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

[emella.livejournal.com]

I pointed you to Reprise? I'm not even sure I've read Reprise. *scratches head*

Discussion info:
I've really hated that whole assumption that Riley is Evil. I can kind of get on board with Jameschick in that in a different light, Riley could be a hardcore soldier demon fighter. If Riley really was played by a different actor maybe we would have seen more than just that goofy do-gooder shlub, and maybe we could have seen more and gotten more out of things like Riley getting sucked off by the skankvamp that would lead us to believe he is more hard core. However, the Riley we saw wasn't like that.

I'm kind of of the mind that if people make Riley out to be a demon from hell who is out to kill all demons ever made and is all about the torture, then that story isn't really worth reading. I would much rather an author skip over Riley and sort of ignore him, than have him be this huge Villain. It's sort of like how a few bit of people don't like it when Buffy HATES S/X, except it's one step farther with Riley. Riley being an evil torture monger is the same as Buffy disowning Xander for being with Spike, they're both never going to happen, so why write it that way?

As far as the affecting perception goes, I would like to say my perception isn't swayed, but it really really is. I've recently come to the discovery that I hate certain episodes of canon-Xander. I LOVE Xander, but there are some times when I ask myself if anyone would ever be like that and then I realize, that were it any other show, I probably wouldn't really like Xander. I think that because I like to explore his deeper sides and his home life and why he needs to use humor as a defense mechanism is why I really like Xander. I want to know what he's hiding behind that humor.

It sort of stems off of the fact that we only get to see so much of those characters on screen. Our perceptions are always swayed because we like a character, we philosiphize and analyze small things and then build upon those analytical assumptions. - If we know that Riley is in the military and in the initiative, we can analyze and assume that he's been trained to think demons are brutal and dangerous, leading us to the assumption that he would treat all demons as animals, leading us to believe that he could get angry with them and punish them, punishing could lead to torture, and then wait, you step back and when you watch the buffy eps, you've built up this goofy happy guy into this mean sadistic marine.

If we really and truly like a character we want to know more about that character, however we only see 22 episodes a year, thus leaving us with HUGE gaping holes of history and personality to fill. So we begin to analyze small things, like Xander's parents drinking a lot, and soon we have his father brutaly raping him. It's sort of like a twisted cause and effect; because we see something in characters that we like, we want to know more, causing us to sometimes overanalyze and make uncharacteristic inferences.

And just think, it's all for the love of fandom! :P

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Huh? Well maybe you didn't. But I thought I found it through you. I know you told me about Sidelines, and I guess I just assumed you told me about that one too. Well, if you don't remember it, go read it. You'll love it.

I can kind of get on board with Jameschick in that in a different light, Riley could be a hardcore soldier demon fighter.

Exactly. Especially since the whole point of that fic is that nearly everyone Xander meets in his parallel lives are very different from the versions he knows.

I've recently come to the discovery that I hate certain episodes of canon-Xander.

You know, I never really thought twice about XAnder's character when I was watching the show. He had moments I really liked and others when I thought he was a total ass, but in general, I didn't care one way or the other about him. It wasn't until I started reading fanfic that explore the things you talk about in your comment that I began to be interested in the hidden facets of his character. *Then* he started becoming very interesting to me.

[emella.livejournal.com]

Sidelines is classic, and eliade rocks. I did read reprise, and I'd never read it before, but I did really like it. :)

Yeah, fanon is really what alters your perceptions of canon, I will admit I like fanon Xander WAY more. ;)