Comments on: BtVS for girlpower http://www.mp285.com/2007/05/videos-for-girlpower/ wide world. in a web. Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:47:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Anonymous http://www.mp285.com/2007/05/videos-for-girlpower/#comment-8 Anonymous Fri, 18 May 2007 03:08:08 +0000 http://mp285.com/2007/videos-for-girlpower/#comment-8 I disagree, I think that Buffy absolutely defeats Angel with her fighting skills, and that the show is very invested in making that point. The ultimate girl power moment is when she's crouching in a corner and Angel is taunting her. "No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what's left?" "Me," she says, and stops his sword with her bare hands and her eyes closed. This is an important idea to the show, that Buffy possesses an essential strength of character; her power comes straight from herself and her belief in herself. I disagree, I think that Buffy absolutely defeats Angel with her fighting skills, and that the show is very invested in making that point. The ultimate girl power moment is when she’s crouching in a corner and Angel is taunting her. “No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what’s left?” “Me,” she says, and stops his sword with her bare hands and her eyes closed. This is an important idea to the show, that Buffy possesses an essential strength of character; her power comes straight from herself and her belief in herself.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.mp285.com/2007/05/videos-for-girlpower/#comment-7 Anonymous Thu, 17 May 2007 06:14:39 +0000 http://mp285.com/2007/videos-for-girlpower/#comment-7 I find the 'she has to be alone' theme interesting, because it seems like even when she tries to be, she never really can be. For one, she needs her team to back her up (just like Sydney needs hers in order to succeed on her missions): Giles to be the Watcher, Willow to perform the spell that turns Angel back in the second clip, as well as Spike to give her a pep talk in the first clip. She needs these people in order to succeed (just like Sydney needs Vaughn, Dixon, Marshall, etc.), somewhat diminishing her role as the One. I wonder how much of this is meant to soften her image as a 'girl power' figure. In her fight with Angel, she doesn't defeat Evil Angel with her fighting skills; rather, she deceives him once he's turned back to normal and literally stabs him in the heart and banishes him to another realm. And that deception lies in her sexuality and their romantic relationship. And then she cries (she also cries in the first clip, in which Spike is very fatherly towards her). I wonder if we would see a male hero ever feel so much angst about emotional attachment to people and cry so much about that angst. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing (we do want our heroes to be compassionate human beings, after all), but I highly doubt it would happen if Buffy were a boy. I find the ‘she has to be alone’ theme interesting, because it seems like even when she tries to be, she never really can be. For one, she needs her team to back her up (just like Sydney needs hers in order to succeed on her missions): Giles to be the Watcher, Willow to perform the spell that turns Angel back in the second clip, as well as Spike to give her a pep talk in the first clip. She needs these people in order to succeed (just like Sydney needs Vaughn, Dixon, Marshall, etc.), somewhat diminishing her role as the One.

I wonder how much of this is meant to soften her image as a ‘girl power’ figure. In her fight with Angel, she doesn’t defeat Evil Angel with her fighting skills; rather, she deceives him once he’s turned back to normal and literally stabs him in the heart and banishes him to another realm. And that deception lies in her sexuality and their romantic relationship. And then she cries (she also cries in the first clip, in which Spike is very fatherly towards her). I wonder if we would see a male hero ever feel so much angst about emotional attachment to people and cry so much about that angst. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing (we do want our heroes to be compassionate human beings, after all), but I highly doubt it would happen if Buffy were a boy.

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