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oyceterJust finished rereading Hobb's Assassins trilogy, and now I have that strange achy feeling that comes of leaving a fictional universe I've dwelt in for a while. Very desperately want to start rereading Fool's Errand right now, just so I can return to the Six Duchies and Fitz.
I've only read the trilogy once before, and that was a while ago. Plus, when I read them the first time, they were spaced out by publication dates. Now, I'm remembering many things I'd forgotten, like how cool Kettricken is. I just read the Tales of the Slayers comic, and one of the stories has a Slayer in a white dress with her sword at her side, blond hair in a braid. And that's the picture I have of Kettricken defending Rippon. And I love Patience. Still don't really like Molly much until she gets together with Burrich, I think because her demands of Fitz seem petty sometimes next to all the court politics he's dealing with. But that's not really her fault. And I'm still amazed at how young Fitz sounds in this series, especially when compared to Tom Badgerlock of the Tawny Man series. He's impulsive and reckless and often thoughtlessly cruel. But I love him anyway.
And of course, the Fool.
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean and reading this again made me think about the fool archetype and why it hits such a nerve in me. My bulletproof kink, if you will.
To me, a Fool in media/literature is a person who first and foremost has the uncanny ability to be a complete random factor, to switch thoughts and moods and sides in the blink of an eye. Like the Fool in tarot, he (and most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are male) is innocent, but because of this, often reckless and impulsive, given to following his instincts, be they right or wrong. As Rachel Pollock says in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, "The Fool bears the number 0 because all things are possible to the person who is always ready to go in any direction. He does not belong in any specific place; he is not fixed like the other cards. His innocence makes him a person with no past, and therefore an infinite future. Every moment is a new starting point."
For me, this perfectly summarizes the essense of the Fool archetype -- he is the thing outside of destiny and fate, and while that can make him weak, it also gives him power. He's often not very good by himself in the normal order of things, but when released, he can be the small pebble that starts an entire chain of events. The Fool can make such a difference precisely because he is outside the order of things, and thus, can play with the very warp and woof of destiny in a way that the threads woven into the tapestry cannot.
In folklore, the Fool and the Trickster are often one and the same. But the Trickster adds a bit to the Fool archetype, something that I think is an important secondary characteristic -- humor. Characters like Spider and Coyote survive not through their intrinsic goodness, but through their wiliness and their wits. And quite often, by the skin of their teeth. Like the Fool of tarot, who is often pictured dancing alongside the edge of a cliff, they skirt danger because they are too naive/innocent and too reckless to listen to the risks involved. Or perhaps they do realize the risks, but choose to discard them anyway, another trait that screams of foolishness. And because of their foolishness, they land in some pretty bad situations at times. But then, they always manage to find a way out, often with a smile on their face or with the last laugh.
In the books and TV shows I watch, I've noticed my tendency to be drawn to Fool characters because of their sense of humor and because of their complete disregard for the rules. But because archetypes are usually pretty boring to watch without personal characteristics, I've noticed that often, the Fools in pop culture often have something else with their Fool traits, often a hidden vulnerability that's buried deep underneath the stinging humor. Some I can think of off the top of my head:
- the Fool from Robin Hobb's books. Obviously, a fool by trade. The Fool goes through guises and names like masks, and his scathing tongue and wit leave no one alone, especially Fitz. But as Fitz so often comments in the books, the Fool can't really defend himself physically, and thus must do so with his head. Paradoxically, the Fool is also the White Prophet and Fitz is his Catalyst... in this sense, it seems Fitz is more the Fool because he, simply by existing, makes crossroads in fate, makes choices possible where there were no choices before. Yet, the Fool also guides him in this and uses Fitz to jog destiny from its well-worn course. And then, the Fool is strangely vulnerable and young at times, but he shields these traits so well that Fitz can't even tell half the time when the Fool is joking or not.
- Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike's the vampire who is vicious and blood-thirsty, but also cares about random human things like Manchester United. I know lots has already been said on the topic of Spike and the Fool, but I believe most of all the Spike is a Fool not because of the truth hidden in some of the random words he throws out to insult people, but because he changes things. No vampire or demon was even supposed to be able to think of wanting a moral compass, but Spike did. He teamed up with Buffy and company in season 5, albeit reluctantly. He did things that a vampire wasn't supposed to do, like burning the Annointed One, because he is a Fool and because he embodies the randomness and the whimsy that the Fool does.
- Diarmuid, from Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Even though Darien is the character who truly embodies the random nature of the Wild Hunt and of the importance of choice and free will, Diarmuid is the one who lives it. He's the wild prince who never quite does what anyone expects of him. He'll risk his life for a beautiful girl, and he'll cede his kingship because he wants to be free to go to taverns at night. Yet, under all his seeming insouciance is a heart that truly cares about things. But like he says to Sharra, he'll always move to a different beat. He'll fulfill expectations not by fulfilling the terms, but by completely bypassing them, by tearing the rule book to shreds. And because of this, he's the one who can cooly walk up to a battle that is not his and take someone else's death. By doing so, Diarmuid frees Arthur and Guinevere from the dreadful cycle of fate and destiny that they have been going through for ages, and he gives them a happy ending. And it's completely fitting that he begins this act of sacrifice by dedicating the battle to his favorite bar.
Others I can kind of stick in the Fool mold would be Cpt. Jack Sparrow from PotC, Jack O'Neill from Stargate for his humor and his sometimes inability to follow military rules, Hamlet and Ophelia when they are mad (or pretending to be), some parts of Delirium from Sandman, except she's not aware or cutting enough, Lestat from Anne Rice's books. I can't think of very many female fools for some reason. The closest I got was Ophelia... Delirium fits partially, but she's a little too muddled for a mocking Fool.
Personally, I love this type of character because of the juxtaposition of humor and heartache, for the feeling that the jokes are hiding deep emotion, and because I love how they often challenge the rules of the world and succeed in doing so. I love them because they are random, and as the random factor, they let us all be free. Their place in stories for me often seems to be saying that nothing is completely foreordained, because any moment, this fickle creature can sweep in and change everything.
I've only read the trilogy once before, and that was a while ago. Plus, when I read them the first time, they were spaced out by publication dates. Now, I'm remembering many things I'd forgotten, like how cool Kettricken is. I just read the Tales of the Slayers comic, and one of the stories has a Slayer in a white dress with her sword at her side, blond hair in a braid. And that's the picture I have of Kettricken defending Rippon. And I love Patience. Still don't really like Molly much until she gets together with Burrich, I think because her demands of Fitz seem petty sometimes next to all the court politics he's dealing with. But that's not really her fault. And I'm still amazed at how young Fitz sounds in this series, especially when compared to Tom Badgerlock of the Tawny Man series. He's impulsive and reckless and often thoughtlessly cruel. But I love him anyway.
And of course, the Fool.
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean and reading this again made me think about the fool archetype and why it hits such a nerve in me. My bulletproof kink, if you will.
To me, a Fool in media/literature is a person who first and foremost has the uncanny ability to be a complete random factor, to switch thoughts and moods and sides in the blink of an eye. Like the Fool in tarot, he (and most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are male) is innocent, but because of this, often reckless and impulsive, given to following his instincts, be they right or wrong. As Rachel Pollock says in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, "The Fool bears the number 0 because all things are possible to the person who is always ready to go in any direction. He does not belong in any specific place; he is not fixed like the other cards. His innocence makes him a person with no past, and therefore an infinite future. Every moment is a new starting point."
For me, this perfectly summarizes the essense of the Fool archetype -- he is the thing outside of destiny and fate, and while that can make him weak, it also gives him power. He's often not very good by himself in the normal order of things, but when released, he can be the small pebble that starts an entire chain of events. The Fool can make such a difference precisely because he is outside the order of things, and thus, can play with the very warp and woof of destiny in a way that the threads woven into the tapestry cannot.
