Fans reactions to events in Btvs and Ats

[vampmogs]

Hi

Whilst looking through another thread today an interesting point was brought up by one member about the way fans have reacted to events on both Ats and Btvs. Which makes me wonder, why do we react to something's more harshly than others? Particularly when often the things fans get so angry about are nowhere near as severe as other things in the show that barley get mentioned?

Take for example these two instances in Btvs;

-Xander leaves Anya at the altar because he believes it was the right thing to do- sure this upset Anya- sure he could have spoken up before the wedding but in the end he did it because he didn't want to hurt Anya.

-In return Anya tries to get the Scoobies to wish something horrible on Xander, anything to make him suffer immensely or kill him.

Now why is it fans react more strongly to what Xander did than Anya, even when by far Anya's actions were far worse? Why do we accept them but hate Xanders?

Take another example;


-Angel leaves Buffy for Buffy's own good because he doesn't believe he can give her the life she will want or deserves. Many argue that Angel had no right to do this to Buffy and condemn him for his actions.

-Spike chains Buffy up and threatens to kill her if she doesn't admit she has feelings for him. However, it is very rare anyone stands up and speaks strongly about this.

Why is it that the most severe actions of our characters are never high lightened but fans act so very strongly to situations like Xander leaving Anya at the altar or Angel breaking up with Buffy? In comparison to death threats and murder plots these things don't look nowhere near as bad, yet they are pretty much accepted.

I'm sure there are many more examples, if you have any please share.

Discuss,

Vampmogs

[bishopcruz]

Well, I think part of it is those first two created Major change to the status quo. Xanya had been a couple for nearly 3 years at the point that Xander realized (rightly so) that he wasn't ready to get married. It ended Xanya (until they brought back its zombified corpse in S7.)

With Anya, her trying to kill Xander was played for comedy, as most things with Anya are, and she was hurting so fans forgive her. Yes, in many ways it was more ****ed up than what Xander did, but the writers didn't play it up as something awful.

With Angel leaving, it broke up the 'twu wuv forever' romance that had been at the center of the show since more or less its inception. That is bound to cheese a few people off.

Crush on the other hand was seen as many as either the culmination of Spike's love for Buffy, he's just a vampire so he shows it in different ways. Plus it didn't have a lasting effect on the show, Spuffy trucked on.

It's kind of like a lot of the Xander hate out there is based on his saying some very uncomfortable truths to Buffy on occasion, things a lot of the audience might not want to consider. Those truths are uncomfrotable, so people react strongly to them.

[Sosa lola]

I think bishopcruz said it the best. I'd also like to add that maybe the things Xander and Angel did by leaving their loved ones are more relatable than attempting to murder someone. Many fans probably went through break ups and got hurt because their partner left, but we rarely have our partner trying to kill us.

[Ravynnia]

-Spike chains Buffy up and threatens to kill her if she doesn't admit she has feelings for him.

Not quite: he tells Buffy he's going to dust Drusilla as a sort of love token, but if she doesn't admit she has feelings for him, he's going to unchain Drusilla & allow her to kill Buffy (since, at this point, he can't himself). Buffy calls his bluff, and all Spike can do is rant. Of the two, the promise to kill Drusilla is the more seriously intended, but there's no real danger Spike's actually going to do it; the other is a purely rhetorical threat. It's Spike trying to be bad-ass when he's just becoming less and less so; Harmony's entrance with the crossbow underscores the fact that this is just dark comedy at Spike's expense.

[vampmogs]

Not quite: he tells Buffy he's going to dust Drusilla as a sort of love token, but if she doesn't admit she has feelings for him, he's going to unchain Drusilla & allow her to kill Buffy (since, at this point, he can't himself). Buffy calls his bluff, and all Spike can do is rant. Of the two, the promise to kill Drusilla is the more seriously intended, but there's no real danger Spike's actually going to do it; the other is a purely rhetorical threat. It's Spike trying to be bad-ass when he's just becoming less and less so; Harmony's entrance with the crossbow underscores the fact that this is just dark comedy at Spike's expense.

Well yeah but basically it was Spike threatening to kill Buffy or have Buffy killed if she didn't do this. Wether he actually did it or not, the fact he held her against her will and threatened to do so is a pretty big deal, yet lesser things get more reactions out of fans.

[KingofCretins]

Not quite: he tells Buffy he's going to dust Drusilla as a sort of love token, but if she doesn't admit she has feelings for him, he's going to unchain Drusilla & allow her to kill Buffy (since, at this point, he can't himself).

There is no question that that would count as Spike killing Buffy. Generally speaking, murder is defined as with malice aforethought, creating a situation which presents a serious risk of death to another person and that causes that person's death.

And, even if you don't buy that theory, it would still be felony murder, since she would have died during the commission of a predicate felony, namely kidnapping.