Random Fan Opinions:

[butterfly]

1. Joey Potter (Dawson's Creek) and Lana Lang (Smallville) aren't a lot alike and it makes my head hurt when people put them in the same category. They share a few things in common -- the love of the main character, dark hair, and a dead mother. But at the beginning of their various arcs, they're actually about as far from each other as they can be -- Joey's the piner, Lana's the pinee; Joey lives on the wrong side of the creek, Lana is a cheerleader whose aunt is friends with the Luthors; the blonde girl is preferred to Joey in the beginning by the lead, while the reverse occurs on Smallville. Popular girl who feels all alone is not the same as outcast who feels all alone.

2. Love comes in so many variations, with infinite degrees of intensity and uncounted shades of complexity. This is why I find it so hard to compare various loves to each other. The idea of asking who, for example, Xander (BtVS) loved most strikes me as approaching pointless. The way that he loved Willow was different in kind to how he loved Buffy, or Cordy, or Anya. Did he love Willow more than he loved Buffy? I think that it's impossible to say. One could bring up points for either side.

3. On Stargate SG-1, Daniel loved Sha're -- but the lure of knowledge was bright enough to distract him from that on more than one occasion (unburying the gate and Torment of Tantalus immediately spring to mind). Daniel cared for Sarah, and again, the reason that they broke up was because his work got in the way. Therefore, it's no surprise to me that Daniel can care for Jack and SG-1 (enough to say that he finally feels like he belongs somewhere (Orpheus)) and still wish that he could have gone with the Atlantis team (Stargate Atlantis -- Rising). For Daniel, the call of some unknown secret will always attract his attention away from what he already knows. That's just who he is.

4. One of my big fanfic kinks is 'friends become lovers', but it's actually much more specific than that. I like to see the friendship form, like to see the creation of the relationship. It also needs to have a banter and an edge to it; there needs to be just a hint of instability. But I also need the friendship to benefit both parties -- I want them to inspire each other to be better people. The first qualification explains why I prefer Buffy/Xander to Xander/Willow (BtVS) -- the relationship between Buffy and Xander is created during the show. I get to see all their 'first moments' together. I like that. The second explains why I prefer Fraser/Kowalski to Fraser/Vecchio (due South) -- we see the 'firsts' for both relationships, but the F/K relationship has a volatility and a passion to it that I just don't see in Fraser's relationship with Vecchio. And the last explains why I can't embrace John/Aeryn (Farscape). I just can't see how their love makes them better people, especially, and this is a thing for me, in the absence of the person. And this is why I prefer even the canon friendship of Jack/Daniel to the romance of John/Aeryn -- when Jack loses Daniel, he retains everything that Daniel gave him. He was affected and changed by Daniel and losing Daniel doesn't make Jack lose the sense of Daniel (Fallout -- Hammond says to Jack, "You're beginning to sound like Doctor Jackson."). I dislike the "I can't survive without you" school of love.

5. The Return of the King still makes me cry and I still adore the ending. I don't know if I could actually choose a favorite of those movies, because I do tend to think of them as one really long movie, but there are some moments in tRotK that just take my breath away, no matter what. Mostly Frodo, often Sam (too many to count for the both of them). Pippin and Gandulf's moment before the Army of the Dead comes. Aragon kissing Arwen with a fierce tenderness. Merry and Eowyn -- 'courage for our friends'. Losing Theoden. Legolas and Gimli -- 'with a friend'.

The leave-taking at the Grey Havens.

Comments

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I agree about Joey and Lana not being alike.

[jic]

*hugs*

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

1. Not in either fandom, but this sounds right from an outsider's perspective.

2. Agree that love comes in many forms. However, I do think there is a "loves best" for some characters, even if "best" simply means "would go the furthest for". I actually see this more with Buffy --> Dawn, Angel --> Connor, and Simon --> River more than with any other characters. It's the parent thing, basically. What wouldn't Jack do for Charlie, if he ever had the chance?

3. ITA re Daniel and his pursuit of knowledge. Definitely a core personality trait that has remained consistent through a movie and eight seasons of TV. Not always an attractive quality, when it leads to poor decisions that are costly to others, but a believable, understandable, and consistent character trait. One of the things I love best about him :)

4. And this is why I prefer even the canon friendship of Jack/Daniel to the romance of John/Aeryn -- when Jack loses Daniel, he retains everything that Daniel gave him. He was affected and changed by Daniel and losing Daniel doesn't make Jack lose the sense of Daniel (Fallout -- Hammond says to Jack, "You're beginning to sound like Doctor Jackson.").

Beautifully said! I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but it makes such wonderful sense.

I dislike the "I can't survive without you" school of love.

Well, I don't mind it now and then. *g* Sometimes I'm in the mood for mind-bendingly dramatic and melodramatic declarations of undying love!

[silly-cleo.livejournal.com]

You know what I find really REALLY cool about what you said about John/Aeryn in this post? That I totally called it as why you didn't like them from that post you made about Buffy making people better for knowing her. I was thinking about that post in the context of them (cuz that was when my brain could fit nothing but Farscape) and your co-dependant comments. So, I'll just be proud here for a sec.

And ok, over it now. Esp. since it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work it out.

Plus, I'd argue that within canon you don't get to see them without each other for long enough to know whether or not they'd be better people for having known the other, if one of them did actually stay dead for more than five minutes or they parted ways or whatever. But this is that whole thing where canon is subjective and you can argue it either way from whatever point you choose to view it from, so. Argh, damnit, I did have thoughts on this but they never made it as far as my LJ. How do you manage with that?

Also, awwww, word on RotK.

[chicklet-girl.livejournal.com]

I tend to lump Joey and Lana together on a metatextual level, as they're both the Producers' Princesses, characters the producers like out of all proportion. You know, *every* character in the show's universe loves them, and they can treat people badly and not get called on it, etc. Characterwise, they're very different, though.

there are some moments in tRotK that just take my breath away, no matter what

For me, that list also includes the lighting of the beacons, Pippin's song, the Rohan charge, and Merry telling Pippin he's going to watch over him.

*sniff*

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

This is why I find it so hard to compare various loves to each other.
Agreed, wholeheartedly!

You said so much in this post that I completely agreed with. Like, 100%. Can I link to this, please?

[krabbypatty.livejournal.com]

I um, never comment on your posts, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your fan posts, I always find them interesting. And because of them, I recently got interested in Stargate and now I love to watch SciFi Fridays.