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gwynSpoilers for Buffy episode 2/25, Storyteller -- beware!
One of the things I've found interesting this year that Buffy's been doing (well, the show, I mean, not Buffy herself) is that they've stepped back a bit from their pattern of subverting the tropes and foundational elements of their stories, something they've done pretty consistently since the show started. Instead of necessarily making fun of their own making fun, they've taken the tropes and either expanded on them, or used them in different ways to accomplish a somewhat similar goal. I'd grown very used to the way they subverted their own storytelling or mocked the genre cliches they used, so it took me a while to realize that in some ways, they're actually doing more straightforward storytelling than they have in the past, even in the context of largely humorous episodes like last night's, or Selfless. There's the usual cultural gutting, but it hasn't been as overt as in the past.
Storyteller really brought this home for me. It starts out with the usual cliches as you'd expect them to be for an Andrew-centric story (his imagination making him Alistair Cooke, or the evil genius scientist, and so on), and then the usual skewering of those pretensions (he's in the bathroom on the toilet, hiding, or he's being besieged by the Scoobies), but underneath there's a more straightforward story that not only shows us who Andrew is, but also shows us who other characters are by their reactions to him and the manner in which he chooses to see them (and how they relate to him). And it did it all with seriously deft humor.herself_nyc discusses some of the other things I really liked last night, especially the fanfictiony quality of how Andrew views the others (and how they view their own relationships), and she also mentions something I thought was cool, a very Rosencrantz and Guildenstern quality to the Mexico scenes -- go read her, she's more coherent and intelligent about it than I could ever hope to be.
What fascinated me most about last night, and what will linger for me long after the jokes and the Andrew story are gone, was that we found out something really important not just about Andrew, but about Buffy, in the end. While the focus of the final big scene was on Andrew finally admitting what he'd done, and really understanding who he was and what he was capable of, it was Buffy we found out new things about. Andrew, we knew -- even if he didn't know. But this part of Buffy was fascinating -- she'd planned it out, she knew what had to happen, and she was willing to go to whatever lengths it took to make it happen. This is another part of that adult nature I really was blown away by from the past few eps -- she keeps getting more and more steady and sure of herself even while she's feeling more and more vulnerable and afraid. Her scene with Andrew showed us just how far she's come -- and while the humor targets this whole Buffy as speechifying general stuff, the drama shows us just how much of a strategist and leader she really is.
But of course, it's hard to separate the humor from all of it, and it was just delightful. I have already replayed the scene with Buffy and Spike a number of times (shut up!), not just because it's one teeny glimpse of Spuffiness in a long sea of no contact, but also because I just loved seeing how the two interacted in Andrew's imagination -- that he sees them with the same romantic, soft lighting and tender regard that fans see them is meta funny while still being a satisfying little glimpse of something we S/B writers want to see (and a pretty damn nifty trick for Jane Espenson to have pulled off). And while Xander and Anya's attempts to find out their real feelings was funny at times, it was also horribly poignant and sad to see just how far past the line of recovery they've fallen. Andrew watching and replaying that conversation, and having memorized Anya's lines, broke my heart -- I'm sure there were people who thought it was funny, but for me, the initial laugh was followed immediately by a sad ache, because we're being confronted with just how sad and pathetic Andrew is, and how much he gets out of these romantic images, whether tragic or melodramatic. And again, this is a very fanficcy setup, and one that normally we'd see ME subvert, but which here they'd kept straightforward with a very keen, sharp, cutting edge.
The in-jokes were wonderful too -- Principal Spooky and Spike's "sexual tension" being possibly my favorite. It's always driven me half-crazy how fans, especially slash fans, are so desperate to find UST in a show that they'll create it even when there is none, or how they immediately pick up on anger or hate as UST even when, sometimes, it's just anger or hate, so I adored that this incredibly significant emotion on Wood's part was being reduced to UST by Andrew -- and the other joke in there that Spike automatically seems to create that feeling in anyone, regardless of who they are or what they feel. I also loved the graffiti on the school walls -- the lovely lameness of the sentiments was brilliant.
All in all, a fabulous episode with some seriously fannish humor. I'd expected far less, because Andrew, for me, isn't a main character and I've been concerned he would lose his effectiveness as a guestage by being brought too far forward, but they handled this nicely -- possibly becuase they didn't spend the time subverting the story, but rolling with it instead. I'll treasure the humor, but in the end, what will stick with me will be the glimpses of the other characters -- especially this new, adult Buffy -- that show us the new identities they've developed and are still creating.
