A Feminist Analysis Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Taking its origins from a poorly reviewed movie, the 1997 TV how by the same creator, Joss Whedon, brought to the screen a 16-year-old high school student whose destiny was to “stand against the vampires, the demons, the forces of darkness. She is the slayer” (Whedon, 1997). The introduction of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (BTVS), as a character, though not a new one, was revolutionary. Challenging the preconceptions of traditional horror, comedy, romance and teen movies, Whedon has created a character and a show that provide a postmodern, feminist hero for a generation of girls. With themes of monstrosity set up to represent human fears and the potential monstrosities of society itself, set up against a supernatural background, with the typically
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The show makes very few references to real world events, but instead incorporates the concept of intertextuality, referencing real world objects and people, that are more timeless. In I Only have eyes for you, Buffy says, “You just went OJ on your girlfriend”, referring to the trial of O.J. Simpson, and in Earshot, Xander refers to a student about to gun down the high school, to which Cordelia replies “Because that never happens in American high schools.” The main characters of Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles work to each of their strengths to defeat the villain of the deal, and the ‘big bad’-the villain of the season, referencing The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding or the Three Little Pigs. The gang call themselves ‘The Scoobies’, referring to Scooby Doo and his friends. This particular reference shows Whedon’s brilliance, in that it also incorporates the idea that the demons represent the fears and failings of society. In Scooby Doo episodes, the villain is unmasked, revealing a human underneath all along. In Buffy, though the demons are usually human, the fear that they entice and the chaos that ensues are very real, and very human. It shows the need for power and control. The idea of demons wanting to bring about the Apocalypse so often can be a reference to many religious tales of ‘cleansing’ the human race. The episode The Puppet Show references Kubrick’s The Shining, with the famous phrase “Redrum! Redrum”, and in Normal Again, Jonathan exclaims that he is ‘going Jack Torrance in
The show makes very few references to real world events, but instead incorporates the concept of intertextuality, referencing real world objects and people, that are more timeless. In I Only have eyes for you, Buffy says, “You just went OJ on your girlfriend”, referring to the trial of O.J. Simpson, and in Earshot, Xander refers to a student about to gun down the high school, to which Cordelia replies “Because that never happens in American high schools.” The main characters of Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles work to each of their strengths to defeat the villain of the deal, and the ‘big bad’-the villain of the season, referencing The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding or the Three Little Pigs. The gang call themselves ‘The Scoobies’, referring to Scooby Doo and his friends. This particular reference shows Whedon’s brilliance, in that it also incorporates the idea that the demons represent the fears and failings of society. In Scooby Doo episodes, the villain is unmasked, revealing a human underneath all along. In Buffy, though the demons are usually human, the fear that they entice and the chaos that ensues are very real, and very human. It shows the need for power and control. The idea of demons wanting to bring about the Apocalypse so often can be a reference to many religious tales of ‘cleansing’ the human race. The episode The Puppet Show references Kubrick’s The Shining, with the famous phrase “Redrum! Redrum”, and in Normal Again, Jonathan exclaims that he is ‘going Jack Torrance in