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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jan 21, 2004 12:11:58 GMT -5
There are certain touchstone essays about the Jossverse that we all cherish when we've read them. I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread where links to such essays could be grouped together.
--Nan
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jan 21, 2004 12:13:15 GMT -5
I don't know which of the many Annas this is. Perhaps someone else can tell me. But this is a moving, perceptive, substantial essay on the relationship between Buffy and Spike. It's so far garnered 74 comments, which is the highest number I've ever seen. Go look at it. I defy you to be unmoved. www.livejournal.com/users/the_royal_anna/22963.html?#cutid1 |
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jan 21, 2004 12:16:18 GMT -5
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Post by makd on Jan 21, 2004 13:28:51 GMT -5
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jan 26, 2004 10:31:47 GMT -5
Since it's brief, thought I'd add it here. It's a comment I added to Barb C.'s LJ in a discussion about why people aren't enjoying Spike on Angel (at mid-5th season).
Shhh: Spike's reinventing himself!
Spike has done two major reinventions of himself onscreen--three if you include the original one, from turned William to Spike.
1. Following his chipping.
2. Following his soul (still incomplete in Chosen, but not really begun until Lies My Parents Told Me).
There was no progress as a ghost--only terror. Then he learned from Pavayne that reality bends to the will. He learned, even better than before, how to focus and CONCENTRATE. Now at last corporeal, he's a post-Buffy Spike--for the first time we've seen him, not defining himself through his relationship with either Dru, Harmony (perish the thought) or Buffy, nor even Angel (who hasn't allowed that kind of bonding, though Spike has offered it), and not with the facade of the Big Bad to hide behind anymore. He's simpler, more direct, more coherent...and completely adrift, until Soul Purpose.
Spike does this: he reinvents himself. He BECOMES. And I'm finding the progress fascinating. He can still do the snark and hide behind it when he needs to. He's still the perceptive, utterly tactless truthteller. And he still fights like a dream. I'm entirely willing and more than willing to watch the transitional stages because when he's finally BECOME this new thing, a souled vampire independent creature (and we can never forget that unlike Angel, Spike is PROUD of being a vamp!) he's gonna be something awesome! I see the least sparks of it now, and will happily view all the stages of the process. No fun at all to be handed the final form without watching the progress!
So what, if Spike's the second banana? He was that, and less than that, on BtVS. Didn't stop him then and won't stop him now.
For whatever it's worth, here's my theory: there's all these brand new and unawakened slayers running around now. Match up Spike with one of these. He'd be intrigued. He could be a mentor. He could be a lover, finally, for the first time, on an equal footing with his gal. I don't say that's where things are going, but I believe profoundly that they're going SOMEWHERE. Finally, under and with all his masks, Spike is a lover: and until he has an outlet for that side of himself to focus on, he's still gonna be floundering.
But I cherish each and every flounder along the way.
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Feb 7, 2004 13:51:24 GMT -5
This morning I've been reading on the new philosophical, fictional, and poetic site, Tea at the Ford, founded by some of the best thinkers and essayists it's ever been my pleasure to encounter, including macha, Klytemnestra, Cynthia Martin, and Sylvia Volk, among several others with whom I'm not otherwise familiar. It's Spike-centric and pro-Spike, though other characters are also examined sympathetically and insightfully. It there's an opposite to "Spike is HOT and U R dumb," this is it. One long discussion is an analysis of Damage. It's a delight and an illumination to read. I recommend it to everyone's notice. www.teaattheford.net/conversation.php?id=792 |
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Post by Kate (K8) on Apr 21, 2004 15:31:19 GMT -5
I guess most of you have seen this already but I did a search and couldn't find it mentioned. This site has lots of essays on btvs and spike and was the first essay site I ever found. www.geocities.com/shadowkatbtvs/ |
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Post by Sue on Apr 22, 2004 10:53:06 GMT -5
I guess most of you have seen this already but I did a search and couldn't find it mentioned. This site has lots of essays on btvs and spike and was the first essay site I ever found. www.geocities.com/shadowkatbtvs/thanks for this link. It looks interesting. I'm hoarding some stuff to do over the summer. Sob. |
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Aug 28, 2004 21:46:16 GMT -5
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Post by deborah on Oct 31, 2004 19:28:27 GMT -5
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Post by deborah on Dec 18, 2004 23:54:12 GMT -5
www.livejournal.com/users/theohara/If you want to laugh...a lot and really hard, go to Theohara's LJ, 12/18 entry, and read: "The Mutant Challenge" being a speculative look at what the writers' meeting might have been like had "you" been given the assignment to write "As You Were." Apparently, it was written as a companion piece to the previous journal entry (also 12/18), which I'm saving for later when I have more time. "Captain Cardboard, or How I Learned To Stop Seething And Love "As You Were" " ( An Insanely Long Essay Wherin I Write Until Five In The Morning And Begin To Make Not A Shred Of Sense Towards The End ) deborah
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Post by Karen on Oct 6, 2005 12:03:34 GMT -5
www.slayage.tv/Numbers/slayage18.htm Lorna Jowett (University College, Northampton), The Summers’ House as Domestic Space in Buffy the Vampire Slayer | PDF Version (Acrobat Reader Required) Scott McLaren (York University), The Evolution of Joss Whedon’s Vampire Mythology and the Ontology of the Soul | PDF Version (Acrobat Reader Required) Jeffrey Bussolini (University of Staten Island), Los Alamos is the Hellmouth | PDF Version (Acrobat Reader Required) Jes Battis (Simon Fraser University), Demonic Maternities, Complex Motherhoods: Cordelia, Fred and the Puzzle of Illyra | PDF Version (Acrobat Reader Required) This essay is chapter five of Blood Relations: Chosen Families in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel © 2005 Jes Battis, and is made available here by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640 | www.mcfarlandpub.com. You can order the book from Amazon here or from McFarland here. Ewan Kirkland (Buckingham Childterns University College), A Conference Report on "Bring Your Own Subtext": Social Life, Human Experience and the Works of Joss Whedon | PDF Version (Acrobat Reader Required)
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Post by Cal on Aug 20, 2006 11:12:06 GMT -5
Elisi (from LJ) has written quite a few interesting and insightful Buffyverse essays. You can find them in her memories here. All thoroughly recommended. |
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Post by luvmyfirefly on Jul 13, 2008 11:12:23 GMT -5
Did anyone happen to save the text for these essays? A lot of the links are broken and I'd love to read them.
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Post by Onjel on Jul 13, 2008 20:36:09 GMT -5
Did anyone happen to save the text for these essays? A lot of the links are broken and I'd love to read them. Actually, only four or so are broken, so they're still available for viewing. The essay links from Nan in reply #2 are broken. The link from makd to wiseacress is broken. (First link in reply #3) The link to Slayage in post #11 is broken. I hope this helps. When linked to memories in LJ you'll just have to explore them and see what's there. You can read some more essays at All About Spike which Julia pointed you to for fan fic. If you remind me tomorrow, I can link you to other essays I've read, but they are in my bookmarks on my office computer. Enjoy! |
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