Hee, we've definately discussed lots of this before: Fred, Wes/Fred, Willow/Tara, and I think even Marti.
I dislike the hate and stupidity and insults (and atrociously bad fanfic) in fandom but love the community of critical thinking. Yes, it has ruined me in some ways, but i tend to think that if something can’t stand up to a good critical eye than maybe i don’t wanna be watching it. (This is me being a bitch and clearly is not how everyone operates, and i wouldn’t require that everyone operate as i do -- much though i might like to.)
I wouldn't abandon fandom for the world, and this kind of critical thinking makes my brain so happy, since it's the kind of thing I've always loved but never really had a name for until suddenly there was fandom and lots of people thinking seriously about the same kinds of things. On some level, I think I want to be able to analyze the source as it's given and not have to pick it apart and say, "look, continuity errors," or "look, bad feminism," or "look, Marti has issues." But then of course the source is imperfect and we need to do something with those imperfections. But the thing is we tend to get so caught up in the imperfections, in saying this is why S7 is bad or this is what I didn't like about Illyria or whatever, that we lose sight of the original good thing that is fandom: analyzing the source material.
I agree with some of your Spuffy thoughts but after seeing all sides of the Spuffy issue hashed out endlessly, I'm beginning to feel my head spin. Hence the not caring.
There is lots of good stuff in S7.
And oh, word on Buffy transitioning to the real world. I identify with Buffy most in S6 than any other season and heck, I'm not even clinically depressed. (Probably.) Nor am I in or was I ever in an abusive relationship. But escape mechanisms? Hell yes. Like, oh say, fandom? (And there's a piece of meta that I do <3 verily.)
So yay, Elizabeth thoughts! (Can I call you Elizabeth? This whole LJ-community and naming thing is so odd to me.)
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I dislike the hate and stupidity and insults (and atrociously bad fanfic) in fandom but love the community of critical thinking. Yes, it has ruined me in some ways, but i tend to think that if something can’t stand up to a good critical eye than maybe i don’t wanna be watching it. (This is me being a bitch and clearly is not how everyone operates, and i wouldn’t require that everyone operate as i do -- much though i might like to.)
I wouldn't abandon fandom for the world, and this kind of critical thinking makes my brain so happy, since it's the kind of thing I've always loved but never really had a name for until suddenly there was fandom and lots of people thinking seriously about the same kinds of things. On some level, I think I want to be able to analyze the source as it's given and not have to pick it apart and say, "look, continuity errors," or "look, bad feminism," or "look, Marti has issues." But then of course the source is imperfect and we need to do something with those imperfections. But the thing is we tend to get so caught up in the imperfections, in saying this is why S7 is bad or this is what I didn't like about Illyria or whatever, that we lose sight of the original good thing that is fandom: analyzing the source material.
I agree with some of your Spuffy thoughts but after seeing all sides of the Spuffy issue hashed out endlessly, I'm beginning to feel my head spin. Hence the not caring.
There is lots of good stuff in S7.
And oh, word on Buffy transitioning to the real world. I identify with Buffy most in S6 than any other season and heck, I'm not even clinically depressed. (Probably.) Nor am I in or was I ever in an abusive relationship. But escape mechanisms? Hell yes. Like, oh say, fandom? (And there's a piece of meta that I do <3 verily.)
So yay, Elizabeth thoughts! (Can I call you Elizabeth? This whole LJ-community and naming thing is so odd to me.)