If 'character bashing' and 'white-washing' rhymed, we could write a poem

[snick_backup]

penny_lane_42 was talking about how much she hates Xander Harris, and it got me thinking about character bashing in fic. As I told her, I don’t hate Xander; he adds a nice flavor to the narrative soup. He provides comic relief (even when it isn’t funny). He asks stupid-yet-necessary questions. He’s useful.

And in individual terms, I mostly just don’t care about him. However, I see intellectually a lot of the problems other folks have with him. I can sympathize. You’ve got your mysogyny, your patronization of the girlfriend, etc.

Yet I can’t deal with character bashing of Xander. Can’t. (This goes for pretty much every other character, too.) And thinking about it, I finally figured out for myself what I mean by character bashing: it means when a character is being nasty and that behavior is OOC. Warren Mears? I’m not sure it’s possible to bash him; he’s slime in the gutter already. Caleb ditto.

Xander lies, is mean and petty with most demons (especially Angel, whom he’s trying to compete with, and Spike, whom he just hates) and patronizing with Anya, and gets really nasty when he’s angry (see esp. Entropy). However.

However, I can’t see him torturing people, or even demons, without a whole lot more provocation than is usually given in fics of that type. I have difficulty imagining a personal crisis so intense that he would intentionally hurt Buffy or Willow or Giles.

I’m not saying it can’t be done. But I’m saying an author has to do a whole lot of work to get me there, and at the same time I need that darkening characterization to be leavened with the same humor and warmth and affection that I also see as part of Xander’s character.

rahirah does a great job in Necessary Evils of making Willow the villain: by pulling strings already present in the character – insecurity, lust for power, problem-solving skills, a determination to fix everything better – and twisting her motives into monstrous ones. At the same time, even while Willow’s plotting various horrible things, she still sounds like Willow. She still babbles and makes resolve-faces (all the more terrifying given the context). She’s our Willow, her evil all the more grotesque because of how much it still looks like her.

If you must make Xander (or Angel, or Giles, who, given his S7 characterization plus what we know from Ats S5, is IMO actually the easiest character to take this route if you want to) the bad guy, then you have to do the footwork, or else I’ll just wrinkle my nose at you and move on.

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

However, I can’t see him torturing people, or even demons, without a whole lot more provocation than is usually given in fics of that type. I have difficulty imagining a personal crisis so intense that he would intentionally hurt Buffy or Willow or Giles.


Oh, I totally, totally agree with this. I hate character-bashing of the OOC variety. Like, Xander makes an okay antagonist in a fic about Buffy and Spike getting together (though I think it's overdone and I can't think of any fics where I really really love that) because he canonically is always getting his nose in Buffy's love life and being awful to vamps (eta: by which I mean the vamps, the ones who become characters--Spike and Angel). So that makes sense. But Xander torturing someone, etc.? Yeah, that's not going to happen unless you lay a whole heck of a lot of foundation that most fics never do.

[snickfic]

though I think it's overdone and I can't think of any fics where I really really love that

Well, yeah. I have almost as trouble with Xander causing Buffy relationship troubles as I do with him doing much more violent things, even though there's plenty of canonical evidence for it. I think it's partly because, as you say, it's awfully overdone, and partly it's because 'friends interfere with love life' is not a trope that interests me even a wee little bit. And using it with Buffy and Spike feels artificial, because it isn't like they don't have enough complications. Too often fic writers use Xander as a scapegoat for Spuffy difficulties and then sweep all the other, legit stuff under the rug. Which I hate! Spuffy is all about the complications, and the last thing I want is an easy resolution!

!!

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It occurs to me that this is a major problem I have with bashing generally: it's so very often ship-driven. I have just about zero tolerance for poor characterization due to a shipping agenda, even if it's an agenda I agree with.

This is also, incidently, why it boggles me that there exist Spuffyites who think nobody hates Xander. Half of Spuffydom hates Xander; it's right there in the fic.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

And using it with Buffy and Spike feels artificial, because it isn't like they don't have enough complications. Too often fic writers use Xander as a scapegoat for Spuffy difficulties and then sweep all the other, legit stuff under the rug. Which I hate! Spuffy is all about the complications, and the last thing I want is an easy resolution!

Exactly, exactly!

And YES about ship-driven bashing. There's just no need for that, and I value IC a ton.

I think fandom at large really loves Xander, but you're right about Spuffydom, definitely.

[next_to_normal]

Too often fic writers use Xander as a scapegoat for Spuffy difficulties and then sweep all the other, legit stuff under the rug.

Word. Also: "Intervention." How do you get from "No one is judging you. It's understandable. Spike is strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled" to "Xander would throw a violent temper tantrum if Spike and Buffy got together"? I mean, unless Spike also boinks Xander's girlfriend in the fic, I'm not really seeing it. :-P

I have just about zero tolerance for poor characterization due to a shipping agenda, even if it's an agenda I agree with.

GAH SO MUCH WORD.

[snickfic]

No one is judging you. It's understandable. Spike is strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled

Oh, Xander. I'll never ship Spander if I live to be a thousand, but it won't be the fault of lines like that.