I Promise One Day Soon I Will My Posts Will Be Less Bitchy

[redbrunja]

Last Friday's fannish5 was brilliant:

5 happy endings that you don't like.

First of all, let me say that I am a huge HEA fan - a sad ending has to be freaking perfect before I would prefer it to a happy ending. However, there have been several happy endings that really put a bad taste in my mouth.

1.) Avatar. Here's the thing (and I am doing my best to leave shipping out of this) - remember in the finale when Sokka had thrown away his sword and his boomerang and was hanging on Toph with his fingertips? And then Suki steered a hijacked airship to the rescue? Do you remember how earned that felt? Aang's arc (and, thus, the ending of the series as a whole) felt the complete opposite of that. When the main character is faced with a difficult choice and then refuses to choose until a third option is presented, it's completely unsatisfying.

2.) The Bronze Horseman. Okay, technically, the first book ended bittersweetly, but I know that the next two (two!) sequels are going to be about the main characters finding each other and living happily ever after and frankly I was so frustrated by their choices and the author's 'no one has ever loved like Tatiana and Alexander loved' that I don't give a damn.

3.) Buffy. I feel the series would have been stronger as a whole and had a more cohesive, thematically appropriate ending if the show had ended with season five. On a smaller scale, I think the Buffy and Spike relationship would have been damn near perfect if it had ended with "I know I'm a monster but you treat me like a man," followed by them fighting together, followed by Spike hiding his bloody face in his hands as he's face with Buffy's body. I would give damn near anything to erase the epic fail that is Seeing Red.

4.) Alias. So in the end Sydney and Vaughn (only that's not his real name) and living on a beach with their kids. Did anyone care after the narrative fuckwittery of 'My name isn't Vaughn', 'Oops, Sydney, your fiancé's dead again', 'blah blah Rambaldi hoo-ha,' character assassination of the epic Irina Derevko, and Slone's face-heel-face-heel-face-heel-face-heel jig.

Was that HEA satisfying, by the time it finally dragged itself before the viewers? No.

5.) Mastiff. See previous post.

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I feel the series would have been stronger as a whole and had a more cohesive, thematically appropriate ending if the show had ended with season five.

I couldn't disagree more. I think it would have been a betrayal of the entire show and of the character. It's so fascinating to me the way people can read things completely differently.

I still haven't seen A:tLA all the way through, so I skipped over your thougths on that. But I'll have to remember to come back when I finish it!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

It's so fascinating to me the way people can read things completely differently.

It is. I was just talking to someone about this, and how exploring the different ways people read text can be part of the fun of fandom.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! I've learned so much and considered so many different things because of fandom that I never would have thought of on my own.

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

I have very few problems with Avatar as a whole, but I did have issues with the finale. In addition to the end of the whole Aang/Ozai thing, I didn't feel like the Katara/Aang endgame was earned. I wouldn't have minded if they had left things ambiguous, but explicitly having them get together didn't sit well with me. It just felt like Aang was being rewarded with the girl with no heed paid towards Katara's feelings (which up until that episode had been decidedly not in favour of a relationship with Aang). Also she's his mom.

I HATE SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT "SEEING RED" AND MOST OF SEASON 7 OF BTVS CHOOSES TO BE. I loved the Buffy/Spike arc until then. Blerg. I'm also frustrated with "Chosen", because damn show you spent the entire time telling us that the Slayer powers were a patriarchal imposition on women's bodies (and you often made the rape metaphor obvious), and then you have... Buffy and Willow activate Slayer powers in a bunch of girls. That isn't positive female agency. That isn't feminism. It's fucked up (ESPECIALLY BECAUSE WILLOW "UNREPETENT RAPIST WHO NEVER GOT PROPERLY REDEEMED AFTER S6" ROSENBERG DID THE MAGIC). I don't necessarily think that BtVS had to end after season five, though I do love "The Gift", but the back half of season six and season seven are hot messes in my opinion. I do love that "The Gift" was about Buffy embracing her role as hero.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I didn't feel like the Katara/Aang endgame was earned. I wouldn't have minded if they had left things ambiguous, but explicitly having them get together didn't sit well with me. It just felt like Aang was being rewarded with the girl with no heed paid towards Katara's feelings (which up until that episode had been decidedly not in favour of a relationship with Aang).

