I think the amnesia trope as you describe it (with one person convincing the other that they belong together) isn't too awesome (except, I vaguely recall liking one where Drusilla used some kind of demon worm to eat a lot of Spike's memories? So, he went back to being sort of evil? I can understand not leaving someone well enough alone if the memory loss makes them *evil*). But I think there is potential for interesting storytelling there
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You're absolutely right - amnesia in itself can lead to a lot of interesting questions about the nature of identity. That's what I love about Dollhouse, Eternal Sunshine, and a bunch of other stories that feature memory loss. (And now I'm curious about your original fic, NO PRESSURE.)
It's the "how can we make these characters have sex" aspect where I get confused. There are far FAR more convincing and less problematic ways to get characters in each others' underpants. So why use amnesia?
My original fic is a long way off! I just have it jotted down in the Big Book of Plot Bunnies In My Brain. It's a little bit science-y.
I think the "how can we make these characters have sex" aspect is often baffling, but something we just have to deal with in ffic. I mean, I came across a request looking for "one character is mentally disabled" fic the other day. Which, yeah, I read all the recs cuz what the hell, and that was hella dub-con. Which, out of all the ways to get two people together, "one has the mental capacity of a toddler" is not the way I would go about it, but "convincing" and "problematic" kinda mean nothing in fandom?
*waves hand* I'm one of those who enjoys a good amnesia fic. Off the top of my head, I think it's almost always Spike who has no memories (which makes better sense, given the things that have or could have happened to him since Buffy last saw him
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Buffy has remained "Joan" to avoid remembering all that's gone wrong... the case of Randy/Joan - how might the relationship have played out without the bad memories that made Buffy so determined not to fall for another vampire?
Those that good reasons I hadn't thought about. I imagine the latter plot is tricky, because it's trying to show that a relationship is working in the absence of something that the protagonists don't know is missing.
*nods* Randy/Joan is problematic if you try to extend it past a couple days. Unless you have an apocalypse or something that sends them running away.
I ended up making a while post about this a little while ago. And enigmaticblues had a good comment and summation of what can be appealing about the trope.
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It's the "how can we make these characters have sex" aspect where I get confused. There are far FAR more convincing and less problematic ways to get characters in each others' underpants. So why use amnesia?
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I think the "how can we make these characters have sex" aspect is often baffling, but something we just have to deal with in ffic. I mean, I came across a request looking for "one character is mentally disabled" fic the other day. Which, yeah, I read all the recs cuz what the hell, and that was hella dub-con. Which, out of all the ways to get two people together, "one has the mental capacity of a toddler" is not the way I would go about it, but "convincing" and "problematic" kinda mean nothing in fandom?
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That certainly seems to be the case. *sigh*
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Buffy has remained "Joan" to avoid remembering all that's gone wrong... the case of Randy/Joan - how might the relationship have played out without the bad memories that made Buffy so determined not to fall for another vampire?
Those that good reasons I hadn't thought about. I imagine the latter plot is tricky, because it's trying to show that a relationship is working in the absence of something that the protagonists don't know is missing.
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I ended up making a while post about this a little while ago. And enigmaticblues had a good comment and summation of what can be appealing about the trope.
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