Not an essay...
And yet here I am, discussing Buffy again, and it's all stormwreath 's andjamalov29 's fault!
There were talks about feminism and feminist icon on their lj and it triggered that Buffy-trained muscle that has been dormant for a while, a part of my brain I thought I no longer had a use of. I toldjamalov29 that I disagreed with her views according to which Joss had made Buffy fall from feminist grace in season6 and therefore done worse to the feminist icon then than the comics did later. I "shortly" explained myself on her lj but I need to gather my thoughts and write down something a bit more articulate. Besides there's nothing on tv tonight!
So it's like the good old time...
Keep in mind though, that I don't read the comics and therefore won't discuss them much (that would be unfair) in this post. However, I couldn't completely avoid some reactions the comics caused and will hint at them and use what I understood from said reactions to back up my "reading".
First off, I must say that I don't think that the premise of BtVs is necessarily feminsist. In my opinion, it's only later, especially in season 7, that Joss really achieved his feminist mission (I'll get back to that later). Yes, BtVs, from the movie to the tv pilot, to the rest of the series, told the story of a blonde girl who had superpowers and who had been chosen to save the world, but I think that the Slayer thing was more a way to twist the usual screen cliché than a deliberate feminist message. Twisting cliches was Joss's trademark then. It took the usual blonde victim and turned her into the very fear that the demons/vampires/creatures fear: THE SLAYER!
Besides Buffy was much more sexualized--or if you prefer, sexier--in the earlier seasons than in the last ones, even though she fully embraced her sexuality and were more sexually aggressive when she wore longer skirts, showed less cleavage and basically had less flesh on her bones.
And for a long time, I considered that BtVS's main theme was growing-up not female impowerment, and the show carried on the "growing-up" theme until the end. All the characters(minus Giles, Joyce and Angel), not only Buffy, served that leitmotiv. It was about their journey towards adulthood and a character like Xander for instance progressed A LOT!
Of course our main character being a female, growing-up and becoming an adult could imply a feminist facet (is that a word in English?) and it slowly did. The men in Buffy's world played a role that is significant so I guess that her relationship with them could be read through the prism of feminism as well, but they were also plot device that helped telling many other things; That was a complex show after all, multi-layered and so rich we can write stuff about it still.
In terms of feminism I think that season 4 was a the beginning of a turning point although "Becoming Part II" had a certain feminist ring as Buffy fought Angelus and stopped his sword saying that she still had herself. It started in season 4, in spite of Buffy's eagerness to suit Riley's expectations and be the "normal girlfriend" instead of herself, because Buffy fought a very manly organization, The Initiative, and a very manly villain (Adam). Also at the beginning of the season, there was "Something Blue" and the way Buffy behaved before and under the spell was meaningful. When Willow's magic kicked in, Buffy found herself madly "in love" and behaved like a silly smitten girl but she still fought with Spike, not letting him make the decisions for the couple, was bossy and warned that she wouldn't stop her job after the wedding etc...and her strength was emphasized by the fact he fought he couldn't fight demons and had to relie on her for security matters. Spike mentioned "girl power" then.
After that, her relationship with Riley was a sort of regression since Buffy was afraid of what was dormant in her. Or rather "Something blue" was a sort of preview of what things could be...but it was too soon. Buffy hadn't grown up yet. The college time was her conformist phase, in which she tried to fit in, to be what Riley wanted/needed; in which she held back when he was her sparring partner, tried to join HIS team...and left the room at night to work out her frustrations by hunting and slaying things. The famous sex scene in the haunted house was significant then. Buffy wasn't in control. Buffy and Riley kept making love, not because they wanted it but because a Poltergeist made them do it over and over. There is a big different between that scene and the Spuffy sex in season 6, not matter how self-destructive and bitchy Buffy was and how messy (and kind of sordid sometimes) the affair became, both of them had a say in it. Eventually Buffy who kissed first, initiated the first intercourse and most of the time chose when and where, finally realised how wrong and mutually damaging it was and she ended it up. The passionate frolics looked like something she couldn't resist, and it's the very definition of passion, but it was still a choice she made, and Spike chose to let it be her call.
