Take a Walk on the Wild Side
The theme of sexuality was used greatly in “Enemies.” From the beginning, we see the struggle that Buffy fears Angel is dealing with (not being able to be intimate). We learn that Angel is happy enough without being intimate with Buffy, and he truly does love her. We see Cordelia’s new obsession with the new watcher, as she uses her sexuality to get him to take her on a date. I thought it was interesting that we see Faith try to lure Angel in with her sexuality, but ultimately fails and must use magic to convert him (which is actually a hoax).
We have discussed the theme of sexuality in class before, and noted that usually super heroines are over sexualized, especially in comics. We haven’t really seen the super heroines (Buffy and now Faith) over sexualized in the Buffy series, but this is the first episode where Faith most definitely is. She is used as bait by the Mayor to lure Angel in and change him back into a soulless demon. Although Faith is over sexualized, Buffy is not. We feel great sympathy for Buffy in this episode because of Faith’s betrayal and her fear that Angel no longer loves her.
It's true, the super-heroines in Buffy aren't usually sexualized, but the villains certainly are. The "evil is sexy" concept shows up frequently on the show. In "Bad Girls," for example, Faith and Buffy are making a point to be sexy while dancing at the Bronze, which shows Faith's "bad" side coming out right before she kills a man and also shows how Faith is influencing Buffy. When these characters become more sexualized, it is a symbol of their becoming "bad girls," as the title says.
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