One of the things I've found interesting this year that Buffy's been doing (well, the show, I mean, not Buffy herself) is that they've stepped back a bit from their pattern of subverting the tropes and foundational elements of their stories, something they've done pretty consistently since the show started. Instead of necessarily making fun of their own making fun, they've taken the tropes and either expanded on them, or used them in different ways to accomplish a somewhat similar goal. I'd grown very used to the way they subverted their own storytelling or mocked the genre cliches they used, so it took me a while to realize that in some ways, they're actually doing more straightforward storytelling than they have in the past, even in the context of largely humorous episodes like last night's, or Selfless. There's the usual cultural gutting, but it hasn't been as overt as in the past.
Storyteller really brought this home for me. It starts out with the usual cliches as you'd expect them to be for an Andrew-centric story (his imagination making him Alistair Cooke, or the evil genius scientist, and so on), and then the usual skewering of those pretensions (he's in the bathroom on the toilet, hiding, or he's being besieged by the Scoobies), but underneath there's a more straightforward story that not only shows us who Andrew is, but also shows us who other characters are by their reactions to him and the manner in which he chooses to see them (and how they relate to him). And it did it all with seriously deft humor.
herself_nyc discusses some of the other things I really liked last night, especially the fanfictiony quality of how Andrew views the others (and how they view their own relationships), and she also mentions something I thought was cool, a very Rosencrantz and Guildenstern quality to the Mexico scenes -- go read her, she's more coherent and intelligent about it than I could ever hope to be.What fascinated me most about last night, and what will linger for me long after the jokes and the Andrew story are gone, was that we found out something really important not just about Andrew, but about Buffy, in the end. While the focus of the final big scene was on Andrew finally admitting what he'd done, and really understanding who he was and what he was capable of, it was Buffy we found out new things about. Andrew, we knew -- even if he didn't know. But this part of Buffy was fascinating -- she'd planned it out, she knew what had to happen, and she was willing to go to whatever lengths it took to make it happen. This is another part of that adult nature I really was blown away by from the past few eps -- she keeps getting more and more steady and sure of herself even while she's feeling more and more vulnerable and afraid. Her scene with Andrew showed us just how far she's come -- and while the humor targets this whole Buffy as speechifying general stuff, the drama shows us just how much of a strategist and leader she really is.
But of course, it's hard to separate the humor from all of it, and it was just delightful. I have already replayed the scene with Buffy and Spike a number of times (shut up!), not just because it's one teeny glimpse of Spuffiness in a long sea of no contact, but also because I just loved seeing how the two interacted in Andrew's imagination -- that he sees them with the same romantic, soft lighting and tender regard that fans see them is meta funny while still being a satisfying little glimpse of something we S/B writers want to see (and a pretty damn nifty trick for Jane Espenson to have pulled off). And while Xander and Anya's attempts to find out their real feelings was funny at times, it was also horribly poignant and sad to see just how far past the line of recovery they've fallen. Andrew watching and replaying that conversation, and having memorized Anya's lines, broke my heart -- I'm sure there were people who thought it was funny, but for me, the initial laugh was followed immediately by a sad ache, because we're being confronted with just how sad and pathetic Andrew is, and how much he gets out of these romantic images, whether tragic or melodramatic. And again, this is a very fanficcy setup, and one that normally we'd see ME subvert, but which here they'd kept straightforward with a very keen, sharp, cutting edge.
The in-jokes were wonderful too -- Principal Spooky and Spike's "sexual tension" being possibly my favorite. It's always driven me half-crazy how fans, especially slash fans, are so desperate to find UST in a show that they'll create it even when there is none, or how they immediately pick up on anger or hate as UST even when, sometimes, it's just anger or hate, so I adored that this incredibly significant emotion on Wood's part was being reduced to UST by Andrew -- and the other joke in there that Spike automatically seems to create that feeling in anyone, regardless of who they are or what they feel. I also loved the graffiti on the school walls -- the lovely lameness of the sentiments was brilliant.
All in all, a fabulous episode with some seriously fannish humor. I'd expected far less, because Andrew, for me, isn't a main character and I've been concerned he would lose his effectiveness as a guestage by being brought too far forward, but they handled this nicely -- possibly becuase they didn't spend the time subverting the story, but rolling with it instead. I'll treasure the humor, but in the end, what will stick with me will be the glimpses of the other characters -- especially this new, adult Buffy -- that show us the new identities they've developed and are still creating.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 10:59 am (UTC)You ascribe too much to my own mutterings--I was only referring to a piece of terrific fanfic I read last summer called "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in Mazatlan." I forget who wrote it. It was about Jonathan.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 02:38 pm (UTC)It's always driven me half-crazy how fans, especially slash fans, are so desperate to find UST in a show that they'll create it even when there is none, or how they immediately pick up on anger or hate as UST even when, sometimes, it's just anger or hate, so I adored that this incredibly significant emotion on Wood's part was being reduced to UST by Andrew -- and the other joke in there that Spike automatically seems to create that feeling in anyone, regardless of who they are or what they feel.
