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Date Posted: 20:55:41 05/07/07 Mon
Author: ibiji
Subject: There is an Angel in her Heart

There is an Angel in her Heart

Hi everyone, my name is andrea (man's name, in Italy, FTR), and I'm usually not in forums, but I'm inspired to write this.

This post takes almost 10 minutes to read. It's a plea to see if many of you also wish to see Buffy and Angel try to be together --together as 2 who truly love each other-- on screen.

Let me premise by saying that I don't believe Joss is god, and i do not worship him. I believe Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series is possibly the greatest narrative creative work in the history of humanity. I'm an ex-writer myself (only few and small things published, but as many of you know, a writer is a writer) and back in late 80s / early 90s have lectured on many aspects of narrative (and especially comics as serious literature) in US and in Italy, even at university level. (Those credentials don't matter at all, though. All opinions are valid, I feel, with or without degrees.) I hope and believe that, a few hundred years from now, people will look at Buffy the series and at Joss just as we look at the ancient Greek dramas and their authors, and at Shakespeare and Hamlet and his other works. One big difference is that whereas the only thing that's left of the Greek and Shakespearean dramas is the TEXT, the medium of Buffy gives to future generations the preservation of moving pictures and sound, actors and all, every little nuance of the way Sarah "lived" Buffy in every frame, or Nick interpreted Xander, etc. The other difference to the classics is that I suspect (and hope) that even as people will see in Joss and mutant enemy productions the next landmark in writers after Shakespeare (and, I believe, even one step up), people will also recognize the actors as authors. This is important for what I will write in this entry. In other words, yes, Joss is the initial and big creator and his fingerprints are over the entire piece, but, even channeling his ideas or intuition, I think that Alyson Hannigan, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Marsters, Nick Brendon, and, of course, David Boreanaz, are themselves additional and key creators of the Buffy series. (Even true for every actor in Buffy, you know who they are, all incredible down to the guy that played principal Flutie!) Witness, if nothing else, that James Marsters, by taking on Spike, is perhaps even more responsible for Spike going from a temporary villain to a full series major role.

The creative presence of the actors as "makers" of the identity of the characters is one of the reasons why for now I haven't yet read the S8 comic, and to my surprise, I, former comics activist, find myself reluctant to plunge into the S8 comics without being able to see it interpreted by the actors. It's just one aspect of why I think that --in a seemingly impossible paradox-- the characters themselves must dictate canon and their stories even more so than the writers. Again, still think Joss is behind it all big time, and my favorite writer in history.

But, all these are premises to this:

On written canon and CHARACTERS' OWN "TRUE" LIVES

I wish to get you all on this.

In a nutshell, I want to see, some day, yes, on screen, WHAT BUFFY AND ANGEL WILL TRY TO DO. And I want to see, publicly, if you also believe that the CHARACTERS of Buffy and Angel realy are each other's true love.

Entirely beyond my deliberate will, months ago I suddenly "visioned" / "channeled" (no ouija board or illegal substances necessary, but it sure as hell was a trip) a "closing of the circle" story with 3 main Buffy characters: Buffy, Angel, and Spike. Plus a Big bad, of course, and supporting cast we all love. (Plus a separate story, but at a different time with Faith. And no, she's not a big bad. She's truly redeemed.)

When I say "visioned" / "channeled": here's what happened (wait--never mind), but more importantly, think about this:

YOU KNOW THE CHARACTERS. WHAT WILL/WOULD THEY DO?

You know Buffy. You know Angel. You know Spike.

True, we may disagree on whom we like. We may disagree on who's good, who's bad, and even their personalities.

But I can't help feeling that we all know who Buffy is (even as they all evolved in their lives), that we know who Angel is, that we know who Spike is.

Having grown up with comics, i have often seen my favorite characters (e.g. stan lee's spiderman) become "puppets" --even in the hands of the finest writers.

