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

[shannon730.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think Marc Blucas did anything to help the character's likability. There were times I did sort of like Riley. Punching the Colonel was one of them. Buffy leaving him out of so much of her life was another. But overall the black-or-white opinion of the "monsters" he voiced in that one episode just killed it for me. It's where I had issues with Buffy in some episodes, as well as Xander. There's was, of course, more on the irritated because it was hypocritical side but...