Women in the Jossverse

Apr 22, 2016 16:09

I review a lot and tend to get wordy. While doing a review the character of Lilah came up and I started to reply to the authors response but as it got longer and more off topic decided to post it here instead. I wonder if other saw the same things I did or if I've misread the subtext, missed something that others have caught ( Read more... )

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Comments 33

double_dutchess April 25 2016, 00:29:21 UTC
I don't have time to post any deep observations (or any at all, really) but I just wanted to say "thank you" for this post -- great points, and lots of food for thought!

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nightlady_lj April 26 2016, 17:25:37 UTC
I've never thought myself that Buffy (the show) is 'feminist', some time ago I had a heated debate on this topic in an Italian forum and I was attacked by other members because I dared to express this opinion so I'm really glad to discover that others think the same! I believe it was Whedon himself to label the show as feminist and that was what started the reputation. I'm not saying it's against women (what's the opposite of feminist?) just that feminism to me is something else. It doesn't matter how many female characters are in a show imo About their strenghts you have a point, or several, in saying that too many of these strenghts are of the supernatural kind and some come from men: Buffy empowered by the Shadow's Men, Anya empowered by D'Hoffryn, Cordelia by Doyle, Darla by the Master, and so on ( ... )

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cloudstarmoon April 26 2016, 18:32:01 UTC

This is exactly why I always had trouble with S7-- I could tell they were attempting to do an empowerment thing, and that the last spell was meant to be an empowerment metaphor, but it fell apart for me because it was only the pre-selected "elite" who were empowered by the spell. Not very egalitarian, so for me it fell flat. I think the thing that made the show great in the early years was that Buffy empowered normal people (i.e. S3 finale).

Sorry that became a bit of an S7 rant-- you make a lot of great points! I think it is a shame more wasn't done with the idea of normal women being heroic, but, there's always fanfic.

Thanks for the thoughtful post!

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nmcil12 May 1 2016, 18:37:33 UTC
On the "ready to be strong" - on this one point I have to disagree with you - the metaphor/symbolism was intended, IMHO, as the final statement on one the fundamental themes of the series, if not The Fundamental theme - Find Your Inner Hero and Find your Strengths to make your own path and life. Take control of who and what you are is what made the Spike transformation story the most powerful in all the Whedonverse ( ... )

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