This is why I disagree with Caroline when she said that her behaviour was a fall from feminist grace.
S6 Spuffy definitely turned the tables, not necassarily because of gender reversal (I think that their dom/sub play was more complicated than that) or because Spike was heavily sexualized,, becoming a true pin-up, a sort of male Odalisque even, but because our traumatized Buffy who died but was walking again among the living after she clawed her way out of a coffin, was behaving like a vampire; she was predatory and seemed to seek darkness and pain while inflicting it. She metaphorically became what used to be her worst nightmare, and Spike became the blond victim who inspired lust and either gave in the demon's seduction or was hurt by the demon(the scene in which Buffy beat him in"Dead Things" was definitely the climax of the vamp/victim dialectics as Spike's face switched to his human guise while she was still punching ) which was fascinating. She seemed to have become the villain, hence the parallel with Warren, the same Warren who had turned his ex into a sex slave and finally killed her, the same Warren who had built the Buffybot for Spike in the previous season. Of course, Buffy being the hero and Spike being himself on a redemption journey, our Slayer didn't really became an evil fiend , she just behaved with Spike in a way that reminded his using the Buffybot. How ironic given that once upon a time Buffy pretended to be the bot and began to see Spike in a new light from then on. Eventually she became "Normal Again".
Buffy did slip again (I say again because at the beginning of season 2 she already did in the well-titled episode, "When she was bad", using Xander and teasing, and above all, torturing a vampire to get info...since it was just a vampire torture was okay, just like she excused her abusing Spike to herself because he was a soulless fiend), and was bad when she was shagging Spike, but that messy affair probably made her question things and ponder morality, and face her inner demons, allowing her to resume an introspection she sorta started when seeing herself through Faith's eyes or with "Restless" and more consciously continued later in season 5 when summoning the first Slayer in "Intervention"; I don't see it as a "fall from grace" but as something that looked like a detour but actually took her (and Spike since it led to the AR in "Seeing Red" and then to his seeking his soul) farther away. It is something that might have helped her to overcome the First Evil eventually.
And because it's a complex show with many layers and meanings, s 6 Spuffy also showed Buffy embracing the Slayer's libido and getting what even Mick Jagger would call SATISFACTION!
I do think that, for a woman, acknowledging your personal sexuality, needs, likes and dislikes-- whether it's a powerful libido or a weaker one whatever-- instead of following what is expected from you by the others(especially those of the male category), is part of female empowerment.
And BtVS ended in its last season with characters becoming adult (even Spike, no longer suffering from the Peter Pan syndrome and becoming his own person at last)and with what was, in my opinion (I know that some fans didn't read it that way, we argued a lot about it in 2003 on boards), a great metaphor of female empowerment. Buffy became a true feminist icon then. The spell both Buffy (it was her call and her Scythe) and Willow made sums it all. They changed the ancient way, the patriarchal system the Shadow Men created and over which the Council of Watchers, well... watched. Buffy "graduated" from Chosen One to the One Who Chooses which is already a feminist message. It was also the end of a time of Potentials(we also called them Slayers in Training at the time) waiting for being either picked or not (let's think of Kennedy saying that it was probably too late for her); Buffy started a new era in which potential could be fulfilled; she asked Willow to make a spell allowing any girl who MIGHT be a Slayer to become one. Here I can't help using the feline metaphor slayerhood has always been connected to and borrowing the sharkman's words in season 6: kittens by time were turned into cats.
Is there a better metaphor of empowerment than the fact of having your potential not be lost but be accomplished?
Buffy changed the world like Greek heroes used to, and unlike greek heroes who were of the male variety, she is a woman.
This is where I allow myself to mention the comics that I don't read and don't intend to read.
