#college plus general loss of motivation made me just stop for awhile

[wandering-across-aminos]

enough is enough

[roguepythia]

Meta: Characterizations to Cling to

rose-for-dead-alice replied to your post “Honestly though, I was a hardcore Spuffy shipper. S6 wrecked our shit...”

                       Honestly yeah as much as I kind of hate the loss of a potential canon gay romance on a hit TV show....At least it isn't like what Buffy did with that attempted rape scene, Buffy got way too sexual and I always felt so violated by that part of the show.                    

So many people felt the same! And “violated” is the perfect word choice too. It’s exactly how the entire fandom felt.

Putting this under a read more as I meta about Spuffy and Nygmobblepot characterizations, world-breaking, and fandom/show relationships. It’s a long one people, grab a snack first. 

BtVS S6 just got so dark, dealing with themes like self-hate and using sex as self-punishment. They had spent the entire season completely objectifying Spike and turning him into basically a giant sex toy. And made it seem all “a-okay” to do cause he’d had his own sex toy for awhile in the Buffybot. Plus, Buffy was the “hero” so she “couldn’t” do any wrong. It was all Spike’s fault that he was willing to put up with it. Either because he loved her so much he was willing to take on her pain or he was a monster that couldn’t tell the difference between love and self-hate therefore didn’t think she was doing anything wrong. Considering his keen ability to see through the bullshit my take was the first. He knew she was hurting and wanted to take that pain from her, if he got his leg over in the process so much the better for him.

And then they pulled the rug out from under us when all of sudden he attacks her. They completely ignore all of their world-building to make him out to be the bad guy that can’t see where the line is, when she’s been crossing it all season. Even though at his most evil self he had limits. And then it’s been proven that Buffy is 10x more powerful than Spike but because she got a little banged up earlier that night, all of a sudden he can overpower her? It was also so completely out of character for both of them. Buffy the “hit first, ask questions later” Slayer begging Spike “Love’s Bitch” to stop rather than just kicking him through the wall. Which she can do as she’s a Slayer. Which leads me to my next point.

The audience reaction. They didn’t make this show in a vacuum. There was an audience and a large fanbase. As a college-aged young woman watching this show, I identified with Buffy. She was for my generation what Wonder Woman is now to this one. We looked up to her. She fought the good fight. She stood up to right the wrongs of the “demons” that tried to take her power. She was a metaphor for girls to say to themselves, “I matter. I have power. I have a voice!” So of course when she gets attacked like that, by someone who claims to love her, we all feel attacked as well.

And the Spike fans were doubly betrayed. We identified with Buffy and Spike. The Heroine and the Outsider. They had been such a powerful team and Spike was on his redemption journey already. He spent the entire summer being The Protector to her younger sister and asked for nothing in return except for someone to buy him Wheetabix every once in awhile. Yes, he was still a demon but he was fighting his nature to be something better than himself. Even without a soul he was still trying. That character development was completely destroyed in one scene. The only way to reconcile what happened was to headcanon that even Spike was so appalled by his own behavior that he sought his soul. He basically said, “THIS ISN’T WHO I AM! Screw this, I’m outta here.” Which as noted by the below, might have been their plan.

The following quotes are from the wiki page on this ep and very enlightening as apparently the scene was shot in such a way as to evoke sympathy for Spike....while he was attempting to rape Buffy. Let that sink in.

In the DVD commentary, James Marsters said that filming the scene in which Spike attempts to rape Buffy was one of the hardest he ever had to do. He has since said that he will never do such a scene again. That scene has also generated controversy between fans and the writers,[2] but writer Jane Espenson says that moment was necessary to set up a powerful motivation for Spike's quest to gain a soul.[3] As James Marsters points out, "How do you motivate him [to] make a mistake that’s so heart-rending that he’d be willing to do that?"[4]

Marsters would later say in 2012 that he understood the idea to have come from "a female writer, [who] had a situation in her life where she was and her boyfriend were breaking up and she decided if she just made love to him one more time, that they wouldn't break up. She ended up trying to force herself on him and decided to write about that. The thing is, if you flip it and make it a man forcing himself on a woman, I believe it becomes a whole different thing... I'm not really sure it expressed what the author was intending and on that score it was not successful." [5]

In her essay on sex and violence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gwyn Symonds calls the scene itself "technically and emotionally intricate" in that, unlike most depictions of attempted rape, it "encourages a complex audience engagement with both... the perpetrator and the victim."[6] The action was "very carefully choreographed" according to James Marsters,[4] with the camera alternating between close-ups of Buffy and Spike separately to reinforce the audience's shifting empathy with both Buffy and Spike.[6] Writer Rebecca Rand Kirshner agrees that the viewer "could feel how [Spike's] very innards were twisted into this perversion of what he wanted," and she found that experiencing the scene from his perspective was additionally disturbing.[7]

