Monday, November 24, 2008

Who is more obnoxious?

Awhile ago I ran a series of "What's Better?" challenges in honor of the now defunct website.

Today, I wanted to momentarily cross that game with the (as far as I know) still running "Am I Annoying? Dot Com" web site to form the "Who is More Obnoxious?" game.

Today's question pits fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer against fans of The Wire.

I should admit I have friends and colleagues among both groups.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans tend to have to reduce everything to the fact that Buffy was and is the greatest show of all time. Therefore the principle fault and meaning of every other show (except, perhaps, Firefly) is that it isn't Buffy. Recently at Salon.com, Laura Miller trashed the Twilight books. She did a good job, too, describing what sounds like an insipid series. But, of course, it wasn't enough to simply state why the books are (in her opinion) no good. The whole story has to be framed around the contention that Buffy is a real story for feminists, the real complement to Harry Potter, the real thing we ought to be addicted to. Ask a typical Buffy fan to name the five greatest television shows of all time and you'll probably get a reply along the lines of..."Well, there's Buffy, and then maybe Firefly and Angel, but beyond that, I don't really watch television because it is an inferior medium that has never produced anything culturally relevant...."

In the other corner we have fans of The Wire. Now, I happen to like The Wire. I watched all five seasons on DVD. It was great. But I totally, totally snarfed in laughter when Slate's culture gabfest compared the relative indifference of fans of Mad Men (who shrugged and said "yeah, you're right" when one host complained that the show was a little slow) to fans of The Wire (who get that crazed look and said "It is a cultural imperative that you must watch this show! Baltimore is suffering!")

Whenever I hear fans of The Wire speak, I always have visions of the Dauphin in Henry V. Yes, it is truly a most excellent...horse.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the only show, play, novel, or art work that is truly feminist.
The Wire is the only show, play, novel, or art work that is real about the modern city.

If you don't like Buffy you are a misogynist snob.
If you don't like The Wire you are a racist homophobe.

Oh, to be able to lock all the Buffy fans and The Wire fans into some room at MLA until only one came out.

So, my question for today is...who is more obnoxious? Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans or fans of The Wire?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going with Buffy fans (although I love Buffy) simply because--as far as I know--fans of The Wire have not misdirected their fervor for the show into the production of fan fiction, one of the great scourges of the internet.

Jeff K. said...

While Buffy fans are probably more superficially annoying, I'm voting for The Wire and Co. The deep, subtle disdain for those un-interested in Baltimore really bothers me.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Peter on this one. Also, fans of The Wire probably don't get into online snits over character deaths or set up websites devoted to defending certain characters or character romance plotlines. At least, I hope not.

Kenneth R. Morefield said...

In thinking about this, I would add that while Buffy fans insist I also love and adore Firefly, fans of The Wire do not insist that I also have to watch Generation Kill.