The Buffyverse Hate/Love Post

[gryfndor_godess]

This is going to sound weirdly motivational and maybe preachy (apologies), but it’s almost 1:00 AM and I can’t sleep and I had an idea that I really, really want to try:

I’ve been feeling a lot of pent-up anger the past few days over politics, and I suspect I will continue to feel that way until we know for sure that the government isn’t going to shut down on August 2nd, and I’d like to release a little of that aggression in a non-harmful way by aiming it at the aspects of the Buffyverse that fill me with me with loathing. And since I don’t like spreading hatred and I really like finding silver linings that help me appreciate something that would otherwise only make me unhappy, I want to mix this hate up with love.

So here’s how it works:

Comment with something you hate about the Buffyverse. It can be anything except a character or writer (basically, a person). “I hate when Riley does x” is fine, but simply saying “I hate Riley/Dawn/Xander” is not. Same goes for the writers. Y’all know that I am no stranger to lambasting Joss Whedon for some of his choices, but now is not the time for saying “I hate Joss” either. Now is the time for saying something like, “I hate what Joss did to Cordelia in AtS S4.”

Here’s the challenge: For everything you hate about the Buffyverse, come up with something that resulted from it that you love. It can be a direct result or an extremely indirect result.

Examples:

1. “I hate that Angelus killed Jenny when she and Giles were about to reconnect and possibly consummate their love; I hate that we didn’t get to see the slow, sweet, mature love story they could have had; I hate that they didn’t get to have beautiful babies and grow old together and that Buffy and Willow didn’t get to be bridesmaids at their wedding (‘cause you know they would have been and they would have been adorable) and that Giles wasn’t forced to ask Xander to be his best man for lack of other male acquaintances.

However, I love the heartbreak and power of “Passion,” the emotions it evokes, the thoroughly unexpected shock of Angelus breaking Jenny’s neck, the awful imagery of Giles finding her on his bed, Giles going after Angelus, and Buffy crying to Giles and needing him to stay with her at the end.”

2. “I hate what the writers did to Cordelia in AtS S4. However, I love that we got the Spike-and-Angel proto-bromance in S5.”

I’m going to start off with a few comments about the things I hate and the things they result in that I love. Share your own hate/love stories, add something else you love to someone else’s hate, tell others how much you agree with them, write a comment!fic on what could have been! The only other rule besides not bashing a character/writer in and of him/herself is don’t judge other people for what they hate or love.

Find that silver lining!

Comments

[gryfndor-godess.livejournal.com]

YES. Oh man, Giles loses pretty much all my sympathy after S5. He abandoned every single person who depended on him, including a 15-year-old orphan- that upsets me almost as much as his abandonment of Buffy. What galls me even more is how Buffy (although I really think it's the writers using her as a mouthpiece rather realistic characterization) condones his actions at the end of S6 when he starts to apologize for having left. At least we get the adorable scene where Anya hugs him and tells him not to die.