Whedon wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the intention of using it to empower women. He made the lead a strong independent female teenager who continually saved the world from things only her line of women could fight; she is the ideal feminist. At least, that’s what she is supposed to be. So why is Buffy all decked out in sexualized clothing? Why is she so entirely dependent on her male relationships?
Whedon really tries to drive home the feminist message in this final episode of BtVS. He makes the point blatantly in several scenes throughout the episode. For instance, when Buffy is explaining her plan she says in reference to the first Watchers, “They were powerful men. This (points to Willow) woman is more powerful than all of them combined.” Buffy wishes to overthrow the male structure of her world and replace it with an army of female heroines. He follows Willows successful empowerment of all those women with several scenes of women finding their inner strength and standing up to prove it.
EXT. BASEBALL DIAMOND - DAY
A young woman stands at the plate staring at the pitcher, waiting to bat. She looks a little nervous.
BUFFY (Voice Over)
From now on, every girl in the world who might be a slayer...
INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY
A young woman breathes heavily as she leans on her locker for support.
will be a slayer.
INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
A young woman is lying across the floor, having fallen out of her chair.
Every girl who could have the power...
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
In a Japanese-style dining room, a young woman stands up at family dinner.
will have the power... can stand up,
INT. BASEMENT - DAY
A young woman grabs the wrist of a man who's trying to slap her face, preventing him.
will stand up.
EXT. BASEBALL DIAMOND - DAY
The girl at the plate changes from nervous to confident, smiling as she waits for the pitch.
Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?
So why do the writers counter the very theme (if we can even still consider it a theme with so many counter points made) that spurned the entire idea for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series? The final act of battle, the act that wins the war and saves the entire world, has nothing to do with Buffy; in fact, no women at all are involved. It is Spike, Buffy’s current male support, who saves the day in this grand finale. I don’t understand what they were trying to do. If the writers went through so much trouble to culminate the show by driving home the idea of female power, then why is this episode’s savior not a woman?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Chosen?
New theme... doesn’t matter how special or supposedly unique you are, you are NOT alone. A motif of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been this idea of the chosen ONE, someone who is unique from all the others who must stand alone to face the enemies of the world. Well, I’m sorry to say it, but guess what Buffy? You are not alone; you never have been, so get over it.
The one time Buffy was ever actually alone was when she refused to believe that there were others standing right there beside, when she thrust them back and refused to acknowledge their presence. Yeah, then they gave up trying to be there for her after nearly a year or more of not being allowed to do reach their full potential, not being allowed to fight the evil.
Yet even then, she was not alone for long. Spike never left her, though she surely gave a fair attempt at shoving him away just the same as she did with everybody else. Still, he never budged from his position of support.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Buffy has never been alone. Regardless of what the prophecy says about one girl in every generation who alone can carry the burden, Buffy is not alone, and she should realize by now that the prophecy was decreed by the very council she has proven false. In fact, the prophecy was no longer applicable when Faith appeared in season 3; there are two slayers now, not one lonely hero. Buffy can’t even claim that Faith doesn’t count anymore because she’s fighting on the good side again.
Beyond just the slayer role, Willow, Xander, and even Giles have all proven on multiple occasions that they too have a part for which they were chosen to play. Granted they have a choice; they could all leave whenever they wanted, but the real fact is that they never shrink from bearing their burden.
Even the potentials have a role to play. They fight right there beside Buffy, and they kill vampires. None of them had a choice in the matter; they were all chosen by the same force that Buffy was, and they participate in all they are supposed to do. The only exception is when Buffy pushes them too far with her arrogance and disregard for their presence. They are not just weapons; they are people like Buffy; the almighty chosen one is surrounded by fighters, and I don’t understand why she continues to insist on her position as a lone figure.
The one time Buffy was ever actually alone was when she refused to believe that there were others standing right there beside, when she thrust them back and refused to acknowledge their presence. Yeah, then they gave up trying to be there for her after nearly a year or more of not being allowed to do reach their full potential, not being allowed to fight the evil.
