Yeah, poor Xander, thinking he's dumb. He's not. I believe that he's actually poor with math, but the guy who says "Those two concepts are antithetical" when Faith is telling him to take his pants off should be able to do well on the verbal SATs. That he often says and does stupid things strikes me as reasonable; Willow does too ("Kiss rocks? Why would anyone want to--oh, I get it") but no one assumes that she's dumb. But Xander's assumed dumbness starts really early (by IRYJ they're already shocked that he knows anything at all). Really, Xander seems like someone who, for whatever reason, has had it drilled into him that he's not very bright, and because he is constantly telling this to others in different ways those around him believe it too. It'll be interesting to see going forward how much the writers do that actually goes against this reading and makes him dumb for laughs, as opposed to as part of his general insecurity.
I know what you mean about Cordy. I find her fairly unsympathetic in this episode too. There's real insight coupled with real distortion, often at the same time--c.f. her putdown of Shylock, followed by her talking about the woman whose leg was hurt by her on her bike. I think Cordy's flaw, down the line, is a lack of ability to apply the "I think it, I say it" standards to herself. She learns major, major empathy throughout this and AtS, but continues the self-aggrandization in a different way, which is I think what allows her to buy into the idea that she's a higher being after almost no actual heroic behaviour between Birthday and Tomorrow. But she also does get a real sense that she was cruel to people in high school (c.f. Room w/a View, Disharmony to an extent). Anyway, it's interesting to think about the question of how her bullying others relates to her honesty; I'm not sure we necessarily have to see them as part of the same thing. I haven't thought too much about Cordy's arc in BtVS (to get from here to her "tact is not saying true stuff" point by "Killed by Death").
"Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze!"
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Date: 2010-09-27 09:44 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about Cordy. I find her fairly unsympathetic in this episode too. There's real insight coupled with real distortion, often at the same time--c.f. her putdown of Shylock, followed by her talking about the woman whose leg was hurt by her on her bike. I think Cordy's flaw, down the line, is a lack of ability to apply the "I think it, I say it" standards to herself. She learns major, major empathy throughout this and AtS, but continues the self-aggrandization in a different way, which is I think what allows her to buy into the idea that she's a higher being after almost no actual heroic behaviour between Birthday and Tomorrow. But she also does get a real sense that she was cruel to people in high school (c.f. Room w/a View, Disharmony to an extent). Anyway, it's interesting to think about the question of how her bullying others relates to her honesty; I'm not sure we necessarily have to see them as part of the same thing. I haven't thought too much about Cordy's arc in BtVS (to get from here to her "tact is not saying true stuff" point by "Killed by Death").
"Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze!"