When i fell in love with Buffy'n'Spike

[norwie2010]

 When i fell in love with Buffy'n'Spike

With all the mental strain season 8  put on me i thought it'd be more healthy to revisit the places i actually love about BtVS.

A recent discussion on penny_lane_42  's LJ, following her lovely Meta of Buffy and Spike turned my thoughts on the romance of Buffy'n'Spike and why and when i fell in love with the two together.

Comments

[moscow_watcher]

I fell in love with them when I watched "Intervention." I started to root for them; I thought about them even when I wasn't watching an episode. Soon after that I entered the online fandom. Eight years have passed, and I 'm still here on the Spuffy bandwagon - talking about them, reading and writing fics. There are other couples I love, by Spuffy is my #1, my OTP.

I love "Dead Things" because the episode works on so many levels. I especially love the subtle plotting: Spike really saves Buffy, stalling her in the alley until the body is identified - so that Buffy could realise that she is innocent. But of course, neither Spike nor Buffy will ever know about it...

Have you participated in the fandom before?

[norwie2010]

I didn't even know that there was such a thing as "fandom"! :-) I knew nothing of spoilers, or behind the scene gossip, or advertisement, writers room. I watched the show as it aired (in my country). Later, i watched a rerun. Upon detecting new stuff while watching it the second time my mind was made up: I had to watch it in the original language. So, after a while, i bought the DVDs some 3 years ago and rewatched it in english. Ohhhh! Had to rewatch it again. Now watching it again with the girlfriend whenever she's over and madly discussing it (and we are both on the same side: If Spike would be in our bed, we'd have lots of fun together ;-)). Sometime around my first english run of BtVS i started reading fanfic. And at the beginning of this year i detected fandom as presented by LJ. Which may be evident in my LJ name. ;-)

And you are totally right on the "Spike saving Buffy" thing: As i said, cheesy as hell! ;-)

[red_satin_doll]

I'm wondering, did watching it in English make a big difference in how you received/perceived the characters? Admittedly, I've never been in the position you were (having to watch it subtitled by other actors in another language) so I can't imagine anyone else speaking those lines of dialogue ESPECIALLY SMG and & JM. An actor's voice is half their instrument!

I knew a friend who was in a short student film and the director decided to overdub her voice with another actor's. I never understood it as I thought her voice was fine in the original, and she was rather mortified.

[norwie2010]

The big synchronization studios in Berlin are really, really good at translations/synchronizations. They use the same speaker for the same actress - hence, SMG sounds always the same, no matter the show or the movie.

But, certain word plays and humor doesn't translate very well, so watching BtVS in English was a total joy and deepened my enthusiasm once more. It certainly is better in English than any translation. :) (There is also some kind of censorship going on with the translations, like for example totally rewriting the joke about principal Snyder being compared to "the fuhrer" by Willow and Giles.)

[diamondtook862]

I love your take on the dead things beating. I heartily agree with you, and you put it very well. It's not a breaking point for Spike, it's an (twisted, as you said) expression of his love. Buffy isn't abusing him (traditionally), she's abusing herself and what he represents to her. I love that you make it heroic on his part, and that's why we never get an apology scene. It's water under the bridge in the torrential flood that is Buffy and Spike. It's a manifestation of what already is, and what a profound and shocking way of bringing it to the surface!

It's also great to hear another Spuffy shipper (by some definition as you say) liked Buffy and Angel in their time. When it was over, it was over, but when it was happening, it was interesting, dark, twisted and tragic in all the right ways. It's just... It's over now.

[norwie2010]

Thank You. It is good to see other fans of the two who are not dividing their sympathy because of that scene.

And, really - who couldn't be a Buffy and Angel "shipper" at the time of Becoming ?

I still don't know if i would call myself a "shipper" (but others certainly would), because i could go with a lot of different romantic/sexual relationships in BtVS. Ah, who am i kidding! Buffy'n'Spike grabbed me like no other fictional couple ever! :-D

[diamondtook862]

And, really - who couldn't be a Buffy and Angel "shipper" at the time of Becoming ?

Sadly, a good many Spuffy fans, it seems.

LOL. Same here. I like many couples on the show, but Buffy and Spike grabbed me in a way none of them did. There's just so much depth to explore.

[norwie2010]

Sadly, a good many Spuffy fans, it seems.

Nah - they're just retconning their own memories. ;-)

[gabrielleabelle]

(Buffy's door to the underworld, Spike's door out of his grave, the door to each other's hearts, that which separates them, the possibilities of going in or out, ...)

Oooh...nifty.

And Dead Things is ♥.

[norwie2010]

It is, indeed. :)

[ever_neutral]

What a great tribute! ♥

But because it foretold the story we were getting at: That dark place again. The exploration of the deviant. The abyss of the human mind.

Whoa. Yes. Absolutely. Like you, it's the darkness that reels me in. And this:

He never mentions that beating later - because it is not a breaking point for him. It is his (twisted) way of showing his romantic love for Buffy. He doesn't need to forgive her for that - it is not even a wrongdoing on his radar.

Word. Very, very twisted indeed. And I love it.

It's the darkness of Buffy/Angel that I love too. I'm not so much for the ~romance~ and sweetness (I'm bored stupid by I Will Remember You) - but I always had a deep appreciation for their story, despite not really "shipping" them.

Btw, friending you now. ;)

[norwie2010]

Thank You.

Friended You right back. :)

Yeah, "shipping" is a strange term, it sounds as if everything on BtVS is just about the romance(s). And i'm with You on IWRY (coffin lid) - but then, i don't consider BtVS and AtS to be placed within the same universe - both shows obviously play with the possibilities of what's happening on the other show, but it feels more like "could have happened that way" tell tale.

[blackfrancine]

Gah! How much do I love this: (Buffy's door to the underworld, Spike's door out of his grave, the door to each other's hearts, that which separates them, the possibilities of going in or out, ...The answer: a lot. I love that observation, and I love that you fell in love with them in Dead Things. Because that's such a dark episode... but I totally can see falling in love at that incredibly bleak moment

[norwie2010]

Oh, You make me blush!
Thanks a lot for the praise.

And yep, i friended You right back. To new worlds of infinite Buffy wisdom! :)

Unfortunatly i'm really busy and short on time, hence my rare LF entries. But from time to time, it just bubbles up and wants to come out.