30 Days of Angel - Day Eleven

[samsom]

I stayed home today to power clean because my mother-in-law is coming to visit from NY tomorrow. She does this about twice a year for the last ten or so years, so the urgent need to have a sparlking domecile has long since faded, but I bought cleaning supplies, and I want to use them!

But right now I'm watching History's Mysteries about King Arthur and debating on whether I should steal two or so hours and go see Inception. Or Salt. I can't decide. Salt has an ass-kicking woman at the heart of the story rather than being a satellite to the main hero. But Inception has Tom-that-mouth-Hardy, and some other square-jawed men in kink-creating crisp white shirts, vests, and well fitting dress pants.

What to do? *frets*

Meme, of course.



Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate today’s choices, I just didn’t like them.

The introduction of ‘comic book’ characters such as Illyria and Gwen Raden to AtS.

Now, I’m not much of a meta person and I don’t pretend to understand all the different ways to read the show but I do know that Angel inhabits a supernatural world, even though the themes are mythological. It’s a world of Slayers, vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, mages and other assorted non-corporeal creepy crawlies. Illyria and Gwen Raden are comic book superhero-ish characters – Gwen’s very X-Men type super power, Illyria’s costume and blue skin/hair – and they were out of place, imo, amongst the blood drinkers and Evil Inc.

Illyria's origins as a forgotten god are interesting enough (if it hadn't been handled in a way that discredits Joss' "I'm a feminist" scree) and even squatting in Fred's body (if only he didn't feel the need to totally destroy the woman already in there) would have been good storytelling, but Illyria's appearance makes her look like an X-Men who got lost on the way to Xavier's school for mutants.

Gwen Raden is a straight up Rogue rip off down to the white streak in her hair.

I’m aware of Whedon’s comic book career and I know that most writers tend to stick with what they like and know, but I didn't like the way Gwen and Illyria were shoehorned into a supernatural universe just because Joss wanted to show how cool they were.

And I'm adding an honorable mention for Joss' other annoying habit - stunt casting Firefly actors and shoehorning them into AtS and BtVS. Whatever I might have felt about Jasmine and Caleb was colored by Firefly's cancellation and the casting of Nathan Fillion, Gina Torre and hottie Mchotterson Adam Baldwin. Whether justified or not, I got the impression I was supposed to think their characters were the most awesome, the most threatening. Caleb kicks the shit out of Buffy more than once, Hamilton's first appearance is a violent explosion onto the scene, with some ass-kicking (if my resentful memory serves) mixed in, and Jasmine...well, we know what Jasmine did, don't we?

It's amazing to me sometimes how much I can love these shows -and trust me, I love them wholly and completely - and hate what Whedon did to them at one time or another.



I hope tomorrow is more positive. I hate to feel like I'm complaining.

Comments

[eleusis-walks.livejournal.com]

I mean their ethnicity is never even mentioned, I just figure it's reasonable to assume they have Chinese ancestry due to the name. And yeah, the Firefly universe is a far future where America and China, as joint superpowers, basically influenced all the culture in terraformed space... but all the main characters are white except for the Magical Negro preacher, Shepherd Book, who is an excellent character but like. Yeah.

[samsom.livejournal.com]

And Gina Torres, but I get what you mean.

I gotta say, as a person who happens to be half Asian, I'm a little offended that apparently the culture's a big hit but not actual Asian people.

There are some amazingly hot Chinese actors out there in Hollywood that would have been preferable to Nathan Fillion. Just sayin'.

God, I hope tesla321 and starlet2367 don't read this or I'm dead. *ducks away*

[eleusis-walks.livejournal.com]

Oh my god what a brainfart. Yeah, Zoe is black. I think my brain skipped her because her marriage to Wash is the first time I'd ever seen an interracial relationship on television that was never, ever commented on as being extraordinary or abnormal.

And there are millions of Chinese extras running around but yeah, not in the primary cast. I wouldn't have recast Fillion, but Simon and River should totally have been Chinese.