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[personal profile] itsnotmymind
I've gotten into this before, but this link here includes some examples of people defending Anya's attempted murder of Xander in Entropy, and I'm getting riled up again.

For example: "I have every sympathy with Anya. I think most women would want to kill their partners if they were stood-up in such a fashion. "

and

"I have to admit, that I always liked Anya very much and never took that as anything different than a deeply hurt girl ranting about her ex-boyfrined. Haven`t we all at some point in our lives wished for someone elses intestines to be tied in a knot? I certainly have."

No. No. No. The experience they are describing, particularly in the second quote, is not Anya's experience - it's the experience of her victims. And by "victims"? I mean the women she tricked into wishing their exes dead. That was Cordelia's experience when she fantasized about Xander never again knowing the touch of a woman and Willow waking up covered in monkey hair. That was Nancy's experience when she wished her ex would become a worm. That was the experience of the woman in Selfless, who wished her taunters would have their hearts ripped out. They were venting. they were victimized by Anya making their fantasies real.

Anya was a woman striking her ex with what she knew from her past was a very lethal weapon. Anya is a murderer - and she tried to add Xander to her list. Anya was not harmlessly gripping. She was trying to torture her loved one to death, and at first she was disappointed when it failed.

Date: 2018-05-12 04:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ragnarok-08.livejournal.com
I couldn't agree more.

Date: 2018-05-12 03:34 pm (UTC)

Date: 2018-05-13 12:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lusciousxander.livejournal.com
I started that thread in the BuffyForums, and I agree with you 100%! I understand where the posters are coming from and that what Xander did to Anya is humiliating and heartbreaking, but it should not excuse Anya's attempted murder. Anya literally wished Xander death, believing she could murder him. That's not right. No matter how hurt and heartbroken she was.

Date: 2018-05-13 03:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] itsnotmymind.livejournal.com
Agreed. What Xander did was terrible - both the abandonment at the alter and the slut-shaming for Anya sleeping with Spike - but Anya tried to trick Xander's friends into torturing him to death. It bewilders me how many people choose to take that metaphorically and insist she did nothing wrong. I wonder what they would be saying if she had succeeded.

Date: 2018-05-13 05:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frelling-tralk.livejournal.com
I agree. I felt like a lot of people struggled with taking Anya seriously, even the writers, just because she represented that whole cliche of the bitter woman scorned, so her tales were always treated with smiles and glib comments, even when other characters like Spike and Faith were expected to go through serious redemption arcs and suffer for their crimes.

Date: 2018-05-14 01:25 pm (UTC)

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