The Feminist Filter: Reptile Boy

[gabrielleabelle]

So, I'd hoped to have my Riley meta ready today, but it's gonna take me some more time to get that finished and presentable (Riley, why so difficult?). So instead, let's do up some feminist discussion on Reptile Boy. :)

Mission Statement:This series is intended to outline the feminist text of each episode so as to provoke and encourage open

Comments

[eowyn_315]

Yeah, this one's kind of tough to sort out because some of the overt misogyny is obviously intentional, but Giles and Xander's comments are seemingly supposed to be taken at face value. And the actual messages about exploitation and objectification of women lose their meaning somewhat when the "good guys" are just as sexist as the dudes sacrificing women to a demon, albeit much more subtly sexist

[gabrielleabelle]

Then again, we see that the "nice one," Tom, is actually the most dangerous frat boy of all, so maybe it IS intentional that the good guys are also sexist?

Very possible. On the other hand, I think the larger subversion of the Buffy/Angel dynamic (specifically, the younger girl/older guy dynamic that this episode presents with Tom) requires that Giles, at least, be right. Buffy was being foolish and playing with fire by going to a frat party and drinking and her lesson is learned by almost being sexually assaulted and almost being sacrificed to a snake monster. Likewise, Buffy's gonna be foolish and play with fire in her relationship with Angel and by having sex with him and her lesson is learned when he loses her soul and starts killing people. (This is not me endorsing this message, but it seems to be what the show is presenting

[eowyn_315]

Likewise, Buffy's gonna be foolish and play with fire in her relationship with Angel and by having sex with him and her lesson is learned when he loses her soul and starts killing people.

Oh, but instead of lecturing her that time, Giles is supportive and tells her it's not her fault, she couldn't have known - essentially the exact opposite of what he says here. I'm not actually sure what to DO with that observation, but there it is.

[gabrielleabelle]

Good point. I'm not sure what to do with that, either. Huh.

[pocochina]

He does feel the need to get in that jibe about her having "acted rashly," which is a soft-pedaled way of saying "you should have known better." I think it's still an overall admirable moment for the character and the show, but it contains that same judgment, that OF COURSE she should have assumed that doing anything even vaguely sexual would have miserable consequences, and therefore whatever happens is her fault.

Again, I don't think it's what he means to say in Innocence, but that strain of thought is still there, and I'd say it bothers me more where it's convincingly couched in genuine concern, rather than the way it's shown as blunt and mean here.

[eowyn_315]

He does feel the need to get in that jibe about her having "acted rashly," which is a soft-pedaled way of saying "you should have known better."

Yeah, Giles is weirdly contradictory there. He basically says, "Do you want me to tell you it's your fault? Because it is! But you couldn't have known what would happen, so it's not your fault."

I really don't know what to do with that, except to assume that Angel has some sort of STD and Giles meant the "rash" thing literally.

[norwie2010]

Ew.

[frelling_tralk]

I do think it can be taken as explicit criticism of the Buffy/Angel relationship, with Angel as the dangerous older man. I go back and forth on the "taking advantage" issue.

And it's interesting that Reptile Boy has the scene when Angel IS struggling not take take advantage, and making the valid point that he is over 200 years older than Buffy. But then Willow yells at Angel for not asking Buffy out for coffee, and it ends on Angel asking Buffy out as she says she'll let him know and walks away smiling. I'm not sure what the message is there exactly, but it seems to be that Angel should have asked Buffy out sooner than he did?

And the final scene seems to want to leave the audiene with the lingering feeling that Buffy is now the one in control as she's the one telling Angel she'll let him know. But it's hard to really see that final scene as empowering for the B/A relationship when Angel already knows how desperately Buffy does want to date him. "When you kiss me I want to die" comes from this episode after all

[eowyn_315]

Yeah, also a bit convoluted, haha

[frelling_tralk]

you're right that Angel already knows how desperately Buffy wants to date him, so it's not like he's really worried she's going to say no. So it's a false sense of empowerment, kinda. Buffy's "I'll let you know" also comes across to me as quite similar to School Hard with Buffy telling Angel that she was just playing it cool and doesn't he get that about women by now which, as gabrielleabelle said in that entry, "play along the cultural beliefs of "men are from mars; women are from venus". The whole playing hard to get belief does come up as criticism with Tom calling Richard on it when he assumes that that's what a female must be doing if she's not returning his interest, but then the episode ends on Buffy pretending that she's less interested than she is in order to keep the guy more interested in her

[norwie2010]

Angel does treat Buffy in a very paternalistic way in this episode, but then if the only thing he gets called on is on his unwillingness to actually go through with asking Buffy out, then it seems like the episode kind of is ultimately showing approval of the B/A relationship?

I think it is the "teenager's victory on the dating front", a bit tongue in cheek. Approval of the B/A relationship has to be considered in light of the whole season, i think. While here it seems that B/A are "all that" - in hindsight we know that the authors rope the audience in for the ultimate shock of Angelus.

[eowyn_315]

but then the episode ends on Buffy pretending that she's less interested than she is in order to keep the guy more interested in her...

Yeah, true. But Angel totally deserves it. :-P

I do think that Reptile Boy, rather then using the older frat guys to criticize B/A, is intending more to contrast Angel being the ~perfect gentleman~ who has to be pushed into making a move.

Well, as Norwie says, this is all set-up for the Angelus reveal. Remember, Tom seemed like the ~perfect gentleman~ at the beginning of this episode, too. He's not like all the other frat guys. He's respectful and charming and treats Buffy like an adult. He gives Buffy a reason to trust him - which is exactly why he's the one to watch out for. Because you won't see it coming.

B/A is a long con. :)

late comment!

[angearia]

this one's kind of tough to sort out because some of the overt misogyny is obviously intentional, but Giles and Xander's comments are seemingly supposed to be taken at face value. And the actual messages about exploitation and objectification of women lose their meaning somewhat when the "good guys" are just as sexist as the dudes sacrificing women to a demon, albeit much more subtly sexist.Your pointing this out made me think back to the study Gabs posted a few days ago about hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. And I don't mean to ~target specific writers with labels, but it seems to me that some writers' work appears more aware of HS but less so of BS while other writers' work is more aware of both HS and BS. Frex, the credited writer of this episode, David Greenwalt's work strikes me as very aware of HS, but less so of BS (I'm thinking of AtS here). Where as Whedon (when he's solely credited) seems to do a bit better on the BS -- especially more as the years go by (I'm thinking of Pocochina's meta on Dollhouse and how the

Re: late comment!

[eowyn_315]

Could be. I confess, I usually don't pay much attention to who wrote which episode, but yeah, this does have the ~flavor of AtS sexism about it.