next_to_normal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
next_to_normal) wrote2008-08-15 10:30 am
next_to_normal) wrote2008-08-15 10:30 am
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Cordy/Angel meta
There's a thread on the BSV forum on the Cordy/Angel relationship, and I'll probably get around to posting this there when I get a chance, but I figured I might as well jot down my thoughts while I was thinking them. Also, I've been trying to post more stuff here besides fic and memes, and for the most part, people seem to like the meta, so here goes.
I was never really into Cordy/Angel. I mean, I get objectively why they'd make a good pairing, but I just wasn't invested in them. (Also, I think the things that would make them a good pairing are the same things that made them a fantastic friendship, so why mess with a good thing?) So, last night, I was watching "Spin the Bottle" (thank you, Scarlet), and I finally figured out what about the ship turns me off.
It's trying to be Bangel.
Or maybe I'm just completely anti-pairing on Angel, since this episode also reminded me how annoying the Wes/Fred/Gunn triangle was. I didn't mind Fred and Gunn together, but with Wes pining away... I mean, holy crap, boys, stop fighting over her! She's not worth it!
I can't actually think of any ship I liked on that show (except for the implied Spangel). Cordy/Doyle? Mostly one-sided and he was gone too fast for me to get invested. Angel/Fred? Totally hero worship and icky. Wes/Lilah? I... kinda block that out since it was during the parts of season 4 I dislike. Cordy/Connor? No explanation needed. Lindsey/Eve? I just hate Eve, so anything that gives her more screen time is bad. Wes/Fred? Weirdly obsessive and by the time they got together, I think Wes was more in love with the idealized version of Fred he'd pined for than the actual girl. Angel/Nina? Blah. Nina was practically a non-entity.
It's funny, because although I clearly have my preferences (*cough* Spuffy), I don't have any problem with the other canon pairings on Buffy (except Willow/Kennedy), and I regularly incorporate them into my fics. But Angel, for some reason, is like pairing kryptonite to me.
I was never really into Cordy/Angel. I mean, I get objectively why they'd make a good pairing, but I just wasn't invested in them. (Also, I think the things that would make them a good pairing are the same things that made them a fantastic friendship, so why mess with a good thing?) So, last night, I was watching "Spin the Bottle" (thank you, Scarlet), and I finally figured out what about the ship turns me off.
It's trying to be Bangel.
It's as though the writers felt like the best way to compete with the Buffy/Angel relationship was to make Cordy/Angel just as star-crossed - even though the relationship was completely different. The thing is, Cordy and Angel had this deep friendship Buffy and Angel never had. And it didn't have to be romantic - their chemistry reminds me a lot of early Buffy/Willow, or season 5 Angel/Spike. (In fact, Cordy's relationship with Angel is exactly like Spike's. They both know him better than anyone, they're the ones to always call him on his shit, and they're the best at bringing out both petty!Angel and hero!Angel... and omg, I just realized that Spike was totally brought in to replace Cordy twice.)
Er, yeah. Where was I? Right. Angel and Cordy, totally different foundation from Angel and Buffy. But as soon as Angel recognizes his feelings for Cordy, the writers start throwing up one artificial roadblock after another, trying to come up with ways to keep them apart, when there's really no good reason to. First it's Groo, then Cordy disappears, then she's back but she's lost her memory, then she remembers everything, but she knows too much, then the Connor thing, and then he's evil, and then she's evil, and by the time we get to the coma, instead of thinking how sad it is that they missed their chance and they'll never be together, I'm going ZOMG, thank goodness it's finally OVER! Which I don't think was the intention...
The thing is, Bangel was star-crossed because they really could never be together. Even without the vampire/Slayer obstacle, or Angel's slippery soul, their relationship was teenage and idealistic, and that never, ever works out in real life. But Cordy and Angel were different. They had a solid friendship, and there was no good reason they couldn't turn it into a relationship, if they'd just, y'know, put a little effort into it. But instead we get two years of UST and pining away, and the whole time I'm thinking, "Be together. Don't be together. It doesn't matter. Just stop angsting about it." (Which, incidentally, is what I spent much of the early seasons saying to Buffy and Angel.)
If they wanted to go the relationship route with Cordy and Angel, the model shouldn't have been Bangel, it should have been Spuffy. Sure, Buffy and Spike were messy, and complicated, and occasionally just plain awful, but they were real. The conflict between them was internal, not some external roadblock that keeps them apart (and, IMO, internal conflict is always a better story than external conflict). And that's what I wanted to see from Cordy/Angel (or would have wanted to see, if I'd actually cared about them getting together).
Er, yeah. Where was I? Right. Angel and Cordy, totally different foundation from Angel and Buffy. But as soon as Angel recognizes his feelings for Cordy, the writers start throwing up one artificial roadblock after another, trying to come up with ways to keep them apart, when there's really no good reason to. First it's Groo, then Cordy disappears, then she's back but she's lost her memory, then she remembers everything, but she knows too much, then the Connor thing, and then he's evil, and then she's evil, and by the time we get to the coma, instead of thinking how sad it is that they missed their chance and they'll never be together, I'm going ZOMG, thank goodness it's finally OVER! Which I don't think was the intention...
