Comments on: Buffy, Superheroes, and Raising Young Feminists

By: deb

deb — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:52:35 +0000

How sad is it that there are so few decent shows?? In a sea of millions of programmes it is Buffy and Xena that we have …to hang on to?? Makes me sick.

By: polarbear

polarbear — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:34:25 +0000

I agree with the “vote” for the whole DeGrassi series. If you can watch those made for Canadian TV, even better. They were censored less than the the ones that had to be censored for the American’s babyish mentality. But, either way, Degrassi Junior High through Degrassi, a New Generation, are great!!!

By: me

me — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:50:22 +0000

As to kicking ass. I have lived in some of the most secure towns in the world. In my home town I could walk through the red lights district at 2 o’clock in the morning and nothing happened. But my mother and aunts always panicked, even when I was finally a grown up woman, about my being on the street in a residential neighborhood in the dark. As did a (female) friend younger than me, when I wanted to walk through another pretty low key European town by night. So, yes these woman heroines have to kick ass, because what is holding women back is fear, fear of going out, fear of physical abuse, fear of men. How can you live a free, independent live staying at home and having the feeling to need protection ? What do you this holds back all these women through history and now in many parts of the world ? It is the feeling of physical weakness. The need of protection, the feeling that without a man they are not able to protect themselves. If women get that they are strong, that they don’t need a man, they can meet them on equal terms. Women grow up with the illusion that all men are stronger, that they are always weaker and that for this they have to put up with stuff. I have never seen Buffy, but the little I have seen of Xena, she does not let anybody bully her and she doesn’t hide and she doesn’t play nice, just not to anger the men. Being able to kick ass is important in that way.

By: jen

jen — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:57:25 +0000

it’s no longer on tv, but you could get the dvds. . .ALIAS. . .kick-butt female spy, but might be a little old for your audience. . .but i think it might be worth a try, i certainly enjoyed it. The characters are complex, it begs some moral questions and she’s a smart girl, not a “pink” girl if you know what i mean. . .

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:02:46 +0000

N-A, I didn’t think too much of the violence or the way Buffy treated her foes, but again, that may be a European thing vs a North Am thing. There’s certainly nothing wrong with deciding the violence isn’t for you and not watching – it’s why I avoid a lot of movies.

I know Joss’ skeevy race issues have been pointed out to him. I think he realises there’s a problem, but hasn’t sorted out why there’s a problem. I like Zoe & Book, but they’re Exotic Warrior Woman & Magical Negro. A step up in that they exist and are both considered awesome (I am not a Firefly fan) but not really a vast improvement when I can go “Ah, there’s our Magical Negro. Oh how I’ve missed that. Except not.”

By: timothynakayama

timothynakayama — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:16:18 +0000

The movie was good, but the books are really the best.

In my opinion, the movie really did not come across well. He should read the book, rather than watch the movie.

By: N-A

N-A — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:56:57 +0000

Just a question – Buffy:

Maybe it’s because I’m European and our TV is different in the presentation of violence – but doesn’t anybody mind the way how cruel Buffy is sometimes? The way she treats some of her adversaries is just horrible. I wouldn’t want my kid to think it’s OK to treat anybody this way. “He/ she/ it is just a thing”… so it’s OK to be cruel? Animals are things according to the law – so it’s all right to treat them cruelly? This ferociousness was one of the first things I noticed when watching Buffy. But perhaps it’s just me….

By: William

William — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:14:20 +0000

I’d be willing to bet if it were pointed out to Joss Whedon he’d agree.

I think that theres been kind of an arc along Joss’ career when it comes to race. In Buffy his record was terrible, in Angel it was marginally better, by Firefly he was doing a good job of portraying interesting non-white characters but the world he built was still overwhelmingly white with the only evidence of a supposedly massive Chinese influence showing up in cursing around network censors, signage, and a class of geisha/prostitutes. His recent comic book work has been better (particularly on Buffy and Runaways).

Speaking of Runaways, that would be a great title for OP’s son. Its a comic Marvel put out that was originally aimed at a slightly younger audience and does a good job with race and gender. Its about a group of kids (some with powers, some not) between the ages of 12 and 17 or so who find out that their parents are super villains and end up going on the run. The series has really good character development, consistently intelligent writing, and it’s heavy hitter is a 12 year old girl named Molly. There a fairly even male/female distribution, characters of differing races (moreso as the series continues), and some reasonably well done gay characters. Its had two different writers over the years (Brian K. Vaughn and Joss Whedon) and its about to have Terry Moore take over. The trades are even in a small, reasonably priced format.

By: Madeline

Madeline — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:42:39 +0000

“The Golden Compass” is a movie now, but I’d recommend the book series to your son first. I don’t know how old he is; I read “The Golden Compass” when I was 12 and I was obsessed with it. It’s an incredibly smart, awesome fantasy featuring an adventurous, intelligent girl as its main character. The movie was good, but the books are really the best.

By: Nanabooboo

Nanabooboo — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:10:29 +0000

I love Buffy! I actually thought it was great because Buffy kicked butt, but also was female. They didn’t make her masculine to make her strong. In fact, when they start exploring the origins of the Slayer mythology there’s some really good discussion of paternalism, use of a “girl” to create the Slayer so they could control her (which didn’t work), etc. It’s true about the lack of people of color. I’d be willing to bet if it were pointed out to Joss Whedon he’d agree.

Also mentioned above were Xena (great strong women, good discussions about the use of power/violence, good gender identity/sexual preference stuff since it’s unclear throughout the series whether Xena and Gabrielle are just friends or lovers as well). I also liked Dark Angel.

A couple not mentioned are: Cleopatra 2525, a short-lived sf series with 3 female leads. The title character is a ditz but overall not too bad; and Startrek: Voyager which has a female captain and Am. Indian (or is it Polynesian?) First Officer.

There’s not much that’s not scifi or fantasy, which shows where our media companies apparently think strong women belong!

Veronica Mars – loved it! – a little mature, as is Bones (a little dry for young girls).

The series NCIS has a few great female characters – the token woman on the team (first Caitlyn then Zeva), the techie Abby, also the Director (Lauren Holly – not ashamed to show some wrinkles, thank you!).

There’s a web site called “Heartless Bitches International” (heartless-bitches.com) that has sections specifically devoted to Popular Culture with good/strong female characters, including: Adult Books, Kids Books, Movies, & Music. You may also be able to find some good recommendations there.