On William and Roleplaying
Sep. 26th, 2004 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thedeadlyhookFirst off, hello and thanks to all the new peeps who have stopped by my LJ over the last few days, and to new Friends - honestly, I never really expected to get such response to either that last little ramble or any of my recent fic efforts. That said, I can't say I hate the attention, so just a big thanks to everyone who took the time to drop a comment or get into a debate. You've really made my day. Or last few days, more like it.
New business:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eurydice72 is running a William ficathon. I'm such a latecomer to these things that the whole concept of ficathons is still kinda novel to me, so I'm sorely tempted. As if I don't already have enough WIPs on my plate. (grumble, grumble)
The one thing that holds me back from entering this particular ficathon is that most requests seem to be for romantic Buffy/William stories, and if I'm entirely honest with myself, I have to admit I don't really think of William as a romantic character. He strikes me as a terribly sad one, actually, tragically fated to never find either the love or the glory he was searching for. The hopeless romantic aspect only twists the knife. It's all there in what Drusilla says to him in that alley - a William who never became a vampire would have spent his life "surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his glory." It's a little-recognized fact, I think, of most larger-than-life characters, how much circumstance has to do with what they are/become. If nothing ever happens to you, nothing ever tests your strength of character, how can you ever know what it is or isn't, if you're a hero or villain or coward at heart? And isn't that how most people live, never really knowing, because the tests put in front of them are too subtle to really judge?
So back to William, I can think of only one fic version of William that's ever really captured my imagination - fromherself_nyc's story, "Mrs. Grieves and the Abandoned Husband." I've always had half a picture in my mind of that William's life after he returned to the past, drunken and disintegrating and destroyed enough to actually write halfway-decent poetry, something like Percy Shelley in that Tim Powers novel, all hallucinatory and driven, only much more bitter and with a vicious violent streak, sort of an aborted version of Spike in human form. That's probably my ultimate picture of William if he'd ever lived past his expiration date... I don't really know that I could write a romantic William story if I tried.
Okay, and now I have half a bunny for an angst-o-rama. I even think I could work Buffy into it. But it would need a bit of historical research, not that I hate reading nonfiction. Gahh... I'm torn.
Semi-related side note while I'm doing the William ponder: iTunes threw some Smiths at me this morning, reminding me of a theory I'd had back when I'd first heard that there was going to be a BtVS musical. I'd thought it likely the music would be covers instead of original pieces, and I'd predicted that surely Spike would sing "I Know It's Over" from The Queen is Dead album - pretty obvious from the lyrics why I thought so. (I'd also note the previous song on that record, "Frankly, Mr Shankly," has a line about "I didn't know you wrote such bloody awful poetry"... maybe somewhere in my head William ended up crosspolinated with Morrissey.) Anyway, I'd also guessed there might be something in there from The Music Man, and lo and behold, we did get a little name-check in the actual episode - "76 bloody trombones." But why The Music Man? For those not familiar...
The Music Man is a story about a travelling salesman who's a no-bones-about-it con man, i.e., he cheats people by selling them stuff he never plans to deliver and then beats feet out of town just ahead of the inevitable angry mob. We're told about this rep immediately at the beginning of the story, just before he hits a new town and starts a scam to sell band equipment to the townsfolk, plus makes a play to seduce the town's surprisingly good-looking spinster librarian into the bargain.
Now, it's worth noting that both the woman and the town are considered insurrmountable obstacles - the town is conservative and prides itself on its skepticism, and the librarian has had a checkered past that has turned her into a virtual ice queen, closed off to romance. To get past both these obstacles, The Music Man adopts the role of an honest businessman, passionate in his committment to bringing music to the people. He ends up winning the heart of not only the people of the town, but the woman as well, as all parties involved realize they're not really as frozen or rigid as they thought they were, and that opening oneself up to new possibilites is worth the risk of heartbreak or a little embarrassment. The story in general is an affirmation of the value of taking risks.
But here's the part that made me think of it in relation to BtVS, and to Spike/Buffy, specifically: the Music Man is a con man. He's not a good guy at the start of the story - he really does plan to hit town, pull his scam, and grab the next train out. Throughout, you're aware of this, that he's pulling a fast one on the townspeople and the librarian. His method of teaching music is called the "think system" - if you can hear the music in your head, he theorizes, you can play it. The fingers will follow the brain. It's self-hypnosis, just like the illusion he's foisted on the town - they want to believe what he offers is real, so they do.
But here's the kicker - as they really start to believe in him, he starts getting pulled into the illusion he's created too. It becomes attractive to him, to be accepted and listened to, maybe even loved, and he eventually makes the choice to join in the new reality he's created, becoming "The Music Man" for real. And it's a near thing - he nearly leaves, nearly takes the coward's way out, but ends up staying to face the (literal) music rather than let down all the people whose lives he's changed and hopes he's raised. The honest businessman was an act... but by the end of the show, he's become that person. (A similiar plot is to be found in the Sam Raimi movie Army of Darkness - Ash isn't a hero, but becomes one because people expect it of him; he grows into the role that's been foisted on him rather than let those who look up to him down.)
