The Feminism of Buffy

I wasn’t introduced to Buffy until high school. I had passed reruns on TV a few times saw a vampire go poof and thought it was the dumbest thing ever until my dad made me sit down and actually watch the first episode. I immediately made him play the second episode and then the third. After that my life was different, I binge watched Buffy like it was the only thing keeping me alive and for a while after that it was. Buffy (and a lot of other female characters brought to us by Joss Whedon) is the perfect symbol for feminism. She is strong and kicks ass, yes, but she is also not afraid to be vulnerable or emotionally weak, and her motives are not male driven. She saves the world because it’s her job, for her friends, and for her families. She isn't the way she is because of a guy which is the problem with a lot of “strong” female characters on TV and in movies.

Even if you don’t like the show's graphics, storylines, or whatever, you have to admit that without Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we would not have the amount of female led projects and the amount of well rounded strong female characters that we have today (it’s still not enough but it’s a start). Someone had to pave the way and for media the trailblazers were Buffy and Xena. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had 7 seasons starting in the 90s and developed a cult following, the fan base continues to grow today as we start to pass the torch to the next generation of nerds. Buffy is one of my favorite characters in all of media for many reasons the foremost being that she is just as loving and caring as she is badass. In season 4 when Dawn randomly appeared for still no reason, she was her big sister and she looked out for her but then Joyce died and Buffy became both big sister and mom. She worked a crappy fast food job to support Dawn and then after working sometimes a double shift went out and had to slay vampires for another few hours before she could come home and even see her friends and her little sister.

In season 3 when Angel decided he was leaving she broke down, “I can’t breathe Will, it feels like I can’t breathe.” She wanted to die and she had her breakdown and then pulled herself back up and saved the world again. Just a season before that in season 2 when Angel was Angelus she was still in love with him, but at the end of the season we knew she was going to have to kill him in order to save the world and just before she did, he regained his soul. It was too late and Buffy still had to drive a sword through his chest. We see her over and over again break down and be a young girl, but we also see her fight through the hardest things in her life and save everybody else. Buffy is the perfect feminist role model and if you don’t want to be like Buffy Summers then I don’t know how you're living your life but it needs to be adjusted. Buffy is the main strong female character, writers take notes because this is what you want to emulate. Joss has gotten a lot of backlash for various things but Buffy was a true work of art and no one will ever be able to take that away from him the way Fox took Firefly away from us.