I looked up the word replacement and the best I came up with was: the action or process of replacing (to assume the former role, position, or function of). I find the title of the episode so interesting because it brings up the question what is being replaced? The obvious answer is Xander, but that leads to more questions. To make things even crazier, can a person be replaced by themselves? The word replacement implies two separate characters: one to replace, the other to be replaced.
Everyone has a fear of being replaced in some way, whether is a social or job-related context. In Xander’s case, he is being replaced by alt-Xander. At the beginning of the episode, we are given an overview of Xander’s life: he lives in his crazy parents’ basement, he is losing his job soon, and his girlfriend is beginning to realize that her life needs more purpose than anything Xander is able to provide. His terrible situation is comparable to Guido’s, who is broke, drunk, and completely alone. The two of them are unable to pick themselves up and it requires the appearance of a better version of themselves to motivate them. The dwarf and alt-Xander live their originals’ lives better than the originals could. The major difference, however, is the inherent characteristics of both Xander and Guido. Guido is self-serving and arrogant. He refuses to accept that any part of himself could be as twisted and repulsive as the dwarf. He finishes the short story just as obnoxious as he was before the dwarf appeared. There is no transformation, but rather, more of a replacement: the dwarf attempted to take over Guido’s life and Guido subsequently rids himself of the dwarf. Xander on the other hand seems to transform. The appearance of alt-Xander allows Xander to take control of his life and become a grown-up. At the end of the episode, he has an apartment, a promotion, and more confidence. Usually he is completely bullied by Anya, but in this episode, he finally restores some equality to the relationship. Xander seems to take more of a lesson from the doppelganger experience. I guess my overall point is that I find the fact that the titles of the episode and of the short story misleading. They force us to approach the two pieces with certain prejudices which turn out to be completely false.
Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
I really like the point you made in this post. In this episode, we are presented with an unsuccessful, immature, and unmotivated Xander who then has to sit back and watch his other half live his own life “better”. Suave Xander gets a promotion, buys an apartment, flirts with girls and evokes confidence. However, at the end of this episode, when Xander realizes that his other half isn’t a demon but another side of him, I agree that “new Xander” allowed “old Xander” to see what he is truly capable of and gave him the confidence boost to go out and accomplish new things. Therefore, Xander had a very positive experience meeting his doppleganger.
ReplyDeleteI love the parallel between Xander and Guido - both have to sit back and watch someone else live life better. The funny part though is that Guido immediately took credit for the things that the dwarf did in his name, and Xander was much faster to believe that the good things his other was doing were being done by a demon instead of (part of) himself. He has to be convinced to take credit for it all. Guido did, even though none of it was him, and Xander didn't, even though all of it was him.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point about the how different Xander and Guido are. I totally didn't think about how Xander (and everyone else) refuses to accept that the real Xander could be that successful, while Guido is perfectly willing to take credit for everything. The difference just reinforces why Xander is such an awesome character and Guido is a jerk.
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