For reasons too many to list, writers, publishers, and editors will one day pick up what started years earlier as genuine intuition that became a true, "live" character, and, after years and years of natural flow, the writers will begin to say: "what shall we do with this character?" "Oh, yeah! We can have this happen to him!" "Or she can do that!" "Or he can marry this one!" "Hey, how about we kill / resurrect / this or that or have this or that happen?" Etc.

Great fun. But while it's similar to the initial creative process, in time it rips the character out of identity.

Now, I have quite a bit of faith in Joss, and an extreme amount of admiration for him. Think he's the most talented writer, ever. Period. Even more than that, it's not just the writing skill -- it's the fullness of life he lets his characters live.

Which brings me to my point: I can't help feeling that characters can HAVE A LIFE OF THEIR OWN. And in this particular petition, that they MUST.

I hereby ask you all, all fans of Buffy the series (shame on me, you'll say, I haven't watched much else of Joss's, yet, besides the 7 seasons of Buffy the TV series and a part of AtS), even if my favorite character in BtVS is probably Willow, ...

I ask you:

What will Buffy do?

I don't mean now, tomorrow, in this or that episode, or with this or that big bad.

I mean a simple question, in a TIMELESS sense:

What will Buffy do?

Or better yet:

What does Buffy, deep down, really wish she would do?

I ask you: What does Buffy Want?

And I ask you:

What WILL Angel do?

Like I said, we're in a difficult dialogue because you might have assimilated years of Angel the series (and Firefly, and much more, years later). But I ask you to think back to just: Buffy the series. Buffy. The Buffy you've seen years ago. Revisit it if you must.

Imagine they're real.

What does Buffy want?

What does Angel want?

Not a simple answer, but let's re-frame it.

WHOM does Buffy want?

WHOM does Angel truly love?

And, let me pose this:

Would Spike help? (Yes, I believe!)

Yes, we've all heard at the end of season 7 that Buffy is cookie dough. She ain't done baking yet.
Yes, we all know that life is NOT a fairy tale. Unions between passionate lovers are NOT like the Hollywood dreams.
Yes, we all know that, partly because of a TV marketing situation, Angel went off into his own series as early as after only 3 of the 7 Buffy seasons.
Yes, we might remember Marti Noxon's commentary on the DVD saying that Buffy and Angel had to grow up.

But you know what?

Indulge.

Revisit the first 3 seasons. Even accepting the twists of the following 4 years. (BTW I love all 7 seasons.) Revisit the beginning years. See it.

Think like Buffy, Angel, and Spike are neither fictional characters, nor puppets in puppeteer's hands.

Think like each is real. Like an individual.

What will Buffy and Angel do?

I had these visions. I couldn't care less for getting "credit," and I almost accept how embarrassing it is for me to write this publicly.

But I can't help "visioning" that Angel truly loves Buffy.

This sounds so silly, I'm laughing at myself.

But damn it, if characters have a life of their own, WHAT WILL THEY DO?

In the visions I had, Angel, like with an epiphany, after a big dark depression, snaps to CLARITY, damn it. He realizes he (at the end of S3) tried to do the "mature" thing by listening to the Mayor who painted Angel's love as a selfish act of an individual thinking only of himself: he tried to do the mature thing by listening to Joyce say to him that he knows what he must do (i.e. leave Buffy) if he truly cares for her; he was defeated by his sense of responsibility and guilt, which gave him the nightmare of Buffy burning and dying if she and he were to be married. So he tried to "do the right thing," THE BEST THING FOR HER, and he left.
Alas, when we follow our rational minds instead of our heart, we think we do the right thing, but we actually f*** up. It ain't to say that when we follow our impulses we do any good... We're all humans. We all know that we seem to f*** up no matter what.
But in the vision that hit me, Angel realizes / decides: "I f***ed up. Buffy and I must be together. We are IT. We found ways around all sorts of big bads, we WILL find a way around the curse! We WILL find a way around the intricacies and pitfalls of our differences (starting with he immortal, she short-lives, etc.!) Damn it. We WILL!"

I kinda know that in canon, he did have a child with Darla, and maybe even loved Cordelia and / or others. Fine. We all zig zag in life.

