Oz is not dull imo.I agree! Gunn had some excellent potential as a character but I felt like none of the writers knew quite what to do with him. The more I watch BtVS and AtS the more I come to the conclusion that the white, middle-upper class writers were just completely incapable of writing for characters from lower socio economic backgrounds. This is evident not just with Gunn, but with what I believe to be a poorly executed Faith, and the unrealistic portrayal of being poor in BtVS Season 6.
When we meet Gunn in Season 1 he is living in gutters with other teenagers that do not have steady incomes. The writers did not seem to want to address how Gunn came to be here. It seems to me like Gunn had quite a bit of depth in terms of intelligence and culture, and that he mostly played up the part of 'rough street kid', in order to survive his circumstances. What lead to his sister and him running away from home? Was it abuse? Or something more sinister? Were their parents attacked by vampires - explaining his general distaste?
The, flash-forward, tra-la-la, Gunn isn't homeless anymore! We never find out when this happens. I mean as far as we know, as we are never told otherwise, he could STILL be living on the streets? Bland - yes. Undeveloped - definitely. At times the treatment and writing of his character actually borders on racist trope. A black guy that has no parents, lives on the streets, and likes to beat things up was just about all he ever amounts to until a white lawyer 'saves' him, by implanting 'white' character traits into his brain.
Having said all of that, I would still vote Oz as the dullest regular character in the 'verse.
Exactly what I wanted to say, but you said it all already so..... yeah. I think Gunn & Fred is probably the most underrated relationship in the Buffyverse. I mean, I like Fred & Wes, but it felt forced to me. Gunn & Fred felt natural; two people just finding a connection, going on sweet dates, none of the drama. I loved that. Wes & Fred was set up to be dramadramadrama from the get go.Oh man, I would never describe Gunn as "bland", he's amazing! I love Charles Gunn with everything I have, he is such an under-appreciated character, both in the fandom and within the show’s narrative, and I will never stop being bitter about how badly he was treated in-Universe, and how his character and his relationship with Fred were both sacrificed for Wesley’s arc.
Charles Gunn is an amazingly strong character, stubborn, street-smart, highly intelligent, resilient. He survived on his own for such a long time, took care of his younger sister, tried to keep his crew safe the best way he knew how. He was kind and loving and caring, and always did his best with what he had. He was a valuable addition to Team Angel, bringing his street-smarts and real-world experience with vampires to the table, and he was so much more than “just the muscle”. Watching him grow and evolve over the series, learning to trust Angel and adjusting to a world which wasn’t as black-and-white as he thought was one of my favourite aspects of AtS. His relationship with Fred was beautiful and equal and stable, and one of the best interracial relationships portrayed on television, and the fact that it was so completely decimated for absolutely no reason other than to make way for Fred/Wes is still one of my biggest gripes about AtS.
Gunn’s treatment within the narrative gets worse and worse as the seasons go on. While initially Gunn was valued for his contributions to the team, his sense of loyalty (despite his conflicted feelings about his new gang vs his old one) and his street-smart intelligence, over the last couple of seasons his character was used more and more as plot point in the emerging Fred-and-Wes dynamic/”relationship” and in Season 5 he is outright relegated to villain status, with the show having Wesley stab him (and condoning Wes’ actions) and having Gunn suffer and almost die over one single mistake he made. The show condemns Gunn for wanting what he never had the privilege or opportunity to have - an education, a chance to show off his intelligence, his intellect. The only person of colour on the show was denied the same privileges as the white characters and then punished for desiring that privilege. His story and character are shoved aside in order to prop up two white characters, and his relationship with one of those characters is completely destroyed to make way for the other character, whom the show tells us “deserves” the girl more.
Charles Gunn deserves better. He deserves to be acknowledged as the strong, smart, awesome character he was. He deserves to have happiness with the woman he loved, who loved him back and treated him as an equal partner until the show decimated them. He deserves to be recognised for who he was, an amazing, multi-faceted character, who was so much more than “just the muscle” and was certainly not "bland".
Also the show never made a song and dance about the fact that Gunn was black and Fred was white, unlike the whole Willow's "gay now" that was said quite a lot unnecessarily on Buffy.His relationship with Fred was beautiful and equal and stable, and one of the best interracial relationships portrayed on television
Agreed that episode is cringeworthy. Also another POC Buffy/Angel fan! Sorry, its just were kinda rare on the boards.I absolutely love Gunn, but I agree that the writers had a lot of problems with the character. As a black woman, it especially bothers me how blatantly they made use of multiple racist tropes and stereotypes. The season 2 episode ''The Thin Dead Line'' is one of the more problematic examples of the show. Don't even get me started.
During my S3 re-watch I actually asked myself where does Gunn lives? Everyone was going back home in their car and he was just walking and I was like, where is he going? Guess I'll never know!I agree! Gunn had some excellent potential as a character but I felt like none of the writers knew quite what to do with him. The more I watch BtVS and AtS the more I come to the conclusion that the white, middle-upper class writers were just completely incapable of writing for characters from lower socio economic backgrounds. This is evident not just with Gunn, but with what I believe to be a poorly executed Faith, and the unrealistic portrayal of being poor in BtVS Season 6.
When we meet Gunn in Season 1 he is living in gutters with other teenagers that do not have steady incomes. The writers did not seem to want to address how Gunn came to be here. It seems to me like Gunn had quite a bit of depth in terms of intelligence and culture, and that he mostly played up the part of 'rough street kid', in order to survive his circumstances. What lead to his sister and him running away from home? Was it abuse? Or something more sinister? Were their parents attacked by vampires - explaining his general distaste?
The, flash-forward, tra-la-la, Gunn isn't homeless anymore! We never find out when this happens. I mean as far as we know, as we are never told otherwise, he could STILL be living on the streets? Bland - yes. Undeveloped - definitely. At times the treatment and writing of his character actually borders on racist trope. A black guy that has no parents, lives on the streets, and likes to beat things up was just about all he ever amounts to until a white lawyer 'saves' him, by implanting 'white' character traits into his brain.
Having said all of that, I would still vote Oz as the dullest regular character in the 'verse.
For me he's just boring a lot of the time. A lot of the show run I just didn't care for his character so I didn't like him.I love Gunn.
I can't believe other people don't.
Seriously, like I love some Angel, but Gunn is probably the type of guy I'd go for IRL (sweet, handsome, funny, knows how to treat a lady, still has an edge). I mean what's not to like?