"Now, we can do this the hard way or ... well actually, there's just the hard way." (S1E1)
"Didn't anyone warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." (S3E2)
"You know very well, you eat this late ... you're gonna get heartburn. Get it? Heartburn?" (S4E6)
"That's all I get? One lame-ass vamp with no appreciation for my painstakingly thought-out puns." (S4E6)
"Didn't your mom teach you? Don't play with your food." (S1E6)
“If I was at full slayer power, I’d be punning right about now.” (S3E12)
Buffy! I finished watching the 7-season teen-TV spectacular late last autumn, having 'discovered' it at a somewhat advanced age, with the help of my sister, against the anxious life-long advice of our parents (as I've mentioned elsewhere).
What's not to love? Go Buffy! Go women! Go non-patriarchal models of masculinity! Go self-sacrificial service and surrender! Except ... it does have a teeny bit of a huge blindspot, no? As feminist champions go, Buffy is rather ... jubilant? ... in her deployment of violence?
Said sister and I had a marvellous debate, which naturally I won (she almost admitted as much) in the car on the way to said parents' house just the other day. Motion: "This house recognises the legitimised violence in Buffy as a purely metaphorical representation of resistance to anti-human forces of evil, and thereby consistent with its supposèd anti-patriarchy credentials."
Sister represented the case in support, which rests largely on the inflexible upholding of the sanctity of human life within the series. Vampires, demons, and other non-human entities seeking to inflict or terrorise humanity are fair game, but harm of even the most corrupt of human characters is consistently denounced. Take, for example, the gravity surrounding Faith's accidental killing of the Mayor's secretary in Season 3 episode 'Bad Girls', or the horror with which 'dark' Willow's revenge killing of Warren is met by the rest of the crew in Season 6 episode 'Villains'.
Thus, the argument goes, the violence can be framed as an analogy for fervent, courageous, sacrificial resistance, not against persons but against worldly powers of evil and oppression. Against damaging ideas from which people everywhere need release – including hooks' "imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy", as I understand it, and the other names by which it goes. What feminist could possibly find fault? Meanwhile, from a Christian perspective, there's something almost Pauline about it...
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
Indeed, I concede, the ethical rules of the Buffy-verse are established in this metaphor-inviting way from early on. BUT the program makers, having set these global 'rules', remain stubbornly blind to their logical consequences at the local storyline level.
You see, whilst "non-human" is the ultimate deciding criteria for legitimate targets of violent assertion of justice, it is also used as a vehicle to explore themes of diversity and marginalisation. Angel, Dawn, Oz, Anya, Clem, Spike ... these all (at least at some time or another) experience difficulties fitting in or finding acceptance, and prompt lessons in tolerance and humility within the group as together they seek to respectfully accommodate one another's differences. The subsequent variety of their social circle is portrayed as something to be celebrated – just as a welcoming, supportive, and culturally diverse friendship group would be celebrated.
I'm sorry Joss, sister, Buffy fandom, but you cannot have your cake and eat it; you cannot have your demon friend and kill him/her. To the extent that a Buffy-verse demon is capable of being the object and reciprocator of human affection, friendship and even romance, they are, to all metaphorical intents and purposes, as far as I can fathom, human.
Forced to recognise the vampires, demons, werewolves and the like that Buffy and her buddies slay as 'evil persons' (with intrinsic potential to reject evil) rather than metaphorical expressions of an impersonal 'evil force', everything gets problematic. Each death is then an act of lethal judgement carried out on the initiative of fellow (imperfect) persons, re-introducing the question that the program-makers clearly thought/hoped they'd by-passed, of whether and when and which violent action is justified.