But

I ask you: Who does Angel truly love?

I ask you: Who is deepest in Buffy's heart? Who has been her shelter, her protector, the one who first "saw" her, first made her feel, she, the secret protector of all, secretly cared for?

And I ask you: Would Spike, mature Spike, hinder or help?

Angel loves Buffy. Buffy loves Angel.

No, I'm not a teenage girl.

And trust me, I'm not saying that the 2 of them would necessarily have it easy. I can't even say if they'd succeed.

But would they try?

Will they try to be with each other?

(SPOILER WARNING? this paragraph)
Again, I'm not asking you what you predict Joss might do (good luck at that anyway!). In fact, I'm writing this partly because I've read on wikipedia that right now in the S8 comics someone is truly in love with Buffy and resuscitated her with a kiss, perhaps Xander, perhaps Willow, perhaps ...
(SPOILER WARNING end)

Will there be a new "true love" for Buffy?

I fear the playing with the puppets. I fear the writers' (accidental and well meaning) destruction of the true identities of who Buffy and Angel ARE as they exist in the Buffy TV series, this narrative that I think will make it to schools 4-500 years from now just as Romeo and Juliet is in schools today.

Again, all DEEP respect and admiration for Joss, better even than Shakespeare.

But I say: I have seen these characters in their first years.

And again I ask:

What will Angel do?

What about Buffy and Angel?

Like a silly, dorky, ridiculous fan I sent a DVD with my vision, called "Buffy and Angel: 2", not for a comic story, but for a film, even THE film, that deals with this. Sent it like a silly boy to 18 different major players, from Joss himself to many of the stars, c/o their hollywood agents. Of course, I do know they get thousands of things. Truthfully, wasn't expecting to hear back. Of course, 3 months later, I haven't. Not surprised, not hurt in any way.

I wish I could convince you that I don't care about getting credit. You will probably find it impossible to believe. I wish I could convince you that I think there are far better stories than the one i "visioned" --not only better stories by Joss, but even better stories by thousands and thousands of fanfic writers.

But it's not about who writes the story that i was hit with in a vision.

I don't think it even has a writer.

I think my "vision" was of WHAT THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES WOULD DO. I think it is what Buffy and Angel would do. Try to do, that is.

Even if the entire story / events flashed before my eyes, I will not say here and now what happens after they try. And I don't think I "thought" of it, I think it is a natural flow of what exists already in 7 (historical) seasons of lives. Like a tree that was planted by Joss's seed, and grew for 7 years. And the vision was of the tree at the reach of its branches, where its leaves would simply, naturally be.

Here's hoping we'll all see it.

With live actors. And sound.

To explain where this is coming from, I will post my take of the first 7 seasons of Buffy, which for the purpose of getting to the narrative crux, here I will put in fairy tale language.

BTW, I can't say that Buffy is a fairy tale. Can't say here whether or not it the tale of Buffy and Angel would have a fairy tale ending.

The vision I had of "Buffy and Angel: 2" was not in fairy tale language. It was a full-fledged on-screen thing, just like the Buffy we know so well.

But here I describe not my vision of what Buffy and Angel will do. What I describe here (in fairy tale language) is what (I think) they have done in the first 7 years.

Let the public know if you feel the same way.

---


Many, many moons ago, there was a Princess [Buffy]. But she was a Secret Princess, since no one knew about her.

Every day she cared for the hearts of everyone in the land.

But even though she protected, saved, and cared for the hearts of everyone, no one protected her very own heart, and the Princess was alone.

One day, from far away, an Angel arrived. He saw the Secret Princess. And he thought: "Look at this wonderful Princess, who saves and cares for everybody's heart, but no one cares for her heart!" And as he saw her, his own heart swelled with love for her, and he thought: "I want to be the one who cares for her heart."

And he showed the Princess his love for her. And she loved the Angel, and her heart was loved.

But as the Princess and the Angel were about to kiss, out of the darkness burst the spawn of evil, and it growled: "I put a curse on your love! If your lips should ever touch, the Princess shall die, and the world shall end!"

