[meta] Dawn Summers: Fighting for an Alternative Feminist Narrative (2)
What, you think I never watched you?
The Transformative Power of Watching and Voyeurism in the Buffyverse[Herein lies the actual presentation as submitted]The character of Dawn Summers, introduced in the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, acts as a fan of the story she is on the fringes on. She has her own tv-boyfriend (Xander), her own OTP (one true pairing - Willow/Tara), her own ( Read more... )
One common - and ridiculous - complaint regarding female characters in other pop culture vampire narratives is: “Why did it take her so long to figure it out?”
YES UGHHHHHH THIS COMPLAINT IS SO STUPID TO ME.
It is one thing to read Simone de Beauvoir or bell hooks in a classroom or even in one’s room while scribbling furious notes or blogging about the beauty of Feminism - it is quite another to not laugh at sexists jokes, to not make them, to not engage in basic slut-shaming, or to stop judging oneself against Michelle Trachtenburg’s impossibly thin frame.
This is so true and gut-punchy.
Regardless, Dawn fights to get back to the battle and when she gets there:
She kicks Buffy in the shin.
Dawn’s narrative is no longer about being marginalized
YES YES YES. POSSIBLY THE BEST DAWN MOMENT EVER? And the idea that she WOULDN'T protest against having that decision forcibly taken away from her is ew.
Dawn’s narrative isn’t about choosing to embrace a given power (like Buffy’s), or learning to control a learned power (like Willow’s), or choosing to be special in order to help others (like Cordelia), it is simply to be the “normal girl” who chooses to fight anyway.
Yep. Dawn has no special powers, but she does have autonomy. That's it in a nutshell.
... This is not an intelligent comment at all, but suffice it to say that I love everything this post chooses to be and I'm glad you exist.
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Oh, cool. Somehow I'd never thought of Dawn as a "fan" in that way. But of course, that analogy is so apt.
I'm so very glad! ((It's the basis for my thesis!))
YES UGHHHHHH THIS COMPLAINT IS SO STUPID TO ME.
Everyone laughed at this when I presented. It was delightful.
Yep. Dawn has no special powers, but she does have autonomy. That's it in a nutshell.
Exactly. She may not be "just a girl" in the sense that ... I don't think anyone would be comfortable being told that's all they are. But the text sure does try to make it seem like this is all she is. And then it doesn't. It completely subverts itself.
She's just like us - she was written by someone else, her role determined for her, and she says "Fuck you" louder than anyone else in this series ever does (on their own, just for themselves).
... This is not an intelligent comment at all, but suffice it to say that I love everything this post chooses to be and I'm glad you exist.
This is a perfect comment and BLESS YOU for talking about this with me. Dawn makes me so blessedly happy.
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