Quote:
Originally Posted by Yot-chan
Me, I just marvel at the way they seem to continually give AruSheri fans almost exactly what they want to hear, but never quite manage to push it all the way.
There's a certain artfulness to it, I suppose.
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Yeah, it's almost Whedonesque.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yot-chan
I wouldn't call it trolling. Most people, upon first encountering Romeo and Juliet (to cite just one of countless examples), want the two young lovers to run away and live happily ever after. The fact that that's NOT what happens is what makes the story a classic.
Not saying that Frontier is on that same level (of either artistic merit or tragedy), but generally, listening to what portions of the audience want (even large portions) often spells doom for stories. Much better for the storyteller to do what he or she thinks is best. The audience will follow or it won't, but the work itself will be better off for it.
And yes, I'm dead serious about that, and yes, it's an issue I feel strongly about. I don't believe in giving people what they want, I believe in giving people what I want, and if they like it, too, then that's just gravy.  |
Hmm, I know what you are talking about, and I would like to refute it, in part. I called that "never giving the fans what they want" "Whedonesque", and with good reason. Joss Whedon had almost perfected the art of withholding the most obvious and desired end goals for his audience in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, often not bringing together couples that were widely desired. He instead opted in most parts for completely different outcomes, which were interesting on their own, yet still quite frustrating. The problem with doing that serially ( and I postulate that Kawamori is starting to do that with things like whisking Alto away with the Vajra queen, which was quite similar to what happened to Shin in Zero ) is that fans start to get cynical about your work after a while, because they know they can expect to be trolled at the end. I think you could also call it "dangling a carrot in front of a horse", with the pay-off never happening.
For me, that is a problem. When unpredictability itself becomes predictable, it is difficult to trust the product of a writer. Which, at least in my case, leeches off a considerable amount of fun from reading/watching it.