The first articles mention how Caleb, first introduced in the episode "Dirty Girls" is a caricature of the Church by not only looks, but what he says : "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city." He seems intolerant at first, but not misogynistic. That is, until he sticks a knife into a young girl's belly as a warning to Buffy. Through Caleb, the article mentions, we get to see a different oppressive system at work- the Watchers Council. Whedon used Caleb's overt intolerance to show the Councils intolerance. One may have noticed that there are always new Slayers, but the Council always stays the same. It's no surprise that they have to send Watchers for the female slayers, lest they break free from the Council's control. Buffy's, being as smart as she is, picks up on this fact and tries to break away : "See I've had a lot of people talking at me, last few days. People just lining up to tell me how unimportant I am. And I finally figured out why. Power. I have it. They don't. This bothers them."
So, the way that the show reflects reality is quite surprising on some levels. Both Buffy and the nuns are both fighting patriarchies which control them in different, but rebellious ways. The nuns are doing it by trying to reinterpret their faith, while Buffy does it by asserting her independence. It's important to keep that the universe that Buffy lives in isn't real. Rejecting a patriarchy is not easy to do in reality because there are few women who have as much power as Buffy. And even if women were able to get rid of patriarchies and set up matriarchies, there would be any difference. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I was raised as a Catholic, and a couple years ago, I underwent the sacrament of Confirmation. I am officially a Catholic, though my views have changed since then and I've become less passionate about the church, due in large part to the overwhelming amount of legitimate critique it's had about almost every facet of its existence.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm about to defend the Church.
You said, "I think it's important to see that what the Vatican is doing is denouncing opposing viewpoints just for the fact that they are different from what the Church teaches." To the Vatican, they're not doing this. They believe they're defending the masses from lies and sin, which God has warned them about and charged them with the responsibility of defending us from. Though this may be illogical, you make their motivation seem petty. Tisn't.
You also wrote, "more than 90% of Catholic women use [birth control]." Well, if they did NOT preach the "evils" of BC, then 99% of Catholic women would be on the pill. And that 9% would be much more comfortable with having premarital sex, resulting in more STIs and unplanned pregnancies due to lack of condoms and forgetting to be regular with their hormone doses. STIs suck, and the earth is overpopulated; I'm all for the Church preaching that BC is evil if it will exacerbating these problems.
Lastly, you claim that "Rejecting a patriarchy is not easy to do in reality because there are few women who have as much power as Buffy." I daresay there are zero women, in reality, who have as much power as Buffy. Likewise, zero men exist that could rival her strength, agility and healing rate. However, patriarchies have been rejected multiple times throughout history, almost every time there's a revolution. Men can fight against men and still be rejecting the patriarchy. Even if they establish another in its stead, they still disagree with the original government and thus the patriarchy.
Amen.