Joss Whedon, comic books, and why you don't want to take me to an art museum

[rsadelle]

fuseji gave me Fray because it's the only Joss Whedon thing he still likes, and I finally got around to reading it last month. I didn't like it. My first thought was that what I didn't like was probably exactly what fuseji did like. But then I thought, what exactly is it that I didn't like? Maybe I just don't like comic books anymore. So I thought about it some more and then pulled out my two boxes of comic books and started flipping through them. I came to two not particularly surprising conclusions:

1. What I didn't like is probably exactly what fuseji did like.
   
2. I don't like comic books anymore, which is actually part of something bigger: I don't really like art that much.

Let me start with the first thing. What I didn't like about Fray is that there isn't much going on in the way of relationships. In Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, the living, breathing, changing relationships are an integral part of the story. Sure, Fray has relationships, but they're generally broken or with dead-dead (as opposed to undead) people, and that doesn't hold much appeal for me.

Now the second thing, and the real point of this entry: I'm just not into art. (Note: I'm using "art" here to mean the sort of things you see in museums - painting, drawing, sculpture.) I think this is partly because I take in a lot of visual information very quickly. When I go to museums with my parents, they stop and stand in front of things and look at them for a while. I look, take it in, and then I'm ready to move on because now I've seen it. There are exceptions: I really like 16th-century European religious art, especially Mary Magdalenes; and I have fond memories of a painting of tennis shoes going through a ring of Christmas lights in the sky at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (it's likely that I'm completely misremembering the painting). I tend to like photography more, but even then, I don't spend a lot of time looking at it. If you look at the art on my walls, it's almost all photos, and all but one of those are fannish.

Let me be clear here: I'm not saying art is bad. I wholly believe that people should create art as they feel the need/desire to do so, that we should have art and art education in our world, and that people should take in art as they feel the need/desire to do so. What I am saying is that I, personally, don't get much out of art and don't appreciate it much.

There's conflict in my life about art and science. My dad's an engineer; my mom's a poet. My dad builds incredibly beautiful and interesting structures and takes fantastic pictures; my mom gets excited by a well-designed spreadsheet. I've felt for a long time that the art things I've done aren't good enough because there's no science in them and the science-type things I've done aren't good enough because there's no art in them. I think sometimes that I'm paralyzed by not knowing which thing I should be doing; I'm working on figuring out what I authentically want to do and doing that. I also thought for a long time that I had no artistic talents. This was probably less about outside critique and more about internal comparison to my brother, who is incredibly artistically gifted in many ways - and who says that he's just an amateur compared to the people he knows who are really gifted.

The end result of this is that I always think I should appreciate art, and I'm learning to realize that I generally don't and that that's okay. I don't have to force myself into it.

Because I don't appreciate art, I'm not much into comic books. When I pulled out the two boxes I have, I wasn't even interested enough to even read any of the X-Men. Even Strangers in Paradise, which I loved at the time didn't hold much interest for me. The only thing that I was interested in was House of Secrets, and it was too depressing for me to read past the first five-book arc.

I think there are two things that make some comic books/graphic novels work for me. First of all, I like a good story with interesting relationships. The House of Secrets is a gripping story with some very complex relationships. From Eroica With Love always has a good story and a quite contentious relationship. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train is a marvelous story with an interesting relationship. Secondly, I like uncluttered art. House of Secrets is fairly plain. From Eroica With Love and Daisy Kutter are both uncluttered black and white art. X-Men is loud and busy. Strangers in Paradise looks too round and bubbly for me, even though it's mostly in black and white.

I don't really have much of a conclusion here. I will be glad to get rid of all my comics (watch for a stuff that could be yours post coming soon) and make a little more space in the closet, and I'm going to recommit to not attempting to like things just because I think I should.

Comments

[rsadelle]

Hee! There's always something to learn, right?

Hmm. I like to savor the relationships and the relationship building, even when I know where they're going. Unlike art, which I don't feel the need to savor. (Also: I'm pretty good at figuring out characters and even real people. It's the one part of the empathy emotional intelligence skill I'm actually good at. See, for example, the fact that I knew what you liked about Fray. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying them.)

Don't tell me you're a Buffy/Angel shipper! Did you ever see the Angel episode where he gets to be human for a day? Buffy licking ice cream off his chest is just about the least sexy thing I've ever seen on a TV screen.

[fuseji.livejournal.com]

I'm going to recommit to not attempting to like things just because I think I should.

Good advice for everyone!

It's the one part of the empathy emotional intelligence skill I'm actually good at. See, for example, the fact that I knew what you liked about Fray.

I'm constantly reminded that I'm an easy read -- Whedon mentioning that he asked Karl Moline to base Fray on Natalie Portman and Milla Jovovich made it even more apparent.

Don't tell me you're a Buffy/Angel shipper!

I honestly don't understand it myself -- Sarah Michelle Gellar creeps me out. It's just Whedon spent ages building them up to be this couple with a love across time and then after Season 3 or so was like 'eh, fuckit'.

And I still don't get what the hell happened with Drusilla & Spike, either. The fact that Spike & Buffy ever got together doesn't make any sense to me at all...it feels like after a while they just hook random people together on the show because 'oh, they haven't had a relationship yet.'

Another thing that bugged me is that the TV show's action sequences weren't that great. Why bother having them at all? The one really good one that comes to mind is in Angel, when Gunn and that electric thief girl are on a heist together. Sigh. Yet another couple that would've been better than what happened (Fred should've been with Wesley. End of story).

OH GOD I JUST REVEALED HOW MUCH I KNOW ABOUT THE BUFFYVERSE

OH GOD I JUST USED THE TERM 'BUFFYVERSE'

ACK fuseji DID IT AGAIN

[rsadelle]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Spike and Buffy worked okay for me - I like the antagonist relationship (in fiction), and the two of them having sex while the building falls down on them was totally hot.

Ah, yes, Gunn and Gwen. Of course, Alexa Davalos makes just about anything sexier.

[dedalvs.livejournal.com]

Big, big second to that! But I did love his reaction to icecream and peanut butter and everything, it was fantastic!

[dedalvs.livejournal.com]

Oops, this is actually allegram, I'm just on Dave's computer....forgot about the whole changing who's signed in thing....

[rsadelle]

Oh, good. I thought it was weird that Dave knew anything about it.