In folklore, the Fool and the Trickster are often one and the same. But the Trickster adds a bit to the Fool archetype, something that I think is an important secondary characteristic -- humor. Characters like Spider and Coyote survive not through their intrinsic goodness, but through their wiliness and their wits. And quite often, by the skin of their teeth. Like the Fool of tarot, who is often pictured dancing alongside the edge of a cliff, they skirt danger because they are too naive/innocent and too reckless to listen to the risks involved. Or perhaps they do realize the risks, but choose to discard them anyway, another trait that screams of foolishness. And because of their foolishness, they land in some pretty bad situations at times. But then, they always manage to find a way out, often with a smile on their face or with the last laugh.
In the books and TV shows I watch, I've noticed my tendency to be drawn to Fool characters because of their sense of humor and because of their complete disregard for the rules. But because archetypes are usually pretty boring to watch without personal characteristics, I've noticed that often, the Fools in pop culture often have something else with their Fool traits, often a hidden vulnerability that's buried deep underneath the stinging humor. Some I can think of off the top of my head:
- the Fool from Robin Hobb's books. Obviously, a fool by trade. The Fool goes through guises and names like masks, and his scathing tongue and wit leave no one alone, especially Fitz. But as Fitz so often comments in the books, the Fool can't really defend himself physically, and thus must do so with his head. Paradoxically, the Fool is also the White Prophet and Fitz is his Catalyst... in this sense, it seems Fitz is more the Fool because he, simply by existing, makes crossroads in fate, makes choices possible where there were no choices before. Yet, the Fool also guides him in this and uses Fitz to jog destiny from its well-worn course. And then, the Fool is strangely vulnerable and young at times, but he shields these traits so well that Fitz can't even tell half the time when the Fool is joking or not.
- Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike's the vampire who is vicious and blood-thirsty, but also cares about random human things like Manchester United. I know lots has already been said on the topic of Spike and the Fool, but I believe most of all the Spike is a Fool not because of the truth hidden in some of the random words he throws out to insult people, but because he changes things. No vampire or demon was even supposed to be able to think of wanting a moral compass, but Spike did. He teamed up with Buffy and company in season 5, albeit reluctantly. He did things that a vampire wasn't supposed to do, like burning the Annointed One, because he is a Fool and because he embodies the randomness and the whimsy that the Fool does.
- Diarmuid, from Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Even though Darien is the character who truly embodies the random nature of the Wild Hunt and of the importance of choice and free will, Diarmuid is the one who lives it. He's the wild prince who never quite does what anyone expects of him. He'll risk his life for a beautiful girl, and he'll cede his kingship because he wants to be free to go to taverns at night. Yet, under all his seeming insouciance is a heart that truly cares about things. But like he says to Sharra, he'll always move to a different beat. He'll fulfill expectations not by fulfilling the terms, but by completely bypassing them, by tearing the rule book to shreds. And because of this, he's the one who can cooly walk up to a battle that is not his and take someone else's death. By doing so, Diarmuid frees Arthur and Guinevere from the dreadful cycle of fate and destiny that they have been going through for ages, and he gives them a happy ending. And it's completely fitting that he begins this act of sacrifice by dedicating the battle to his favorite bar.
Others I can kind of stick in the Fool mold would be Cpt. Jack Sparrow from PotC, Jack O'Neill from Stargate for his humor and his sometimes inability to follow military rules, Hamlet and Ophelia when they are mad (or pretending to be), some parts of Delirium from Sandman, except she's not aware or cutting enough, Lestat from Anne Rice's books. I can't think of very many female fools for some reason. The closest I got was Ophelia... Delirium fits partially, but she's a little too muddled for a mocking Fool.
Personally, I love this type of character because of the juxtaposition of humor and heartache, for the feeling that the jokes are hiding deep emotion, and because I love how they often challenge the rules of the world and succeed in doing so. I love them because they are random, and as the random factor, they let us all be free. Their place in stories for me often seems to be saying that nothing is completely foreordained, because any moment, this fickle creature can sweep in and change everything.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 03:11 pm (UTC)In the books and TV shows I watch, I've noticed my tendency to be drawn to Fool characters because of their sense of humor and because of their complete disregard for the rules.... I've noticed that often, the Fools in pop culture often have something else with their Fool traits, often a hidden vulnerability that's buried deep underneath the stinging humor.