I'm tip-toeing as much as I can but from what I understand of that pseudo season 8 ( I said pseudo because it is no longer a tv show) through the reactions I came across, Buffy behaved rather out of character in the comics and in the infamous issues that stirred such hubbub online. If I'm correct, after Angel was reaveled as Twilight, a character who had slaughtered hundreds of slayers, Buffy and Angel had some flying cosmic and deadly fuckfest that showed some surnatural glow which could suggest that Buffy might not be really "in control" of her actions; I have nothing to say in regard to the drawings for I haven't seen them but many people seem to think they are bad; I can't give an opinion on the pornographic nature of the scene either, although I guess it's rather soft porn and I would be surprised if Angel's cock and Buffy's genitalia were showed. It is possible that I would have found the scenes ridiculous or boring but I doubted I would have been shocked or uncomfortable for I used to read French comics that were for adults (saying that it was not porn, rather Sci-Fi or History) and that didn't shy away from total nudity and very graphic scenes that could compete with the ones in indie movies like Shortbus. I don't think that drawing Buffy in the nude and in explicit positions is necessarily an issue feminism-wise, no matter how tasteless the drawings may be.
But the sex per se isn't what concerns me here anyway, and if Bangel no longer had the Lolita-vibe that used to come off the 'ship on tv I guess it wouldn't be a problem except from a shipping war angle(let's not wake up my Spuffy muscle). I'm mentioning the Twangel/Buffy sex because of the context and the subtext. From what I read there seem to be two options. Either Buffy made a decision because she's had the hots for Angel for 8 years and she did want him even after what he did, or she is in some thrall and someone else is pulling the strings. If this is the latter, we are in the same situation as the one with Riley in the haunted house (see above) and it's definitely not a feminist message for she is reduced to a mere pawn; if it is the former, it's even worse for it goes against the end of "Chosen" and the daring choice Buffy made then, sharing her power with all the Potentials in the world, helping them to fulfil their potential. If Buffy is so "in love" that she prefered to shag the one who had recently killed many of her "sisters" it is quite sad, and I understand that many fans considered it "a fall from feminist grace". If Angel is proven right in his belief that killing hundreds of Slayers is for the good it ruins the final metaphor of "Chosen" because Buffy's choice then becomes a mistake. If Angel is proven wrong, Buffy is a fool and still betrayed her sisters.
Either way we lose something precious, I think.
ETA: David Lavery put on his blog links to an issue of Slayage, "the journal of the Whedon studies association" and here's a link to an essay on the limits of feminism you might want to read
There were talks about feminism and feminist icon on their lj and it triggered that Buffy-trained muscle that has been dormant for a while, a part of my brain I thought I no longer had a use of. I toldjamalov29 that I disagreed with her views according to which Joss had made Buffy fall from feminist grace in season6 and therefore done worse to the feminist icon then than the comics did later. I "shortly" explained myself on her lj but I need to gather my thoughts and write down something a bit more articulate. Besides there's nothing on tv tonight!
So it's like the good old time...
Keep in mind though, that I don't read the comics and therefore won't discuss them much (that would be unfair) in this post. However, I couldn't completely avoid some reactions the comics caused and will hint at them and use what I understood from said reactions to back up my "reading".
First off, I must say that I don't think that the premise of BtVs is necessarily feminsist. In my opinion, it's only later, especially in season 7, that Joss really achieved his feminist mission (I'll get back to that later). Yes, BtVs, from the movie to the tv pilot, to the rest of the series, told the story of a blonde girl who had superpowers and who had been chosen to save the world, but I think that the Slayer thing was more a way to twist the usual screen cliché than a deliberate feminist message. Twisting cliches was Joss's trademark then. It took the usual blonde victim and turned her into the very fear that the demons/vampires/creatures fear: THE SLAYER!
Besides Buffy was much more sexualized--or if you prefer, sexier--in the earlier seasons than in the last ones, even though she fully embraced her sexuality and were more sexually aggressive when she wore longer skirts, showed less cleavage and basically had less flesh on her bones.
And for a long time, I considered that BtVS's main theme was growing-up not female impowerment, and the show carried on the "growing-up" theme until the end. All the characters(minus Giles, Joyce and Angel), not only Buffy, served that leitmotiv. It was about their journey towards adulthood and a character like Xander for instance progressed A LOT!
Of course our main character being a female, growing-up and becoming an adult could imply a feminist facet (is that a word in English?) and it slowly did. The men in Buffy's world played a role that is significant so I guess that her relationship with them could be read through the prism of feminism as well, but they were also plot device that helped telling many other things; That was a complex show after all, multi-layered and so rich we can write stuff about it still.
