Monday, April 18, 2011

The Chosen Ones

Unfortunately due to the the extremeness of commuting, we missed our discussion on Faith and Buffy. While Peter wrote a bit about this two days ago, I'd like to highlight a particularity of the moral code in these episodes. Foremost, as discussed in Richardson and Rabb's "Buffy, Faith, and Bad Faith", BtVS explores the concepts of essentialist morality and experiential morality. We talked a bit about essentialism in the concept that Angel with a soul is good by definition, whereas soulless vampires are necessarily evil (don't worry, this gets more complicated as the show progresses). Experiential morality is where one learns morality through experience (duh). An example from the series is where Kendra's sense of rightness comes from rules and the teaching of her watcher, Buffy's comes from her experience of good and evil.

Faith, on the other hand rejects the essentialist righteousness that comes with slayerhood (for a variety of reasons, including an evil watcher). Nevertheless, her conception of right and wrong seem to be a product of her ignoring responsibility in the face of experience.

This brings us to an existentialist framework in which to read BtVS. In "Bad Girls," "Consequences," and "Enemies," concepts such as the totality of death (the end of possible futures, etc), the angst of responsibility, and the absurdity of life compete with the transgressive sexualities hinted at ("'What you forgot your safety word?' 'Safety words are for wusses.'; 'I just don't like rubbing your nose in it. Suddenly wondering where that expression comes from.'). This makes for a potentially confusing cloud of signals. Trust, responsibility, guilt, redemption. And then the fake Angelus.

The fake Angelus becomes the reason Buffy and Angel ultimately call it quits as Angel leaves at the season finale. Even though Angel takes responsibility for his actions and Buffy obviously trusts him (if he'd lose control, he'd really lose control), but seeing the demon that's still in him was too much. And I personally think it is implied that Angel might have slept with Faith, or at least took the "romantic" too far ("As long as you're there, I mostly want you to wriggle."). The interesting thing about all of this is that it appears to be a trust game, Angel's euphemism for BDSM, down to Buffy chained to the wall. So what's really going on with sexuality, violence, and responsibility of this episode? I believe calling this a soap opera for children and saying that the series "disguises" sex might not be quite right (not to pick on a previous post). It seems to me like the sex is on the surface, seething with tension, but that it, in turn, might stand for something else.

17 comments:

  1. First off, I actually "lol'd" at bdsm bondage slave's post. However, Buffy is a more serious matter. I think Joss Whedon makes Buffy the way it is precisely to jab at the way that many of the genres that the show parodies seem to ignore the real life implications of certain situations. The complexities of Buffy along with the crowding of signals within the show's mythology/story is , in my opinion, Whedon's attempt to make Buffy more realistic.

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  3. As we have mentioned previous I think a major part of this show (with correlation to sex, trust, and drama) is the ideal of rebellion. Buffy was with Angel because he's 200 years older than her, a complete badass, and not to mention a vampire (or once was). Buffy wanted to be like Faith because she's a badass, loves to fight, and is a major sex symbol. Both of these instances show Buffy wanting to be a rebel. By giving into her innate physical desires (dancing with those guys at the club) and breaking the general rules of Slayhood (?) (for a small period of time) both show Buffy's want to rebel. However, Buffy does end up coming around, whereas Faith does not. This idea of rebellion correlates perfectly with the ideas of sex, as it is seen as the 'forbidden fruit' in many cultures and religions. I think that sex, violence, and many other themes of Buffy correlate with the ideas of rebellion in adolescence and a chance at a young age to live not in the future, but solely in the present with no concern for tomorrow's consequences.

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  4. The themes of trust and sex go hand in hand. Consider BDSM as the extreme end of sexual fantasies and you can see how important trust is to the outcome of the individuals involved. When Buffy is chained and defenseless, Faith could have easily killed her while Angel just stood in the corner playing with sharp objects. Sure he was pretending to be Angelous to buy some time, but he appeared to neglect Buffy, thereby abusing her trust. Perhaps this time he forgot the safety word.

    Also, sex (not to mention death)is the most powerful catalyst that the director of BtVS could use to change dynamics within a group. Friends are never the same after they’ve started to have sex. Even after they break up, in the wake of their sexual exploration, everyone in the group feels a little awkward. Hence the reason Buffy abandons Angel after she believes he slept with Faith (abused trust). Sex requires trust but often entails drama.

