Thinky thoughts of the Spike-ish kind

[lirazel]

This is one of those "I'm having a conversation on whedonesque; tell me what you think about what I'm saying" posts.

This particular conversation starts out about Willow/Tara (and my thoughts line up precisely with Emmie's, big surprise there) and then becomes about S6 and then, finally, becomes about Spike.

And I just wrote a novel.

But I feel like I left something vital out.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

This is exactly how I feel.

I hate to keep harping on this, but I have to wonder: if Xander had done this to Anya or Oz to Willow or any of Buffy's BFs to her...would people wave it away this way? Or is it just that people don't see this for what this is because it's two women?

On the other hand, I see some people wave away some of Angel's behavior that I find reprehensible, so probably not. I'm just really interested in gender in S6.

*ponders*

[next_to_normal]

I don't know. I think in most cases it has more to do with fan preferences than anything else - witness Angel fans who lambaste Spike for the AR but forgive everything Angelus did, or Spike fans who forgive Spike for the AR but won't excuse Xander in "The Pack."

I guess the closest comparison to Willow would be Angel's deal with W&H, and I'd say the breakdown of acceptance vs. condemnation in fandom is about the same for both characters. (Although it might skew opinions a bit that "trying to save your son" is somewhat of a better reason than "trying to avoid an argument.")

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I think you're right.

And I do think the comparison works: I think what Angel did was completely wrong, but I have more compassion and understanding towards that action (even though I'm not usually a big fan Angel-fan in general) because it was "trying to save his son" (and I have a weakness for the Angel-Connor relationship).