If there's one question I'd like to see asked of Joss (in an interview, at a convention, wherever) and actually get a serious answer from him, it'd be this: "When and why did you lose both your interest and respect for the character of Xander? Was it because of negative audience reaction to him? Did Nick Brendon accidentally run over your dog, or in hindsight was he just not as good an actor in your opinion as you wanted? And after the third season, did you ever toy with the possibility of writing him out of the show?"
Okay, that's not one question. I can't boil it down to one succinct question, but I just can't accept that the post-season-three marginalization was purely a matter of Joss following his artistic muse...not when Joss has freely admitted in the past to expanding certain actors' roles because he was particularly impressed with the performances of the actors involved, particulary Willow/AH, Spike/JM, and Andrew/TL. Too often it seemed that the more impressed Joss was with some actors, he became less impressed with others, and clearly their characters suffered because of it.
Much as I hate it, I sometimes wish Joss had made a definitive statement about the change in Xander's status on the show: "We no longer consider Xander's character or his development to be of primary importance to the show, and will instead relegate him to a more functional role while we focus more on other, newer characters." As whiny as it sounds, it would have helped me not waste four years on the false hope that the spotlight of interesting or satisfying screentime and character development would fall on Xander again. Instead, IMO he eventually got relegated to the unsatisfying role of being a surrogate Joyce or emotional crutch for nearly all the other characters.
I know, I'm being overly bitter. Sorry.
Re: Is it wrong to want to smack Joss upside the head?
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lol
Oh, more randoms from the S6 dvd's:
David Solomon's favorite scene from HB is the W/X scene in the kitchen. :)
Joss made Xander the one to summon Sweet in OMWF "just for fun". It was because no one would see it coming. That's his brilliant rationale.
I just might vomit. Repeatedly.
Is it wrong to want to smack Joss upside the head?
(Anonymous) 2004-06-21 02:26 am (UTC)(link)Okay, that's not one question. I can't boil it down to one succinct question, but I just can't accept that the post-season-three marginalization was purely a matter of Joss following his artistic muse...not when Joss has freely admitted in the past to expanding certain actors' roles because he was particularly impressed with the performances of the actors involved, particulary Willow/AH, Spike/JM, and Andrew/TL. Too often it seemed that the more impressed Joss was with some actors, he became less impressed with others, and clearly their characters suffered because of it.
Much as I hate it, I sometimes wish Joss had made a definitive statement about the change in Xander's status on the show: "We no longer consider Xander's character or his development to be of primary importance to the show, and will instead relegate him to a more functional role while we focus more on other, newer characters." As whiny as it sounds, it would have helped me not waste four years on the false hope that the spotlight of interesting or satisfying screentime and character development would fall on Xander again. Instead, IMO he eventually got relegated to the unsatisfying role of being a surrogate Joyce or emotional crutch for nearly all the other characters.
I know, I'm being overly bitter. Sorry.
Re: Is it wrong to want to smack Joss upside the head?
(Anonymous) 2004-06-21 02:30 am (UTC)(link)--skippy
Re: Is it wrong to want to smack Joss upside the head?
Re: lol