that fanfic inevitably reflects fannish preoccupations Well I'm not sure you can write off Joss as having no fannish preoccupations. They might be *different*, since as the creator of the 'verse he got to tell *his* story, and thus does not need to 'fix' anything in the same way others do... but he's still a fan with kinks and foibles.
Dawn reconciling with Spike is another fic standard that I think exists to recapture their S5 relationship and again these stories seem to ignore how the two characters developed subsequently. Considering the way Joss has re-written the Dawn/Willow relationship, I'd say this isn't much of a problem.
Fanfic, almost by definition, doesn’t aim for originality [...] That perception thing is probably at the root of why we’re never going to agree on Spike: Asylum Oh you *must* get it! The joy of that story is that it really is very, very original. New place, new challenges, and actual real character development:
I see the whole hero thing as somewhat of a regression to his death and glory days. Do not be too sure of what we mean when we use the word 'hero'. Mostly I think it just refers to the fact that he's the central character, and not the sidekick. See Buffy is noble, and Spike wants to be like her. Angel strives to be noble and Spike simultaneously mocks that and wants to be better at it. This we have seen on screen. Take these two *away* and let Spike try to work things out for himself... how heroic is he? How noble? He has inbuilt 'What Would Buffy Do?' and 'What Would Angel Do?' reflexes. But when it comes down to it, he's neither - and when the chips are down 'What Would Spike Do?' is a *fascinating* concept to delve into.
no subject
Well I'm not sure you can write off Joss as having no fannish preoccupations. They might be *different*, since as the creator of the 'verse he got to tell *his* story, and thus does not need to 'fix' anything in the same way others do... but he's still a fan with kinks and foibles.
Dawn reconciling with Spike is another fic standard that I think exists to recapture their S5 relationship and again these stories seem to ignore how the two characters developed subsequently.
Considering the way Joss has re-written the Dawn/Willow relationship, I'd say this isn't much of a problem.
Fanfic, almost by definition, doesn’t aim for originality [...] That perception thing is probably at the root of why we’re never going to agree on Spike: Asylum
Oh you *must* get it! The joy of that story is that it really is very, very original. New place, new challenges, and actual real character development:
I see the whole hero thing as somewhat of a regression to his death and glory days.
Do not be too sure of what we mean when we use the word 'hero'. Mostly I think it just refers to the fact that he's the central character, and not the sidekick. See Buffy is noble, and Spike wants to be like her. Angel strives to be noble and Spike simultaneously mocks that and wants to be better at it. This we have seen on screen. Take these two *away* and let Spike try to work things out for himself... how heroic is he? How noble? He has inbuilt 'What Would Buffy Do?' and 'What Would Angel Do?' reflexes. But when it comes down to it, he's neither - and when the chips are down 'What Would Spike Do?' is a *fascinating* concept to delve into.