Buffy the Vampire Slayer and LGBTQ Representation

Posted on March 29, 2016 by | 1 Comment

tumblr_n605rvdHlw1tbnb01o1_500I LOVE Buffy the Vampire Slayer (evident by the fact that I binged all seven seasons over the summer). Also, Dr Maurantonio and I discussed how this is a thing in the academic field. That said, my favorite character quickly became Willow Rosenberg. (It’s been almost 20 years since the show debuted, but…spoiler warning) Willow starts off as the quirky friend/sidekick to the show’s protagonist, Buffy. However, over the seven season run Willow’s character is developed and in season four, after previously having love interest in two male characters, her sexuality is explored during her time in college. I’ll let the attached link further explore the significance of how her coming out and sexuality are represented in the show, which was a mainstream staple in the late 90s/ early 00s. But, I think this is a nice point of departure to analyze how similar scenes play out in popular media today. (Also, I love Willow but I was initially on the fence about the openly lesbian character being a witch. However, I think it’s a truly beautiful narrative when the larger Buffy context is considered)

NYU’s Professor Portwood-Stacer’s Queer Analysis of Buffy

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One response to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer and LGBTQ Representation”

  1. Chelsea Taylor | March 30, 2016 at 6:49 pm |

    OMG I am so happy that someone posted something about Buffy. I discovered Buffy when I was younger because it was on in the morning before school and I found my brother watching it because he thought that Sarah Michelle Gellar was like the “hottest thing ever”. It was a little old for me but I convinced my parents to let me watch it, I had all 7 seasons on DVD way before I probably should have. If you haven’t watched Buffy, or have only seen a few episodes, do yourself a favor and go watch!!

    It’s funny that Buffy is brought up because I’m in a class called “Vampires in Literature & Film” and we just watched a Buffy episode to explore Dracula a little bit. If you haven’t seen that episode, its season 5 episode 1… it’s great! (Sorry such a Buffy geek!) But I think that this a great way to look at the way media represents sexuality, because as a younger girl watching the show from a pretty sheltered part of rural Virginia what I was seeing was definitely something new and different. But it was kind of beautiful because Willow was one of my favorite characters and Joss Whedon does such a great job of making the characters feel so personal and relatable to you, and I was getting to a point in the story where I wanted Willow to be happy. That scene (if you’ve watched it) where Oz leaves her, like I felt her pain and I had never even been in love. Probably total side tangent but I think that you’re right in that Buffy really did a great job on this subject!

    Also in my search for some stuff on my paper for Vampires, I found a paper that talks about Buffy as an allegory to contemporary culture. If you’re interested in reading it is below! Can we watch a Buffy episode for class?!

    https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/buffy.pdf