NL: Buffy Anne Summers (BtVS)
Nov. 1st, 2006 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Buffy is one of those characters that I pretty much adored from the first moment that I laid eyes on her. It was the summer of '97, the first season of BtVS was in reruns and I saw The Pack. I fell in love with her, this tough and caring girl.
Before I really gave a thought to what a feminist icon might be, Buffy was one for me.
It was through Buffy that I learned how to forgive and sometimes even love myself, because I learned those lessons with her.
Because of this, I will always defend her.
These may not be my favorite moments, but they are moments when my love for Buffy pretty much overwhelmed anything else I might be feeling.
1. When she claims herself -- "I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you are?" (Anne, S3). All throughout Anne, Buffy is running away from who she is (because who she is killed the man she loved). But when she's placed somewhere where someone else is trying to take away her identity and make her nothing, she refuses to comply. Over and over in the series, we have people (generally male, but not always) who try to take away who Buffy is, try to make her doubt herself. And when Buffy realizes that they can't, that her identity is hers to claim, that's when she gets the power to do anything that she needs. As long as Buffy remembers who she is, she's unstoppable.
2. When her heart breaks, mine always does as well. There are many moments throughout the series, but the one on my mind right now is at the very end of Forever, when she's explaining to Dawn just why she acts the way she does when she grieves, that the activity isn't a sign that she doesn't care, but is her shield against shattering into a million pieces. When she hears the door and feels that desperate moment of hope that her mom's coming back -- when the porch is empty and she and Dawn collapse into each other's arms.
3. She laughs and the world is suddenly bathed in sunlight. When Buffy smiles, everything that's happening seems easier to deal with. In Grave, when she follows Giles into near-helpless laughter, it's the first good sign that she's going to be okay, even from all this. She's healing and she's going to be okay. Just as those moments in my own life remind me of the same thing -- once I can laugh about something, I can handle it, no matter how impossible it seemed before.
4. When she confides in her friends. Like going to Xander in Entropy, explaining her side of things so that I could understand it all, too (which triggers his reciprocal explanation, which triggers an 'love you' and hug!).
5. When she's kicking ass. Again, there are many, many individual moments to pick and choose from, but I will go with Show Time, when she makes an example of the fight. She goes into her fight with every ounce of determination and certainty that she can muster, because this is something she has to do and therefore, failure is not an option.
In any discussion of female characters that I love, Buffy has to come first. She's not the first women I've admired, not by a long shot, but watching her taught me so many things about myself and dealing with BtVS fandom taught me so much about the way the world treats women. Enough to know that the fight for equality isn't over.
Buffy Summers: strong, funny, and inspirational. And I love her.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 08:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 08:43 pm (UTC)Anyway, hooray for Buffy... I love all the moments you picked, and I think I need to go home and watch Anne because it's been way too long since I've seen it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 09:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 09:11 pm (UTC)The scene from Anne is possibly one of my most favourite moments.
Great post.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 09:25 pm (UTC)I always tear up at that moment in Anne, and I think I've watched Showtime about a thousand times. I love Buffy's speeches, but I especially love that moment right before the speech when everything crystalizes in her mind, and that spark that is Buffy really shows. That's the spark we see when she gets up and goes after the Master, and when she gets back up in Chosen, and in so many great moments in between.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 10:18 pm (UTC)Also, I’ve been looking at Kendra and Faith as representations of other ideals of womanhood and what I come up with is the madonna/whore complex which is why, ultimately, they failed as slayers. Kendra was too good of a girl to challenge things and think outside the box and Faith was too bad of a girl to know when to empathize with other people to effectively care about humanity. As complex as Faith was, I never got that she was as complex as Buffy.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-01 11:08 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to your series of posts this month. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 12:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 12:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 01:16 am (UTC)I miss my Buffy. Aha! Off to the tapes and DVDs!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 01:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 12:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 12:56 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to the rest of your essays this month!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-03 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 12:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:51 pm (UTC)I especially love that moment right before the speech when everything crystalizes in her mind, and that spark that is Buffy really shows.
Yes! SMG was so good at capturing those moments of inspiration -- you could see when those thoughts occured to her and what made her think of it. You could see her realizing herself. I give SMG so much credit for what made Buffy great. Joss (mostly) did such a good job finding the right people for his characters.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:54 pm (UTC)Indeed -- she gives people chances, but she isn't going to thank anyone for trying to destroy her.
Also, I’ve been looking at Kendra and Faith as representations of other ideals of womanhood and what I come up with is the madonna/whore complex which is why, ultimately, they failed as slayers. Kendra was too good of a girl to challenge things and think outside the box and Faith was too bad of a girl to know when to empathize with other people to effectively care about humanity. As complex as Faith was, I never got that she was as complex as Buffy.
Never quite, no. I think that she was starting to get there, because of her interaction with Buffy (and later Angel) but we ended just about around her Prophecy Girl, I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:02 pm (UTC)I love her so much.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 08:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-08 11:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-11 09:35 am (UTC)(And the continuing adventures of Buffy in book or comic form does little to satisfy my desire to see her again -- it really is SMG's Buffy that I miss so much, I realize more and more. She was so perfect for that role.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-12 09:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-13 10:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-19 09:06 pm (UTC)