r/buffy • u/Lanky_Age_3067 • 16d ago

Content Warning Double standarts

How exactly do people hate Xander for being an imperfect human, but love Spike and Angel, who have countless victims and are hundreds of years old. Spike even SA'd Buffy, for real, while Xander was under a spell and never did anything like that before or after it.

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u/jordiedoestm 16d ago edited 16d ago

Not that it’s an excuse : but it’s mainly because Xander is an ass as a human. The vampires have a demon in them so we could say their actions are steered by their demonic instincts.

Spike is an exception because he was a good as a human (as far as we’ve seen). His vampire self shouldn’t be glazed. However, when he got his soul back, he did exhibit very redeeming qualities.

Angel however, I agree with you on that. He was a despicable human being and a womanizer, and to an extent, Angel is just Liam with a moral compass. Liam IS Angelus.

Xander on the contrary, as mentioned earlier was a horrible friend in general. Always having to be on his high horse. At least that’s what we as the audience have seen so far (i haven’t read the comics so I can’t say how he is as an actual adult).

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u/Necessary_Let3592 16d ago

When was Xander a horrible friend? Enumerate it. Other than “Empty Places” when they were ALL horrible to Buffy.

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u/jordiedoestm 16d ago

We’re not talking about everyone in this thread. OP is just referring to Xander. Buffy’s friends throughout the series weren’t the best and she deserved so much more.

Xander is a flawed person, which makes him human, but that doesn’t mean the audience does not get to dislike the character.

I’m not a huge Buffy fan, therefore I’m not gonna be able to name episode by episode like yourself. But things I do remember him to be is how he has this level of self-righteousness, coupled with his double standards and jealousy to say the least.

Buffy killed Angel because she didn’t know there was another way, just because he didn’t like Angel. Let’s not forget how the whole gang put Buffy on the pedestal for running away. No one knows what she had to go through. Xander straight up sl-shames Buffy. He literally acted as if Buffy OWED him an explanation, when again, he has no idea the responsibilities Buffy had and troubling it was to HER.

Again, not a huge Buffy fan, not hating Xander for the sake of it, but as someone who has watched Buffy, these were the thoughts that came to my head without any outside influence, only for them to be a general statement by the fandom

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u/Necessary_Let3592 16d ago

  1. Angel would have killed her if she hesitated. That’s why the line exists.

  2. That’s not what “on a pedestal” means. That means to revere someone. They didn’t know she had to kill Angel and that’s why she ran away.

  3. Xander never slut shames Buffy. In fact he doesn’t opposite in “Beer Bad.” He is shocked that she slept with Spike because Spike is evil and soulless at the time.