![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Day Six: Female Character Meme
Mar. 12th, 2011 12:26 pmDay Six: Favorite female-driven show Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Is this cheating? You know how it goes: shows with a roughly equal gender ratio are perceived to be female-dominated, and it's true much of fandom's energy (and screentime in later seasons) was dedicated to certain male characters. On the other hand, trying to think of majority female cast shows made me think of the either depressingly stereotypical (Sex and the City) to shows than I either haven't watched or wasn't crazy for (Xena and Lost Girl, respectively). And the fact remains that, for all its flaws, Buffy at its core remained about the story of a girl, and over the years it has offered truly amazing and varied female characters.
At the end of the day, it's a show that holds a special significance to me that no other show has managed to replicate so far. Whether it's the camp, brilliant metaphors and witty dialogue that characterised the earlier seasons to the less universally beloved grit and darkness of the last few years, BtVS kept me hooked throughout, right up to a finale that is, to me, the most feminist closing of a television series. I cared about Buffy and the Scoobies' struggles, battles and evolving relationships. And while the wankiest fandom battles were about the canon het ships, it's easy to forget how good it was at portraying female relationships, from the occasionally rocky but always strong Buffy and Willow friendship, to delightfully convincing sisters Buffy and Dawn, to one of the first long-term tv lesbian relationships in Willow and Tara and, of course, to the antagonistic and sexually charged dynamic between Buffy and Faith. There's just something wonderful and magical about the show I haven't been able to let go of, and it's not just because it was my introduction to fandom. It's telling that whenever a great new show comes up, for a significant portion of fans the question seems to be “But is it the new Buffy?”.
( Days 1-30 )
Is this cheating? You know how it goes: shows with a roughly equal gender ratio are perceived to be female-dominated, and it's true much of fandom's energy (and screentime in later seasons) was dedicated to certain male characters. On the other hand, trying to think of majority female cast shows made me think of the either depressingly stereotypical (Sex and the City) to shows than I either haven't watched or wasn't crazy for (Xena and Lost Girl, respectively). And the fact remains that, for all its flaws, Buffy at its core remained about the story of a girl, and over the years it has offered truly amazing and varied female characters.
At the end of the day, it's a show that holds a special significance to me that no other show has managed to replicate so far. Whether it's the camp, brilliant metaphors and witty dialogue that characterised the earlier seasons to the less universally beloved grit and darkness of the last few years, BtVS kept me hooked throughout, right up to a finale that is, to me, the most feminist closing of a television series. I cared about Buffy and the Scoobies' struggles, battles and evolving relationships. And while the wankiest fandom battles were about the canon het ships, it's easy to forget how good it was at portraying female relationships, from the occasionally rocky but always strong Buffy and Willow friendship, to delightfully convincing sisters Buffy and Dawn, to one of the first long-term tv lesbian relationships in Willow and Tara and, of course, to the antagonistic and sexually charged dynamic between Buffy and Faith. There's just something wonderful and magical about the show I haven't been able to let go of, and it's not just because it was my introduction to fandom. It's telling that whenever a great new show comes up, for a significant portion of fans the question seems to be “But is it the new Buffy?”.
( Days 1-30 )