In terms of feminism I think that season 4 was a the beginning of a turning point although "Becoming Part II" had a certain feminist ring as Buffy fought Angelus and stopped his sword saying that she still had herself. It started in season 4, in spite of Buffy's eagerness to suit Riley's expectations and be the "normal girlfriend" instead of herself, because Buffy fought a very manly organization, The Initiative, and a very manly villain (Adam). Also at the beginning of the season, there was "Something Blue" and the way Buffy behaved before and under the spell was meaningful. When Willow's magic kicked in, Buffy found herself madly "in love" and behaved like a silly smitten girl but she still fought with Spike, not letting him make the decisions for the couple, was bossy and warned that she wouldn't stop her job after the wedding etc...and her strength was emphasized by the fact he fought he couldn't fight demons and had to relie on her for security matters. Spike mentioned "girl power" then.
After that, her relationship with Riley was a sort of regression since Buffy was afraid of what was dormant in her. Or rather "Something blue" was a sort of preview of what things could be...but it was too soon. Buffy hadn't grown up yet. The college time was her conformist phase, in which she tried to fit in, to be what Riley wanted/needed; in which she held back when he was her sparring partner, tried to join HIS team...and left the room at night to work out her frustrations by hunting and slaying things. The famous sex scene in the haunted house was significant then. Buffy wasn't in control. Buffy and Riley kept making love, not because they wanted it but because a Poltergeist made them do it over and over. There is a big different between that scene and the Spuffy sex in season 6, not matter how self-destructive and bitchy Buffy was and how messy (and kind of sordid sometimes) the affair became, both of them had a say in it. Eventually Buffy who kissed first, initiated the first intercourse and most of the time chose when and where, finally realised how wrong and mutually damaging it was and she ended it up. The passionate frolics looked like something she couldn't resist, and it's the very definition of passion, but it was still a choice she made, and Spike chose to let it be her call.
This is why I disagree with Caroline when she said that her behaviour was a fall from feminist grace.
S6 Spuffy definitely turned the tables, not necassarily because of gender reversal (I think that their dom/sub play was more complicated than that) or because Spike was heavily sexualized,, becoming a true pin-up, a sort of male Odalisque even, but because our traumatized Buffy who died but was walking again among the living after she clawed her way out of a coffin, was behaving like a vampire; she was predatory and seemed to seek darkness and pain while inflicting it. She metaphorically became what used to be her worst nightmare, and Spike became the blond victim who inspired lust and either gave in the demon's seduction or was hurt by the demon(the scene in which Buffy beat him in"Dead Things" was definitely the climax of the vamp/victim dialectics as Spike's face switched to his human guise while she was still punching ) which was fascinating. She seemed to have become the villain, hence the parallel with Warren, the same Warren who had turned his ex into a sex slave and finally killed her, the same Warren who had built the Buffybot for Spike in the previous season. Of course, Buffy being the hero and Spike being himself on a redemption journey, our Slayer didn't really became an evil fiend , she just behaved with Spike in a way that reminded his using the Buffybot. How ironic given that once upon a time Buffy pretended to be the bot and began to see Spike in a new light from then on. Eventually she became "Normal Again".
Buffy did slip again (I say again because at the beginning of season 2 she already did in the well-titled episode, "When she was bad", using Xander and teasing, and above all, torturing a vampire to get info...since it was just a vampire torture was okay, just like she excused her abusing Spike to herself because he was a soulless fiend), and was bad when she was shagging Spike, but that messy affair probably made her question things and ponder morality, and face her inner demons, allowing her to resume an introspection she sorta started when seeing herself through Faith's eyes or with "Restless" and more consciously continued later in season 5 when summoning the first Slayer in "Intervention"; I don't see it as a "fall from grace" but as something that looked like a detour but actually took her (and Spike since it led to the AR in "Seeing Red" and then to his seeking his soul) farther away. It is something that might have helped her to overcome the First Evil eventually.