They are the truth tellers, the wild card, the wise fool:
The trickster is a very important archetype in the history of man. He is a powerful, yet he is not. He is the wise-fool. It is he, through his ideas/songs/words that illume or deconstruct, points out the flaws in carefully formed structures of man. He rebels against authority, pokes fun at the overly serious, creates complicated and improbable plans - that may or may not work - plays with the gods' laws or mans and sometimes his own (Coyote). He/she is often linked to sex to life force to childlike or animalistic quealities to the old brain. He exists to challenge to ask "why", to cause us to ask "why" & not accept the "way things always are." He/she appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded needs to be torn down built anew. She is the ripping at the seams of the universe, the unexpected, the fool, the beginning of the journey. (riffed off a webrefernce)
In the Jossverse: although Spike is most often mentioned as the Fool, the original fool, the outsider who was laughed at but sometimes spoke the truth was female: Cordelia. When Cordelia left for Angel (where she played a similar role S1-2) Joss tried a darker mantle on Spike. This shifted back in later seasons to Anya, and traits of this can be seen in the Geeks and Andrew.
From: The Major Arcana Poems by Laura Craig Mason
0
Fool
Young boys
know no differences
between 1 and 0
only that the curve of the line
has hanged momentum.
Young boys have no fears
of cliffs
dogs
and indiscernible future
because their intent is pure.
Behind them
they hold
a universe in checkered cloth
the subconscious
in a knapsack.
In front of them
is the next moment,
unknowable
in its beauty
or pain.
Oh young boy
what can’t I learn from you.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 08:44 pm (UTC)The problem with the Jossverse fools seems to be that as they gain a position inside the story, they become too emotionally caught up in the "turgid supernatural soap opera" to comment upon it. So the Fool loses the essential Fool qualities of being outside the order and his/her sense of humor. The other two Fools, Diarmuid and the Fool, that I was thinking of, don't seem to have this problem. Both move effortlessly from within the story to the edges, and even as Diarmuid makes his final, transcendent sacrifice, he jokes.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 10:08 pm (UTC)Wesley's interesting I will have to think on him a bit more more and factor in (a Joss word... he loves the factors) the love interests...
For S6 Willow, I thought that perhaps the references to Proserpina and Asmodea were a key here overshadowed a bit by the price she paid (they all paid and none more than Tara) for the spell/bargain she sought in the season premiere, Solomon's trial... S7 we simply had so much going on and there was focus diverted to Andrew. Anya's character and at times the others suffered. Not complaining here just noting there's a limit to the balls even the Fool can keep in the air.
Our truest Fool might be Joss himself. :-)
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 10:00 pm (UTC)Fool
The Magician
The High Priestess
The Emperor
The Empress
....on through the rest of the 22 ending/beginning at The World where we then start over. ;-)
Joss has trouble (or isn't interested) in growing them through the path... you can make a case for Cordelia though. I think that it's probably as much due to the fact that the secondary characters are in reflective roles? His purpose for them may shift depending on where he's going each season and their journeys suffer for that. Joss or someone else there... it's never been discussed who does the occulty stuff... has referenced some other Arcana, overtly in BTVS Season 6 (or so a couple of us theorized) in particular Strength and The Chariot leap out, and then very richly in several eps of Angel S4. Sometimes the reference is a little more obscure but very dark chocolately,like Yeat's the Circus Animals from AtS4:11 Soulless:
I
I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,
I sought it daily for six weeks or so.
Maybe at last, being but a broken man,
I must be satisfied with my heart, although
Winter and summer till old age began
My circus animals were all on show,
Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot,
Lion and woman and the Lord knows what.
II
What can I but enumerate old themes,
First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose
Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams,
Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose,
Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems,
That might adorn old songs or courtly shows;
But what cared I that set him on to ride,
I, starved for the bosom of his faery bride.
