I will say this though: as a more-or-less full time pedestrian, I hate drivers. All of them. No offence, but when people get behind the wheel of a car, they become monsters.

Hey! Bite me!

I only become a monster during full moons.

And I guess if there's people who Take This Place Seriously, us folks who are here just to have a little fun sometimes will sometimes rattle their chains a little. I guess I just sort of lost a lot of respect for the whole ME as modern mythology thing when I watched the panels from BtVS and Angel at the Museum of TV and Radio... It sort of rubbed off on me.

Point the first: I totally agree with the Shakespeare nod - Buffy is ephemeral, fluffy pop culture which is very accessible but can hold its own against other art and media texts & can be fruitfully examined on a number of levels, if one so wishes. (I love an awful lot of Shakespeare's stuff, but it's not uniformly dazzling. Some of it's mediocre and some of it's crappy. Doesn't mean you can't take any of it seriously, 'cause when it kicks ass, by God it kicks ass.)

That doesn't imply that I think the actors, writers or directors should know the text inside out, or obsess about it, or regard it with religious devotion - because I'm not a total idiot. It's a job. My interest in the actors and writers is moderate - well disposed, Go Team Them, but I don't know them from Adam (no pun intended). Their takes on the show don't negate how I enjoy or interpret it, any more than knowing that Shakespeare added a particular scene because the guy playing the fool needed an extra five minutes to finish a costume change and help move some scenery (or, alternatively, knowing that Shakespeare sweated over each and every word of that particular scene and researched it exhaustively) impinges on the value of the finished product.

(There's a lot of snobbery value attached to Shakespeare's plays and Homer's poetry, even to Dickens' novels, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this stuff was all pop culture. It was entertainment, first and foremost. In the context of their periods, none of them were highbrow arthouse texts, they were all just entertainment with funny bits, swashbuckling bits and sad bits. Good entertainment with funny bits, swashbuckling bits and sad bits.)

Point the second: Quite aside from all that, the conversation hadn't actually been about ME, so whether the show is shit or shinola is pretty much moot, I'd have thought. From my perspective the geeky & overeducated shared unhealthy anorakish obsession enthusiasm for the Joss shows is just what has introduced me to a bunch of people here. It doesn't mean that it's the only thing we can talk about, any more than I only talk about work with work colleagues or only talk about drama with my drama group or whatever. It's cool, because there's a shared point of reference, but the Buffista culture isn't limited to watching the show. It doesn't define the tone or seriousness of my conversations, because there are lots of interesting people here with interesting views on lots of stuff, and the conversation goes all over the place.

Saying effectively "hey, I only know you because we both like this TV show, so why on earth would I dignify any of our conversations by taking them seriously?" really throws me for a loop.

There's a lot of snobbery value attached to Shakespeare's plays and Homer's poetry, even to Dickens' novels, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this stuff was all pop culture.

This is the most intelligent point I’ve read anybody make so far –on the whole board...ever. IMO

The rest of the article is very good aswell.

Edit: 1/2 a mo while I go back and read through again.

scuttles off back to the top of the page

Argh! Caught mid-edit!

Sorry babe, I like to chat. In conversation a person can only make one point at a time. I have to switch mode for articles. {scuttles}

I think what I am doing is sgreeing with your overall point which is -unless I'm mistaken -don't knock Buffy you snobs cos in 100 years your descendents are going to writing compulsory essays about her...Shakepear is GOOD.

Did I get it?

grins

No, glad you liked it - I'm just embarrassed because I thought if I nipped back and tweaked it nobody would have seen the earlier (very nearly identical) version. Must stop compulsively polishing posts.

Must also get the hell on with work. Right. Good. Yes.

edit Yeah, I was pretty much saying that! Not that people here are cultural snobs, afaik, so I'm little miss PreachToTheChoir.

OK, I will go and reread.

Shakespear IS good.

From my perspective the geeky & overeducated shared unhealthy anorakish obsession enthusiasm for the Joss shows

Uh, Fay love.

This board needs emoticons...I am blushing.

I'll just point out that I am not the one who introduced the show, nor am I the obssesive compulsive DVD collector.

Edit: I am the deranged fangirl.

I AM THE DERANGED FANGIRL
t /proclamation