Yet even then, she was not alone for long. Spike never left her, though she surely gave a fair attempt at shoving him away just the same as she did with everybody else. Still, he never budged from his position of support.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Buffy has never been alone. Regardless of what the prophecy says about one girl in every generation who alone can carry the burden, Buffy is not alone, and she should realize by now that the prophecy was decreed by the very council she has proven false. In fact, the prophecy was no longer applicable when Faith appeared in season 3; there are two slayers now, not one lonely hero. Buffy can’t even claim that Faith doesn’t count anymore because she’s fighting on the good side again.
Beyond just the slayer role, Willow, Xander, and even Giles have all proven on multiple occasions that they too have a part for which they were chosen to play. Granted they have a choice; they could all leave whenever they wanted, but the real fact is that they never shrink from bearing their burden.
Even the potentials have a role to play. They fight right there beside Buffy, and they kill vampires. None of them had a choice in the matter; they were all chosen by the same force that Buffy was, and they participate in all they are supposed to do. The only exception is when Buffy pushes them too far with her arrogance and disregard for their presence. They are not just weapons; they are people like Buffy; the almighty chosen one is surrounded by fighters, and I don’t understand why she continues to insist on her position as a lone figure.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The 4 Rs (They’re All the Same.)
I’m not sure that these are the best episodes in which to return to the topic of the God question I brought up in a previous blog post, but I will try to at least use a couple lines from these to clarify what I was saying before addressing anything new.
My main complain was that Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses several religious references throughout the entire series. They use the myths of different beliefs, traditions, and religions, but they never address the big question that comes from making these references. Is there a God in this series? Is there a devil? Are there greater forces out there?
The series keeps circling around these questions without ever attempting to provide an answer. In a show that deals in myth, we ought to know the structure of the myths. If crosses and Christian churches work against Vampires, then we need to know if that is because God truly has shunned them or is it simply an effect of the Vampires inborn recognition of its rejection from its previous life. Perhaps such creature do not to be reminded of the souls they no longer have, but if that is the case it would only make sense in vampires who were religious as humans. Why else would they care? Unless they realize through the process of being turned that there is a God or something that has rejected them.
I have been very unsatisfied that, while the series will explain demons and such, it will not attempt to answer the God question. The show doesn’t need to get philosophical, just explain the world that we are dealing with. We know the ancient religions work (Osris, Hecate); what about the ones people still practice?
In the blog post in which I brought up this topic, I was suggesting that season 7 might at least bring up this question if not answer it, and it seems to be starting to do just that. Father Caleb mentions Satan, not to deny him but to claim he has no power when he says, “Satan is a little man.” Andrew also clarifies for us the definition of faith that is being used in the show when he narrates, “Faith: a set of principles or beliefs on which you are willing to devote your life.” It will be interesting to see if the season addresses the God question any further. I hope it does.
I didn’t mean to write so much about that topic, but I will try to make my actual topic brief so as not to overextend this post too much. “Lies My Parents Told Me” and “Dirty Girls” both seem to be about one thing, well four things actually that amount to pretty much the same thing: righteousness, reformation, redemption, and revenge.
Reformation and Redemption are addressed as if they were exactly the same things in this series or, at least, coexisting things for which each requires the other. Then in “Dirty Girls,” righteousness is treated in almost the same way as revenge was treated in “Lies My Parents Told Me.” Father Caleb addresses the attack of slayers and potentials by simply commenting, “You girls are just blazing with righteousness!” He speaks as if he finds this fact amusing but distracting almost like when Buffy addresses Principal Wood by saying, “I’m preparing to fight a war, and you’re looking for revenge... I don’t have time for vendettas. The mission is what matters.” It’s almost as if Father Caleb sees their belief in their own righteousness to be little more than an excuse for revenge.
