author_by_night | Snowflake: Canon Love

Whether it is to fix-it, honor it, or expand upon it, canon is why we are all here. So, let's celebrate canon today and talk about our favorites. Nostalgic, new, problematic, or forever canons are all welcome to be loved, dissected, and discussed. Have a favorite scene? A much-loved character? A much-maligned character? Just love the whole thing epically? Talk about it all or as little as you want!

This is going to be multifandom. Alphabetical order. I'm going to give some brief, slightly random thoughts. Feel free to bounce off of them. Spoilers for Buffy, Harry Potter, Schitt's Creek. I also talk about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but no real spoilers.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I've realized, in listening to podcasts, how shafted Anya was. I wish she'd been the one to leave Xander at the altar. I like Xander more than most fans, but while I do think he loves Anya, I don't think he respects her as much as he should, and frankly, I know a few people in that situation IRL. It's horrible to see and Anya deserved better.

Also, unpopular opinion, but I liked Dawn. There. I said it.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Such an underrated show, and I think there's far too little in-depth dialogue about it. I really should do my own analysis. In short, I think that the feminist themes are incredibly important, as are the themes of understanding mental health issues. It's good stuff.

Firefly

A very quick thought: I love how in charge of her sexuality Inara is. Especially for a show in the early 00's. I know some people think the "space whore" thing is demeaning, but when I rewatched Firefly last spring, that's not what I took away from it.

Harry Potter

With some things happening in my country (the US), I look at the books a bit differently now. I always felt JK Rowling drew from her experience working for Amnesty International, which is why she didn't take a more nuanced approach, which is what I think much of fandom would have preferred. (Then again, I remember people talking about Buffy as an example of nuance, and I don't know, the morality on that show tends to be similarly "this is good and this is bad," IMHO. With the exception of Spike, but Harry Potter has Snape, who I see as a similar character.)

Anyway, back to what I read differently. One example is Marietta Edgecombe. I feel a lot less sympathy for her these days. I never quite felt sorry for her, but now I really see the severity of what she did. I'm still not comfortable with a teenage girl being permanently scarred, but... imagine if in the US, someone reported a classmate to ICE. I wouldn't want them permanently scarred, but you can bet I would fully support never speaking to that classmate again, nor anyone who defended their actions.

ETA: In case it needs to be said, I in no way condone JK Rowling's transphobia, nor some of the problems with the canon text. Unfortunately she turned out to be a terrible person. However, parts of her books have always resonated with me, and this one is more recent. Unfortunately.

Schitt's Creek

I was hesitant to get into Schitt's Creek, but I'm glad I did. I love that Schitt's Creek is pure comedy, while also very intelligent. Don't get me wrong, I love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Good Place, but it's nice to have a show that just shows how the world could be, as opposed to how the world really is in a sometimes comedic way, sometimes a very serious and scary way. I just wish it weren't over right when we really need it.

Also, I still have no idea what country it's supposed to be in. I've finally settled for the headcanon that either Johnny or Moira is from the US, the other is from Canada, so they lived in New York but Schitt's Creek is a few hours outside Toronto. Though why Alexis wouldn't just move to Toronto... I don't know. Perhaps it's easier not to think about it too much.