|
Thursday 24 August 2006, by Polybius : There are a couple of points that I think this article glossed over. All the main characters in Buffy had a relationship end with a break-up and a death. In fact, every single relationship in the entire Whedonverse has ended badly except for Willow/Kennedy (I guess if you want to get technical you could say Wood/Faith might count as well. Which is an interracial relationship). The line about Angel being biased because Cordelia and Fred (both women) died and Gunn (an African-American is mortally wounded) is ridiculous. Doyle and Wesley also died, with Wesley dying in the last episode and Gunn surviving (Gunn would probably dies in the last battle, but probably everyone would die there). Thursday 24 August 2006, by Anonymous : I have to agree withthe above poster. NOBODY had happy relationships for long. To make Willow and Tara be the only ones would be like reverse discrimination. I preferred Tara to most of the other (sorry) secondary characters, but I think Joss has the right to do with his narrative what he wanted. and face it, on his shows (Buffy, Angel, Firefly) once the character fulfilled the purpose of their plot arc, they were usually killed off. Friday 25 August 2006, by Kritus : While I must admit the essay is in clear need of revision and editing, I think the author still makes some quite valid points about the responsibility of a writer to his audience, about the harm that can befall as a result of bad storytelling decisions, about the mistake of creating a campaign of misinformation in regards to future storylines instead of simply making no comments at all. And I must admit that I was also quite concerned about the message conveyed in the final season of Angel when the decision was made to simply kill off its two lead female characters, creating a male dominated show with female characters of rather dubious "heroic" character like Illyria, Harmony, and Eve. And while it is true that many characters on both shows die dramatic, heroic deaths (like Doyle, Spike, Anya, Wesley), most of the female characters (Tara, Cordelia, Fred) die very unheroic deaths. Tuesday 3 October 2006, by DaddyCatALSO : Yes, I agree that "killing off regular characters" is Joss’s trademark. I think evrything from at most Joyce on, perhaps from Jenny on, is largely (regardless of how woven into plot structure it is) driven by the kudos Dr. Joss and His ME Bunche got after thsoe epsiodes aried. It became ther all-purpose house-style way to make plot changes, and while the first couple times were caviar,a fter that they ebcame basically Alpo. In particualr Cordelia’s; instead of claiming she died (which I still don’tt ake seriously) having ehr go off on her own because the Powers have a new and separate-from-Angel mission for ehr would have been more litereary and far more creative than what was shown. But by this time, Joss had developed what amounted to a laxy habit and couldn’t stretch his mind far enough to do anyhting original with departing characters anymore.Wednesday 22 November 2006, by Liam Sheils : Dear Mr Voshel, Joss Whedon et al had an obilgation to their fans overriding all others to keep the show interesting. Killing Tara was exciting and dramatic - I would like to think this does not make me homophobic, merely a fan of unexpected surprises in television programmes. Even before we enter the realms of your opinions I would like to point out that while it was suggested that Charles Gunn was indeed grievously wounded in the final episode of Angel, this is a common device in the Buffy Universe and it is not necessarily the case that he would really die. Furthermore, how can we ignore the fact Charles Gunn appeared in Angel for five seasons as a main character. This was oddly not considered in your article, perhaps on the grounds that it completely contradicts your supposed evidence that Black, Gay or Female Characters are treated unfairly. Plus, did Whedon et al only kill off 2 women and a Black man (arguably) in Angel’s fifth season? No, of course not, they also killed off Lindsay in the final episode (who admittedly you exempted from your "the white middle-class males must be spared" statement on the grounds he has committed evil acts) and series regular Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (who you again strangely overlooked), an upper-class well-developed ultimately kind-hearted Englishman. That’s right, the deathcount of key characters in Angel’s final season is arguably 3 males and 2 women. The men outnumbering the women and it’s even questionable if the Black man survived. De Knight was right all along, they killed characters when it served the script. You’re clearly an intelligent man so you should know this. These comments are an anwser to this article : The Strange And Incredible Saga Of Willow and Tara On "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - Part 4 |
Sitemap XML