And the spell was cast.

In truth, her love for him was such that perhaps she would have kissed him even if it cost her her life. But she would never sacrifice the lives of others, she wanted to protect the world. On his part, the Angel also wanted to protect the world, though truth be told, his foremost thought was to safeguard her life.

So, just before their lips could touch, with tears in their eyes, and pain in their hearts, the Secret Princess and the Angel did withhold from kissing.

And sadly, they let go each other's arms.

And so, both of them heavy with longing, he went away, to the land where it's always night. And she stayed on, continuing to protect everyone in her land, alone.

For many moons, she fought evil in many forms, and many people, some good, some bad, some both good and bad, came and went in and out of her life.

Among them, there even came a Knight in Shiny Armor [Riley], Captain of the 55 Knights of Justice, who every day, with steeds and swords, would fight the many evils of the land.

When the Knight in Shiny Armor discovered the Secret Princess, he fell in love with her and said: "Princess, We can fight evil together. I love you. I want to build you a castle. I want to build you a garden. And I want you to be happy."

And the Princess saw that his heart was pure, and smiled. And she granted him a kiss. But as they kissed he felt her heart was not in her lips. So that night he walked alone, and the stars whispered to him: "She cares for you, Knight in Shiny Armor, but she has an Angel in her heart."

And so he asked the Princess: "Princess, do you love me truly? Is there an Angel in your heart?"

And she looked down.

The Knight in Shiny Armor understood, and walked away.

And again the Princess was alone.

One day, upon her doorstep, arrived a most beautiful maiden [Faith]. This was the very twin sister of the Secret Princess, but today was the first time they knew of each other's existence! The Secret Princess's heart was filled with joy, and she opened her arms to embrace her twin sister.

But the Princess's twin sister was jealous. She thought the Princess had everyone and everything --she didn't realize the Princess was actually alone in her heart. So the twin sister said: "I want to be the Princess of this land!"

And the Princess said: "I thought we could be friends and Princesses together!"

But the twin sister was so riled by this, that she said: "If i can't be the ONLY Princess of the land, I will become true evil and find the Angel in the land where it's always night and attack him!"

When she heard this, the Princess, for the first time in her life, was MAD. She told her sister that if she so much as grazed the Angel's hair she'd kill her with her own hands! She then made sure her sister could never hurt anyone, banished her from the land, and once again felt all alone.

And then, another day, a Dark Prince of Destruction [Spike] showed up at the Princess's doorstep.

He said:

"Princess, I bring destruction to the people, you bring care to the people! I MOCK you!"

And then he said, "I LIKE you!"

And then he said: "I WANT you!"

And then he said: "I LOVE you!"

And the Secret Princess and the Dark Prince of Destruction looked into each others' eyes for a time.

He felt profound remorse for all the destruction he had caused, and he began to make amends.

He said: "I don't know if I'll succeed, but now, I want to do good in life."

And she said to him: "I believe you."

And so he did. And good he was.

But he also realized: "You have an Angel in your heart." And though he fought evil at her side, again the Princess was alone deep in her heart.

And so it was that in those many moons, many people, foes and friends, crossed their paths with the life of the Secret Princess. Some have come, and some have gone.

But in her heart, the Princess is alone.

So here's the story, of what's about to happen, on the day of this new moon, now.





I'll repeat: I think characters have a life of their own.

I know Joss has brilliant genius ideas, and I understand that as we speak, he may be writing a new "true love" for Buffy, and make it "canon."

But I want to see Angel and Buffy at least TRY to be together. On screen.

I used to have a thick skin, but am getting weaker with age. If you're going to barrage me with insults, please be as gentle as you can, thank you.

I feel I write this not as a fan. I write this because I believe that they, the characters, have it in their hearts.

This is kind of like a plea. If it turns out there are enough who agree, maybe it will become a public voice.

The issue is: if characters have a life of their own, who does Buffy have in her heart? What will Angel do? And the rest?

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