Slayers in the refrigerator
Jul. 24th, 2008 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficOkay, this feels slightly like throwing chum into the water while there's already a feeding frenzy going on. Certainly, there are people more worthy of getting this kind of umbrage than Joss Whedon, but I'm a firm believer that if there are rules, they have to be across the board. "He's Joss" isn't a defense or an excuse (for that matter, neither is "Padalecki and Ackles are hot," Supernatural fandom).
It's been a while since I've watched either BtVS or AtS, and I haven't kept current with either of their epilogue comic books, so feel free to correct me if I get something wrong. But with the recent fridging of Penny, let's have some fun and rehash old stuff that has probably been stated better elsewhere! However, I'm probably not as pretentious as those better-staters, and any excuse to beunaccountably bitchy snarky, right?
Now, believe it or not, I do agree with Joss's reasoning on Penny. There's a reason people are called supporting characters after all (although in a series that really has only three characters, coming from a well-known creator of shows with ensemble casts seven-strong, you could ask why they're not all main characters... someone like Moist would be a far more classic example of a supporting character). And the point of the original WiR list wasn't that bad stuff happened to women, it's that it happened so fucking often. But even by my own caveated standards, BtVS has some pretty whole-sale fridging.
At first glance, the Buffyverse has the classic "but EVERYONE has bad stuff happen to them, not just women!" defense. Sure, Tara dies, but Angel didn't have a picnic either, what with getting resurrected and going off to have his own show. And yeah, Anya died, but so did Spike... it took a whole hiatus for him to get better!
Hmm...
See, it seems like when men leave the show, they get to do it with their head held high, but when women leave the show, it's in body bags. Oz and Riley and Giles all get dignified exits, while Jenny Calender and Kendra and Cordelia die and stay dead.
Of course, this being sci-fi, you have some examples that are hard to categorize... in Angel, Lilah dies and is "resurrected" as a ghost, but then she disappears... mmm-kay? And Fred dies (and has her soul eaten up so she can't possibly be brought back... ouch), but the actress continues playing the character who usurped Fred's body. Now I feel like Wall-E trying to decide whether to put that spork with the spoons or with the fork.
Fun note: Yes, Wesley dies in the finale... then he comes back in Angel: After The Fall. As does Warren in Season Eight, surviving being flayed alive. Seeing a pattern?
Now yes, I know, I know, had the show not been cancelled, Fred would've cropped up in Illyria's personality. But if that counts, then what about the episode of Firefly where Inara was supposed to get gang-raped? And from the description, it's so that Mal can be the sensitive Cap'n with the heart of gold who learns that calling people whores is bad. No description is given of how Inara reacts to GETTING FUCKED BY AN ARMY OF PSYCHO CANNIBALS, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME HERE? (Really, that whole idea is so strange I'm tempted to write it off as Minear trolling his own fandom. In which case, sir, you have nothing on gay Dumbledore.) If I learned one thing from the theme song to The Facts of Life, it's that you have to take the good and take the bad. That, and you'd be surprised how long people will femslash a show. Seriously, fics are still being written. To be that memorable, Jo and Blair must've been eyeshagging 24/7.
But I digress (frequently). There's also Joss Whedon's somewhat infamous plan for Tara to return if Amber Benson hadn't been such a big meanie about her character getting killed off so that Willow could become the Psycho Lesbian. So, has she shown up in the Buffy: Season Eight comics yet?
To be fair, this isn't true across the board. Buffy dies, twice, and comes back (although her name is in the title, so take that as far as it goes). And when Faith is put on a bus, it's through a coma so that she can later come back and (say it with me now) redeem herself. But I think there's a distressingly large ratio of men who go off to be awesome versus women who die tragically.
Before I get hate mail, I promise that the next time I do meta, I'll say some nice things about Serenity. Pinky swear.
It's been a while since I've watched either BtVS or AtS, and I haven't kept current with either of their epilogue comic books, so feel free to correct me if I get something wrong. But with the recent fridging of Penny, let's have some fun and rehash old stuff that has probably been stated better elsewhere! However, I'm probably not as pretentious as those better-staters, and any excuse to be
Now, believe it or not, I do agree with Joss's reasoning on Penny. There's a reason people are called supporting characters after all (although in a series that really has only three characters, coming from a well-known creator of shows with ensemble casts seven-strong, you could ask why they're not all main characters... someone like Moist would be a far more classic example of a supporting character). And the point of the original WiR list wasn't that bad stuff happened to women, it's that it happened so fucking often. But even by my own caveated standards, BtVS has some pretty whole-sale fridging.
At first glance, the Buffyverse has the classic "but EVERYONE has bad stuff happen to them, not just women!" defense. Sure, Tara dies, but Angel didn't have a picnic either, what with getting resurrected and going off to have his own show. And yeah, Anya died, but so did Spike... it took a whole hiatus for him to get better!
Hmm...
See, it seems like when men leave the show, they get to do it with their head held high, but when women leave the show, it's in body bags. Oz and Riley and Giles all get dignified exits, while Jenny Calender and Kendra and Cordelia die and stay dead.
Of course, this being sci-fi, you have some examples that are hard to categorize... in Angel, Lilah dies and is "resurrected" as a ghost, but then she disappears... mmm-kay? And Fred dies (and has her soul eaten up so she can't possibly be brought back... ouch), but the actress continues playing the character who usurped Fred's body. Now I feel like Wall-E trying to decide whether to put that spork with the spoons or with the fork.
Fun note: Yes, Wesley dies in the finale... then he comes back in Angel: After The Fall. As does Warren in Season Eight, surviving being flayed alive. Seeing a pattern?
Now yes, I know, I know, had the show not been cancelled, Fred would've cropped up in Illyria's personality. But if that counts, then what about the episode of Firefly where Inara was supposed to get gang-raped? And from the description, it's so that Mal can be the sensitive Cap'n with the heart of gold who learns that calling people whores is bad. No description is given of how Inara reacts to GETTING FUCKED BY AN ARMY OF PSYCHO CANNIBALS, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME HERE? (Really, that whole idea is so strange I'm tempted to write it off as Minear trolling his own fandom. In which case, sir, you have nothing on gay Dumbledore.) If I learned one thing from the theme song to The Facts of Life, it's that you have to take the good and take the bad. That, and you'd be surprised how long people will femslash a show. Seriously, fics are still being written. To be that memorable, Jo and Blair must've been eyeshagging 24/7.
But I digress (frequently). There's also Joss Whedon's somewhat infamous plan for Tara to return if Amber Benson hadn't been such a big meanie about her character getting killed off so that Willow could become the Psycho Lesbian. So, has she shown up in the Buffy: Season Eight comics yet?
To be fair, this isn't true across the board. Buffy dies, twice, and comes back (although her name is in the title, so take that as far as it goes). And when Faith is put on a bus, it's through a coma so that she can later come back and (say it with me now) redeem herself. But I think there's a distressingly large ratio of men who go off to be awesome versus women who die tragically.
Before I get hate mail, I promise that the next time I do meta, I'll say some nice things about Serenity. Pinky swear.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 06:58 pm (UTC)It's likely it's about Joss dealing with his mom dying when he was young. Writing out his issues and whatnot. ::shrug:: But that is speculation.