Much Ado About Riley

[lunabee34]

I've been thinking a good deal about Riley's character and his place in slash fandom after last week's club_joss discussion of trepkos's "Moonstruck I." He's so often cast as the villain of a Spander or Spangel piece (and not just the villain, but the Villian LOL), that I had never read a slash story in which Riley played a positive role until emella pointed me to eliade's Reprise.

Many of the Buffyverse fandom classics (I'm thinking jameschick's Quantum Xander and Lazuli's Repossession) are built around the premise that Riley is really a huge, evil sadist. And I'm not saying that's wrong; I enjoyed reading both those stories very much. I think that pushing the boundaries of characterization is really what fanfic is about. For this same reason, I enjoy stories that explore Angelus equally as well as those that focus on Angel. One thing I think the Buffyverse hammers home is that we all have an inner Angelus just waiting to come out to play.

When I was watching the show, I never really felt very strongly about Riley's character; I don't like the actor all that much. He's never really pushed my buttons. But I certainly didn't hate him or anything. What I found after reading so much fanfic that cast him in a negative role is that I started to hate Riley's character unreasonably. When I found Reprise, I had to step back and think, "Now why do I hate Riley so much? He's really kinda goofy and noble." LOL

After that, I began to enjoy Riley more. I don't like Marc Blucas's execution of the character; that doesn't mean that the character isn't really complex and fascinating (guy living a double life, gives it all up for what's right, etc).

So, after that long-winded intro:
1. Riley as the slash bad guy
2. fanfic affecting character perception

Discuss!

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I didn't read this week's club_joss 'cause it was long and I was busy, but I was intrigued by the concept.

To your statement "I had never read a slash story in which Riley played a positive role until" my immediate thought was "Lar's Rainmaker series?" I've read little Riley fic, but obsessedmuch's "Rainmaker" series [here (http://biblioteque.obsessedmuch.net/larfic.php)] is Riley/Lindsey and quite lovely.

My second thought was, "Spander/Spangel pieces have *Riley* as a villain?" I could understand writers of those pairings villifying *Buffy* but why Riley? Though I suppose if you're going the hurt/comfort route, Riley's handy as a tool of the Initiative.

I honestly don't read all that much m/m slash (and I'm still waiting for my payment to process so I'm currently website-less and thus can't be obsessive and go through my recs) but I dislike the villifying of any canon character (unless it's done in an organic way like exploring morally grey Wesley or something) and certainly don't appreciate the bashing of any character whether it's incidental to the romance or being used as a weak "must. dissolve. canon. romance." thing.

As a reader of Spike/Buffy I'm used to encountering fic!Riley in the position of "He is, in some way or another, not good enough for Buffy, so she turns to Spike" but I think that can be done in a way that's very true to canon/character since I think the Spike/Buffy relationship was a very natural exploration of -- among other things -- Buffy's darkness (and yes, it can be argued that it's also a natural outgrowth of her inability to have a functional relationship with side arguments about whether she in fact *seeks out* relationships that won't work).

I wasn't all that into Riley or the Buffy/Riley pairing when S4 first aired (and dude, in the campus bookstore when we first meet him? I totally thought the show was going in a Willow/Riley direction) but I defend the arc as showing Buffy's attempt to have a "normal" life/boyfriend and how in fact the relationship only works because Riley *isn't* "normal" and the main reason the relationship deteriorates is because she has so much else going on in her life (her mother dying, Key!Dawn) and isn't good at letting people in. (And I also defend the complexity of Riley's character, which I think gets overshadowed by his wholesome appearance and Spike's "Captain Cardboard" comments.)

Oh, and in response to Point 2, yeah, fanfic can totally affect audience perception of characters (and relationships) though I find that usually it gives me avenues into *liking* a character or relationship because I'm reading stuff by an author who loves said character/relationship and is trying to sell it.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, thanks for the rec. I'll definitely be checking that out.

I dislike the villifying of any canon character (unless it's done in an organic way like exploring morally grey Wesley or something

I agree, especially since when a writer does so, it tends to run counter to canonical portrayals of that character. That being said, I'm not sure that what these writers are doing with Riley is always character bashing. Something in that character has made a lot of people want to put him in a sadistic role. I don't know if it's for the reasons that tabaqui suggests, or if it is more of a case that once the definitive Riley is a sadist story was written, it became a lot of fanfic readers' personal fanon and took off that way.

yeah, fanfic can totally affect audience perception of characters (and relationships) though I find that usually it gives me avenues into *liking* a character or relationship because I'm reading stuff by an author who loves said character/relationship and is trying to sell it.

*nods vigorously*

In my case, I was bored to tears by Angel's character until I began reading fanfic that fleshed his character out. Now, when I watch those performances of DB's that used to make me yawn, they seem more nuanced and interesting to me because I have this history of fanfic reading behind the viewing.