More pimp! (and another meme...)

[elisi]

A couple of good posts that you should check out:

molly_may has written an excellent review of Hells' Bells. A lot of great thoughts on Xander in particular.

yourlibrarian wrote intriguingly about Spander. As someone who won't touch that ship with a bargepole, I found it an interesting analysis.

And because I'm hot and bored I did the clique meme:

I am a member of 4 cliques of size 10

• sdwolfpup, the_royal_anna, fer1213, marsterslady, poisonapple73, sweet_ali, elisi, molly_may, cindermom, _jems_


• pfeifferpack, hobbituk, jenjojen, bogwitch, ladywenham, elisi, theohara, liliaeth, speakr2customrs, petzipellepingo


• buttersideup, sdwolfpup, the_royal_anna, fer1213, mgal, skylee, marsterslady, sweet_ali, elisi, molly_may


• buttersideup, the_royal_anna, fer1213, mgal, swsa, skylee, marsterslady, sweet_ali, elisi, molly_may

Find the largest clique containing:

(Enter your livejournal username here).

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for rec'cing molly_may's post. Great discussion. One thing I didn't go into in my post because it seemed to be getting OT was where Xander's coming from. And reading her post made me think about how everyone always discusses Xander's fears about becoming his father. It's very understandable, but I rather wonder why there isn't more discussion about the influence of his mother. We don't know much about her either, except that she also drinks (though whether that was what brought his parents together or whether it began after their marriage is unknown), and she seems to be under her husband's thumb.

I know it's been discussed that Xander is attracted to strong women and only becomes involved with Willow once she is off with Oz. It occured to me that this is likely because he's afraid that they will allow themselves to be abused like his mother unless they are strong enough to keep him in check. And I also wonder if Xander saw Anya as being stronger than she was at first, only the longer their relationship goes on, the more aware of her vulnerability he is until he fears for her. It makes me look at his behavior with Willow in a new light. Unlike what she thought, he was attracted to her, and continued to be (as we see in "Restless.") But he was probably afraid that her love for him would allow him to victimize her. I rather wonder if maybe that's why he sabotaged his own relationship with Cordelia. But if so, he picked well. She wouldn't let him do it to her twice.

[molly_may]

It's funny, I've never really thought about Xander and his relationship with his mother that much. He does seem drawn to and comfortable with strong women, but he also has a tendency to idealize them a bit, particularly Buffy who he puts on such a high pedestal that it's impossible for her not to fall off of it.

[elisi]

"It's good enough for Buffy!"

Possibly the best line of S6!

[elisi]

It occurred to me that this is likely because he's afraid that they will allow themselves to be abused like his mother unless they are strong enough to keep him in check.
Now that's a fascinating idea - especially as his 'vision' in 'Hell's Bells' end with him hitting Anya with a frying pan, possibly killing her. It would also explain his thing for slayers, because he knows they'd never end up the victim... oh, the whole AR could be examined in this light. I guess it confirmed all of Xander's prejudices about Spike.

Hmm, very interesting indeed, but I'll have to think more probably, right now I'm rather incoherent.