(no subject)

[doyle]

There's been discussion on bookworm_jen's journal about canon and unconventional relationships. She proposed 4 rankings of relationships:

1) Canon: We saw an actual relationship on screen or there was a clear reference to a past relationship.

2) Near-Canon: We saw flirting or a one time fling on screen, or there was the implication of a past relationship. I would put relationships that are only refered to in commentary or interviews into this category.

3) Non-Canon: There was no relationship on screen, but there was a significant amount of sub-text or build-up and the writers could easily have worked it into the series without distorting the characters too badly.

4) Unconventional: There was no relationship, and it's highly unlikely that the writers could or would have worked it into the series without drastically changing who the characters are.

I'm interested in how subjective these are, or how much we agree on what counts as canon or almost-canon, so I present a poll. I randomly picked 15 m/f, m/m and f/f pairings, some of which happened on the show, some of which didn't. To play, pick which of the categories above you think each one falls into.


[Poll #480215]


[Poll #480216]


[Poll #480217]

Comments

[47-trek-47.livejournal.com]

But there is actual, intentional subtext on this show. Just because something isn't said outright doesn't mean it isn't intentionally there, especially on a show like Buffy or Angel. Spike had a thing for Buffy long before any words were spoken about it. Willow and Tara were dating for something like half a season before they came out onscreen. Spike and Angel had *loads* of subtext long before the "well, there was that once."

Then there's little one-sided comments like Xander's "He's compact but well-muscled," and Willow's "Now I remember why I had such a crush on him," and Doyle's "Ok, maybe I'm a little attracted."

As for the point of the poll, I think one of the main interesting points of it is to see how much people agree on the classifications of various pairings than rather than to actually classify the pairings as the writers truly intended them or something.

[gloss]

But there is actual, intentional subtext on this show.
But where does that get us, is my question. Whether it's intentional or not onscreen, when it comes to fic it's much more about characterization than channelling ME, isn't it?