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deird1I think I've finally realised why I disagree with Xander-shippers.
Intro-ish dissertation on the subject of shippers
There are, in my opinion, two main varieties of shippers. These are the Buffy/Angel shippers, and the Buffy/Spike shippers. Otherwise known as the "Soulmates are True Love Forever! Romeo/Juliet!" shippers, and the "Snarky Bickering is So Cute! Beatrice/Benedick!" shippers.
The first group is, broadly speaking, likely to ship Joey/Dawson, House/Cameron, Doctor/Rose, Bella/Edward, and Harry/Hermione. (To generalise wildly.) They are very into "true love", roses, sunbeams, and sighing "so romantic!" at the television.
The second group, on the other hand, comprises those who ship Joey/Pacey, House/Cuddy, Doctor/Master, Bella/Jacob, and Ron/Hermione. They are into fun, quippy scenes, prank wars, long and ludicrous arguments, and shrieking "just KISS already!" at the television.
It's a nice, logical, fifty-fifty split.
Then there's the Xander-shippers, who are something else entirely.
The genus Xandus Shipperus
The Xander-shippers don't necessarily ship Xander/Buffy, Xander/Faith, Xander/Spike, Xander/Dawn, or so forth, so much as they ship ♥♥ XANDER!!! ♥♥/random-person. Most of the Xander-shippers I've encountered will have written fics for multiple Xander-centric pairings - without much discernable difference between them.
The general formula goes something like this:
This same scene is repeated, with little variation, in every single fic that the Xander-shipper writes. It is, in fact, the whole point of shipping, from their point of view.
It is a style of shipping which is mainly concerned with the Good Old Friend, and them at last getting recognition for being the Best Friend Ever.
The point
The thing is, fic by Xander-shippers has always made me slightly irritated - but I could never figure out why. It's not that I dislike Xander-centric pairings. Heck, I've written fic pairing Xander with all sorts of people. But something about this particular kind of fic always struck me the wrong way.
And, today, I finally figured out what it is.
You see, if Xander is finally going to get recognition for being the Best Friend Ever, then he must, logically, having been the Best Friend Ever. Which means the Xander-shippers have to deal with... the Lie.
(You know the one. The one that gets called "The Lie" by the whole of Buffy fandom. The Lie that made me yell "you bastard!" at my television. That Lie.)
Fic by Xander-shippers tends to bring up the Lie out of nowhere. Purely so they can point out that, actually, Xander only told the Lie so that he could protect Buffy. And had nothing whatsoever to do with him disliking Angel. No - he was just helping Buffy. Like the Great Friend that he was, is, and always shall be. So, you see, it's perfectly okay that he told the Lie - and he's still just as wonderful as ever.
This... is incomprehensible to me.
The thing is, I ship Spike - who tends to horribly murder people. And Willow - who flays people alive. And Kennedy - who's a brat. And Darla - who kills unhelpful salespeople. And Andrew - who killed his best friend. And Lilah - who works for Evil Incorporated. And, as it happens, Xander - who has issues with jealousy.
Characters being occasionally horrible really isn't something that stops me liking them. Discussions of their past faults is pretty irrelevant to my shipping them with people. And, to some extent, explaining away their faults tends to come across to me as removing part of what makes them who they are. Bringing up the Lie in an unrelated fic looks, from my perspective, like a cross between "Xander loves the colour purple! So he's perfect for Buffy!" and "Xander isn't actually from Sunnydale! And he's not a geek! And his family aren't the Harrises! And his name isn't Xander at all!"
Why would I care if a character had done something ages ago? And why would I want to ship someone with a totally different personality from the character I watched on TV?
Xander-shippers get very caught up in defending Xander - which I really don't see the need for. And that defence is the reason I disagree with Xander-shippers.
Glad I've finally worked that out. It's been bugging me for months now.
Intro-ish dissertation on the subject of shippers
There are, in my opinion, two main varieties of shippers. These are the Buffy/Angel shippers, and the Buffy/Spike shippers. Otherwise known as the "Soulmates are True Love Forever! Romeo/Juliet!" shippers, and the "Snarky Bickering is So Cute! Beatrice/Benedick!" shippers.
The first group is, broadly speaking, likely to ship Joey/Dawson, House/Cameron, Doctor/Rose, Bella/Edward, and Harry/Hermione. (To generalise wildly.) They are very into "true love", roses, sunbeams, and sighing "so romantic!" at the television.
The second group, on the other hand, comprises those who ship Joey/Pacey, House/Cuddy, Doctor/Master, Bella/Jacob, and Ron/Hermione. They are into fun, quippy scenes, prank wars, long and ludicrous arguments, and shrieking "just KISS already!" at the television.
It's a nice, logical, fifty-fifty split.
Then there's the Xander-shippers, who are something else entirely.
The genus Xandus Shipperus
The Xander-shippers don't necessarily ship Xander/Buffy, Xander/Faith, Xander/Spike, Xander/Dawn, or so forth, so much as they ship ♥♥ XANDER!!! ♥♥/random-person. Most of the Xander-shippers I've encountered will have written fics for multiple Xander-centric pairings - without much discernable difference between them.
The general formula goes something like this:
Xander has been a loyal, upstanding friend for years. After long disregarding this fact, Buffy (...or Faith, or Dawn, or Willow) finally realises how wondrous Xander has always been, and declares her love for him. Xander protests that he's only ever wanted to be a good friend... before realising that he is finally being offered the love he has always deserved, and sweeping his new soulmate into a kiss.
This same scene is repeated, with little variation, in every single fic that the Xander-shipper writes. It is, in fact, the whole point of shipping, from their point of view.
