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

Comments

[boot_the_grime]

In having Buffy turn into a eighteenth century lady, this episode proceeds to play it for humor and then uses it to damselize Buffy. Within the larger metaphor of the episode, this is a commentary on femininity, which Buffy is shown to be concerned about at the beginning. Does this episode end up denigrating femininity?It is very problematic. On one hand, they are mocking the stereotype - Buffy is not necessarily acting like real women acted in 18th century, she is wearing the costume and becoming the costume. The women in those days had to do the same, to fit into a certain gender role. But then Angel seems to reinforce the idea that women (or at least noblewomen) were really all like that

[doublemeat]

Buffy is not necessarily acting like real women acted in 18th century, she is wearing the costume and becoming the costume.

The writers seemed to go back and forth on this. At first it's obviously intended as caricature, especially Buffy's and Xander's in-costume dialogue; later on, though, we have Angel essentially confirming that Buffy's costume persona was historically accurate, and Xander getting genuine military expertise.

[samsom]

Angel essentially confirming that Buffy's costume persona was historically accurate,

yeah, but the way Lady!Buffy spotlights the so-called beliefs of the day with her very self-aware observations like "you would take orders from a woman, are you feeble in some way?" make me think the writers HAD to be satirizing it. I'm not sure a lot of ladies of that era (for the most part) were that consciously aware of their own second-classery.

[doublemeat]

Yep. The dialogue is so over-the-top, completely satirical. But later that perception is directly contradicted by Angel. It's just sort of sloppy writing IMO. Unless they were trying to show Angel as really stupid and misogynistic.

[samsom]

It's just sort of sloppy writing IMO.

This was probably the culprit, since I've always found Angel's remarks to be way too simplistic for his later characterization. He tried very hard to conceal a lot of his past from Buffy. To tell her he 'hated' the noblewomen of his day seems...overly emotional and share-y, and kind juvenile. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say except that "hate" was a weird word to choose.

Unless he was being less than truthful with her to make her feel better about who she was?

[local_max]

I forget -- when did Angel confirm that Buffy's costume was accurate? My general take is that since Angel is playing a long-game seduction on Buffy here -- not even in a deliberately cruel way or anything, it's just the only way Angel knows how to interact with people at this point. So I think it works to Angel's advantage to say basically, "Yes, the women back in the day were as shallow and stupid as you remember yourself being, and you are so much better."

[doublemeat]

He says, in the last scene, something to the effect that he "hated" the noblewomen of his own time, because they were "simpering morons".

So I think it works to Angel's advantage to say basically, "Yes, the women back in the day were as shallow and stupid as you remember yourself being, and you are so much better."

Making nasty generalizations about women, then contrasting a specific woman to that generalization in order to score points with her... whatta guy.

This is why I have a hard time writing about Angel.

[ceciliaj]

Nurses, nannies, midwives, governesses were also traditional jobs for females, and there's of course the job of the mother and housewife which was never considered a job but was extremely important.

Yeah, and it's interesting that the Scoobies were actually engaged in semi-voluntary childcare in the regular timeline of the episode, something they're shown to be fairly good at (not that it's so hard to watch kids for two hours, but still).

[gabrielleabelle]

Excellent points. :)