Good stuff, here. I've thought a lot about the Buffyverse dopplegangers too (and other selves I guess, since we are including people like Vamp!Xander in the mix). In some ways (although tangentially), I think even lead vampires like Angelus, Spike, Trick and Holden might qualify in this group, as they are essentially alternate versions of their "real" selves, instead of merely grotesque parodies of human beings in general.
But particular to your points about the alternate Xanders, I think you are on to something in the sense that Xander is, in essence, constructing himself over the course of the show (which is why I think he finally finds his niche in *physical* construction), and to build this identity he uses the materials at hand. That's what's so brilliant to me about "The Replacement"; the metaphor is obvious, but because it is obvious it is also beautifully effortless. "The Xander Project" has a lot of standardized components on hand, as you say - the career, the apartment, the girlfriend/wife - and so gathering these components and assembling them in a logical way becomes Xander's meta-job.
I think the problem for Xander is that he really can't see himself. The Xander Project seems to have a (very simplistic) blueprint, but building a lifestyle isn't the same as building an identity, because that inward looking "third-eye" is the foundation for identity, and Xander despises what he sees. I recall having a neat conversation once about all the Scoobies' super-powers, and I posited the theory that for Xander (like Willow), the source of his super power is also the source of his greatest weakness. Because he hates himself, he is sometimes able to perform acts of amazing heroism (such as the way he ultimately defeats Jack in "The Zeppo"), but ultimately it will cause his ruin and the ruin of those he loves (as it does in "Hells Bells"). In the Replacement, Unconstructed Manchild Xander cannot imagine Constructed Adult Xander being anything other than a trick, just as Young Xander can't imagine Old Xander as being anything other than the truth. The irony of Caleb's line when he blinds Xander ("You're the one who sees everything, aren't you?") is that Xander is always seeing everyone else so clearly because he can't see himself.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-01-30 09:41 pm (UTC)But particular to your points about the alternate Xanders, I think you are on to something in the sense that Xander is, in essence, constructing himself over the course of the show (which is why I think he finally finds his niche in *physical* construction), and to build this identity he uses the materials at hand. That's what's so brilliant to me about "The Replacement"; the metaphor is obvious, but because it is obvious it is also beautifully effortless. "The Xander Project" has a lot of standardized components on hand, as you say - the career, the apartment, the girlfriend/wife - and so gathering these components and assembling them in a logical way becomes Xander's meta-job.
I think the problem for Xander is that he really can't see himself. The Xander Project seems to have a (very simplistic) blueprint, but building a lifestyle isn't the same as building an identity, because that inward looking "third-eye" is the foundation for identity, and Xander despises what he sees. I recall having a neat conversation once about all the Scoobies' super-powers, and I posited the theory that for Xander (like Willow), the source of his super power is also the source of his greatest weakness. Because he hates himself, he is sometimes able to perform acts of amazing heroism (such as the way he ultimately defeats Jack in "The Zeppo"), but ultimately it will cause his ruin and the ruin of those he loves (as it does in "Hells Bells"). In the Replacement, Unconstructed Manchild Xander cannot imagine Constructed Adult Xander being anything other than a trick, just as Young Xander can't imagine Old Xander as being anything other than the truth. The irony of Caleb's line when he blinds Xander ("You're the one who sees everything, aren't you?") is that Xander is always seeing everyone else so clearly because he can't see himself.