because when men internalize the belief that they can't control their own sexual urges, you get the 'logical' foundations of victim-blaming.
Yup. I'd argue it's troubling for any show, not just feminist ones. I don't care if it's a standard trope. It's offensive, and I expect Joss to be better than that. Sigh.
He's a huge jerk to Spike later on too. His behavior towards Angel and Spike seem motivated by a strong distrust of guys with dark/demonic pasts.
Xander's aggression toward Spike doesn't bother me much because Spike was a villain when they first met and actively tried to kill them. Spike kidnapped him. It doesn't mean I like Xander's attitude, but it makes emotional/logical sense to me, and I don't begrudge him for holding a grudge. OTOH, Xander's dislike of Angel prior to Angelus seems mostly motivated by his jealousy over Buffy and the feeling that he "deserves" her because he's the 'nice,' normal human guy. I'm sure Angel being a vampire is part of it (theoretically there's Jesse angst, although the writers so so dropped the ball on that), but I think the majority of it is Xander feeling threatened in regard to Buffy and that's just petty, chauvinistic, and icky. After Angelus, he'll have legitimate reasons to hate Angel, and as with Spike, I don't blame him for that. He does have a double standard, unfortunately, but I don't think that applies to S1.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-05-17 09:43 am (UTC)Yup. I'd argue it's troubling for any show, not just feminist ones. I don't care if it's a standard trope. It's offensive, and I expect Joss to be better than that. Sigh.
Xander's aggression toward Spike doesn't bother me much because Spike was a villain when they first met and actively tried to kill them. Spike kidnapped him. It doesn't mean I like Xander's attitude, but it makes emotional/logical sense to me, and I don't begrudge him for holding a grudge. OTOH, Xander's dislike of Angel prior to Angelus seems mostly motivated by his jealousy over Buffy and the feeling that he "deserves" her because he's the 'nice,' normal human guy. I'm sure Angel being a vampire is part of it (theoretically there's Jesse angst, although the writers so so dropped the ball on that), but I think the majority of it is Xander feeling threatened in regard to Buffy and that's just petty, chauvinistic, and icky. After Angelus, he'll have legitimate reasons to hate Angel, and as with Spike, I don't blame him for that. He does have a double standard, unfortunately, but I don't think that applies to S1.