The Feminist Filter: Faith, Hope, and Trick

[gabrielleabelle]

Have fun with it, guys! Remember to make your comments relevant to gender! :)

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 series from a feminist framework so

Comments

[pocochina]

There's a connection that I'm kind of struggling to articulate between Faith's working-class presentation and her matter-of-fact discussion of appetites (hungry and horny). It ends up being a pretty poignant illustration of the invisibility of privilege: someone in Buffy's position can take her basic needs for granted and doesn't need to talk about them, while Faith has those needs at the top of her mind because she is concerned about being able to meet them.

Which isn't a judgment on Buffy, of course. They should both be able to take those things for granted. But the other characters are pretty insistent on distancing themselves from it. Xander is somewhat an exception to this, part of which is doubtless about his attraction to Faith, but I'd argue is also a part of his own class background - working-class status so far has been represented by one of the male characters.

It's a pretty stark contrast that Buffy gets "missy" and "schoolgirl," which are terms that refer to youth; Faith is a "broad," with its connotations of age and experience. She doesn't look any older than Buffy, but there's this idea of girlhood as simultaneously a luxury and something that can be used to discredit someone.

[lynnenne]

There's a connection that I'm kind of struggling to articulate between Faith's working-class presentation and her matter-of-fact discussion of appetites (hungry and horny). It ends up being a pretty poignant illustration of the invisibility of privilege: someone in Buffy's position can take her basic needs for granted and doesn't need to talk about them, while Faith has those needs at the top of her mind because she is concerned about being able to meet them.

Oh, that's really interesting! I had never looked at it that way before, but you're absolutely right. Excellent observation.

[itsnotmymind]

It's a pretty stark contrast that Buffy gets "missy" and "schoolgirl," which are terms that refer to youth; Faith is a "broad," with its connotations of age and experience. She doesn't look any older than Buffy, but there's this idea of girlhood as simultaneously a luxury and something that can be used to discredit someone.

That's a good point.

[hello_spikey]

oo yes. THIS.

And the common trope that lower classes "grow up faster".