In early Season 6, I'd had some thoughts that this might be where the story of BtVS might be going, ultimately... something about being strong because you believe you are. And maybe there was a bit of that in there, in the final analysis... not as much as I would have liked, but something.
New business:
eurydice72 is running a William ficathon. I'm such a latecomer to these things that the whole concept of ficathons is still kinda novel to me, so I'm sorely tempted. As if I don't already have enough WIPs on my plate. (grumble, grumble) The one thing that holds me back from entering this particular ficathon is that most requests seem to be for romantic Buffy/William stories, and if I'm entirely honest with myself, I have to admit I don't really think of William as a romantic character. He strikes me as a terribly sad one, actually, tragically fated to never find either the love or the glory he was searching for. The hopeless romantic aspect only twists the knife. It's all there in what Drusilla says to him in that alley - a William who never became a vampire would have spent his life "surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his glory." It's a little-recognized fact, I think, of most larger-than-life characters, how much circumstance has to do with what they are/become. If nothing ever happens to you, nothing ever tests your strength of character, how can you ever know what it is or isn't, if you're a hero or villain or coward at heart? And isn't that how most people live, never really knowing, because the tests put in front of them are too subtle to really judge?
So back to William, I can think of only one fic version of William that's ever really captured my imagination - from
herself_nyc's story, "Mrs. Grieves and the Abandoned Husband." I've always had half a picture in my mind of that William's life after he returned to the past, drunken and disintegrating and destroyed enough to actually write halfway-decent poetry, something like Percy Shelley in that Tim Powers novel, all hallucinatory and driven, only much more bitter and with a vicious violent streak, sort of an aborted version of Spike in human form. That's probably my ultimate picture of William if he'd ever lived past his expiration date... I don't really know that I could write a romantic William story if I tried. Okay, and now I have half a bunny for an angst-o-rama. I even think I could work Buffy into it. But it would need a bit of historical research, not that I hate reading nonfiction. Gahh... I'm torn.
Semi-related side note while I'm doing the William ponder: iTunes threw some Smiths at me this morning, reminding me of a theory I'd had back when I'd first heard that there was going to be a BtVS musical. I'd thought it likely the music would be covers instead of original pieces, and I'd predicted that surely Spike would sing "I Know It's Over" from The Queen is Dead album - pretty obvious from the lyrics why I thought so. (I'd also note the previous song on that record, "Frankly, Mr Shankly," has a line about "I didn't know you wrote such bloody awful poetry"... maybe somewhere in my head William ended up crosspolinated with Morrissey.) Anyway, I'd also guessed there might be something in there from The Music Man, and lo and behold, we did get a little name-check in the actual episode - "76 bloody trombones." But why The Music Man? For those not familiar...
The Music Man is a story about a travelling salesman who's a no-bones-about-it con man, i.e., he cheats people by selling them stuff he never plans to deliver and then beats feet out of town just ahead of the inevitable angry mob. We're told about this rep immediately at the beginning of the story, just before he hits a new town and starts a scam to sell band equipment to the townsfolk, plus makes a play to seduce the town's surprisingly good-looking spinster librarian into the bargain.
Now, it's worth noting that both the woman and the town are considered insurrmountable obstacles - the town is conservative and prides itself on its skepticism, and the librarian has had a checkered past that has turned her into a virtual ice queen, closed off to romance. To get past both these obstacles, The Music Man adopts the role of an honest businessman, passionate in his committment to bringing music to the people. He ends up winning the heart of not only the people of the town, but the woman as well, as all parties involved realize they're not really as frozen or rigid as they thought they were, and that opening oneself up to new possibilites is worth the risk of heartbreak or a little embarrassment. The story in general is an affirmation of the value of taking risks.
But here's the part that made me think of it in relation to BtVS, and to Spike/Buffy, specifically: the Music Man is a con man. He's not a good guy at the start of the story - he really does plan to hit town, pull his scam, and grab the next train out. Throughout, you're aware of this, that he's pulling a fast one on the townspeople and the librarian. His method of teaching music is called the "think system" - if you can hear the music in your head, he theorizes, you can play it. The fingers will follow the brain. It's self-hypnosis, just like the illusion he's foisted on the town - they want to believe what he offers is real, so they do.
But here's the kicker - as they really start to believe in him, he starts getting pulled into the illusion he's created too. It becomes attractive to him, to be accepted and listened to, maybe even loved, and he eventually makes the choice to join in the new reality he's created, becoming "The Music Man" for real. And it's a near thing - he nearly leaves, nearly takes the coward's way out, but ends up staying to face the (literal) music rather than let down all the people whose lives he's changed and hopes he's raised. The honest businessman was an act... but by the end of the show, he's become that person. (A similiar plot is to be found in the Sam Raimi movie Army of Darkness - Ash isn't a hero, but becomes one because people expect it of him; he grows into the role that's been foisted on him rather than let those who look up to him down.)
In early Season 6, I'd had some thoughts that this might be where the story of BtVS might be going, ultimately... something about being strong because you believe you are. And maybe there was a bit of that in there, in the final analysis... not as much as I would have liked, but something.