Thoughts being thinky.
First of all, a link to a funny list of Every Argument About Buffy on the Internet. An example:
Spuffy Is Problematic
Bangel Is A Child’s Delusion Of What Love Is
Spuffy Is Literally Assault
Okay But He Felt Really Bad About It And Didn’t Have A Soul
Second, I do hope you are following the rewatch we are doing at fantas_magoria - yesterday we reached School Hard. You know you want to read what was said about it. There are pictures.
This made me think a bit about Sheila, the Bad Girl(TM) who shares the wrath of Snyder at the start of the episode. She's a one-episode character, though she runs away after Buffy fights her and kills a passing vamp, so she could have returned. Just didn't.
We know she's a Bad Girl(TM) because we see her sneering and chewing gum in Snyder's office. (Should he really be threatening expulsion without contacting the parents first?) She is dressed pretty much in the sort of garments Buffy wore in S1, though she wears them with more Bad Girl(TM) attitude. She slumps in her seat, while Buffy sits bolt upright. While our Slayer is eager to please and appease Snyder, Sheila signals a total absence of damn-giving. Then we learn that she attacked a teacher with pruning shears. Clearly Bad Girl(TM) material.
More evidence as the Scoobies leave school - Sheila was smoking in sixth grade (age 10?) and Willow had to act as her lookout. It seems the girl has a long and distinguished reputation to live down to. She blows off Buffy's solemn attempts to plan the decorations and stuff when she sees "Meat Pie", a blond guy who looks older than her and with whom she is rapidly canoodling. So unlike our own dear Buffy.
Except, of course, it's not. Sheila is beefier than Buffy, but otherwise is in many ways an inverted reflection of her - even to the significantly older and apparently unsuitable male love interest. Her dress sense is not mine, but isn't actually that bad. We see her apparently hung over, later, and apparently she frequents a different club, seedier than the Bronze (at which you may well blink) and where it would appear they serve alcohol to minors more readily.
Later we see her picking up two young men, walking with them to some sort of rendezvous, before Spike makes them permanently sleepy with punctures to their necks. (The lad can clearly drink very quickly when he's in a hurry.) He is creepy but sexy as hell in his come-on to her, which leaves her wanting more. Can we really, truly blame her?
When we next see her she is bound, gagged and utterly terrified, watching Spike and Dru flirt before being handed over as a bedtime snack while Spike goes to get chanty. Dru seems, rather randomly, to have sired her, in a very swift operation, as she has risen and become on of Spike's minions within less than 24 hours. Perhaps Dru just has a talent for speed-siring? It takes longer with Darla, but Dru was trying to do that one properly, after all.
We don't see much of Sheila, I know, but what we do see makes me wonder. She seems desperate for validation by males - she may be all swagger, but in the alley she is very uncomfortable when she feels abandoned. On leaving school, after an unpleasant interview with the Principal, she rushes straight to the arms of a strong male, who seems to be good at comforting her. She seems to me to be desperately in need of belonging somewhere or to someone, and her violence, binge drinking, apparent readiness to be promiscuous and attitude all spell a deep insecurity. A dry run for Faith, who is drawn in much more detail, yes. But is this also an instance of slut-shaming and stereotyping, a girl who is doomed to be Bad from the start, if only because the class markers signify someone from way beyond the wrong side of the tracks? Should we even feel sorry for her, a girl who lacks Buffy's Chosenness but is using quite a few of the same techniques of violence and intimidation in order to attempt to keep her head above water?
Final though from School Hard - is Spike racist when he won't feed off the one token person of colour in the school hall? When he says he's more a "veal man", is it just age he means, or colour too? He's truly evil at this point, after all.
Thoughts, anyone?
Spuffy Is Problematic
Bangel Is A Child’s Delusion Of What Love Is
Spuffy Is Literally Assault
Okay But He Felt Really Bad About It And Didn’t Have A Soul
Second, I do hope you are following the rewatch we are doing at fantas_magoria - yesterday we reached School Hard. You know you want to read what was said about it. There are pictures.
This made me think a bit about Sheila, the Bad Girl(TM) who shares the wrath of Snyder at the start of the episode. She's a one-episode character, though she runs away after Buffy fights her and kills a passing vamp, so she could have returned. Just didn't.
We know she's a Bad Girl(TM) because we see her sneering and chewing gum in Snyder's office. (Should he really be threatening expulsion without contacting the parents first?) She is dressed pretty much in the sort of garments Buffy wore in S1, though she wears them with more Bad Girl(TM) attitude. She slumps in her seat, while Buffy sits bolt upright. While our Slayer is eager to please and appease Snyder, Sheila signals a total absence of damn-giving. Then we learn that she attacked a teacher with pruning shears. Clearly Bad Girl(TM) material.
More evidence as the Scoobies leave school - Sheila was smoking in sixth grade (age 10?) and Willow had to act as her lookout. It seems the girl has a long and distinguished reputation to live down to. She blows off Buffy's solemn attempts to plan the decorations and stuff when she sees "Meat Pie", a blond guy who looks older than her and with whom she is rapidly canoodling. So unlike our own dear Buffy.
Except, of course, it's not. Sheila is beefier than Buffy, but otherwise is in many ways an inverted reflection of her - even to the significantly older and apparently unsuitable male love interest. Her dress sense is not mine, but isn't actually that bad. We see her apparently hung over, later, and apparently she frequents a different club, seedier than the Bronze (at which you may well blink) and where it would appear they serve alcohol to minors more readily.
Later we see her picking up two young men, walking with them to some sort of rendezvous, before Spike makes them permanently sleepy with punctures to their necks. (The lad can clearly drink very quickly when he's in a hurry.) He is creepy but sexy as hell in his come-on to her, which leaves her wanting more. Can we really, truly blame her?
When we next see her she is bound, gagged and utterly terrified, watching Spike and Dru flirt before being handed over as a bedtime snack while Spike goes to get chanty. Dru seems, rather randomly, to have sired her, in a very swift operation, as she has risen and become on of Spike's minions within less than 24 hours. Perhaps Dru just has a talent for speed-siring? It takes longer with Darla, but Dru was trying to do that one properly, after all.
We don't see much of Sheila, I know, but what we do see makes me wonder. She seems desperate for validation by males - she may be all swagger, but in the alley she is very uncomfortable when she feels abandoned. On leaving school, after an unpleasant interview with the Principal, she rushes straight to the arms of a strong male, who seems to be good at comforting her. She seems to me to be desperately in need of belonging somewhere or to someone, and her violence, binge drinking, apparent readiness to be promiscuous and attitude all spell a deep insecurity. A dry run for Faith, who is drawn in much more detail, yes. But is this also an instance of slut-shaming and stereotyping, a girl who is doomed to be Bad from the start, if only because the class markers signify someone from way beyond the wrong side of the tracks? Should we even feel sorry for her, a girl who lacks Buffy's Chosenness but is using quite a few of the same techniques of violence and intimidation in order to attempt to keep her head above water?
Final though from School Hard - is Spike racist when he won't feed off the one token person of colour in the school hall? When he says he's more a "veal man", is it just age he means, or colour too? He's truly evil at this point, after all.
Thoughts, anyone?