pet peeve

[estepheia]

Grrrr. If I read one more Spander fic that starts with an out of character Anya heartlessly leaving Xander, I'm going to hurl. I think I must have read this feeble intro a hundred times now and frankly, I'm sick sick sick of it. Who left whom at the altar? Who crushed whose white-picket-fence fantasies of domestic bliss? Don't tell me Anya has to leave in a huff so Spike and Xander can embark on an emotional journey of domestic bliss. Xander broke off with Anya because he was afraid of growing up and assuming adult responsibilities, afraid of getting stuck in a domestic life of recrimination and abuse, and he was worried that he was the one unfit for marriage.
Anya on the other hand, while opportunistic and often saying the wrong things, clearly has ethical standards, however weird. She was industriously trying to make a perfect home and life for them, economically comfortable too, and she clearly catered to Xander's sexual whims and fantasies.

I know, I know, I'm not saying anything new, but this is my LJ. I can air my peeves. I love Anya, she's a wonderful character. I wish people weren't too lazy to do her justice.

Comments

[pepperlandgirl4.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right. I don't read much Spander, but if I did, that would be my number 1 pet-peeve as well. It's clear that Anya always had strong feelings for him, even before they actually said love, and I doubt she ever stopped loving him.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I fully expected to get shot down (again) for voicing that opinion (again), but sometimes it's just too much and you have to say something, you know?
I can fully identify with Anya's unsurpassed ability of putting her foot in her mouth - seeing her cast as a heartless bitch, well, that makes me feel insulted too. :-)

[liliaeth]

don't remind me, if I see one more fic where 'evil Anya' is just 'using' Xander...

I hate it when Anya's turned into the bad guy.

[spiralleds.livejournal.com]

w00t! You go girl.

I've only read a smattering of Spander, but a lot of it seems to allude to it being either Anya's fault or that it wasn't meant to be because Xander is really attracted to boys.

Xander broke off with Anya because he was afraid of growing up and assuming adult responsibilities, afraid of getting stuck in a domestic life of recrimination and abuse, and he was worried that he was the one unfit for marriage.

Excellent point. Are there Spander stories set post-wedding break up where Xander comes to terms, via Spike's assistance, the fact that it wasn't (just) about being gay that caused him to leave Anya, but all the fear things you just mentioned? I would think that some self-discovery and growth from that angle would make for an excellent fic.

[willshenilshe.livejournal.com]

I'm quite guilty of this, especially in early stories, but hear, hear! Resolve to not treat Anya as disposable now reaffirmed.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Willa. Duly noted. And yay!
These fanon conventions have an evil tendency to creep up on unsespecting writers because they are such comfortable short cuts. There is the desire to jump right into the story and not bother with too much exposition, I understand that only too well, but today, when I came across that theme for what feels like the zillionth time, something inside me snapped, you know?

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

A lot of how comfortable I am with the use of Anya-leaving opening moves in a typical Spanderfic (given that the writer has to do something about Anya regardless) depends upon context.

If the the fic is set somewhere in the Season Four/early Season Five timeframe (before "Triangle," say, or maybe "The Replacement") then I can buy it for the purposes at hand, since at that point the Xander/Anya relationship was still in its formative stages, and could conceiveably have tipped another way under circumstances different from canon. Also, at that point the series atmosphere was not as dark as it became in late Season Five/Season Six, and a more-or-less ordinary breakup (of the kind that can be relegated to a few sentences' worth of backstory before moving on to more interesting matters) doesn't really clash with the overall decor.

At any point after the later episodes of Season Five, however, and especially after "The Gift", a Xander/Anya breakup -- being the dissolution of an officially recognized series relationship, complete with shared living quarters and the other perks and responsibilities of cohabitation -- requires a lot more work and careful handling.

Not surprisingly, the best of the lighter Spanderfics (in my opinion, anyhow) tend to cluster in the Season Four/Early Five timeframe, while the later seasons are better for the angst.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Um, Word! You summed it up.

::pets poor badly written Anya::

[claudia-yvr.livejournal.com]

I'm in total agreement! My wish is slightly different than yours, though -- I'd love to see you right this wrong by writing some lovely Spanya comfort fic ;-) (Which, of course, I'd be more than happy to beta. /brazen enticement)

[ex-dovil323.livejournal.com]

Oh god yes, and a big Amen! One of my biggest pet peeves in the Buffyverse fandom is character bashing and it seems to happen in nearly ever second story. The one thing I loved about the characters on the show was that there were multi-layered - the heroes had flaws and the villains (for the most part) had redeeming features, such as the Mayors relationship with Faith, or Lilah's relationship with her mother. It made them complicated and interesting. When writers take the old short cut and turn them into one note characters it annoys me, whether it's Anya turned into a robot that mindlessly goes on about sex and money, or Buffy who is often turned into nothing more than an evil harpy. It does the characters an injustice and makes them, to me at least, unrecognisable to me from the what I saw on my tv screen.

Right, I'm done ranting all over your journal now. *sheepish grin*

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Agreed - it's very hard to write S5 Spike/Xander for just that reason, I'd say. Not only is there the beginnings of Spuffy, but there's a real relationship with Anya. And while I've always had some issues with how much *Xander* loved *Anya* (or at least, how much he loved her in the "want to spend the rest of my life with you" sense) vs. how much he wanted to, I've never thought that Anya wasn't devoted to the relationship. There are places where she could leave him and have it be in character (early relationship, or right in the middle of the pre-wedding tension, if she can't take his cold feet anymore) but even there, it wouldn't be a cold and heartless abandonment, and Xander would definitely have a part in it.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hear you.

It's almost odd-- Anya is not that hard to write; I remember we talked about her in the Character Voice workshop. She may be hard to write *excellently*, of course, but to capture at least the basic traits you mention? There is no excuse not to, really.

[libco.livejournal.com]

Hear hear! I don't really get the Anya hatred out there. She is among one of my favorite characters. I HATED her ending and Selfless made me cry. My one and only (unfinished so far) Spander has her as a third (Spandya?)

[rahirah]

THANK YOU!

S/X is probably my second-favorite pairing, and too goddamn many of them are tainted by starting out like this. Grrr.

[othercat.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Anya, and never could understand why she kept getting cast as such a bitch in fanfic.

That said, I think you're being a little hard on Xander. I think Xander made the exact right decision.
Though, in typical Xander-fashion, Xander didn't tell Anya about what was bothering him *soon* enough.

Anya,on the other hand, was forcing things, going to far, too fast, more or less rail-roading Xander, which really wasn't fair to either of them.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Very nicely said. :)