Buffy - Only a Sex Symbol?

LadyLavinia said:
A fan of the TV show, "24" wrote an essay on the women on the show. In the essay, she regarded Buffy as nothing more than a sex symbol - "24" Essay
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Jenny said:
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From "Gender Roles of 24" by Megs -

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer grabbed audiences' attention growing into its own little cult classic. Buffy was a young teenager faced every season with a new villain out to ruin the world. At first glance, she is a great role model for young women across the earth, she is a strong woman who saves the day, but there is much more to Buffy than that. "If the apocalypse comes beep me," she said in the first season of the hit show to her watcher Giles (Smith, 1997). She was young and obsessed with shopping and being social her strong heroines not really showing through in that incident. When it came time for doing boring stuff like research that was always left to her not so social side kicks the "Scooby gang", which morphed over the years but always consisted of less attractive, and not quite as strong as Buffy group (Bodroghkozy, 2004). Giles there from the beginning, aiding Buffy in her quest to rid the world of evil. What did Buffy present to young women? Being smart and doing research makes you dull and unattractive like Willow (a Scooby) and that should be left up to the unattractive people, all you had to do if you were attractive was fight the bad guys and have fun."


"Mary was submissive to her boss, while Buffy and the Sex in the City women challenged their boss's and the typical roles of women. Finally, 24 came along and started to challenge all of them by having women as heroines that were not outright sex figures, such as Buffy. The women of 24 have fought along side the men and have even been on their own."
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I get the feeling that the author was judging Buffy's character from Season 1.
 
C
Cordelia
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Well yes Willow did become a lot more attractive in later seasons, plus there was lots of lovely looking ladies doing research in the later seasons. This is a problem with polysemic texts, I don't see Buffy as not doing research because she's too pretty, I just don't think she "agrees" with it, she's not too good at it. She did research from time to time, but think about the army. Most soldiers don't find out about the enemies, don't do all the tactical stuff, they just follow commands.
 
I totally agree with you Lady L. If one were to watch Buffy Season 1 alone, the essay may hold merit, but after watching the entire series, we, the true fans, know the difference...
 
I agree too, if it was only about season1 I could kind of agree with the essay, but ceratainly not if I take the whole series into account. Isn't Willow even more social and can't you describe her lovelife as more successful than Buffy's in the latest season..?
 
LadyLavinia said:
From "Gender Roles of 24" by Megs -
Click to expand...

Thanks!

LadyLavinia said:
I get the feeling that the author was judging Buffy's character from Season 1.
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Oh good gawd...firstly if this was intended to be an article on how the women of 24 break the 'sexy girl' mold or whatnot..they failed miserably.

Secondly, although they do refer to other seasons, I'm going to agree with everyone else here and say they are definitely basing this on Season 1, which is a damn shame because the show really got great status in S2 and beyond IMO.
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Yeah. If it was supposed to an article, don't give up your day job, Megs. Sounds more like just another post on a message board though.
I'm with you, this person has not seen the whole show, probably she has just seen the first season and not every episode of that season.
But I have seen 24, three seasons of 24, I like the show.
But what women?
The only women I can remember are Nina (and she was the bad one) and Tony's wife, and ok Kim.
The first two ok, they were good characters but there is no comparison of what Buffy means for women.
And Kim...
 
I haven't seen 24 but I agree with everyone else that the review seems to be centered on Buffy season 1 and not looking at the character of Buffy throughout the series run. Besides, what exactly is wrong with being social, liking to shop and also going out and fighting evil every night? Should Buffy be ugly? I like the fact that Buffy was so pretty. Cordelia turned into quite the heroine and she's very good looking too. Is there a law that says any sexy girl must just be another sex symbol? That's really stupid. Also, I thought Willow was kind of cute and quirky, not dull and unattractive like this person thought. The person that wrote this essay...honestly sounds uneducated. Who writes an essay like that and bases it on one season (and not even a full season but season 1 which was half the length of a normal season). It just has no relevancy to anything at all.
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Yay. Go you. I wasn't brave enough to say it.
Jenny
Jenny
Good points!
C
Cordelia
[No message]
It's ironic that the author of this essay was comparing the female roles of "24" to the ones on "Buffy" and in the spy show's favor. Lately, there has been a good number of complaints about the negative portrayal of females on "24". They are either damsels in distress, cold and unpopular or evil. The only positive roles I can think of are Michelle Dressler and Kim Bauer (from Season 3 - who surprisingly turned out to be more competent than Daddy Jack during this period). All of the others are either damsels (Teri Bauer, Kate Warner, Audrey Raines), cold (Erin Driscoll, Carrie Turner, Alberta Green) or evil (Nina Myers, Sherry Palmer, and the Muslim woman from S4).


At least BUFFY's portrayal of females are more positive and complex.
 
buffy probably got a lot of viewers because of the girls looks. but so what? when people actually watch the show they can see theres more to it than beautiful people.
 
I like Chloe from 24. Kind of a socially stunted nerd, but very very smart and a decent moral person.

I think any woman acting tough in TV will tend to get the "cold" label or the "bitch" label if the writers aren't very good. Joss worked hard to avoid that perception.

Actually, just about every character on 24 acts like an a-hole. No time to mess around during a crisis.
 
I disagree with that essay, pretty much maybe about season 1 like most of you are stating but after the whole entire series, watching all the drama and all the characters develop...it's definitely not just a sex symbol. That's chaotic, geez.
 
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