Sympathy? Empathy? Apathy?

[deird_lj]

Commenters on this post seemed very split on whether they sympathised with Kate or Justine (no-one really seemed to sympathise with both).

So I started wondering…


Here's a poll - about the background characters on AtS (or the female ones, anyway) and what people's reactions to them are.


[Poll #1475576]



Questions? Comments?

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

(I forgot Nina! *facepalm* I can't believe I forgot her!)

I can.

[obiwahn.livejournal.com]

I hated everything about Kate as a character, but that had nothing to do with her being blond. I voted that one anyway though, since it's the closest to how I feel about her, lol. I was really glad when she left the show, and I almost never made it past the first season because she grated on me so badly.

I love love love Darla, Lilah, and I am pretty fond of Gwen, though I don't really care about her that much as a character (probably mostly due to the less time spent on her).

Justine...she is more complicated. I hate that she hurts Wesley. I HATE it so much! Because Wesley is like, my favorite character in the world ever. But you know another one of my favorite characters? Faith. And she hurt Wesley too. Justine and Faith are very similar, actually. They both want to belong to something, but they don't understand the big picture. While I am not going to sit and cry for Justine (because there is a level of pathetic there, to be sure) I think she is a slightly tragic figure.

To me, Kate is like the female Ballard (from Dollhouse). It's the whole self-riotous, single-minded thing. I just hate watching them. Also, the whole "Daddy, why didn't you love me enough!?" gets real old.

[rahirah]

Spike does - one more reason I like him. *g* Alas, much of fandom tends to ignore his canonical mommy issues (or see them as icky) and give him daddy issues with Angelus instead. :deep sigh:

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

I just watched that ep today! I LOVE HIM IN THAT. "I just can't stop my evil hand! *shoots things*"

But in general? Ick, go home. Especially when he comes back in, er, S5? You're Welcome, I think? Yeah, that was dumb.

GWEN NEEDS TO HAVE MY BEBEZ.

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Heh, I forgot her, too. Everyone does.

[deird1]

...except apparently Barb and stormwreath, who just have freakishly good memories.

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

The first two--don't really care enough to add more.

Gwen--I thought she would have made a great companion for Angel. And she was snarky and fun and...why didn't they bring her back?

Lilah--one bad bitch. Even when she was evil, you couldn't help but adore her. I can't put it into words just yet, and I'm not doing her justice, but I'll probably write about it. But yeah, she's a total bitch, and I <3 her so. *see icon--bitches are awesome*

Darla--same thing. Darla is just... *fangirls over Darla* I can't complain too much about her final ending, because it was SO AMAZING, and bringing her back may have cheapened it...but yeah, she's effin' fabulous.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Kate is one of my favourites in the entire show. I do think they floundered with her character in season two, and I understood Angel being weary and irritated with it all, but I always sympathised with her. (I also shipped her with Angel hardcore, but considering how they handled Cordy/Angel...it's probably best they didn't go there.) I wish she'd at least been mentioned after leaving, so we knew she wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere or something.

Justine was just kinda there. I don't know why, I was just never engaged with her, despite the fact that I usually like that character type, or at least care about them.

Gwen was fun, Lilah kicked progressively more ass as time went on, and Darla is probably my second favourite Fanged Four family member. (First being Angel himself.) Though I'm STILL not sure how "I have a baby and his soul is affecting me" works.

[deird1]

*loves ticky boxes*

*loves Lilah*

*loves Darla*

*loves comments this long*

[deird1]

To me, Kate is like the female Ballard (from Dollhouse). It's the whole self-riotous, single-minded thing.

Ooh, good point. I really hadn't made that comparison...

[deird1]

Lilah really is awesome...

[deird1]

I also shipped her with Angel hardcore, but considering how they handled Cordy/Angel...it's probably best they didn't go there.

Definitely.

[clevermonikerr.livejournal.com]

Gwen--I thought she would have made a great companion for Angel. And she was snarky and fun and...why didn't they bring her back?

Agreed. I'm a closet Gwen/Angel shipper, and while I've found some good fic with her in it, I wish there was more.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I second you on Bai Ling's Jhiera, even though it wasn't exactly a great episode!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I like them all, honestly! I find Justine really interesting, and I love Kate. I like Lilah a lot - have since way before Lilah/Wesley - and I love Darla. I like Gwen, too!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

re: Kate - I love Kate, but I agree that the show framed her as irrational rather than "broody, tortured, yet noble" and that it was totally a gendered/sexist thing.

I would've loved to see more Gwen and Nina, too. Love Darla, period!

True fact re: the writers' inability to formulate a solid Evil Plan and how that impacted Lilah!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

set on a course that was bound to hurt more people from the beginning. But I still had sympathy for her at the same time. :( She was used.

Agreed!

Love Kate, though. I'm glad I hadn't stumbled across online fandom when the show was on-air, because I would have been constantly raging about people disliking a useful, interesting, good secondary female character. (Yeah, Kate's definitely a litmus character for me. Someone can dislike her--fine. But if they start ranting about how awful she was, I seem to take it personally. Oh brain. So weird.)

Oh, I completely feel the same way about Kate! It's nice to find another Kate fan. :)

I really did like just about all the female characters on Angel! And considering how many recurring/main female characters there were, that actually surprised me when I first realized it - though I tend to be sympathetic to female characters in general.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Agreed on all three counts! (Wow, hee!)

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I like Gavin! And Nina! :)

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Gwen--I thought she would have made a great companion for Angel. And she was snarky and fun and...why didn't they bring her back?

Both Gunn/Gwen and Angel/Gwen had a lot of chemistry! And I like her too!

Lilah and Darla are fabulous forever!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Ooh, closet Angel/Gwen 'shippers unite! :)

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Kate is one of my favourites in the entire show. I do think they floundered with her character in season two, and I understood Angel being weary and irritated with it all, but I always sympathised with her. (I also shipped her with Angel hardcore, but considering how they handled Cordy/Angel...it's probably best they didn't go there.) I wish she'd at least been mentioned after leaving, so we knew she wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere or something.

I agree with all of this! Kate is totally my favorite noir-heroine-that-shoulda-been. It's awesome to find a fellow Kate fan! :)

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

*grin* Definitely!

In my head she became a rogue demon hunter. And possibly, after Chosen, a Slayer.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Oh, season three and your tedious love triangles.

[deird1]

In my head she joins the police force in Cleveland - which, being on a Hellmouth, probably has some interesting stuff to deal with.