Now, I'm not going to offer opinions on the specifics of that question (especially given current affairs, against which backdrop any 'ruling' I could possibly attempt would seem impossibly naive). But I think the fundamental preferability of non-violence wherever possible is something that most Christians (see Romans 12:18), and feminists (see bell hooks), and others opposed to patriarchy, or to oppression by another name, would agree on. And OK, so, it might be critically difficult to decide where the 'as far as possible' line should be drawn (fair play to Buffy, it's normally a matter of "kill or be killed whilst watching the world end"). But what isn't difficult, or shouldn't be, is maintaining the non-triviality of violence ... that killing, in particular, is not inconsequential (see Genesis 9:5-6). Which is where Buffy, with her pre-mortem puns (not that I'm not laughing too) kinda misfires on closer inspection. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Buffy, and you're history" (S1E5). It's all a little triumphant for comfort.
Of course, "Buffy wouldn't be Buffy without the cheesy one-liners" (S3E22) ... and I'm not saying they make the program worse than (or even remotely as bad as) most screen content with an overlapping audience. I just think it's worth noticing these things. Patriarchy thrives on/is defined by an unbalanced valuing of life according to a power hierarchy. Buffy inadvertently reinforces that imbalance. Some deaths are tragedies; others are such utter trivialities that they become material for comedy.
Meanwhile, no life is 'throwaway' to God; no death – even the most seemingly 'deserved' – is insignificant:
Challenging stuff, or should be, for anyone claiming to seek to follow him. And not uncomplicated – what (e.g.) does broad, indiscriminate, self-surrendering, self-dying love look like in the context of the responsibility (which I believe we have) to actively oppose wrong on the behalf of 'oppressed and afflicted' others? Aargh, I don't know. Gets messy.
But what it definitely doesn't look like is following up a deft slay with a neat gag ... or whichever real-world correlative (take your pick; there's plenty to choose from) you care to substitute for that ...
[Thumbnail image cc from vagueonthehow on Flickr].
Now, I'm not going to offer opinions on the specifics of that question (especially given current affairs, against which backdrop any 'ruling' I could possibly attempt would seem impossibly naive). But I think the fundamental preferability of non-violence wherever possible is something that most Christians (see Romans 12:18), and feminists (see bell hooks), and others opposed to patriarchy, or to oppression by another name, would agree on. And OK, so, it might be critically difficult to decide where the 'as far as possible' line should be drawn (fair play to Buffy, it's normally a matter of "kill or be killed whilst watching the world end"). But what isn't difficult, or shouldn't be, is maintaining the non-triviality of violence ... that killing, in particular, is not inconsequential (see Genesis 9:5-6). Which is where Buffy, with her pre-mortem puns (not that I'm not laughing too) kinda misfires on closer inspection. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Buffy, and you're history" (S1E5). It's all a little triumphant for comfort.
Of course, "Buffy wouldn't be Buffy without the cheesy one-liners" (S3E22) ... and I'm not saying they make the program worse than (or even remotely as bad as) most screen content with an overlapping audience. I just think it's worth noticing these things. Patriarchy thrives on/is defined by an unbalanced valuing of life according to a power hierarchy. Buffy inadvertently reinforces that imbalance. Some deaths are tragedies; others are such utter trivialities that they become material for comedy.
Meanwhile, no life is 'throwaway' to God; no death – even the most seemingly 'deserved' – is insignificant:
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:23)
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live. (Ezekiel 18:32)Jesus emphasises similar ...
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)... and lives it in his own approach to people, even those who set themselves in violent opposition to him. At the excruciating pinnacle of injustice and affliction he continues to embody his instruction to "love your enemies ... bless those who curse you" (see Luke 6:27-29): “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (see Luke 23:33-24).
Challenging stuff, or should be, for anyone claiming to seek to follow him. And not uncomplicated – what (e.g.) does broad, indiscriminate, self-surrendering, self-dying love look like in the context of the responsibility (which I believe we have) to actively oppose wrong on the behalf of 'oppressed and afflicted' others? Aargh, I don't know. Gets messy.
But what it definitely doesn't look like is following up a deft slay with a neat gag ... or whichever real-world correlative (take your pick; there's plenty to choose from) you care to substitute for that ...
[Thumbnail image cc from vagueonthehow on Flickr].
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