The Feminist Filter: Faith, Hope, and Trick

[gabrielleabelle]

Have fun with it, guys! Remember to make your comments relevant to gender! :)

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 series from a feminist framework so

Comments

[blamegame]

In the commentary included on the DVD's it says that Faith is suppose to be the "Dark Slayer" or Buffy without the support system (family, friends, money) that we are told is one of the things that set her apart from other Slayers

[lynnenne]

It's interesting how if Faith is her evil twin, then

Evil = Poor.
Evil = Product of abusive and alcoholic parents.
Evil = Sexual.
Evil = Uneducated.

Can you think of other character in the series just like that? The answer is Xander, but hey, Xander is a guy, he can be all that, but that does not make him evil. It just make him expendable.

Great observation. It is pretty troubling.

[trovia]

This is such an interesting observation. It particularly got me thinking, because when I read people's comments on Faith and her attitude vs. her background, my mind immediately jumped to a comparison between her and a character from another show, the new Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck. And I thought, all those observations about Faith apply to her too, except for how she's not poor or uneducated. Then again, she's not evil - but she's unstable, and parallels are drawn between her habit of sleeping around and her background as a child of an abusive alcoholic (particularly striking because, it's a remake of an old show where Starbuck was a man. Who also slept around. But male Starbuck was more like a Captain Kirk, and getting laid all the time made him cool. And he had no background of abuse. So for the man it's okay and for a woman, it has to be explained with an abusive past. She can't just be like that without cause

[hello_spikey]

Never saw Xander as poor - he occupies the same privileged suburban space as the other characters, and he TAKES the SAT at all - so his failure there is individualized.

Actually... I could write a whole thousand pages ranting just on Xander's working-class-ish arc with its clear privilege. (And utter lack of understanding of the construction industry).

On topic - you're right that Xander can do all the things Faith does and get away with them, because being focused on appetites and being promiscuous are considered male traits, with much less of a class element to them.

[pocochina]

There's a connection that I'm kind of struggling to articulate between Faith's working-class presentation and her matter-of-fact discussion of appetites (hungry and horny). It ends up being a pretty poignant illustration of the invisibility of privilege: someone in Buffy's position can take her basic needs for granted and doesn't need to talk about them, while Faith has those needs at the top of her mind because she is concerned about being able to meet them

[lynnenne]

There's a connection that I'm kind of struggling to articulate between Faith's working-class presentation and her matter-of-fact discussion of appetites (hungry and horny). It ends up being a pretty poignant illustration of the invisibility of privilege: someone in Buffy's position can take her basic needs for granted and doesn't need to talk about them, while Faith has those needs at the top of her mind because she is concerned about being able to meet them.

Oh, that's really interesting! I had never looked at it that way before, but you're absolutely right. Excellent observation.

[itsnotmymind]

It's a pretty stark contrast that Buffy gets "missy" and "schoolgirl," which are terms that refer to youth; Faith is a "broad," with its connotations of age and experience. She doesn't look any older than Buffy, but there's this idea of girlhood as simultaneously a luxury and something that can be used to discredit someone.

That's a good point.

[hello_spikey]

oo yes. THIS.

And the common trope that lower classes "grow up faster".

[kikimay]

I never liked Faith so much, especially in S3. Maybe this meta would be a chance to understand her better.
About the Cordelia's comment: hair are a tool for seduction. Men and mostly women are supposed to take particular care of their hair, especially when they become grey. Coloured hair rappresent beauty, but also youth and so fertility. In many greek ancient poems, the poet actually tell the girl (or the boy) to enjoy sexuality and to accept the poet's love before her/his hair become grey.

[gabrielleabelle]

Oh, interesting!

[itsnotmymind]

It's really striking that the episode where Faith shows up is the episode with all these female sexuality = BAAAD comments. I never noticed that before.

Point to consider 1: Faith doesn't bother trying to be a "good" girl (i.e., someone who craves low-fat yogurt and not sex). Perhaps this is because, as a lower-class girl, the role of ideal perfect girl is something that simply isn't available to her, no matter what she does. So there's no point in trying to live up to that ideal.

Point to consider 4: That is a skeevy line. I suspect the writers would have had a white character say that line.

[gabrielleabelle]

Point to consider 1: Faith doesn't bother trying to be a "good" girl (i.e., someone who craves low-fat yogurt and not sex). Perhaps this is because, as a lower-class girl, the role of ideal perfect girl is something that simply isn't available to her, no matter what she does. So there's no point in trying to live up to that ideal.

*nods* Good point.

Point to consider 4: That is a skeevy line. I suspect the writers would have had a white character say that line.

I don't know about that. Human trafficking, in particular, is often committed by people of the same ethnicity/nationality as the people they're trafficking.

[hello_spikey]

I've always been bugged by the way Buffy focuses entirely on the upper middle class, creating this insulated world where no one actually HAS to work... but that's TV in general. I digress. I meant to talk about Faith, and the way that Faith is portrayed echoing the trope that lower-class women are more promiscuous, while upper class women like Buffy are reserved and constantly on a diet. (Hence the low fat yogurt comment not only reflects different eating habits but also an assumed aura of repression for the more affluent woman.)

[gabrielleabelle]

I've always been bugged by the way Buffy focuses entirely on the upper middle class, creating this insulated world where no one actually HAS to work... but that's TV in general.

Though then we get S6 where money becomes an issue and Buffy has to get a crappy job at a fast food place. The show is a bit inconsistent in that.

(Hence the low fat yogurt comment not only reflects different eating habits but also an assumed aura of repression for the more affluent woman.)

Definitely.

[red_satin_doll]

Though then we get S6 where money becomes an issue and Buffy has to get a crappy job at a fast food place. The show is a bit inconsistent in that.And as blamegame notes above, it's inconsistent with that in terms of Xander as well. But then again, I'm used to that with American TV, which SUCKS, generally in dealing with class issues, and how people make their living (or at least my memories of watching TV from the '70's - '90's); but I remember wondering how Buffy's mom was able to live in a house like that, and how she was able to keep it, take care of herself and Buffy whilst working in an art gallery. (Did she own it or just work there? That's never made clear, and an art gallery isn't a huge money-producer. Ergo the sense that what Joyce does for work isn't really "work", it's frivolous, and of course art is a product meant to be purchased by the rich and upper-class.) Part of the answer would be that Buffy's dad pays child support (aside from whatever settlement Joyce got in the divorce) but that's never mentioned. By