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Burn Notice and Shippy Thoughts
Apr. 29th, 2009 09:34 amBurn Notice.
This show owns me. Totally and completely owns me.
I love every single thing about this show. The look. The writing. The style. The characters. The voice-overs. The music. The actors. The cinematography. The acting. Every single thing about this show is good, except that parts that are completely awesome. And it has that magic gestalt that makes it come together in a rare brand of perfect for a television show.
For an indication of exactly how bad I have it for this show: I have a ship. That’s right. Me. The I don’t ship-champion.
Usually, I can take and leave ships… I take them as they are written in the show and I leave them there. If the show gets a ship together, good, if not – or if not forever – I can live with that, too. I may not always see it or I may wish that it ended up differently, but I’ve never been invested in a fictional relationship enough to care outside of the show.
Ah, but Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona.
I’ve spent quite a while staring at this post trying to come up with reasons why this ship makes so much sense to me. In the end, it is more than the fact that the writing of the interaction is incredibly real and that the chemistry between the actors is off the charts. Although that helps. No. I like this ship because the characters are equal. They are equally smart and equally strong and they are equally passionate about each other. Don’t get me wrong, they are not the same, they are just equal.
That kind of makes them seem like perfect characters, but they’re not. They are wonderfully flawed and are given perfect, psychologically accurate histories to explain those flaws. While those character flaws cause problems, those same “flaws” are also strengths that allow those characters to save the day. There are no value judgments placed on these “flaws”, either by the characters or the writers. And that’s a trick most shows don’t manage.
What I like best about this relationship, though, is that neither character demands a change in the other. In fact, none of the characters in the show demand change from any other. There’s never that demand (spoken or unspoken) of “if you loved me you would… insert change to be exactly the fantasy I have”. Neither character makes an untenable sacrifice or character change in order to win the approval or love of the other.
And yet, these two characters are better people together than apart. In fact, that’s something I adore about the whole show – the four main characters are better people because of their friendships/relationships with each other. They bring out the best in one another.
And for a ship to work, that’s what's needed: The characters have to bring out the best in each other. When they are around one another the characters have to realize that they need to be better – to be the best them they can possibly be. Not because it's demanded of them, but because they understand that it's what they can be.
This ship does that. The characters challenge each other to be better and provide the strength and support needed to meet that challenge.
I don't ask much from a ship, do I?
ETA: GIP!
This show owns me. Totally and completely owns me.
I love every single thing about this show. The look. The writing. The style. The characters. The voice-overs. The music. The actors. The cinematography. The acting. Every single thing about this show is good, except that parts that are completely awesome. And it has that magic gestalt that makes it come together in a rare brand of perfect for a television show.
For an indication of exactly how bad I have it for this show: I have a ship. That’s right. Me. The I don’t ship-champion.
Usually, I can take and leave ships… I take them as they are written in the show and I leave them there. If the show gets a ship together, good, if not – or if not forever – I can live with that, too. I may not always see it or I may wish that it ended up differently, but I’ve never been invested in a fictional relationship enough to care outside of the show.
Ah, but Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona.
I’ve spent quite a while staring at this post trying to come up with reasons why this ship makes so much sense to me. In the end, it is more than the fact that the writing of the interaction is incredibly real and that the chemistry between the actors is off the charts. Although that helps. No. I like this ship because the characters are equal. They are equally smart and equally strong and they are equally passionate about each other. Don’t get me wrong, they are not the same, they are just equal.
That kind of makes them seem like perfect characters, but they’re not. They are wonderfully flawed and are given perfect, psychologically accurate histories to explain those flaws. While those character flaws cause problems, those same “flaws” are also strengths that allow those characters to save the day. There are no value judgments placed on these “flaws”, either by the characters or the writers. And that’s a trick most shows don’t manage.
What I like best about this relationship, though, is that neither character demands a change in the other. In fact, none of the characters in the show demand change from any other. There’s never that demand (spoken or unspoken) of “if you loved me you would… insert change to be exactly the fantasy I have”. Neither character makes an untenable sacrifice or character change in order to win the approval or love of the other.
And yet, these two characters are better people together than apart. In fact, that’s something I adore about the whole show – the four main characters are better people because of their friendships/relationships with each other. They bring out the best in one another.
And for a ship to work, that’s what's needed: The characters have to bring out the best in each other. When they are around one another the characters have to realize that they need to be better – to be the best them they can possibly be. Not because it's demanded of them, but because they understand that it's what they can be.
This ship does that. The characters challenge each other to be better and provide the strength and support needed to meet that challenge.
I don't ask much from a ship, do I?
ETA: GIP!
