55 Days of BtVS: Day 2

[the_moonmoth]

Day 2: Least Favourite Character

Sorry to any of his fans but... Xander Harris.

Comments

[enigmaticblues]

I agree on all points. I particularly hated his speech to Buffy with regards to Riley in Into the Woods. Xander is the ultimate Nice Guy(tm).

[the_moonmoth]

He is, indeed, fedorable

[tei_lj]

AGREEEEEEEEEEEED.

[the_moonmoth]

Le sigh

[brunettepet]

All valid points.

[the_moonmoth]

*tips fedora to you*

[teragramm]

Xander was my least favorite too. He is way too judgmental for my taste.

[the_moonmoth]

Yeah. I wouldn't have minded if it had fed into any kind of personal growth, because characters need faults, you know? But he never learned anything from it, and guys like that just come across and entitled assholes :-/

[teragramm]

I've always wondered if I would have liked Xander more if he was played by another actor Did I dislike him because how he was written or did I dislike him because the way he was portrayed ?

[the_moonmoth]

Hmm, good question. Personally I think NB was the weakest of the main cast in terms of acting ability, but he wasn't exactly bad. Just... maybe a bit missing in nuance? But honestly, I think the majority of the fault can be laid at the writers' feet, because I can't think of a single shitty thing he did that was textually condemned, and for which he faced consequences. Even with leaving Anya at the altar, all his friends pretty much backed him up. They never once had someone say, actually, what he did/said just then? Not cool.

[denorios]

You know, when you lay it all out like that? Xander was a total dick. I always half liked him, more by default than anything else, but yeah, there was actually a lot to his behaviour that was just awful looking back. And he was SO judgemental about all of his friends' choices, when his own? Yeah.

Anya was way too good for him. She deserved better.

[the_moonmoth]

That's the thing, right? The writers clearly saw him one way, but presented him another way, and it gives rise to this kind of double vision where he seems on the surface like a great guy, but actually, he's really not.

[thisficklemob]

I wouldn't have minded Xander so much as a character if he wasn't a) a Nice Guy (tm) but also b) portrayed by the show and the writers as right.

Like when he says, "I made mistakes, but slaughtering half of Europe wasn't one of them," to Buffy about sleeping with Spike, and I wanted to shout at the tv, "No, that was your ex-fiancee, you hypocrite!" Like, why is only Buffy blamed for her sexual partners' misdeeds? Stupid sexism, obviously.

Like manoah says, I like fic Xander a lot better than show Xander.

[the_moonmoth]

Yes to all of this.