look back and realize how good Season 6 is. Er...uh... seriously, doubt it. There's not enough sea to change the current that significantly. I'm fairly certain I will always look back and see it as seriously flawed and a waste of potential. Not because it was dark. Dark can be brilliant, but because (again brilliant on-off eps aside) it isn't very good. The overall plot does not hold. The concept of the season could be done brilliantly (if it was character based more than "I want angst and pain" based). It isn't. Sorry, Joss, Marti. Angst in and of itself isn't bad... but bad angst is awful. Season 6 was a grand experiment gone woeofully awry with poor planning and spotty execution. (Which, sadly, still makes it superior to Season 7 that lacked due having no plan at all).