The thing is, Bangel was star-crossed because they really could never be together. Even without the vampire/Slayer obstacle, or Angel's slippery soul, their relationship was teenage and idealistic, and that never, ever works out in real life. But Cordy and Angel were different. They had a solid friendship, and there was no good reason they couldn't turn it into a relationship, if they'd just, y'know, put a little effort into it. But instead we get two years of UST and pining away, and the whole time I'm thinking, "Be together. Don't be together. It doesn't matter. Just stop angsting about it." (Which, incidentally, is what I spent much of the early seasons saying to Buffy and Angel.)
If they wanted to go the relationship route with Cordy and Angel, the model shouldn't have been Bangel, it should have been Spuffy. Sure, Buffy and Spike were messy, and complicated, and occasionally just plain awful, but they were real. The conflict between them was internal, not some external roadblock that keeps them apart (and, IMO, internal conflict is always a better story than external conflict). And that's what I wanted to see from Cordy/Angel (or would have wanted to see, if I'd actually cared about them getting together).
Or maybe I'm just completely anti-pairing on Angel, since this episode also reminded me how annoying the Wes/Fred/Gunn triangle was. I didn't mind Fred and Gunn together, but with Wes pining away... I mean, holy crap, boys, stop fighting over her! She's not worth it!
I can't actually think of any ship I liked on that show (except for the implied Spangel). Cordy/Doyle? Mostly one-sided and he was gone too fast for me to get invested. Angel/Fred? Totally hero worship and icky. Wes/Lilah? I... kinda block that out since it was during the parts of season 4 I dislike. Cordy/Connor? No explanation needed. Lindsey/Eve? I just hate Eve, so anything that gives her more screen time is bad. Wes/Fred? Weirdly obsessive and by the time they got together, I think Wes was more in love with the idealized version of Fred he'd pined for than the actual girl. Angel/Nina? Blah. Nina was practically a non-entity.
It's funny, because although I clearly have my preferences (*cough* Spuffy), I don't have any problem with the other canon pairings on Buffy (except Willow/Kennedy), and I regularly incorporate them into my fics. But Angel, for some reason, is like pairing kryptonite to me.
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*disclaimer* total, raging C/A shipper here. :D
Anyway, I sort of agree with you. I thought they were doing really great with the subtext bewteen the two of them, the growing friendship that was deepening into romantic love over time, until Fred started spouting off about Moira and crap. The C/A ship has never needed to be destined (in fact, I can't think of a ship less destined), never needed to be about two larger than life souls who 'recognize' each other.
Up until then, it was about two adults alone in the world who found each other. The writers could have dealt with problems like Angel's relationship issues, Cordy's desire not to bring Angelus back into the mix, Cordy's visions eating her up inside and her need to bear the visions for sake of being needed, Angel's need to make unilateral decisions for the group without consulting anyone. Connor's origins with Cordelia being cautious and not so accepting of him (given her experience with demonic pregnancies), and Angel's need to believe his son was good above any evidence to the contrary. Anything other than throwing up such superficial obstacles like Groo and amnesia.
*breathes*
And I have to wonder if Cordy and Spike are so much alike in their relationship with Angel, then why is shipping Spike with him so much more accepted than shipping Cordelia with him?
This is a rhetorical question, meant for the writers of the show, because really? Do you need any more evidence that Spike was brought on to be Angel's leading lady than the season 5 dvd box cover?
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Exactly! Now see, I think that's when I began actively disliking the Cordy/Angel thing. It felt unnatural and forced to me.
then why is shipping Spike with him so much more accepted than shipping Cordelia with him?
Keeping in mind that I'm not much on Spangel either...I think perhaps that would be because Angel and Spike had such a long history together and they had love for Buffy in common.
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Not always. When they were allowed to just interact, their chemistry, their love for each other, does come through very naturally. There is this very real love and affection in their eyes when they look at each other. But things like recycling the ghost-lovers possession and Angel's stumbling inability to verbalize what he wanted tended to bring out my impatience.
And no way would Cordy *ever* dress Groo up as Angel and *not* realize what it meant.
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Also? I love that icon!
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You've got some great conflict ideas that would've been way better than what we saw - that's exactly the kind of thing that would've made me interested in the C/A relationship.
And I have to wonder if Cordy and Spike are so much alike in their relationship with Angel, then why is shipping Spike with him so much more accepted than shipping Cordelia with him?
Well, I can only speak for myself, but it basically comes to down to my love of Spike, and his chemistry with Angel. I've never gotten the sense from people that C/A was unacceptable - but then, I mostly hang around the Spuffy shippers, and we like C/A because it gives the Bangels something to hate besides us. :)
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Maybe 'accepted' isn't the word. Maybe the word I'm looking for is mainstream or popular (though I loathe that word, popular)
we like C/A because it gives the Bangels something to hate besides us. :)
*dies laughing*
I love Spuffy for other reasons, but omg, DITTO, BABY!
Though there are some lovely ladies on my flist who ship B/A, and, I don't dislike B/A. I accept that it's part of the canon, and that Angel and Buffy loved each other. What I don't accept is that they are incapable of loving others, maybe even *more* than they loved each other. And I can't see them going back to each other after Sanctuary. There's too much water under the bridge, too much growth and developing into different people in the both of them that it would be like de-evolving in a way.
*hops off soapbox*
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I definitely agree with you on B/A, so take all the time you want on that soapbox. :)
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