And because it's a complex show with many layers and meanings, s 6 Spuffy also showed Buffy embracing the Slayer's libido and getting what even Mick Jagger would call SATISFACTION!
I do think that, for a woman, acknowledging your personal sexuality, needs, likes and dislikes-- whether it's a powerful libido or a weaker one whatever-- instead of following what is expected from you by the others(especially those of the male category), is part of female empowerment.
And BtVS ended in its last season with characters becoming adult (even Spike, no longer suffering from the Peter Pan syndrome and becoming his own person at last)and with what was, in my opinion (I know that some fans didn't read it that way, we argued a lot about it in 2003 on boards), a great metaphor of female empowerment. Buffy became a true feminist icon then. The spell both Buffy (it was her call and her Scythe) and Willow made sums it all. They changed the ancient way, the patriarchal system the Shadow Men created and over which the Council of Watchers, well... watched. Buffy "graduated" from Chosen One to the One Who Chooses which is already a feminist message. It was also the end of a time of Potentials(we also called them Slayers in Training at the time) waiting for being either picked or not (let's think of Kennedy saying that it was probably too late for her); Buffy started a new era in which potential could be fulfilled; she asked Willow to make a spell allowing any girl who MIGHT be a Slayer to become one. Here I can't help using the feline metaphor slayerhood has always been connected to and borrowing the sharkman's words in season 6: kittens by time were turned into cats.
Is there a better metaphor of empowerment than the fact of having your potential not be lost but be accomplished?
Buffy changed the world like Greek heroes used to, and unlike greek heroes who were of the male variety, she is a woman.
This is where I allow myself to mention the comics that I don't read and don't intend to read.
I'm tip-toeing as much as I can but from what I understand of that pseudo season 8 ( I said pseudo because it is no longer a tv show) through the reactions I came across, Buffy behaved rather out of character in the comics and in the infamous issues that stirred such hubbub online. If I'm correct, after Angel was reaveled as Twilight, a character who had slaughtered hundreds of slayers, Buffy and Angel had some flying cosmic and deadly fuckfest that showed some surnatural glow which could suggest that Buffy might not be really "in control" of her actions; I have nothing to say in regard to the drawings for I haven't seen them but many people seem to think they are bad; I can't give an opinion on the pornographic nature of the scene either, although I guess it's rather soft porn and I would be surprised if Angel's cock and Buffy's genitalia were showed. It is possible that I would have found the scenes ridiculous or boring but I doubted I would have been shocked or uncomfortable for I used to read French comics that were for adults (saying that it was not porn, rather Sci-Fi or History) and that didn't shy away from total nudity and very graphic scenes that could compete with the ones in indie movies like Shortbus. I don't think that drawing Buffy in the nude and in explicit positions is necessarily an issue feminism-wise, no matter how tasteless the drawings may be.
But the sex per se isn't what concerns me here anyway, and if Bangel no longer had the Lolita-vibe that used to come off the 'ship on tv I guess it wouldn't be a problem except from a shipping war angle(let's not wake up my Spuffy muscle). I'm mentioning the Twangel/Buffy sex because of the context and the subtext. From what I read there seem to be two options. Either Buffy made a decision because she's had the hots for Angel for 8 years and she did want him even after what he did, or she is in some thrall and someone else is pulling the strings. If this is the latter, we are in the same situation as the one with Riley in the haunted house (see above) and it's definitely not a feminist message for she is reduced to a mere pawn; if it is the former, it's even worse for it goes against the end of "Chosen" and the daring choice Buffy made then, sharing her power with all the Potentials in the world, helping them to fulfil their potential. If Buffy is so "in love" that she prefered to shag the one who had recently killed many of her "sisters" it is quite sad, and I understand that many fans considered it "a fall from feminist grace". If Angel is proven right in his belief that killing hundreds of Slayers is for the good it ruins the final metaphor of "Chosen" because Buffy's choice then becomes a mistake. If Angel is proven wrong, Buffy is a fool and still betrayed her sisters.
Either way we lose something precious, I think.
ETA: David Lavery put on his blog links to an issue of Slayage, "the journal of the Whedon studies association" and here's a link to an essay on the limits of feminism you might want to read