The above makes it clear that the most egregious crime of that scene was against the fans. Not only was it bad decision making on several levels to portray an attacker as a victim but to also believe that you can swap genders in such a scene without a problem. But the most obscene aspect of all, is the world-breaking. In the Buffyverse, Spike is a Demon. Buffy is a Slayer. They are NOT HUMAN. They don’t live by human rules. But the fans are human and we do live in a sometimes ugly, cruel world. By making these supernatural creatures act within human boundaries, the analogies were broken. It was no longer a metaphor. This brought a show that wasn’t just steeped in supernatural elements but solidly based in them, kicking and screaming into the “real world”.

The fandom reacted. All of a sudden fans were labeled “rape apologists” or had to relive the most harrowing moments of their lives to explain how deeply the show had hurt them. Sometimes both. I don’t think the show or the fandom ever recovered. It was a breech of trust that the show writers could never mend.

Even now as writers for the show head other projects, BtVS fans know who they are and what they’ve done. When I found out  Steven S. DeKnight was taking over directing duties for Del Toro on Pacific Rim 2, I wanted to barf. Now the story I love about all of humanity coming together to fight a common foe; full of love and pathos, resolute in its determination to never give up, to go down swinging, to stand up and maybe even pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect those that cannot..... “Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!“ Now it’s in his hands. It’s now going to take a dark and twisted turn full of some type of self loathing and hatred, I’m sure of it. Ug. Fifteen years later and I’m still so appalled at how all this went down.

And if anyone is still reading this long essay at this point, (you get a virtual cookie) but I guess you’re wondering how this all relates to Nygmobblepot. Well, my main point of contention about the above is that they took the characters out of their world. They took supernatural creatures and made them act as if they were human. It wasn’t just that it was OOC for both characters, it wasn’t BtVS either.

The Nygmobblepot and Gotham fandoms are “alive”. Our feelings about the show, the characters, and the fandom itself shift with each new piece of content we receive. And unfortunately, we receive this content in a lot more ways now.  

When BtVS was around, we didn’t have “social media”. Facebook didn’t even exist until one year after BtVS concluded. There wasn’t a twitter page dangling our ship in front of us with colored hearts and cute images or coy phrases. There was an on-line presence, yes, but fans only really interacted with fans and fansites. We didn’t have a direct line to the creators and/or actors on the show on a daily basis like we do now. And maybe we were better off? It is a double edged sword. We can now make our voices heard so much easier but then we are subjected to constant pandering to get “all eyes focused here!!” so advertisers can rake in the money every time we click on a site.

But that isn’t part of the show itself. It’s not. It’s the social media arm run by the PR department, whose job it is to generate buzz and a “click this!!” mentality. And it works! Every time we get sucked in and think something said on those sites will have some correlation to what happens on the show. And that’s not the case. We don’t even know if the PR team knows what will happen in the episodes before they post. For all we know, they have no clue. Somehow we’ve forgotten they are two separate things and the creators need to be reminded of this as well. Because looking back through the social media posts is painful. And it didn’t need to be that way.  

The show itself has actually managed to do the one thing that BtVS could not, and that is to keep their world in tact. After everything that has happened to Oz and Ed, through it all, they have remained in character. The world hasn’t shifted out from under them, nor us. They are still who they’ve always been at their core. Even Ed, who is searching for his identify, has been handled in a way that stays true to his Gotham characterization.

There is a lot that can be said about how the story unfolded and how it didn’t go the way we wanted. Many sectors of the fandom are legitimately angry. Many of us, myself included, were casual viewers until this ship jumped off the screen at us. And it wasn’t social media that sucked us in. It was Robin and Cory’s portrayal of these two broken, damaged villains finding each other that spoke to us. Knowing that even if you are “irredeemable”, there is still someone out there for you. That there truly is a “lid for every pot”. It was that connection we fell in love with, romance or not. And now this beautiful friendship seems to have been ruined for little to no payoff. But at least the story line still all made some kind of sense. I think I’ll be more upset at this point over a lack of explanation for Isabella than anything else.

And the reason why, is that the show hasn’t broken my trust. Their social media PR team can kiss my ass. But the show stayed true to itself and therefore us. It made Oswald canonically gay but never made him into someone he’s not nor made him do things he’d never conceive of. And poor Edward, who falls so easily and simply can’t help himself at times, continued his decent into madness and villainy. Oswald and Edward remained Oswald and Edward, much to Ed’s consternation.

