Good essay! I think a lot of people who blame the Scoobies for their treatment of Spike forget how much he worked to antagonize them. I know I often do. Though I still don't think it lets them off the hook for some of the things they do in response. Anyway...
The only part of your essay that I didn't find very persuasive was your attribution of Willow's dislike of Anya to her negative first impression of Anya. That might be a part of it. But I would be surprised if Willow weren't negative towards *anyone* Xander was involved with. Not that Willow wants to be romantically involved with Xander. But she's used to him being hers in a special way (bestest friends), and she's never going to be thrilled about someone else mattering to that much. At least, that's how I always read her intransigent dislike for Anya. It just seemed to me like a fairly common dynamic.
On a more minor key, I'm a bit more judgmental about the Scoobies failure to grant real Scooby status to any of the 'outsiders'. Even Tara falls out of the group when she is separated from Willow, with Buffy only seeking her out when she needed special help. Anya's rapid post-Xander marginalization was rather breath-taking, especially given her rather heroic efforts in trying to contain Willow at the end of season 6. The late-comers (Tara, Spike, Anya) all had contributed to the gang; they all risked things for them. You'd think at some point they'd have some status apart from their relationship with a particular Scooby.
I think that's the dynamic that causes some people to find the Scoobies non-reaction to the deaths of Spike and Anya at the end to be at least distasteful. The ending of Chosen could not have played for happy if any of the 'real' Scoobies had died.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-07-04 04:25 pm (UTC)The only part of your essay that I didn't find very persuasive was your attribution of Willow's dislike of Anya to her negative first impression of Anya. That might be a part of it. But I would be surprised if Willow weren't negative towards *anyone* Xander was involved with. Not that Willow wants to be romantically involved with Xander. But she's used to him being hers in a special way (bestest friends), and she's never going to be thrilled about someone else mattering to that much. At least, that's how I always read her intransigent dislike for Anya. It just seemed to me like a fairly common dynamic.
On a more minor key, I'm a bit more judgmental about the Scoobies failure to grant real Scooby status to any of the 'outsiders'. Even Tara falls out of the group when she is separated from Willow, with Buffy only seeking her out when she needed special help. Anya's rapid post-Xander marginalization was rather breath-taking, especially given her rather heroic efforts in trying to contain Willow at the end of season 6. The late-comers (Tara, Spike, Anya) all had contributed to the gang; they all risked things for them. You'd think at some point they'd have some status apart from their relationship with a particular Scooby.
I think that's the dynamic that causes some people to find the Scoobies non-reaction to the deaths of Spike and Anya at the end to be at least distasteful. The ending of Chosen could not have played for happy if any of the 'real' Scoobies had died.