I loved that joke too, it sort of touches on why I've been able to buy into S/Angel but never S/X. The first I can imagine because of off-screen history and on-screen reactions by the actors, but the second... I just can't imagine the Spike and Xander that we see on screen would ever want sexual contact, because there's just too much mutual resentment and disgust for it to ever happen. And not the hot 'I hate you cause I want you' disgust that B&S had onscreen, juat the 'I wish you would go away and die' disgust.
But having Andrew announce that there was UST between Wood and Spike cracked me up, because it never struck me as sexual tension at all, and it seems to be more on Wood's side than mutual. In the scenes we've seen of them together, Spike doesn't seem to get bothered by the principal's presence until Wood initates some kind of antagonism, after which Spike naturally gets defensive.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 04:29 pm (UTC)I loved it so much because it was such a fannish thing to say, to think he sees, and since he's acting lately like he is a fanboy of the Slayer and her Gang, it just slides in perfectly. And it's so obviously not, because as you say, Spike's less antagonized by him than frustrated when Wood turns on that snide anger, clearly mystified -- but otherwise not concerned at all beyond that he's around Buffy more than Spike is.
And I can see the S/A thing a lot more than S/X too. Mostly because the one person, to my eyes, that JM doesn't have screaming chemistry with on the show is NB! But regardless, it just struck me so damn funny to have Andrew spouting the slashy party line (and I say this as a bifanual person who does slash as well as het/gen). I just got back from a slash con where I heard things like that over and over, and it was absolutely exquisite timing.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-26 05:42 pm (UTC)Word to that. JM had more sexual chemistry with a door, with air, and even with Marc Blucas than NB. But then, that's just one fan's opinion, and it seems a lot of people like S/X. And its weird too that I've read a bit of S/X slash a few different times (mostly when other people strongly reccomended it), and while I'm reading the story it seems to make sense, but after I'm done I sort of sit back and think "Well, that was nicely written. But it didn't feel like the same people as watching show, when all's said and done." And I like to read fanfic that reminds me of canon characters, so I tend to veer away from slash or yaoi, unless its canon like W/T, or given a believable set-up (like the 4 vampires in a very incest-hinting family dynamic roving about the old world & doing dispicable things.)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 08:09 pm (UTC)Storyteller reminded me of that quite a bit actually. So even though I knew what Herself was referring to (I haven't read the story in question though) my mind went to the play and then to the Zeppo.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-26 08:48 pm (UTC)I kept thinking about that as I was watching it the second time -- that there was that sense of Andrew being inside and yet outside of the action, the observer who was totally confused by the events even though he was technically supposed to be part of them, and then there were the ghosts, etc., so that reminded me even more of the play...
I remember at the time The Zeppo aired, a bunch of people I know on a small list who are serious Stoppard fans were just crazy with the R&G references, and we dissected that episode to death. I still find new references and meta jokes in it each time I watch it. In some ways, I have a feeling that Storyteller might do that for me in the future, too.
And I was reading your LJ earlier today, and saw what you said about some people actually being angry over Andrew's UST comment -- and they were really getting pissed, and taking it seriously? Geez louise!! I can't believe anyone couldn't get the joke in that, the couple of jokes in that... I thought it was just adorable and a total shout-out to fans in some ways... leave it to fans, though, to completely ruin it. We're a weird bunch. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-10 10:59 am (UTC)Yes!
I also found the Xander/Anya scenes horribly poignant and sad, although also wonderful. I was really sad when they broke up (I have a hard time watching people who clearly care for each other hurt each other so badly, especially through miscommunication) and for a brief while in this episode I had a hope that they might be working things out. I guess they arguably did work things out -- just not quite in the way I'd been wanting them to.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-05 11:00 am (UTC)Am I the only one that thought Andrew was playing the video of Xander & Anya & mouthing Anya's words because he was "being" her in his mind? The wonderful scene where he seems to be videoing Willow and
Kennedy kissing, where in actual fact he is admiring Xander's workmanship with the window! Maybe it's just me.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-06 12:06 pm (UTC)You're definitely not the only one who thought that -- I saw that a lot in comments about the ep after it aired here. I think Andrew really identifies with Anya in some unusual ways ;-) and he was clearly "playing" her part in the little drama unfolding in his camera. If he had access to the girls' closets, I bet we'd see him in drag.