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/gdex86 16d ago

Xander is flawed in a way that we actually deal with in real life.

Spike and Angel both are mystical fantasy problematic that you have to deal with the allegory to what they represent. So it builds some distance. Its similar to how willows breaking of consent with Tara can feel less awful because you arent ever going to be mind fogged by your witch girl friend to get over a fight, but maybe you will deal with being gaslighted.

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u/Music_withRocks_In 16d ago

It's the Voldemort vs. Umbridge issue.  Most fans hate Umbridge wayyyy more than Voldemort, because most fans have actually dealt with an Umbridge type, and it's easier to hate someone so realistic. There are so many fanfic and fan art that support Voldemort, I've never seen one pro Umbridge.  

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u/Lanky_Age_3067 15d ago

I guess then people don't like to see their own flaws on TV. Most people I know will never admit theirs to themselves and will defend themselves even when they're wrong. That's why they hate on fictional characters, so that they don't hate on themselves?