All that is solid melts into air. And vice-versa.

[lolaraincoat]

I have little to add to what more diligent researchers and fen have already posted about the whole FanLib horror show. For my own reference, because surely you've all seen this already, this is what cordelia_v had to say about it and here is Henry Jenkins' take on the matter. Both of these (along with the relevant post in Making Light) refer to icarusancalion's thorough, clear synthesis of the sordid mess, which is here.

All I want to say is that this story demonstrates once again that among the many mystical properties of post-industrial capitalism is the magical power to transform regular people into lying, manipulative, creepy scumballs.

+++++++++++++

In happier fannish news, Fishwhistle and I are rewatching Buffy, beginning to end, and I'm loving Season Two even more than I did the first time. It's so carefully thought out, in almost every detail! We caught one bobble in the editing, but otherwise, wow, perfect. There's a scene in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" where Xander is trying to persuade Amy to cast the love spell for him, having dragged her into a classroom for the purpose, and behind him we see a "Great British Authors" poster on the wall. He has, for a moment, Dickens on one shoulder and Shakespeare on the other. Perfect.

In "Passion," a few episodes later, there's a scene in which Buffy insists to Giles that she has to warn her mother about the danger Angel poses. And behind her? A poster advertising "self-defense classes!" Perfect again.

And the coherence of the entire season! Even the supposedly stand-alone episodes are joined by a thematic thread: the dangers of virginity/the dangerous virgin. Amy's mistake in casting the spell is that she invokes Diana (!) as a godess of love; the Inca mummy girl was a virgin sacrifice; Ted's evil scheme is defeated because Buffy, wiser than Persephone, won't eat his cookies. It's such a pleasure to see that fairy-tale motif inverted, upended, and bounced around like a red rubber ball.

++++++++++++

I've been reading the Season Eight comics and liking them very much, except that I'm not crazy about their Xander. Yeah, yeah, I get the Nick Fury thing. And it's interesting to see what the Buffy creators do with the character without the actor's contribution. But it turns out that Nicholas Brendon brought a lot to the show; without him, Xander's just ... a cartoon.

+++++++++++

One last Whedon-y thing:

This rant on the topic of cell-phone film of a so-called honor killing and depictions of misogynist violence generally makes me love Whedon even more than I already did. I mean, yes, it is pretty much Women's Studies 101 c. 1983, and yes, it is kinda gender-essentialist, with which position I strongly disagree. But what other powerful man in Hollywood is asking these questions, even if he's coming to the wrong conclusions?

++++++++++++

So I've been weeding and planting and mulching and pruning and generally playing in the glorious May sunshine these past few days, and I find myself singing a not especially good gospel song by the Queens of Harmony: I expect a miracle! Every day! God will make a way out of no way!. Now, you know, I'm agnostic (and no offense intended to the more committed atheists [hi Ratty!] or believers [Cordelia! Fab! Femme! hello!] who might be reading this) but if I was looking for a miracle I would see it in the garden. It's the most ordinary part of life, and the weirdest too: green everywhere, all of a sudden, in May, conjured up by rain and sunlight and the passing of time.

Comments

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I have always hated Xander.

We caught one bobble in the editing, but otherwise, wow, perfect.
Do you mean the one where the timeline is totally fucked up, in "Innocence"?

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Have you? I had mixed feelings about him by Season 7 but I'm loving him right now, at the end of Season 2.

the one where the timeline is totally fucked up, in "Innocence"

Oh, well, that, no. I think that's a writing problem rather than an editing problem, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

No, I mean that there is a scene early on -- I forget which episode -- in which Buffy and Angel are having a serious conversation in her bedroom. They're sitting on her bed, except for about a quarter of a second in which she's standing across the room. Then she's sitting on the bed again. All this while speaking a fraught line of dialog. It's pretty obvious that they shot the scene two ways and then lacked coverage for one crucial sentence. Whoops.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I hate how self-righteous xander is. End of season two is precisely when I started hating him, when he lies to Buffy in Becoming Part 2 (and it pissed me off that on a show that was so big on consequences, he never gets to deal with the consequences of his lie, it is never even brought up again until many seasons later, when it's glossed over, which makes me think JW intended it as a Totally Righteous Action, rather than a complex choice for interesting character development).

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Ah, we're not at that episode yet, but yes, you're right. The first time we watched Buffy we skipped from S2 to S4 and then on through S7 before S3, so I probably assumed that S3 was where Xander faced consequences (esp. because he was brought so low by the beginning of S4) but no, he never really does, does he?

[cordelia_v]

if I was looking for a miracle I would see it in the garden. It's the most ordinary part of life, and the weirdest too: green everywhere, all of a sudden, in May, conjured up by rain and sunlight and the passing of time.

*nods* Of course. I see it in events like that all the time. As well as in grander things like Utah and babies. And music.

And can I say how chuffed I am to see my name and post invoked in the same sentence as Jenkins' post? Because I am.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Hee! pleased to bring you a moment of chuffedness. Your icon is !!!

