Angst!

[lady_windermere]

I was out for a meal with David yesterday, we went to a lovely place called The Village Rest in Luss. As usual, we both had the steak pie, a real plateful, with lots of stake pie, a selection of vegetables, boiled potatoes and chips. I couldn't quite finish it all, and made to put my knife and fork on the plate to signal that I was finished. The knife fell onto my lap, staining my clothes with gravy, then proceeded to fall on the floor. I bent down between the tables to pick it up, and hit my head on the table next to us. I now have a lump on my forehead, that is sore to touch. Not the best end to the meal.

I have been chatting to erin_starlight in comments, and it got me thinking over just what is getting me so much about the latest episodes of Dr Who, the Buffy Comic, and the Angel comic. I think that I know what it is. I don't like the sentimental twaddle of these (epic) tragic, doomed, ill fated, love stories. The stuff of shipper wars and character bashing in fandom. I do think I have my reasons.

The first boy I dated, when I was fifteen, I was all doe eyed and sure I had found my soulmate. I had the dreams of being a child bride, and us going and living together happily ever after. Our parents both went to the same meeting, and decided we were too young. They split us up. Yes I did the whole angst laden poetry, dreamed about getting back together, all the things that a romantic teenager does. When I was seventeen, I found out that he had died, suddently. He was eighteen. I of course went into shock. It pretty much knocked all those teenage romantic dreams out of my head. Maybe I did become a little bitter and cynical.

I meet Michael when I was 25, and we got married when I was 27. He died when I was 30, he was 35. So I watch these (epic) love stories with eyes that have seen it all before. I was the romantic, but I think that all my romantic notions have been knocked out of me. To me, the writers are just playing with emotions, and in some cases, it comes across as quite cheap, and false

Comments

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Yep, I think you have a valid point! I'm sorry -- I knew M had died, but didn't know it was so soon after you married.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

I guess I just cannot get into the big doomed love storied. They do not ring true for me.

Thank You! Yes three and a half years we were married!

[redlighthouse.livejournal.com]

The knife fell onto my lap, staining my clothes with gravy, then proceeded to fall on the floor. I bent down between the tables to pick it up, and hit my head on the table next to us. I now have a lump on my forehead, that is sore to touch. Not the best end to the meal.

That is SOOOO something I would do! I'm such a clutz. Was it funny, at least?

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

*sigh*, I really don't think anyone else noticed. I know David didn't. So I didn't even give anyone a laugh. Just cursing under my breath!

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, yes I can imagine how these stories are not going over well. Personally I've gotten very tired of the constant dying characters do, even if they live in pretty violent circumstances. It cheapens the writing to me.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

So have I. Not so much in Supernatural, as I think they handle it slightly better, it is not all over by the next time we see them. While others, such as the Buffy!Verse, have these stories built up, but then they are not mentioned again!

[erin-starlight.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about you loss. I can't say that I have ever had the same experiences. That being the case my reasons for disliking the shipper war, impossible love stories might be for different reasons. For one thing it's been done a lot with Joss characters. Two, I have NEVER seen these characters in question truly connect on a deeper level than they suddenly find each other hot. For me that's b/a, at least Freds' part in w/f and now c/g. With Romeo and Juliet too actually.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Yes, I think Joss has totally over done it. And it just leaves me jaded. Why should I care anymore if two characters get together, if it just leads to them being torn apart, for whatever reason. Cheap!

[jaded-jamie.livejournal.com]

Well I can understand why you're a bit jaded on such things, understandable. I'm not into that stuff myself either so I can see where you're coming from.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Thank You Jamie. Yes, quite jaded, and I feel it is not handled very well. Total sentimental twaddle!

[jaded-jamie.livejournal.com]

I met Gina across a crowded room, I saw her, was open mouthed, went over and said "Hi, Jamie. We're going to get married..." I SWEAR It was not a line, she said "Gina, okay then...." 6 weeks later we got married. And that was 18 years ago. Despite this fact I am still jaded and completely agree with you, sentimental nonsese is not as real as the world or angst.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

See it worked out for you, but not in the tragic sense, but in 18 years of happiness. While what I get is how the portary the....doomed love affairs. They are not realistic. Then I guess bitter, twisted, cynical people would soon get boring. In fiction, they have to move on, and get into other relationships FAR to quickly!

[shapinglight]

Hi. I'm so sorry you and Michael had such a short time together, and completely understand why you feel as you do.

Unfortunately, doomed romance is a staple of fiction and therefore is likely to come up again and again. However, you're quite right that Joss has used it too much.

It doesn't help, I know, but my sister has had a very similar experience to your own. She got completely freaked out watching that Ang Lee film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - so much so that she threw the DVD away.

I've never suggested to her she should watch BtVS. I know the B/A story would be horribly upsetting to her.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Thank You so much Debs! I think it is how it is portrayed that gets me the most. They don't seem to mourn, and get into new relationships far to quickly. That could of course be because my reaction was to become a little bitter and cynical towards the whole romance side of things, I guess.

It means, for me, that these relationships are put over as quite cheap, and that they didn't really mean that much to each other. I accept that it is fantasy, and yes, they can have them come back, but in real life, no matter how much we wish it were true, they cannot!

[elsinorelane.livejournal.com]

you've brought up something really interesting here. i completely agree with you when you say that characters moving on so quickly after the death of another cheapens that relationship. i think it cheapens the value of the character who's moving on, as well. maybe it's my outlook on things (i have never lost anyone like you have, and i can't even begin to imagine how horrible that is), but personally, i can't let go of people i really care about, at least not that easily, not even when they're still alive. it's difficult to think about anything else for a long time. but i don't know how writers see these things... do they want to set a fast pace and keep at it? do they think "kinks" in the story only slow them down and bore readers? i used to want to be a writer for a tv show, until i realized how much everything that really happens affects fans! it's like they don't always think about every angle like we do. even though they are directly involved in the turn of events as it unfolds, it seems the writers are somehow more removed than we fans are.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Yes, they move on far to quickly in the series. I think that Supernatural is about the best to be honest. Sam did mourn for Jess, both Dean and Sam were effected by John dying. For a fast paced series like Supernatural, they gave them some time, and they were both refered to some time after the events.

I do not expect them to have years of not moving on, that is not what I mean. That wouldn't help the story. It just shouldn't be over in one episode. Kind of, "Right we had the death scene, what next"

[elsinorelane.livejournal.com]

supernatural really did handle the deaths of loved ones well. i'd love for sam to be happy (and not mourning for years, like you mentioned), but at the same time, the angst jess's death added to the show makes it that much better, and in a way, i'm glad that the writers didn't let that go. the constant little reminders are all too realistic. and even maddie, and how what happened between them affected sam, was really, really well done.

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Very true, the scenes with Sam mourning for Jess added something to the show and the character. It gave both depth. I honestly didn't expect the same for Madison, I have to be honest, but in the next episode, Dean does take Sam to LA to relax afterwards. That they ended up in the middle of another hunt was expected, after all it is a fantasy/Adventure programme. "Hollywood Babylon" is not a favourite of mine I have to admit, Dean just seems a little off, character wise in that one!