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Aug 23, 2016 15:58

The thing about gray areas in fiction is they're usually used as cautionary tales. This is very much the case with Angel ( Read more... )

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shapinglight August 23 2016, 20:18:42 UTC
I don't think AtS is a more 'mature' show than BtVS either. It's more cliched, certainly. I mean, it's a good show, I like it. I like Angel the character, but there's nothing particularly original about it, and it's no more 'mature' than any other noir show about a tortured maverick PI.

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infinitewhale August 24 2016, 14:00:58 UTC

I don't think AtS is a more 'mature' show than BtVS either. It's more cliched, certainly. I mean, it's a good show, I like it. I like Angel the character, but there's nothing particularly original about it, and it's no more 'mature' than any other noir show about a tortured maverick PI.

I don't think their argument is that it's mature show on the whole, just in comparison to BTVS. As far as cliche goes, I don't know it's moreso than Buffy is, especially the early years.

I think I met get their suggestion, but it's less with what the show was and more with how it purported itself to be. It takes itself so seriously.

Plus, you know. Chirpy blonde girl vs brooding vampire. I can't be convinced that doesn't play a part in some of it. Looking at you, Peter David.

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rebcake August 25 2016, 07:55:51 UTC
Yep. I can't help seeing that most of the characters die horribly. I guess that's more "realistic"? They say depressed people have a better grasp of reality, but they certainly aren't any better off for it. Meh.

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infinitewhale August 26 2016, 01:21:55 UTC

I think it depends on the level of pessimism. There's a point where looking at the negative is just as limiting as only looking at the pros. I think Chosen and NFA are at about the same distance away from center in opposing directions.

Thing is all the mature stuff on Angel was already done on Buffy. I don't see how Angel telling the PtB to stick it is more mature than Buffy telling the Council off in S3 or S5. Angel's whole nothing-we-do-matters thing is pretty much just a re-iteration of Gingerbread. There's not a whole lot on Angel they didn't do on Buffy first, yet somehow it's more mature the second time.

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frelling_tralk August 29 2016, 11:50:55 UTC
I 've always thought that a lot of the "more mature/grown-up" responses to Ats come from a knee-jerk response to Buffy originally using monsters as metaphors for growing pains, while Ats was always seen as more acceptable to watch simply because it focused on characters in their 20's. Bts always had a bit of a stigma attached to it because it was seen as a teen show by a lot of people first and foremost, plus the name is deliberately a bit goofy and lighter sounding, there isn't that same dark aesthetic as Ats deliberately went with as a more noir show ( ... )

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infinitewhale August 29 2016, 19:52:09 UTC

I 've always thought that a lot of the "more mature/grown-up" responses to Ats come from a knee-jerk response to Buffy originally using monsters as metaphors for growing pains, while Ats was always seen as more acceptable to watch simply because it focused on characters in their 20's. Bts always had a bit of a stigma attached to it because it was seen as a teen show by a lot of people first and foremost, plus the name is deliberately a bit goofy and lighter sounding, there isn't that same dark aesthetic as Ats deliberately went with as a more noir showI could see that, I suppose, except I'm not seeing how it's more mature. It's just about mature people (acting immaturely :P). If anything, AtS relies more on metaphor as it goes on. I can agree Angel is darker aesthetically, though, but it takes place 90% at night. I think what gets me about the suggestion that it's more adult is it reuses BTVS themes all the time. It seems like it's just this accepted stance that no one questions but if you ask for a reason why, then it just is, damn ( ... )

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frelling_tralk August 30 2016, 16:02:47 UTC
Oh I agree that in no way is more mature lol (if anything the season 4 episode deliberately making Angelus an entirely separate person always makes me roll my eyes as a complete cop-out for one), but I do think the fact that the Ats characters were older working adults at a detective agency is the main reason why so many people take it as face value that it's a more mature show than Buffy

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infinitewhale September 1 2016, 06:18:11 UTC

In a way it's kind of fitting, I guess. You read rewatches of people talking about how young the characters are on Buffy. Thing is? "Mature" people do pretty much the same stuff.

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