And yeah, see, I am not going to call May in the garden a miracle exactly, not until some flaming-sworded supernatural being comes and smites all the thistles and sweet-talks the snails into departing peacefully from the foxgloves and redleaf lettuces. But it is pretty cool, all the same.

*goes outdoors to smite some thistles*

[cordelia_v]

Ah. See, here we get into issues of free will vs. predestination. I am a big believer in free will, myself.

God leaves tons and tons of free play (ie., choice) lying around for us. If we didn't get to make these choices and work our way through all these trials . . we'd end up infantilized. I've been through a hell of a lot (and so have you), but in the end, I cannot regret the impact those events have had on me. It is absolutely true that suffering builds character. I used to want to slap my mother when she'd say that to me, but it's true. Having to make choices and work things through also builds wisdom and strength, and gives you the ability to tackle even bigger challenges, later on.

So, if God sent down an angel to do all the work for you . . . that would be infantilizing you, IMO. And also would deprive you of the opportunity to learn more about gardening, and the keen sense of achievement you're going to have, when you eat those lettuces (having solved the snail problem).

My theology consists of small things, really. Not flaming-sworded manifestations. Such things aren't really God's style, as far as I can tell.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Good point. And yet [warning: whinging about to commence] what with mortality and certain of my colleagues and several other aspects of the human condition, I feel that my character is quite strong enough already. Couldn't I get a pass just on the thistles? I can handle dandelions myself, and I can see that we have no choice about mortality and colleagues, but wow, a flaming sword would be so helpful for the thistles.

*shakes a tiny fist at the indifferent sky*

Drat!

[cordelia_v]

I'm 99% sure that God doesn't intervene on that level of detail. Not about thistles. She wants to be sure to preserve our free will, uncompromised by flaming swords.

Beam Me Up, Scotty, There's No Intelligent Design Here

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Yes! I was particularly "Sing it!" about your post in The Daily Henry.

I just read Matthew Chapman's "40 Days and 40 Nights"--he's Darwin's great-great-grandson, and the book is about a Pennsylvania trial about teaching Intelligent Design in high school biology classes.

Re: Beam Me Up, Scotty, There's No Intelligent Design Here

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Hey, a chance to use my evolution icon!

But then again, this morning after YET ANOTHER round of digging out MORE thistles, I am feeling like evolution and springtime is not so miraculous. Those fucking thistles are like sharks in a fishtank. What kind of a just and loving diety would invent thistles? Mosquitoes, sure - I mean bats have to eat something, right? But thistles? It makes no sense except Darwinian sense.

Re: Beam Me Up, Scotty, There's No Intelligent Design Here

[executrix.livejournal.com]

What kind of a just and loving deity would invent thistles?

One creating in zir own image?

Re: Beam Me Up, Scotty, There's No Intelligent Design Here

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

So the diety would be best described, then, as persistent, prickly, capable of causing a mild rash if not handled carefully, and obsessed with uprooting thyme and strangling poppies?

Interesting!

Re: Beam Me Up, Scotty, There's No Intelligent Design Here

[executrix.livejournal.com]

To a deity, thyme is an illusion.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

This post makes me glad that I can read comics with actor-voices without conscious effort. Xander without N. Brendon would indeed be a sad thing.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

See, usually I can too - but not for their Xander. He's just not working for me. Maybe a different artist would help? I think they're changing out artists in a couple of issues anyway.

[mincot.livejournal.com]

I reposted the entire Whedon essay. Like you, it makes me love the guy even more, but I also find it rather frightening that Gender Studies 101 ca. 1983 *IS STILL NEWS* to a large segment of the population. I posted the link to my lampworkers' board, and responses fell into three categories, two rather disturbing.

1) People who got it, knew that it was old hat and a shade essentialist but also were moved by eloquence and outrage.

2) People who got the outrage and completely missed the ways in which our representations of women are part of the same animal as honor killings. These responses focused solely on Islam, blamed all Islamic ideas for honor killings, and staunchly ignored any suggestion or straight out statement that we express the same basic concepts regarding women.

3) People who saw the comparison but to whom the gender ideas were novel.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Huh. It's shocking to me sometimes what people don't know. For example, that honor killing (murder of wives suspected of infidelity, in this case) was legal and relatively common in some parts of Brazil until the 1990s. And there are many ways to describe Brazil, but you can't call Brazil an Islamic nation, nope.

[mincot.livejournal.com]

What, it ISN'T??? But it ain't no Amurrican country, neither nohow.

Rolls eyes. There are people who don't think New Mexico is part of the US.

[fishwhistle.livejournal.com]

Interesting... you're thinking the Diana thing was deliberate on the part of the writers? That hadn't occurred to me, but it makes sense.

Of, course, just after talking about the great continuity of Season 2, we then came across the infamous swim team/ fish monster episode, which doesn't fit in so many ways. I had totally forgotten that that one wasn't in Season 1.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, that episode does pretty much disprove my entire point. Oh, that pesky empirical evidence!