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  5. The sex in the show is an metaphor for the interpersonal conflict the characters experience. Fewer people would watch the show if the conflict were more 'G' rated. Like the saying says - sex sells. The choice of bondage simply fits thematically with the rest of the show: graves, crypts, tombs, supernatural fighting, and the uncertain border between good and evil in certain supernatural characters like Angel.

    The presence of sex in Buffy is conformed to the audience. High schoolers watch the show, so the characters are in high school and do standard high school things - including establishing personal moral codes and experimenting with sex.

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  6. We all know Buffy is not some simplistic show made just to sell. If it was, it shouldn't have aired on the WB and it should have tried to exploit the sexuality of the show more. I don't think it did that, instead the sex and violence is often there as a parody of those B-grade horror movies that use such elements to sell. Furthermore, these themes seem to evolve further to show that these are real elements of the real world. Sex and violence are two things that are part of this world that these high school kids cannot avoid. I remember Xander saying once in an episode, "I'm a high school teenager, I'd make out with anything." As funny as this line is, it's true. Hormone crazed teenagers will do anything for sex.

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  8. Buffy, as a so-called 'teen drama', deals with topics that are appealing to a teenage audience, usually female. As the recent popularity of the Twilight series showed us, teenage girls have a peculiar fascination with holding 'dark' vampire figures as sex objects. By maintaining constant sexual tension throughout the story arc, the writers are sure to draw in their target audience, teenage girls who are, by and large, gossipmongers. Teenage girls seem almost to have an addiction for private facts of a sexual or romantic nature about other people. Teen dramas, like Buffy, give their target audience a way to live out their wildest fantasies, which for many teenage girls are apparently about romances between elderly, ephebophilic vampires and high school-aged girls.

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  9. I really liked our discussion on Hush today, especially the part where we mentioned how frequently the confusions in the episode tended to be sexual. I think this interesting touch reflects the fact that people think about sex far, far, FAR more than we admit. Take away language and along with it organized society and culture and whats left are the two most primal desires of ours, the desire to survive and the desire to procreate.

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  10. I will respond to the radiating angst that was spurred by my conclusion in my previous post that this show is a soap opera for children that disguises sex. Undoubtedly BtVS catered to teenagers who you relish in dramatic fiction. Although we all wish that we were part of the Scooby gang in high school or that we could date vampires, the reality is far different. At least I am pretty sure none of my girlfriends were demons. Nonetheless, being a cable series that airs on public television has its limitations. For instance if this show had aired on Showtime or HBO like my favorite series The Sopranos, then there would be nothing to disguise since sexual tension could be released instantly in all of its glory. However, naked individuals and sex scenes are not permitted just like cartoon and animated series meant for children are not allowed to either.

    BtVS was rated TV 14, which means it may contain “intense sexual situations,” but not “explicit sexual activity” as mentioned by tvguidelines.org. Therefore we are left with a chained, fully dressed Buffy accompanied with two other dressed characters Faith and Angel who momentarily appear to flirt. This scenario of BDSM is the exact symbolism that the series uses to disguise sex along with the forceful situation between Xander and Faith that I mentioned in my last post. The love between Buffy and Angel shines even brighter in “Graduation Day (Part 2)” because their intense feelings to make love are hidden by the producer when Angel is forced by Buffy to suck her blood, with a submissive Buffy allowing Angel to dominate her in a hopefully disciplined manner that results in masochistic pleasure for all (BDSM).

    In the essay by Richardson and Rabb, they discuss how the realization of personal freedom can cause so much fear that we turn a blind eye to our possibilities, resulting in “Bad Faith.” Buffy is destined to be slayer without her consent. When confronted with the possibility to leave Sunnydale or allow a new slayer to replace her, she vehemently establishes her authority as THE slayer. With so many reasons not to slay, she chooses to slay no matter what. She does not even take orders from the new Watcher but only suggestions as demonstrated by Wyndam-Pryce. In essence, she seems to always be control and when she is not it causes her to freak out (when she gets stabbed in “Fool for Love”) and seek the council of others to make sure it never happens again. Basically, she is the opposite of “Bad Faith,” which is why she has so much conflict with Faith the slayer and poses as a completely different person than her.

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  11. I do agree with the previous post about girls being predisposed to being concerned with sexual aspects of life, yet I feel like this is due to society as a whole bombarding young girls with sexual images and situations that are too intense for such a young audience.
    Trust in BtVS is a very persistent issue, especially in these last few episodes, because everyone is putting their lives in other peoples hands. Buffy trust that Giles will lead her and instruct her so that she can survive against the demons. Buffys friends trust that Buffy will do the right thing and protect them. There is just so much trust being thrown around that it seems like everyone is doing it so easily, yet I guess that ends as we get further into the series. This idea of trust ties in with the sexual undertones of Buffy in that sex is all about trust. As Buffy trusted Angel with Faith, people put a lot of trust in the people they have sex with. This makes the sexual undertones that more important in this series due to their strong tie to other aspects of the characters' life.

