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

[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.