“America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.”
It’s true. Everybody’s a comedian.
I’m now almost 48 hours removed from the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I think I’m still processing the experience. I watched the finale on Tuesday on a glorious cosmic gigantic projected screen, and once more on a simple television set yesterday evening, and the loss is coming in small, gradual waves. Now I realize that Anya and Spike redeemed themselves with final acts of bravery and sacrifice, now I’m realizing how much of Sunnydale was a character in and of itself. Xander mockingly lamented the end of the Gap and the Starbucks, but the Bronze is also gone, the cemeteries are gone, UC Sunnydale is gone.
I noted that in the past few years I’ve slowly lost my taste for those I can only refer to as Buffy playa-haters. I think I’ve shown remarkable restraint in the face of well-written criticisms of the most brilliant show on television, which often times seem snarky and negative for their own sake. The nitpicking and disaffected sighs of many of the Buffy fans over the finale came about as close as I could expect to get to full-tilt rantage. If I hear one more person write about how “the show should have ended in season 5,” or “the show shouldn’t have changed,” I may yelp with frustration. Ultimately, the world has divided, for me, into two parts–those who got it and those who didn’t.
Perhaps that’s too harsh. I may feel differently in awhile. I try to avoid getting defensive about my artistic sensibilities, since I have to remember that artistic appreciation remains a subjective thing.
On a related note, I have two things to say about criticism of The West Wing:
1) To the right-wing dittoheads who complain that the show is just a liberal handjob, I’d like to see somebody write a treatment for an hourlong White House drama that focuses on the trials and tribulations of a right-wing conservative administration. I’d be very interested to see how such a show would sympathetically portray such things as the blatant biases toward the wealthy and the corporate, or the rampaging homophobia, or the barely existent rebukes of the intolerant elements enjoying positions of power within the party. I’d love to see the idealism of conservatives on display in primetime. Bring it on. [1]
2) I’ve decided that any time a critic writes the phrase “pompous” or “long-winded” to describe any show, ever, that it just means they can’t keep up. Stories are not pompous. You only think they are if they don’t cater to you.
Done. For now.
[1] I’ve been reading the blog of Oliver Willis as of late, and it’s making me Get My Left On.
Current music: MP3 list, Richard Ashcroft, “Bittersweet Symphony” (acoustic)
Creative Control 