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  12. In response to Peter, while it may be true that Buffy is the opposite of Faith by the end of the season, that's not so during most of the episodes with Faith. Buffy's biggest problem is that she tries so hard to be similar to Faith. By going to dance clubs, skipping exams to go slaying, giving into the pressures to steal and to risk her life recklessly, she emulates Faith throughout the episode. This behavior leads both her and Faith into deep trouble, in which the originally subtle differences between the two are magnified by the response each takes to the murder of the civilian. Due to clever plotting Buffy simulates the role of someone actually guilty of murder during the scene in which Giles accuses her, and again later in the episode when she continues to take on the role of someone guilty in order to maintain the illusion to Faith. By enduring the experience of being accused for murder, Buffy is able to assimilate the fears and potential consequences of this situation into her experiential morality and develop a rejection of the recklessness that lead to the murder. Furthermore, Faith's self-inflicted fate serves to further inform Buffy's morality by teaching a lesson not only on the surface issue of impulsive behavior, but on the deeper issue of refusing to admit culpability and develop yourself through experience.

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  13. As the show progresses, the characters noticeably age and develop different levels of maturity. The idea of sex also morphs as the Scooby Gang transition from high school life to college life. In high school, sex seemed to represent this form of trust, or bond, between two characters. This especially applies to the relationship between Buffy and Angel. This trust is removed as Angel continues to alter forms and Buffy is unsure who exactly she is dealing with because the original Angel would never become sexually involved with Faith. I think it is at this moment that Buffy realizes that sex can hinge on physical attraction rather than interpersonal trust and feelings. Anya says it best when she associates sex with little more than the means to an orgasm. Although the group is disgusted by her frankness on the topic of sex, it appears that each character has progressed toward this definition. Lust rather than trust begins to guide the theme of sex in BtVS, and I think this has become increasingly apparent in the more recent episodes that feature more talk of sexuality and the confusion that arises when these encounters are not completely based on a high level of trust.

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  14. The idea of trust is defiantly an interesting topic to explore in BtVS. Just as many of you have discussed here, Buffy trusted Angel. Buffy trusted Faith (even when she turned evil). Buffy's friends trusts that she would do the right thing. Just as Wheton conveyed the idea of trust within BtVS, he also exposes the other side of trust: Betrayal. Angel's sexual relationship with faith is betrayal. Faith working for the mayor is betrayal. Xander's one night stand with Faith is in a way a betrayal (- to the gang but especially willow). Faith "stealing" Buffy's boyfriend is betrayal. I agree that BtVS is a hyperbolized supernatural version of high school drama - or just drama in general. Depicting the life lessons teenagers go though as they grow up, striking a chord with its target audience.

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  15. The connection between sex and violence is obvious at the beginning of Bad Girls, when Faith makes the same grunting noise to demonstrate the rush she gets from both slaying and sex. Buffy's discomfort when Faith talks about sex is most likely because it hits too close to home. By this point, Buffy has already had a relationship with a vampire, which means she has an impulsive attraction to danger, just like Faith. They have a lot in common. There may also be a lesbian subtext. Vampires are known to be bisexual creatures, and if these two slayers are so attracted to vampires, they may adopt some of their ways. Faith and Buffy are two sexy killers who walk around with stakes and participate in the intense act of slaying together. We know that slaying is usually a solo act and it makes Faith hungry and horny, so when we hear the heavy breathing of the two female slayers working together, it's plausible that this particular connection is just beneath the surface.

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  16. The interface of humor, satire, and the mildly taboo (on network TV anyway) in BtVS is a medium for communicating some of Whedon's more subtle messages. While there is certainly a strong dose of humor instances such as Hush when something seemingly non sexual like ramming a stake into a vampire is equated to a sexual act actually elucidate the strong connection between the realms of violence and sex. Both are interestingly also means by which humans can gain intimacy with the other. What I find most intriguing is are the reversal of gender roles during sex, especially in the scene where Faith begins to dominate and choke Xander. Finally yet another thing I noticed was the the fact that while the female characters seem to be capable of asserting their independence, they often seek paternal figures for advice (such as Giles).

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