On Fri, 8 Feb 2008 20:28:39 -0800 (PST), Arbitrar Of Quality
<tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Feb 8, 9:12 am, William George Ferguson <wmgfr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>wrote:
>> On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:49:57 -0800 (PST), Arbitrar Of Quality
>>
>>
>>
>> <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >On Feb 1, 11:19 pm, "One Bit Shy" <O...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
messagenews:0c5f3a63-7e17-47d7-8a81-37aff6dce7a2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> >> > Yet whether it's on screen (Dawn comparing Xander to
>> >> > our favorite rapist vampire in "Him")
>>
>> >> I don't see any indication that Dawn considered the two morally
equivalent
>> >> or comparable in degree. She was just pointing out that
relationships make
>> >> people lie and act stupid. I'm not terribly fond of Him, but that's
one of
>> >> the good parts.
>>
>> >Well of course she thinks they're comparable, given that she's
>> >comparing them. It's distasteful, but I'm more interested in the way
>> >it makes no fucking sense. Since the show never challenges her
>> >interpretation, it's another piece that makes it harder for me to
>> >conclude that the writers don't intend us to agree with the characters
>> >that Xander's decision was wrong, and that the wedding fiasco is
>> >fundamentally his fault.
>>
>> Xander's decision was wrong. Not the decision to call off the wedding
>> (that was right), the decision to then walk away into the rain and
leave
>> Anya swinging in the wind to face her friends and Xander's friends and
>> family, by herself. You'll have to explain to me how That decision was
not
>> wrong, hopefully slowly and in words of one syllable, because I'm
having a
>> great deal of difficulty understanding it.
>
>I'm not sure if I've heard that interpretation before. Are you
>suggesting that the method Xander chose for leaving her was more
>painful/damaging to her than the rejection itself? If so, I can't
>agree. It certainly wasn't the best way to handle it, but everything
>I remember Anya saying afterward focuses on the fact that Xander
>decided not to marry her, not that she had to face the family
>afterward.
I wasn't talking about Anya's motivation, or the precedence of causes for
Anya returning the Vengeance Demon status. I wasn talking about Xander's
action looked at from outside (as a viewer). It wasn't wrong because of
what it did, or didn't do, to Anya, it was wrong beacause it was wrong.
It's about taking responsibility for yourself and your actions.
I had a very similar discussion on the group, back in the day, about Buffy
playing 'bobbing for tonsils' with a cross on that female vampire in When
She Was Bad. I consider torture to be wrong, and it doesn't become okay
just becasue Buffy is doing it to a vampire.
I'm not a big fan of 'this is worng, except if womeone we like does it to
someone we don't like'.
(Oh, and Anya is responsible for returning to being a Vengeance Demon.
Xander's actions do not excuse her from being responsible for her own
decisions)
--
"Oh Buffy, you really do need to have
every square inch of your ass kicked."
- Willow Rosenberg
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