Date Posted:08:35:57 07/30/08 Wed Author: Sophist Subject: Re: A Modest Proposal In reply to:
MaeveRigan
's message, "Re: A Modest Proposal" on 05:21:06 07/30/08 Wed
The link still doesn't work when I try it.
I may be duplicating other sites to some degree. I'd like to think that the essays, in particular, would provide a different perspective. That, at least, was true of the comments here, and I have faith that a lot of the posters could make valuable points. In fact, as I'm going through the archives, I'm reminding myself how impressive the comments were at the time; subsequent reflection seems likely to make them even better.
I've gone back and forth about the spoilers. The issue is this: who is likely to use the resource? If we think the users would be only those who've already watched the entire series, then it only makes sense not to worry about spoilers. But if some readers might be those coming new to it (say, those who take a college class or get interested by a friend), then it makes sense to let them discover the show like we did.
The essays for each episode might not mention spoilers, but they still can be written with the knowledge gained from having watched the entire show. For example, there was a lot of discussion in S6 about whether Spike was on a path of redemption without a soul. We now know that didn't happen, so essays written now probably wouldn't reference that. Instead, they would focus on what we understand to be the more permanent themes, guiding the reader without spoiling (a fine line, to be sure). As an example, manwitch's "something else entirely" series works perfectly -- it describes each season as part of a progression in Buffy's enlightenment, but doesn't give away any plot details along the way.