It is a style of shipping which is mainly concerned with the Good Old Friend, and them at last getting recognition for being the Best Friend Ever.
The point
The thing is, fic by Xander-shippers has always made me slightly irritated - but I could never figure out why. It's not that I dislike Xander-centric pairings. Heck, I've written fic pairing Xander with all sorts of people. But something about this particular kind of fic always struck me the wrong way.
And, today, I finally figured out what it is.
You see, if Xander is finally going to get recognition for being the Best Friend Ever, then he must, logically, having been the Best Friend Ever. Which means the Xander-shippers have to deal with... the Lie.
(You know the one. The one that gets called "The Lie" by the whole of Buffy fandom. The Lie that made me yell "you bastard!" at my television. That Lie.)
Fic by Xander-shippers tends to bring up the Lie out of nowhere. Purely so they can point out that, actually, Xander only told the Lie so that he could protect Buffy. And had nothing whatsoever to do with him disliking Angel. No - he was just helping Buffy. Like the Great Friend that he was, is, and always shall be. So, you see, it's perfectly okay that he told the Lie - and he's still just as wonderful as ever.
This... is incomprehensible to me.
The thing is, I ship Spike - who tends to horribly murder people. And Willow - who flays people alive. And Kennedy - who's a brat. And Darla - who kills unhelpful salespeople. And Andrew - who killed his best friend. And Lilah - who works for Evil Incorporated. And, as it happens, Xander - who has issues with jealousy.
Characters being occasionally horrible really isn't something that stops me liking them. Discussions of their past faults is pretty irrelevant to my shipping them with people. And, to some extent, explaining away their faults tends to come across to me as removing part of what makes them who they are. Bringing up the Lie in an unrelated fic looks, from my perspective, like a cross between "Xander loves the colour purple! So he's perfect for Buffy!" and "Xander isn't actually from Sunnydale! And he's not a geek! And his family aren't the Harrises! And his name isn't Xander at all!"
Why would I care if a character had done something ages ago? And why would I want to ship someone with a totally different personality from the character I watched on TV?
Xander-shippers get very caught up in defending Xander - which I really don't see the need for. And that defence is the reason I disagree with Xander-shippers.
Glad I've finally worked that out. It's been bugging me for months now.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 04:06 pm (UTC)The entire "he's the bestest, nicest, sweetest, kindest guy ever ever ever and Buffy is a bitch not to see that" really bugs me, although I usually try to just walk away whenever I see that theme in fanfic or meta/forum convos. I really dislike the amount of whitewashing that goes on - for any character - but I also dislike the amount of "bashing", regardless of character. I'm trying to be more objective in my thinking regarding Xander and Riley especially. (Easier in Xander's case, harder in Riley's.)
One thing that really surprised me is that I've seen so many meta and fan discussions on the internet that excuse The Lie, or claim that Xander in the early seasons (1 & 2) was not at least partly motivated by jealousy. Especially when it comes to Angel, the reason often given (besides he's a wonderful friend), is that he hates vampires because of what happened to Jesse. That really didn't enter my thinking when watching the show this year (and admittedly I crammed it into three weeks time) because the show itself never makes a point of it beyond WTTH/The Harvest. JW admitted he had the actor in the opening credits to throw the audience, and Jesse is never mentioned beyond those episodes. I forgot Jesse because the show itself does, beyond one brief mention very late in the series (S7?)
Of course it was a very different show by S3 than S1, when Xander is the one who mentions Jenny Calender on more than one occasion; so yes, by this point his motivations for hating Angel were far more complex than mere jealousy.
I really don't have any interest in Buffy and Xander as a pairing (again, except as ironically - example, there's a story I read, a post-Chosen AU, in which only Xander and Buffy survive but she's in a wheelchair and they get married so she can take his name and be protected by that. It's a marriage in name only however. There only interaction the two of them have is her observing him asleep at his desk. She clearly feels the sort of friendly affection for him she did on the show, and it's never indicated that he feels anything else in return although his POV is never explored. the story is really about Buffy dealing with despair.)
In any case, bashing and whitewash (two sides of the same coin) sort of miss the point for me. We wouldn't be talking about these characters ten years on if they weren't complex and difficult and fully-fleshed people. (Ironically that tendency towards extremes of whitewashing/bashing is something we see in Xander on the show a lot - slut-shaming and hero worship (of Buffy) are two sides of the same coin. But he's also kind, concerned about his friends, generous and loving. I can't dismiss those qualities in him nor do I want to.)
As I don't tend to read Xander-centric fics, although I can enjoy him as part of an ensemble in a story (which is what he was on the show - part of the supporting ensemble. Remember?) I wonder if the same sort of whitewashing goes on with Spander fics, or if, because it's two guys in the pairing, there's more complexity, or does one guy become the stand in for the stone bitch/emo girl.
I alos sometimes wonder if -dare I mention them? - the comics (*gets out knives*) are a commentary on fanfic tendencies, because I'm beginning to realize that a lot of what I see in fanfic is also in the comics, if somewhat exagerrated. (The spacefrak being a prime example of that.) So, all of Xander's positive traits are there, without the negatives; or at least from what I've seen he's the most likeable and accessible character, at least in S8. But then the other possibility is that the comics are fanfic and Xander really is the writers' avatar and they take the "Buffy doesn't see what a great guy he is until it's too late" theme seriously. (Perhaps taking revenge on all the girls who turned them down in HS?)
I notice that in RL, the guys who inform me that they are "nice guys" are usually anything but; genuinely nice people don't have to inform the world that they are nice because it's so innate in their own characters - and niceness is genuinely accompanied by humility or modesty - that they don't have to think about it or feel the need to advertise it.