Buffy and Faith, would have they been weaker if they were equal?

[Faith 2019]

I have been told to start a new topic about Buffy and Faith. My argument, they would have been more weaker if and only if they were equal to each other. If they had the same identical moral view of the world. If they had the same character development, would the fans find them to be getting stronger or would the fans be looking at them getting weaker.

 

[thrasherpix]

Granted, I watch more animated shows than live action (though some of those are aimed at adults, sometimes even age restricted), but I see plenty of females, including a team of females (or mixed male/female) do just fine, each with their own story that includes one of friendship with the others. There isn't "we must make them fight" (unless it's either comedy or a soap opera, though Buffy was part soap opera). It happens, but I don't think it happens as much as you think it does.

While I'm at it, I'd like to point out that media featuring female leads and female teams have done quite well before I was even born (1982), so I tend to roll my eyes in annoyance when people act like using female leads are some radical new hip development in our culture. Furthermore, while the reboot of Charmed flopped, there were reasons for it other than it was a female lead. A lot of it is based on (lazy) writing (and marketing) rather than the demographics of the characters (and even replacing a male character with female in a reboot can get a pass IF the writing and character for it is actually good, such as with Starbuck in the BSG remake, which it rarely is).

Sure there are a relatively few who believe that demographics are all in how to measure a show, be they for or against diversity, but they're actually a minority, however vocal they may be online, the one place people can't tell them to shut up to their face.

 

[Faith 2019]

Granted, I watch more animated shows than live action (though some of those are aimed at adults, sometimes even age restricted), but I see plenty of females, including a team of females (or mixed male/female) do just fine, each with their own story that includes one of friendship with the others. There isn't "we must make them fight" (unless it's either comedy or a soap opera, though Buffy was part soap opera). It happens, but I don't think it happens as much as you think it does.

While I'm at it, I'd like to point out that media featuring female leads and female teams have done quite well before I was even born (1982), so I tend to roll my eyes in annoyance when people act like using female leads are some radical new hip development in our culture. Furthermore, while the reboot of Charmed flopped, there were reasons for it other than it was a female lead. A lot of it is based on (lazy) writing (and marketing) rather than the demographics of the characters (and even replacing a male character with female in a reboot can get a pass IF the writing and character for it is actually good, such as with Starbuck in the BSG remake, which it rarely is).

Sure there are a relatively few who believe that demographics are all in how to measure a show, be they for or against diversity, but they're actually a minority, however vocal they may be online, the one place people can't tell them to shut up to their face.

I understood that the reboot of Charm was going to be canceled only after a few shows when it was announced it was green lighted for a new series. The show was in a way a parity to the Harry Potter series with being a American version with three sister living in California and their need to understand each other. People were interested in magic and interested in the stress relationship between a family of sisters. Harry Potter is over with, and the stress relationship with sisters is still interesting. The reboot of Battlestar Galactic was much better then the cheaper produced original series of the 1970's. I really love the strong woman being Starbuck.

With the relationship with Buffy and Faith, even that she was only on 20 episodes and for some reason -- their relationship has dominated the character of Buffy Summers. Nobody can really explain Buffy without talking about Faith. Without Faith, I see Buffy being underdeveloped and ending up underdeveloped as a character.

Still, the question is this. Could Faith and Buffy have always been equal to each other. With any movie, or with any TV series, if there are twin women that are engaged with each other -- they both cannot be equal to each other. More so in the age of the internet, were fans will force the issue who is the better character. Or, the industry will force them to be compared on the internet, or in other media markets. Female conflict sells movie tickets.

If they were cast to be equal to each other and work as a team. The fans will start to question the relationship, and they will be debating not who is stronger but who is weaker. If you start as being weaker, both characters become weaker, and over time the fans will think of both of them as being weak. And weak characters are disliked and are discarded.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

You would not have two women doing exactly the same thing at the same time so if one was fighting vampires while the other was facing demons, it would be an exercise for the viewer to determine which one had the greater task and that would be factored into the concept of which one was stronger. The two slayers may specialize so one took out vampires exclusively while the other fought demons or they may alternate responsibilities. If they were both fighting together, they still fight separate enemies. You may get situations where one slayer has some personal issues to get over then another has other issues but this need not be seen as two women in a competitive situation. It is possible to have two people in such a situation without it being a contest.

There would always be in internet argument over which one was better but that would happen anyway. It actually might get more followers - the battles between Bangels and Spuffies are evidence that comparisons can be a benefit to a program.

 

[Faith 2019]

True, the fans would be interested in compare and contrast the relationships between the twin slayers. Still, if the slayers are not really designed to fight against each other -- than you need three or more slayers working as a team. It would be more like Charm, were you have three strong willed women being sisters to each other. If you have three women as primary characters, nobody is going to get over 50% power over then other two. When you only have two, it is very hard to stay around a 50 50 split. No matter how hard the production is designed to be as both being equal -- the fans can break to support one over the other more.