Awww, Laura, I think you and I are soulmates. WORD to everything you said.
But... About *James* making his comments... I had this theory for awhile. Maybe I am completely off-base, but I've believed for quite some time that Joss Whedon LOVES his ass kissed and HATES being criticized by his employees, and that this attitude permeates ME's corporate culture. What James said - it seems to me EXACTLY, word for word, what ME used to say about the character and his fans. And I can't help but think that all James does is repeat the party line, that he serves as his bosses' apologyst in taking upon himself the blame for their screw-ups.
*They* screwed up. They let Buffy and Scoobs abuse Spike. What they put on screen was unconscionable. They never realized the full measure of Buffy's depravity, they severely underestimated the number of fans who identified with Spike instead of Buffy, and they didn't get, in time, how horribly cruel and sadistic the character of Buffy Summers was coming across. And guess what? It was Joss Whedon's baby. *He* was the one behind the "life as a big bad" storyline, and *he* was the one who authorized AR.
So to admit now that they screwed up, that Buffy wasn't exactly a helpless victim but a sadistic freak to Spike the whole time, and Spike actually had that seed of goodness which Buffy was too blind to see? They can't do that without admitting it was Joss Whedon's fault for coming up with this crap and SMG's fault for not playing her character more sympathetically. So they blame James. And he repeats it.
JM (and Spike) is a patsy in this situation. He is the employee that his bosses made to take the fall for their screw ups. Just like they tried to make the character he played into a fall man on the show. He can't come out and say "Spuffy sucked, Buffy was an abusive bitch and I have no clue why Spike would ever tolerate her crap, and the writers screwed up majorly when they let the heroine to turn into an abuser", even if he thinks that (maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but we don't know *what* he really thinks about all this, IMHO).
ME blames Spike and JM, and they would NOT admit they made the heroine of their show into a terrible abuser (because it's stupid, and it hurt the show, and they don't want to admit how far they erred in what they put on screen). "Spike was evil, it's all JM's fault he played him too sympathetically, Buffy was right to treat him like crap, and Fox insists on B/A4eva". This is ME's talking, James is just their faithful mouth piece. It's not like he has any choice in this either - from I've seen, you HAVE to kiss the writers (and espicially Joss's) ass in order to work at ME. JMHO.
I have a theory
But... About *James* making his comments... I had this theory for awhile. Maybe I am completely off-base, but I've believed for quite some time that Joss Whedon LOVES his ass kissed and HATES being criticized by his employees, and that this attitude permeates ME's corporate culture. What James said - it seems to me EXACTLY, word for word, what ME used to say about the character and his fans. And I can't help but think that all James does is repeat the party line, that he serves as his bosses' apologyst in taking upon himself the blame for their screw-ups.
*They* screwed up. They let Buffy and Scoobs abuse Spike. What they put on screen was unconscionable. They never realized the full measure of Buffy's depravity, they severely underestimated the number of fans who identified with Spike instead of Buffy, and they didn't get, in time, how horribly cruel and sadistic the character of Buffy Summers was coming across. And guess what? It was Joss Whedon's baby. *He* was the one behind the "life as a big bad" storyline, and *he* was the one who authorized AR.
So to admit now that they screwed up, that Buffy wasn't exactly a helpless victim but a sadistic freak to Spike the whole time, and Spike actually had that seed of goodness which Buffy was too blind to see? They can't do that without admitting it was Joss Whedon's fault for coming up with this crap and SMG's fault for not playing her character more sympathetically. So they blame James. And he repeats it.
JM (and Spike) is a patsy in this situation. He is the employee that his bosses made to take the fall for their screw ups. Just like they tried to make the character he played into a fall man on the show. He can't come out and say "Spuffy sucked, Buffy was an abusive bitch and I have no clue why Spike would ever tolerate her crap, and the writers screwed up majorly when they let the heroine to turn into an abuser", even if he thinks that (maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but we don't know *what* he really thinks about all this, IMHO).
ME blames Spike and JM, and they would NOT admit they made the heroine of their show into a terrible abuser (because it's stupid, and it hurt the show, and they don't want to admit how far they erred in what they put on screen). "Spike was evil, it's all JM's fault he played him too sympathetically, Buffy was right to treat him like crap, and Fox insists on B/A4eva". This is ME's talking, James is just their faithful mouth piece. It's not like he has any choice in this either - from I've seen, you HAVE to kiss the writers (and espicially Joss's) ass in order to work at ME. JMHO.