The Feminist Filter: Halloween

[gabrielleabelle]

Alright! Let's do Halloween! This one is particularly rich in the feminist text, so make yourself some tea. :)

Mission Statement:This series is intended to outline the feminist text of each episode so as to provoke and encourage open discussion. It's not so much about making value judgments about events and/or characters but about analyzing the

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Willow does have *romantic* fantasies, of course, and really likes talking about and thinking about kissing , but I think they are mostly pretty chaste fantasy-wise. She fell in love with an internet demon! She doesn't even quite want Xander to see her as a sexual being, even though she wants him to kiss her. So here Buffy introduces Willow to the idea of being an object of desire. Or rather, tries to convince Willow that being the object of desire -- being attractive and showing off her body -- will make things better; will make Xander freak. Buffy is not dressing Willow in ways that will actually express what Willow wants to express about herself -- because Willow, seemingly, has no say about it. So it is all about being attractive to others, which is something Buffy knows men value and knows is socially valued. We're two episodes after the Eskimo costume in Inca Mummy Girl. Willow has a side that likes sexual attention -- if we take VampWillow's domme outfit as any indication -- but it's not something she's willing to own yet, perhaps because she hasn't yet figured out what her own sexual desires are. I'm not sure if I read her unwillingness to go out in the sexy clothes as being about discomfort with her body. I think it's more that she doesn't want to be seen as participating in a sexual way of life. Don't be wild! I think the fear is of misrepresenting herself, of trying the wild thing and doing it wrong. And of course Willow doesn't like being exposed, in the metaphor -- she wants to hide! -- but I don't know how much that desire to hide plays in with the gender roles itself.

So at the episode's end, Oz sees Willow who has gained confidence in her abilities as a leader, and in a position where people do look at her, and notice her. What's interesting is that she hasn't had people be *attracted* to her -- well, maybe Giles! What I think happens that makes her confident in her outfit is that she doesn't seem anymore to care whether people look. It's like, she is able to deal with the fact that other people perceive her, and they can think what they want. She doesn't see Oz looking at her, and so isn't happy that he thinks she's hot -- but one expects that she'd be able to deal with the idea of being perceived by others. I guess it's all interesting -- does being a sexual person mean you first have to accept the idea of being an object of desire? Is this more true of women than of men? Willow is an object of Oz' desire and interest before she meets him. My feeling is that in terms of her character arc, she needs to pass through this point before she can be willing to enter into a real relationship (as opposed to the pining for Xander who probably won't return her affections).

But yeah -- I can't quite make it all work in a gender framework. I mean, it's obviously all about sexuality which is about gender and there are interesting things there. Obviously I should have taken more time to think about this rather than just writing this!