And then a counter-truth filled out its play,
'The Countess Cathleen' was the name I gave it;
She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away,
But masterful Heaven had intervened to save it.
I thought my dear must her own soul destroy
So did fanaticism and hate enslave it,
And this brought forth a dream and soon enough
This dream itself had all my thought and love.
And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread
Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea;
Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said
It was the dream itself enchanted me:
Character isolated by a deed
To engross the present and dominate memory.
Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of.
III
Those masterful images because complete
Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?
A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.
Here again we have The Fool, Strength, The Chariot along with Countess Cathleen, Oisin, and Cuchculain who killed his son. It felt the mini-outline or them of the season at the time and so it turned out to be. ;-)
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 01:41 am (UTC)Mostly I feel Dru is more of a High Priestess, veiled face, guarding the mysteries. Either that, or the Moon. Hrm, I think Delirium seems to fit that archetype as well, although I'd say Delirium has a bit more Fool in her...
Do you have a link to the discussion on the Major Arcana in S6? I'd be very much interested in that...
Hrm... Cordy seems to go from Fool to Empress in AtS. Can't figure out if she stays in the roles of Magician, High Priestess or Emperor, but I would argue that she definitely is the Empress figure of AI, especially with the culmination of her pregnancy and the birth of Jasmine.
Spike can be seen as a combination of the Fool, Devil (he's even chained up!) especially in thrall of the First. Devil also seems to be a pretty good Arcana figure in general for vampires, who are slaves to their own desires. I can also see his bit in Chosen as the Hanged Man... hrm.
For S6 Willow, I thought that perhaps the references to Proserpina and Asmodea were a key here
Asmodea? Haven't heard of that one... who is s/he? I can see her a little as Orpheus, trying desperately to call Eurydice back from the dead, but succumbing to the Furies in the end -- of course, in a much different way than Orpheus.
And I love Wile E. Coyote! I always felt sorry for him =(. It's kind of like Fool vs. Fool in the Roadrunner bits, with Coyote being the not-so-bright fool, outwitted by himself in the end. *snickers*
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 02:19 am (UTC)I can never decide if someone at ME is very up on the Tarot or if they're getting it secondhand through Alan Moore's work.
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 02:46 am (UTC)Alan Moore does tarot too? I've only read his Watchmen, and I didn't pick up on it, but that'd be very nifty.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 01:09 am (UTC)Promethea
http://clix.to/promethea watch out for the pop-ups tho'.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 03:40 am (UTC)I had no idea he's been doing this! Mostly people talk about the League and Watchmen and Swamp Thing and V is for Vendetta when they mention Moore...
Reminds me why I so wanted to take a course on the Kabbalah =(. I miss college...
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 01:21 am (UTC)tarot buffy william poet
I corresponded w/ him via email so there's no record. He uses the Gypsy Tarot so that was a point of discussion for me since they reverse some of the arcana or other decks do depending on your outlook. It came up on our board too (again I'd have to search) and a couple of times at the C&S but I don't think they archive there.
For a simply wonderful examination of both the demon Asmodeus and/or the witch Asmodea you'd search the ATPO archives June 2002 I believe and look for the post by redcat (god I miss her) in Ded's starwars myth essay thread (I think.) Again, if you want to wait, I'll try to dig it up.
I'm looking to see what they do with the bleached one next season, since this should (I hope) be a new phase for him having experienced a "transfiguration" or level change in the finale. Is it October yet?
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 04:31 am (UTC)Hrm, haven't really seen the Gypsy Tarot before on my search for the perfect deck (that I remember)... Mine are all pretty much RW clones (Gendron, RW itself, and Vertigo, which is an awesome deck) and Osho Zen.
Contrary to most people, I'm actually fairly excited to see what the Angel writers will do with the bleached one... I keep wanting my Fool figure back, heh.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 08:30 pm (UTC)And I did forget about Cordelia and Anya! Finally, more female Fools! Things like Anya's speech in the Body, about not getting it, are quintessential Fool. Willow is horrified at Anya's bluntness and how she doesn't conform to the agreed upon social order, but in the end, Anya's innocence and ignorance of human ways lead to a greater understanding of what has happened.
