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As I tear apart Queen of the Damned in preparation for my paper, I can see glaring issues with plot and structure, intent and execution that I usually ignore because, well, it was intriguing enough to suck me in and I was already invested in the story from having read The Vampire Lestat. Looking at it closely is not necessarily a good thing, especially as I think about my disinterest in Rice over the past couple of years. I got stuck on Servent of the Bones and Violin, intent upon reading everything in the order that it came out, and stopped buying the books right before Merrick was released. I had a growing collection of Rice books that I was not reading.
Anne Rice went way down hill for me. She turned into one of those writers who believes in their own myth. It's a sad thing to realize, she just takes herself way too seriously and unfortunately the books were affected by that. Now, I haven't read anything past chapter three of Violin so maybe it all improved. And one day I definitly will finish reading the novels following. But for now it's almost painful. Going to her site and reading all the posts and notes and transcribed phone calls and just being like, jeez, enough already. Then I go visit Neil Gaiman's blog/LJ and it's all equally as brilliant without all of the mumbo jumbo-oh, I channel my ancestors and have dreamed of this story since I was four.
Now, once this paper is done I think I'll be revisitng Buffy and Angel over the seasons and trying to make it all make sense. Because arcs are the plots for the season and ultimately your show should make sense in much the same way as a novel or a series of novels. It's got to tie together and I think the way that works best is to know where you're going when you begin and always keep that place in mind as you're traveling. Whedon's shows,as most shows, don't follow that idea. I think I was spoiled by Farscape. Not that it was perfect but I found the continuity issues to be fewer/less irritating than in Buffy or Angel (or maybe I just came in too late to care). I think of this because watching Spike's slow incorporation into the Angel plotline smacks of revision. Revising backstory to accomodate a pretty face. Spike being in love with Buffy also smacks of revision. Proposing that the events of Season Four never occured without providing any sort of explanation for how it's possible that an entire year (two weeks) have been erased but having the characters still retain certain memories is just ridiculous.
I think that after Buffy Season Seven and this Season's Angel I am becoming very disenchanted with Whedon's shows. Granted they are still my very special crack and there isn't anything on TV that can match them for innovation. But at the moment ER gets me a lot more excited on Thursday nights then the promise of Angel on Wednesday. ER started strong and remains strong. Angel fucks around the first couple of eps and then we wait for the fur to fly and the season to get good during sweeps. It's sad that fans are willing to accept this, that we've made it into an okay thing because of course it all be made up for in the end.
Anyway. January. We'll be revisiting these issues once I've officially graduated from the MA program.
In the meantime: Sin, Seymour Sigmund, LJS, Divalicious, et al. I'm working on a Wish List because I've decided to be a greedy bitch this year. I'm finishing the MA program, Xmas is on the 25th and the birthday is a month after that. This will give you plenty of time to celebrate the goodness of my life at the moment (or at least in that future moment, once I get these papers turned in). Save your pennies, children.
Anne Rice went way down hill for me. She turned into one of those writers who believes in their own myth. It's a sad thing to realize, she just takes herself way too seriously and unfortunately the books were affected by that. Now, I haven't read anything past chapter three of Violin so maybe it all improved. And one day I definitly will finish reading the novels following. But for now it's almost painful. Going to her site and reading all the posts and notes and transcribed phone calls and just being like, jeez, enough already. Then I go visit Neil Gaiman's blog/LJ and it's all equally as brilliant without all of the mumbo jumbo-oh, I channel my ancestors and have dreamed of this story since I was four.
Now, once this paper is done I think I'll be revisitng Buffy and Angel over the seasons and trying to make it all make sense. Because arcs are the plots for the season and ultimately your show should make sense in much the same way as a novel or a series of novels. It's got to tie together and I think the way that works best is to know where you're going when you begin and always keep that place in mind as you're traveling. Whedon's shows,as most shows, don't follow that idea. I think I was spoiled by Farscape. Not that it was perfect but I found the continuity issues to be fewer/less irritating than in Buffy or Angel (or maybe I just came in too late to care). I think of this because watching Spike's slow incorporation into the Angel plotline smacks of revision. Revising backstory to accomodate a pretty face. Spike being in love with Buffy also smacks of revision. Proposing that the events of Season Four never occured without providing any sort of explanation for how it's possible that an entire year (two weeks) have been erased but having the characters still retain certain memories is just ridiculous.
I think that after Buffy Season Seven and this Season's Angel I am becoming very disenchanted with Whedon's shows. Granted they are still my very special crack and there isn't anything on TV that can match them for innovation. But at the moment ER gets me a lot more excited on Thursday nights then the promise of Angel on Wednesday. ER started strong and remains strong. Angel fucks around the first couple of eps and then we wait for the fur to fly and the season to get good during sweeps. It's sad that fans are willing to accept this, that we've made it into an okay thing because of course it all be made up for in the end.
Anyway. January. We'll be revisiting these issues once I've officially graduated from the MA program.
In the meantime: Sin, Seymour Sigmund, LJS, Divalicious, et al. I'm working on a Wish List because I've decided to be a greedy bitch this year. I'm finishing the MA program, Xmas is on the 25th and the birthday is a month after that. This will give you plenty of time to celebrate the goodness of my life at the moment (or at least in that future moment, once I get these papers turned in). Save your pennies, children.
