The Feminist Filter: Becoming 1

[gabrielleabelle]

Well, my hiatus was fun. And by "fun" I mean "holy shit so busy!" I've missed fandom stuff, though, so I offer this up before the court in the spirit of fun and feminism. :)

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

Comments

[boot_the_grime]

Before thinking of answers and other smart things to say, I have to ask, how did you get to the score of 2 dead boys and 1 dead girl? Do you count vampires getting dusted? The vampire who immolated herself was female, so that would make at least 2 dead women, counting Kendra?

[gabrielleabelle]

Demons do not count unless we've seen them in more than one episode.

[rebcake]

Since institutionalized sexism is most annoying to me, I'm going to go with the Dru/Angel scene. Like many young women through the ages, Dru isn't socialized to stand up for herself. She's supposed to be obedient to her parents, perhaps other people that are her elders, etc. But the extra layer of the church treating her like a child unable to judge matters for herself (forgive me, father) creates a perfect victim. (Of course the actual, male, priest was a victim, too.) Her whole life has made her ripe for the plucking by an undeserving monster like Angelus

[gabrielleabelle]

Fantastic point. :)

[itsnotmymind]

If she had been part of a culture/belief system that celebrated strong women with gifts (pagans, Quakers) she might have been able to make a go of it.

In fairness, Joan of Arc came from a Catholic tradition, and some pagan cultures (the ancient Greeks and Romans come to mind) could be very anti-woman, even if they had special gifts (in a lot of versions of he Trojan War myth, Cassandra ends up raped, enslaved, and then murdered simply because she was enslaved concubine of the wrong man).

[rebcake]

I was actually thinking of Joan of Arc as a person who didn't thrive under the Catholic church, which burned her at the stake as a witch in spite of her service, piety, and achievements.

Cassandra wasn't exactly popular in Troy, but if she hadn't become spoils of war, she probably wouldn't have met such a horrible end.

I am rethinking this though. If Dru had successfully entered the convent, she could have made a go of things within those walls and lived to a ripe old age. A tradition of religious ecstasy and other weirdness would have been understood and tolerated better in that all-female environment. As long as she never tried for power outside those walls, she might have been "safe". Female institutions (colleges, quilting bees, convents) for the win!

Friday March 16th, 2012

[livejournal]

User audela referenced to your post from Friday March 16th, 2012 saying: [...] looks at Becoming, Part 1 [...]

[kikimay]

I'm very interested in the dynamic between Dru and Angelus, but also I'm attracted in Buffy/Angel

[gabrielleabelle]

Your English is fine. :)

But, what I'm trying to say (and I'm really sorry for my english!) is that Angel/us is basically the same: attracted to a young girl, almost in a predatory way.
As Angelus - without soul - he can be sadistic, violent and oppressive, as Angel - with soul - I can't harm the girl, but at the same time he's obsessed with her.

I love this thought. I'm gonna have to mull it over.

[itsnotmymind]

As Angelus - without soul - he can be sadistic, violent and oppressive, as Angel - with soul - I can't harm the girl, but at the same time he's obsessed with her.

Oh, yeah. This. As Willow said to Buffy in Passion, "You're still the only thing he thinks about."

Dru is forever helpless, forever bonded to this sadistic male.

I have mixed feelings about this one because on the one hand, it is true: Dru loses her mind, and forever feels devotion towards her sadistic sire.

But latter retcons complicate this interpretation. We learn in the Angel episode Dear Boy that Angel turned her into a vampire because he wanted to cause her eternal torment--and yet, Dru is happy as a vampire. Her very joy in her nature defies Angel's intentions for her. And in Darla and Fool For Love, we learned that it was she, not Angel, who sired Spike. She is a creator in her own right, choosing for her own reasons her partner of...how long were she and Spike together? A century and a half?

So I'm conflicted.

[kikimay]

I understand, but I think that we have to question first this: can a woman so crazy be really happy?
I mean, she's in a delicate state of mind, I don't believe that she feels the same way as Darla, for example, who is perfecly happy with her partner.
Also, Dru is still a demon, a mad demon with second sight, I believe that her prospective is seriously compromise. In some ways she adores Angelus because now he's her new god and, like a child, she knows how to worship a god.
But I do understand your point of view. I thinks it's really interesting and difficult to understand Drusilla's emotions towards Angel/us.

[kikimay]

Oh well, I forgot an important thing!

People around her just think "oh well, that's Drusilla" and aren't particularly upset

That doesn't mean anything.
There are many parents, many families with absolutely no clue about their sons mental issues. If the people around don't understand your trouble, doesn't mean that your fine.
We see that in Season Six, when Buffy's depressed: Giles and the others don't understand her state of mind, but that doesn't mean that she's fine.

[boot_the_grime]

That's not what I meant. I wouldn't use the word "crazy" for every mental illness or disorder, e.g. I wouldn't call depressed people "crazy" and I don't think that's what people mean when they use the word. Drusilla is mentally ill, but she is a functioning individual, she may hear voices but they don't make her try to kill Spike, Angelus or Darla. She is in control of her actions, she just has certain patterns of speech and behavior and awkwardness in social interaction (either not understanding or not caring that others don't understand some of the things she said). But she can communicate with others in a satisfactory way. And since a lot of those weird things she says may actually make perfect sense with someone with a gift like hers, I wonder if it's not a little like being a genius physicist surrounded by people who don't understand what you're talking about. I'm not an expert, but at times she seems more like, say, someone with Asperger's syndrome/high-functioning autistic person, than like someone suffering from psychosis. Let

[mikeda]

She also occasionally plays off against her own image.

As in the currently discussed episode, where she makes a "mysterious pronouncement" on something she actually read about in the newspaper.

[kikimay]

Well, the fact is that we see Dru wasn't crazy as human. She was healthy, as far as we know, and she *became* crazy after Angelus stalked her. I don't know much about asperger's syndrome but I think it's a genetic condition. Drusilla became crazy, so I tend to exclude autism or asperger.
Plus, maybe thirty years ago, a person with anxiety or depression would be considerated "crazy" by his community. That word doesn't define too much and often is used as a way to insult people.
I don't wanna go Off Topic and I hope I understand the meaning of your post. Still, your objections about Drusilla's state of mind are valid. I wish to know more.