The second I figured out many of my favorite characters were fools, I realized just how appropriate that the first fetish animal I bought was a coyote ;).
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 09:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 08:53 pm (UTC)Fascinating material in there, particularly the idea that the dichotomy of the Fool/Trickster means that s/he can change gender at will! Sorry to keep bringing Hobb back in, but that immediately resonated with the Fool, who has various identities (metaphorical shapeshifting) and identities of different gender. And it was lovely how there was an inclusion of Asian mythology, which didn't cross my mind before. Can't believe I didn't think of the kitsune in context of the Fool/Trickster.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 09:30 pm (UTC)And I forgot the best one... Dru although she fits even better as The High Priestess perhaps.
"When I was growing up in Korea in the 60s, I had an uncle who was a terrible man, but a wonderful storyteller, and so I heard more than my share of instructive and cautionary folktales. He told most of these stories as personal anecdotes or claimed they were things that had happened to near or distant relatives. . . . [He] refused to offer an interpretation, claiming that if he could simply tell me the meaning, the story itself was unnecessary. But the truth is that we tend to make meanings out of stories—personal meanings that often do not conform to the stories' (or the storyteller's) rhetorical purpose. Great folktales like 'Beauty' and 'Shimchong' survive precisely because they can serve a multitude of rhetorical purposes and yet also have rich layers of meaning to offer."
— Heinz InsuFenkl
The Blind Man's Daughter
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 12:33 am (UTC)I read the paper last night. Great work! I have some thoughts but I'm in the mulling phase right now... wanted to let you know tho'.
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 01:49 am (UTC)Thoughts always highly appreciated =).
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 01:45 am (UTC)No need to think about this is if you're in post-dissertation burn... it'll hold for later. Always good to have juicy topics on the back burner anywhoo.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 04:37 am (UTC)I got into the entire anime/manga fandom after my first experience with fandom in XF, so I knew slash existed. And there was a giant yaoi/anti-yaoi (slash/anti-slash) perpetual flamewar going on in my fandom, which first sparked my interest in the subject. Anyway, I very much see the phenomena of shonen ai as being the flip side of the coin or the twin of slash here. I think Allison mostly sees shonen ai as sexually transgressive because of the basics -- homosexual acts, female gaze as opposed to male gaze, and the fact that the shonen ai manga were the ones who first broke the "bed scenes" barrier in manga publishing. I think Moto Hagio was the first to draw two people in bed together, obviously having sex, no matter what the gender. The fact that they were two young boys made it even more transgressive...
Not sure if I'm answering your question at all, sorry!
Yes, as Yulunggul
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 05:52 am (UTC)Does other stuff.
It's all terribly Ovid Metamorphosis.
Or Gaiman's Harlequin Valentine, where the sad eyed beloved becomes the trickster. The trickster the lover.
The holy fool.
Q, the ST:NG one, not the Bond one. What was he said, “If only I’d known, I’d have appeared as a woman.”
I can so relate to this
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 04:06 pm (UTC)I haven't read this particular series, but I do enjoy reading series just because I have the "so what happened after that?" syndrome. This is one reason I don't particularly care for short stories. I want to be swept up into a world of people and stay there for a while. When a novel ends, I want to know what happens next.
I suppose this is why fans like myself not only tolerate, but love the arc-y goodness that is BtVS and Angel. TV shows that are full of stand-alone episodes where there doesn't seem to be any discernable character growth, change, and connected story leaves me feeling disconnected.
Re: I can so relate to this
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 08:37 pm (UTC)And it's even more tangible in series, especially when one reads them all in a row... part of me always wants to run screaming when I reach the end, telling the author to let me back in her world!
(no subject)
Sat, Dec. 13th, 2003 09:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Dec. 14th, 2003 02:51 am (UTC)