In a society dominated by male superheroes, it is not that often that a female character is able to step forward and defend the world. There have been quite a few female superheroes throughout the ages of popular culture, including the Canadian Marvel super-heroine, Aurora ("Marvel"), and DC Comic's character, Black Canary (Kanigher, and Infantino). Yet for every one female superhero that is encountered, there are at least a dozen more male superheroes to stand around—and often in front of—her. Even more frustratingly, the female superheroes are often merely there to be the gendered counterpart to the much more powerful, dominant male superheroes. There have been few women who have stood out as being independent, admirable sources of female empowerment for their fans throughout the generations of superheroes. Perhaps one of the biggest cultural sensations that does just this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the main title character of the series, Buffy Summers herself. Yet is Buffy really as admirable as she seems to be on the surface? The fact is that for all the good that Buffy appears to do for her fans, there have been some very crucial issues in Women Studies that she has failed to lend her empowering nature to. This paper will discuss the powerful influence that Buffy the Vampire Slayer has over its viewers, and some of the problems that arise from this power.
First, the question needs to be asked: just what is Buffy the Vampire Slayer? To summarize it as simply as possible, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a television series created by Joss Whedon. It was originally created as a relatively unsuccessful movie in 1992, when it was adapted for television in 1997 (IMDB). From then on, it became a popular culture phenomenon, gath...
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Schudt, Karl. "Also Sprach Faith: The Problem of the Happy Rogue Slayer." Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. 'Ed'. James B. South. Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, 2003. Print.
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At first glance, Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the hour-long TV series which premiered in 1997 and is now in its third season, bears little resemblance to the book which started the vampire craze -- Bram Stoker's Dracula, published a century earlier. And yet, looks can be deceiving. Although the trendy -- and often skimpy -- clothing and bandied about pop-culture references of "Buffy" clearly mark the series as a product of a far different culture than that of the Victorian England of Dracula, the underlying tensions of the two texts are far similar than one might think. Beneath the surface differences in the treatment of their heroines, the two texts converge in similarly problematic anxieties about gender and sexuality.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a difficult media to classify into one genre. An obvious classification of the programme¡¦s genre would be horror; but this isn¡¦t entirely true, because the show has more concepts and themes that a horror movie would, and deals with more issues as well. The show uses elements contained in the more fantasy-orientated horror movies (such as Dracula): these include mythological beings such as vampires, demons and zombies; things that aren¡¦t always contained in horror movies. In the episode ¡§Dead Man¡¦s Party¡¨, the show deals primarily with the undead (a vampire appears near the beginning of the episode, and has very little effect on the story). Mythology is also applied in the form of a Nigerian mask, which raises the dead. Mythology has not always been applied in horror movies that use such creatures, but most movies that use these creatures (especially those containing vampires) almost always follow several rules. Examples of such rules are:
Buffy the Vampire the television series first aired in 1997, based on its 1992 movie staring Kristy Swanson written by Joss Whedon. The Television series aired its first episode titled “Welcome to the Hellmouth” and we are introduced to a scene of misdirection, a young woman wondering the new high school with a young man who clearly has some intentions he is wanting to express. We immediately make the assumption that he is the vampire looking for blood, very quickly it is revealed that it was she, Darla, who was the danger and with this curve ball the idea of strong women and female empowerment begins. With a new high school, and new characters particularly Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenburg and Anthony Head as Rupert Giles. We are delivered the foundations for characters and story very smoothly and packed with information within the first fifteen minutes. We know at this point we are seeing a collection of themes that will become very important to popular culture and spawn an ever growing collection of fan fiction and spin-offs, cosplay, discussion and social commentary as topics for study.
In the first paragraph of Laurie Penny’s essay “What to do when you’re not the hero anymore” she tells the reader how she recently went to see the new Star Wars movie. To her surprise a female character, Rey, fought off a bad guy as an equal. Hollywood has incredible power in how messages are portrayed in books, TV shows, and movies. It is no secret that media representation normalizes the reality of white male power. Penny explores how it is becoming more common to see a women lead in books, movies, and TV shows, rather than the stereotypical male.
Many current crime dramas give younger female viewers female role models in professionally powerful positions. Law and Order: SVU commonly casts their district attorneys and judges with women. In addition, the characters often are portrayed as independent and strong women as they battle against tough male opponents. For too long, women have been portrayed in television as either being the “woman behind the man” or as needing to use her sex appeal in order to be powerful. Another crime drama, Criminal Minds, has casted females in roles such as the director of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit, agents who also worked undercover in the CIA, and as international secret agents. All of these characters have, for the most part, been portrayed positively. An adult is aware that in the real world women in powerful positions is not fiction; and, wom...