*nods* I would have been fine with Aang and Katara getting together (they had some cute moments) if they hadn't had Katara, in the last several episodes, act like she really did not want to be with Aang. That made them suddenly kiss in the finale really strike me the wrong way.

I HATE SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT "SEEING RED" AND MOST OF SEASON 7 OF BTVS CHOOSES TO BE.

Word.

[message-send.livejournal.com]

I completely agree about BtVS. There were bits and pieces throughout seasons six and seven that I liked, but they were few and far between, and never felt worth it. I also found the actual series finale anti-climatic. To me, S6 and S& always felt sort of disconnected from the previous five seasons.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think the move to UPN served BtVS as well as it could have.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Agreed on Avatar. War is hard, it requires tough decisions on all sides, and Aang shouldn't have felt he found a loophole by resigning Ozai to a fate worse than death. Also my issue with the romances is more that not everyone meets the love of their life before the age of sixteen. Can't we ever hear about a couple that met in their teens, dated for a while, drifted apart as life went on, married other people but remained good (entirely platonic) friends?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Can't we ever hear about a couple that met in their teens, dated for a while, drifted apart as life went on, married other people but remained good (entirely platonic) friends?

That is just a way too mature story to tell.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

I'm not trying to cheapen Aang and Katara's love. Sure, they love each other -- at twelve and fourteen. And while Suki and Sokka will announce their engagement five minutes after Gran-Gran finds out they were sharing a tent, Aang and Katara will be busy the next few years with the whole rebuilding a world devastated by a century-long war thing. Not a lot of time for romance.

[whisperingwasp.livejournal.com]

Aang's arc (and, thus, the ending of the series as a whole) felt the complete opposite of that. When the main character is faced with a difficult choice and then refuses to choose until a third option is presented, it's completely unsatisfying.

You've summed up my thoughts perfectly. I really do feel Aang's potential was kind of wasted when they didn't let him come up with a solution by himself. If he could have found a non-violent way to defeat Ozai on his own, that would have been great but having a lion turtle come and do Aang's work for him kind of put a damper on what have should have been an uplifting and life affirming message.

At least there's always fan fiction. I have thought about writing fanfic where Aang deals with the consequences of Spirit Bending but school has kept me from such creative endeavours.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I really do feel Aang's potential was kind of wasted when they didn't let him come up with a solution by himself. If he could have found a non-violent way to defeat Ozai on his own, that would have been great but having a lion turtle come and do Aang's work for him kind of put a damper on what have should have been an uplifting and life affirming message.

I just keep coming back over and over again to the fact that Aang lost nothing to win, and didn't end up struggling for it in any kind of way that I related to.

[whisperingwasp.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, there's that too. XD Sometimes I really wonder whether ATLA's brilliance was mostly accidental for this reason because I compare Zuko's arc and Aang's arc and I'm baffled by how two characters from one show could have such different arcs.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

The thing is, thought, it's only Aang who gets such a crap arc. Everyone else's arc is ACES, from Azula to Katara to Sokka to Toph. There was even some interesting stuff happening with Mai and Ty Lee.

[whisperingwasp.livejournal.com]

I'm a terrible ATLA fan. I completely forgot about the other characters. XD

Since the other arcs are really great, I'm not really going to try and come up with an opinion on why Aang's arc sucked. There could be many reasons why the writers choked on his arc from being too invested in his character to having to deal with the censorship board.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

from being too invested in his character

This is my personal theory.

[dotty.livejournal.com]

3.) Buffy. I feel the series would have been stronger as a whole and had a more cohesive, thematically appropriate ending if the show had ended with season five. On a smaller scale, I think the Buffy and Spike relationship would have been damn near perfect if it had ended with "I know I'm a monster but you treat me like a man," followed by them fighting together, followed by Spike hiding his bloody face in his hands as he's face with Buffy's body. I would give damn near anything to erase the epic fail that is Seeing Red.

YESSSSSSSSSS. I refuse to even acknowledge the existence of s6-7, but the damage has already been done in terms of my eternal love for the show, and for Buffy as a character. If only it had ended with s5!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, once I see something go bad in front of me, I can't unknown that when I rewatch earlier episodes.