The show makes it clear that this isn’t “the real world” pretty much on an episodic basis. “This is Gotham” isn’t just a catchphrase, it’s a way of life for these characters. It’s how the show is able to make us care about serial killers and psychopaths that we would run from if we met in “the real world”. Their world is filled with color and flair and the characters continue to reflect that. For all of the show’s purported faults in the story line this season, failure to understand their characterizations isn’t one of them. They have not committed the ultimate sin. At least not yet, not in my eyes. I guess we will see what the finale and S4 holds for us.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Canes Celebrating, Players Returning From Injury (Feb 17)

I wonder if Don Cherry and Brian Burke realize that the more they criticize the Hurricanes’ post-game victory celebrations, the more it will inspire the Canes to get to the next one. Okay, I’m sure that doesn’t directly motivate the Canes, but the words of old-school hockey types won’t change what the Canes have started. To me, the celebrations seem childlike and a bit goofy and definitely fun, but not insulting or disrespectful or like "jerks" toward an opponent. In addition, if these celebrations generate hockey interest in Carolina, they can’t be that bad.

Life is enjoyable for the Hurricanes right now, as they sit one point ahead of Pittsburgh for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference (Pens have one game in hand, though, but why spoil the fun with that fact?)

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Petr Mrazek ensured that his team was able to limbo after the game, stopping all 33 shots he faced in a 3-0 win. Mrazek has pitched shutouts in two of his last three starts. Overall, the Canes have had great goaltending from the Mrazek/Curtis McElhinney tandem recently, allowing just five goals over their last five games. Mrazek and McElhinney are both in the top 15 in goals-against average among goalies that have played at least 20 games, so maybe they could even be considered a poor man’s Islanders’ tandem (as weird as that may sound).

If you’re the Hurricanes and you’re in this spot, should you really trade Micheal Ferland? Isn’t he the kind of player that you need down the stretch and into the playoffs, should you make it there? With a goal on Saturday, Ferland has five points in his last three games.

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Tyler Bertuzzi returned to the Wings’ lineup on Saturday, scoring a goal and adding an assist while logging 19 minutes of icetime alongside pre-injury linemates Dylan Larkin and Gustav Nyquist. This has been interrupted by his upper-body injury, but Bertuzzi has eight points (4g-4a) in his last six games. Even though he plays on the Wings’ top line, Bertuzzi is just 6 percent owned in Yahoo leagues.

Claude Giroux left the game briefly after this hit, but fortunately, he was able to return. Anthony Mantha might receive a call from NHL Player Safety for this hit.  

Dangerous play by Anthony Mantha on Claude Giroux goes unpenalized pic.twitter.com/x3oIlGzqAh

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 16, 2019

Much to the chagrin of Flyers’ fans, Mantha scored two third-period goals, including the tying goal with seven seconds left in regulation.

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Justin Schultz returned to the Penguins’ lineup on Saturday after being out of the lineup since mid-October with a broken leg. He recorded an assist while playing on the Pens’ second-unit power play. Take away the four-month gap and Schultz has five points in five games. He had a dud of a 2017-18 season (27 points in 63 games), but remember that he’s only two years removed from a 51-point campaign. Even though he won’t get a sniff of the Pens’ first-unit power play barring a Kris Letang injury, the offensive-minded Schultz is worth a flier in mid-sized fantasy leagues.

Evgeni Malkin returned from his one-game suspension, scoring two power-play goals and adding an assist. Even though he has a six-game point streak, Malkin had been held without a goal in his previous seven games.

With three assists in the Flames’ win on Saturday, Derek Ryan now has seven points in his last seven games.

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Shots on goal update for Brayden Schenn: After he failed to record a shot for four consecutive games, Schenn took three shots on Saturday. And he recorded another assist on another Vladimir Tarasenko goal. After an ice-cold first half, Tarasenko is one of the league’s hottest players with 14 goals and 12 assists in his last 19 games, and he is riding an 11-game point streak. And the Blues’ win streak is now at nine games.

This time, though, it was Jake Allen’s turn to ride the Blues’ wave. Allen stopped all 32 shots he faced in the 3-0 win. The Blues were playing their first of back-to-backs, so the red-hot Jordan Binnington should be back between the pipes on Sunday against Minnesota. Imagine that: The Blues are playing so well that you’re safe to start Jake Allen.

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The Oilers have been busy making trades. Here are our fantasy takes on each trade:

Talbot/Stolarz trade

Spooner/Gagner trade

Sam Gagner got to Brooklyn in time for Saturday’s game against the Islanders. In case you were wondering if he would immediately be placed on the McDavid line, there was no such luck. He started the game on a line with Tobias Rieder and Colby Cave but later Cave was swapped for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Gagner played just under ten minutes while receiving second-unit power-play time.