We’ve brought the four Rs (righteousness, redemption, reformation, revenge) down to two now, but we can take it one step further still. Revenge seems to be just as much a part of redemption as reformation is in this series. For instance, Spike in “Lies My Parents Told Me” comments, “I gave him gave him a pass, let him live, on account of the fact I killed his mother...He even so much as looks at me funny again, I promise I’ll kill him.” This is meant to be a sign that he is reformed and on the way to redemption, even though he beat Wood to a near unconscious pulp before stepping away. That beating was revenge for the beating Spike had just received, and so is his promise to murder, which seems to prove to Buffy that he is reformed and trustworthy.
Thus, redemption=reformation=revenge=righteousness. I think the wonderful people of Sunnydale need to learn to pick up a dictionary some time, before their connotations get even further from the actual denotation.
My main complain was that Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses several religious references throughout the entire series. They use the myths of different beliefs, traditions, and religions, but they never address the big question that comes from making these references. Is there a God in this series? Is there a devil? Are there greater forces out there?
The series keeps circling around these questions without ever attempting to provide an answer. In a show that deals in myth, we ought to know the structure of the myths. If crosses and Christian churches work against Vampires, then we need to know if that is because God truly has shunned them or is it simply an effect of the Vampires inborn recognition of its rejection from its previous life. Perhaps such creature do not to be reminded of the souls they no longer have, but if that is the case it would only make sense in vampires who were religious as humans. Why else would they care? Unless they realize through the process of being turned that there is a God or something that has rejected them.
I have been very unsatisfied that, while the series will explain demons and such, it will not attempt to answer the God question. The show doesn’t need to get philosophical, just explain the world that we are dealing with. We know the ancient religions work (Osris, Hecate); what about the ones people still practice?
In the blog post in which I brought up this topic, I was suggesting that season 7 might at least bring up this question if not answer it, and it seems to be starting to do just that. Father Caleb mentions Satan, not to deny him but to claim he has no power when he says, “Satan is a little man.” Andrew also clarifies for us the definition of faith that is being used in the show when he narrates, “Faith: a set of principles or beliefs on which you are willing to devote your life.” It will be interesting to see if the season addresses the God question any further. I hope it does.
I didn’t mean to write so much about that topic, but I will try to make my actual topic brief so as not to overextend this post too much. “Lies My Parents Told Me” and “Dirty Girls” both seem to be about one thing, well four things actually that amount to pretty much the same thing: righteousness, reformation, redemption, and revenge.
Reformation and Redemption are addressed as if they were exactly the same things in this series or, at least, coexisting things for which each requires the other. Then in “Dirty Girls,” righteousness is treated in almost the same way as revenge was treated in “Lies My Parents Told Me.” Father Caleb addresses the attack of slayers and potentials by simply commenting, “You girls are just blazing with righteousness!” He speaks as if he finds this fact amusing but distracting almost like when Buffy addresses Principal Wood by saying, “I’m preparing to fight a war, and you’re looking for revenge... I don’t have time for vendettas. The mission is what matters.” It’s almost as if Father Caleb sees their belief in their own righteousness to be little more than an excuse for revenge.
We’ve brought the four Rs (righteousness, redemption, reformation, revenge) down to two now, but we can take it one step further still. Revenge seems to be just as much a part of redemption as reformation is in this series. For instance, Spike in “Lies My Parents Told Me” comments, “I gave him gave him a pass, let him live, on account of the fact I killed his mother...He even so much as looks at me funny again, I promise I’ll kill him.” This is meant to be a sign that he is reformed and on the way to redemption, even though he beat Wood to a near unconscious pulp before stepping away. That beating was revenge for the beating Spike had just received, and so is his promise to murder, which seems to prove to Buffy that he is reformed and trustworthy.
Thus, redemption=reformation=revenge=righteousness. I think the wonderful people of Sunnydale need to learn to pick up a dictionary some time, before their connotations get even further from the actual denotation.
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