I don't find romance that comforting? At least not at this stage in my life? What I find comforting about Buffy - is the romances crash and burn. LOL!
But yeah, the problem I have with Outlander is the heavy reliance on sexual violence to propel plot and character forward. Actually the first season isn't that bad. But warning? It gets worse as you move on - every single lead character is raped or threatened with rape, and increasing degrees of it. Diana Galabadone (the author of the books) has a ...rape fetish? I don't know what else to call it. But she seems to associate this period of time with violent rape and kind of gets off on writing it? And Ron Moore the showrunner of Outlander, is unfortunately not much better. He also likes sexual violence as a plot motivator, it and torture, he used both in BSG, Caprica, DS9 and goes hog wild with it here. I read the reviews of the books on Amazon - and reviews from folks who'd seen the series online (loved both - but did state there is a lot of sexual violence in this series).
Otherwise, I'd be happy with Outlander. I like the medical parts, and the portions in which she gets to play nurse. I just don't like the sexual violence and the romance kind of annoys me a little bit. (Although I like the casting.)
I'm just not sure they saw Xander as toxic as opposed to "just a teenage boy". Admittedly, the line there can be pretty vague.
Several months ago - prior to my re-watch? I'd have agreed with you. But, I just re-watched the Wish, Teacher's Pet, I Robot You Jane, and Revelations. Xander's definitely the Ducky character from Pretty in Pink or the Michael C Hall character from Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, or John Cusack in some of those films. They are commenting on that trope - big time, and the incel, and the horror element of it.
I didn't realize that - until now. It explains a lot when I think about it. Explains why Whedon wanted to kill off Xander in S5 and S7, and the other writers had to talk him out of it. He matures, kind of, but they continue to mock and comment on that trope throughout, and go out of their way to have him be with anyone other than the heroine.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2025-06-22 11:49 pm (UTC)But yeah, the problem I have with Outlander is the heavy reliance on sexual violence to propel plot and character forward. Actually the first season isn't that bad. But warning? It gets worse as you move on - every single lead character is raped or threatened with rape, and increasing degrees of it. Diana Galabadone (the author of the books) has a ...rape fetish? I don't know what else to call it. But she seems to associate this period of time with violent rape and kind of gets off on writing it? And Ron Moore the showrunner of Outlander, is unfortunately not much better. He also likes sexual violence as a plot motivator, it and torture, he used both in BSG, Caprica, DS9 and goes hog wild with it here. I read the reviews of the books on Amazon - and reviews from folks who'd seen the series online (loved both - but did state there is a lot of sexual violence in this series).
Otherwise, I'd be happy with Outlander. I like the medical parts, and the portions in which she gets to play nurse. I just don't like the sexual violence and the romance kind of annoys me a little bit.
(Although I like the casting.)
I'm just not sure they saw Xander as toxic as opposed to "just a teenage boy". Admittedly, the line there can be pretty vague.
Several months ago - prior to my re-watch? I'd have agreed with you. But, I just re-watched the Wish, Teacher's Pet, I Robot You Jane, and Revelations. Xander's definitely the Ducky character from Pretty in Pink or the Michael C Hall character from Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, or John Cusack in some of those films. They are commenting on that trope - big time, and the incel, and the horror element of it.
I didn't realize that - until now. It explains a lot when I think about it. Explains why Whedon wanted to kill off Xander in S5 and S7, and the other writers had to talk him out of it. He matures, kind of, but they continue to mock and comment on that trope throughout, and go out of their way to have him be with anyone other than the heroine.