What Faith Did *Trigger Warning Sexual Assault*

[itsnotmymind]

Looking at that tags on this post. This is the second time recently I've seen someone completely forget Faith's assault/attempted rape/attempted strangling of Xander.

(To be clear I don't have a problem with fans disliking Angel's comparison between Faith and Angel's soulless self. But Angel was not reacting to a girl who "made one mistake".)

Comments

[elisi]

Yeah, fandom can have a very selective memory.

Just like they forget that Xander remembers attacking Buffy while he was under the hyena influence...

Anyway, I'm not jumping into the fray.

[author_by_night]

That was also brushed under the rug by the show! There's a point later on where Buffy realizes he does remember, and it's played for laughs.

[itsnotmymind]

That is true!

[elisi]

As I said below, I think a lot of it is due to Xander being Joss' self-insert. We see the same with Riley - for all that the show is very feminist, it has certain big blind spots when it comes to male privilege.

[itsnotmymind]

People forget that Xander remembers assaulting Buffy? That's frustrating.

The show was frequently not great at handling sexual assault.

[elisi]

I think the fact that Xander was basically Joss' self-insert contributed to how the character was portrayed? So the show was keen to forget, meaning that so were fans in some cases.

[itsnotmymind]

Hey, do you have a source for Xander being Joss' self-insert? I've seen that said a lot but I've never seen a source.

And, I mean, Faith has never been claimed to be anyone's self-insert but her attack on Xander was quickly forgotten. (Remember that joke she made about having slept with Xander in S7?) I think part of the problem is just the format of the show.

[elisi]

Hey, do you have a source for Xander being Joss' self-insert? I've seen that said a lot but I've never seen a source.
Not off the top of my head. I am honestly not sure if it's an actual thing, or if it's just the observation that there's always a Joss-like guy in the stuff he writes. The wise-cracking fun guy.

And, I mean, Faith has never been claimed to be anyone's self-insert but her attack on Xander was quickly forgotten. (Remember that joke she made about having slept with Xander in S7?) I think part of the problem is just the format of the show.
Yeah. And fans are often cross about how the Scoobies police Buffy's life (particularly her love life), but I think it's sort of tied to the way the show functions? Like it's Watsonian AND Doylist.

[itsnotmymind]

I think the claim that Xander was Joss Whedon's self-insert really took off after the latest wave of people confirming that Whedon's a horrible person to work with. I think for some fans - who already had a problem with Xander - saying that Xander was Joss' self-insert was a way to explain their problems. But I really don't think such an explanation does justice to the way Xander's character was written over the years.

Actually, if I was going to name a Joss self-insert based off of quotes I've read of his, it would Marcie the invisible girl.

And fans are often cross about how the Scoobies police Buffy's life (particularly her love life), but I think it's sort of tied to the way the show functions? Like it's Watsonian AND Doylist.

Yeah, it's complicated.

[elisi]

I think for some fans - who already had a problem with Xander - saying that Xander was Joss' self-insert was a way to explain their problems. But I really don't think such an explanation does justice to the way Xander's character was written over the years.
Yeah. I think he might have started off that way, but then all the characters had such crazy arcs. The Joss-self-insert on Firefly would be Wash, so it doesn't follow automatically that this is a problematic thing. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love Wash.

Actually, if I was going to name a Joss self-insert based off of quotes I've read of his, it would Marcie the invisible girl.
*snort*