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Just as young boys need role models, so to do young girls need role models which they can look up to and emulate. Shining examples which exhibit independence, strength, character, and intelligence. Looking at this financially, psychologically, and from a perspective of disconnection, empathy, and unfairness between the sexes will cast a spotlight on the reasons for this lack of heroines to look up
For over 60 years, Wonder Woman has filled the pages of her magazine with adventures ranging from battling Nazis, to declawing human-like Cheetahs. Her exploits thrilled and inspired many young girls, including Gloria Steinem. Through all of this, she has had to pilot her invisible jet through territories that her male counterparts have never had to. She is constantly pulled in two directions; her stories must be entertaining and non threatening to the male status quo, while simultaneously furthering her as the original symbol of 'Girl Power.' She is praised for being an icon of strength to women everywhere, but chastised for wearing a skimpy costume and tying men up, as if she were no more than a male fantasy. No comic book character has had to endure as much scrutiny as Wonder Woman. That's because Wonder Woman represents an entire gender, at a time of important social flux. Although she was created by a man to influence a male audience, Wonder Woman has evolved into an important symbol of the feminist movement.
Thompson, mark. “Women in Combat: Shattering the Brass Ceiling.” nationtime.com. Time, 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Disney has portrayed women in movies by the use of animation characters for over a century since the 1900s. There has been a very big change since the early 1900’s to modern day in Disney’s depiction of the personalities of the women, their attitudes and ideologies towards men, and the way they are portrayed in the movies. This progression has had a distinct development, from passive damsels in distress in need of the help of men, to being superheroes. Therefore, the evolution of women in Disney movies will be analyzed through the use of university level feminist essays, as well as a research paper written about gender roles in Disney animation. The evolution will also be analyzed through examination of the clips of the movies themselves.
...oday. Taking for granted a "normal" life that revolves around school, parties and friends. The Crucible and The Matrix exhibit more cultural and social values than Buffy and they are both done exceptionally well, covering many different themes and aspects without taking away from the plot or story.
Vande Berg’s feminist reading of the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch which revolves around the story of a teenage girl discovering her heritage as a witch and the complications that come along with it, they argue that the programme “offers empowering representations of independent girls who have access to equality and engage in cross-gender behaviour and that it simultaneously contains those representations within narratives that emphasize beauty, male attention, and taking responsibility for others” (Helford 16). According to Vande Berg and Projansky, Sabrina expects gender equality, and the series is fluid in its constructions of gender and sexual boundaries. Despite the series’ continual attempts to negotiate feminist position, its “affirmation of traditional patriarchal feminine concerns with physical beauty, acquisition of heterosexual male attention, and responsibility for others undermines Sabrina’s access to independence and contains her feminist potential”
Wonder Woman is the most famous heroine and the reason behind this statement is that she is the most displayed character in media compared to other heroines. For this reason, it is easier for girls to imitate Wonder Woman and by doing so they are obtaining some of her qualities from her persona. A study on the brain and children’s drive to imitation, states, “[the] Theory of Mind depends to a considerable degree on an early capacity for imitation Merleau-Ponty (1962: 162) wrote that we are a ‘continuum of interacting embodied subjectivities’, and imitating and being imitated constitute one small aspect of how such interactions help us learn how to become a person within a given culture” (Music 78). Wonder Woman heroine’s qualities that girls learn are the following: helping others, promoting sisterhood, being compassionate, and use violence as the last resource. Also, this heroine encourages girl power, she has said “[that] girls are taught that if they ‘feel [they] can do things, [they] can do them,’ and women are exhorted to ‘get strong and earn your own living’’” (Emad 959). According to the empowerment theory, Wonder Women is encouraging girls to become better beings. Galleotti says, “Empowerment theory […] empowerment was defined as the process of building and instilling hope in order for an individual to improve their situation or
In my quest to create a well rounded and A+ worthy essay about Shakespeare's As You Like It, I came upon key elements of popular culture pertaining to feminism and the rhetoric used to describe it. Of course, “strong female character” is a term thrown around plenty now days, however, I never took a moment to contemplate what it meant. Unfortunately, my research dredged up a plethora of unsettling ideas about what traits strong females posses, and has led me to think films should no longer portray what is now classically called “strong” and instead produce more realistic female characters, thus redefining a more positive representation of women. Without this awareness, young adults will continue to believe that a strong woman falls into three categories; abnormally smart, irrevocably sexy, and unquestionably strong.
Superheroes in the media have traditionally been portrayed as white males. In fact, anyone who is not a dedicated fan to superhero comics will probably find it difficult to name a superhero other than Wonder Woman who is not a B-list female counterpart to a more popular male superhero (take Supergirl, Batgirl, and Spider-Women as some examples). This can be a huge problem when it comes to girls searching in the media for powerful female role models and not finding any superheroes.