By the way, Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch for this game. Get him to the AHL.

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Yesterday I mentioned my strategy about starting both of my goalies whenever they face each other. It didn’t go so well on Friday, but Saturday provided an example of why I use it. Most fantasy owners would normally start Frederik Andersen over Darcy Kuemper. Yet on Saturday it was Kuemper earning the win and shutout with a 4-0 victory over the Andersen and the Leafs. The backup-turned-starter for the Desert Dogs has now earned wins in three of his past four games and continues to be a reasonable option in fantasy leagues.

With his goal on Saturday, Alex Galchenyuk now has four goals in his last four games.

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Dustin Byfuglien was out of the Jets’ lineup on Saturday because of a lower-body injury.  Even though Big Buff is still a beast out there, I’ve predicted over the last couple seasons that the wear and tear of his physical game would catch up to him. Now we’re seeing signs of that, as the now 33-year-old blueliner has already missed 22 games and counting this season.

Whenever Byfuglien has been out of the lineup, Josh Morrissey has been considered the Jets’ defenseman to start in your lineup. Morrissey logged nearly 25 minutes on Saturday, but Tyler Myers did the damage from the Jets’ blueline, scoring two goals. Myers now has four points in his last four games and seems to be a decent pickup while Byfuglien is out.

According to Elliotte Friedman, the Senators have made the decision to trade Matt Duchene. Hey, it would be better than losing him for nothing, considering the price that they paid for him. It sounds like the Sens are trying to re-sign Mark Stone, however. Don’t forget to check out our Trade Tracker for a list of trades made over the past month.

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Andrei Vasilevskiy earned a relatively easy 20-save shutout against the Habs, giving him shutouts in back-to-back games and four consecutive wins. He should be a frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy.

Nikita Kucherov continues to do his thing. He now has at least one goal and two points in four consecutive games with 13 points over that span. He now has a seven-point lead in the scoring race. He should be a frontrunner for the Hart Trophy.

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Erik Karlsson returned to the Sharks’ lineup on Saturday after missing the past nine games, posting an assist in nearly 25 minutes of icetime. He had been playing extremely well before his injury, scoring 28 points over his previous 20 games. Of course you’ll want to get him back in your lineup.

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Artemi Panarin’s name continues to be discussed in trade rumors, and someone here might be writing a fantasy impact piece of his trade in the next week or so. In the meantime he is a Blue Jacket and he continues to score. The Bread Man scored two goals and added an assist with a plus-4 rating in the Jackets’ 5-2 win. Yep, it’s going to be an interesting week and a bit to find out if he goes anywhere. The Jackets are in a playoff spot but are by no means secure. An idea making the rounds would see the Jackets trade Panarin to one team for picks and/or prospects, then trade picks and/or prospects to a second team for something that could help the Blue Jackets right away.

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Max Pacioretty entered Saturday’s game without a goal and with just one assist in his past five games. He broke that slide with two goals on nine shots in the Golden Knights’ 5-1 win over Nashville. Patches may not reach 30 goals again, but with 16 goals he’s just one shy of his season total from all last season while playing in 18 fewer games. So the move to Vegas has helped his fantasy value overall, even if he doesn’t reach the heights he did in Montreal.  

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Jeff Carter returned to the Kings’ lineup on Saturday, but he was held without a point in 18 minutes of icetime. He was placed on a line with Tyler Toffoli and Brendan Leipsic.

Jonathan Quick fell ill on Saturday, so Jack Campbell started for the Kings, allowing four goals on 24 shots in the loss. So it was the Kings’ turn to start an emergency goalie. Steve Jakiel, a former college goalie who is now a finance manager, was the emergency backup. I can’t recall an emergency backup ever being pressed into action, but I can remember years ago in Vancouver when a University of British Columbia goalie waited nervously on the bench while Johan Hedberg, the Canucks’ only healthy NHL goalie, was on the ice injured.  

With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Jake DeBrusk now has six points (3g-3a) over his last three games.

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Looking ahead to Sunday, Alexandar Georgiev will be starting for the Rangers in Pittsburgh. This will be Georgiev’s second consecutive start after stopping 31 of 33 shots he faced in win on Friday. Georgiev has reeled off three consecutive wins while allowing six goals over that span, so he has earned the opportunity for more starts. Meanwhile, Henrik Lundqvist has lost four consecutive games. It’s been awhile since there’s truly been a battle between the pipes for the Rangers, but we could be looking at one now as King Henrik is on the downside of his career.

For more starting goalie information, be sure to check Goalie Post.

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For more fantasy hockey information, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-canes-celebrating-players-returning-from-injury-feb-17/