Speak Up Saturday

[feurioo]

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

If you haven't had the chance to check out our friending meme yet, feel free to join the fun if you're interested!

Comments

[shadowkat]

I'm re-watching S1. But Angel, Spike, Giles, Xander, OZ, etc either required saving from someone else, themselves, or to be defeated. So all qualify. They weren't the hero of the series - that was Buffy, and to a lesser extent Willow. The damsel was mainly, with the exception of Willow (early seasons), Cordy (early seasons) and Dawn (season 5-6), men. Which was a huge trope change in regards to 20th Century television series, and early 00s. Buffy was kind of a game-changer.

[china_shop]

Yes, absolutely. I'm not disagreeing with your original statement at all. Buffy is unquestionably the hero (with all the complications that implies). I just feel like all the male characters have more or less equal narrative weight, so when you said "the man" (as if a "normal" narrative would have made him the hero of the story) I didn't know which one you meant. Sorry if I've been unclear.

[shadowkat]

That's okay. Although generally speaking I meant all of them? But in S1 - it's basically just Xander and Giles. Angel lurks. Xander kind of saves Buffy from drowning, but it's unclear. In S2, Angel is a damsel, as is Cordelia, Willow, Xander, and basically everyone but Buffy. Spike is a bad guy up until halfway through, then helps Buffy (although I wouldn't call his actions heroic - he has an agenda), Angel turns into a villain, and Giles is the damsel. In S3, Xander, Willow, Cordelia are all damsels, Angel mainly lurks and broods, and yes, also is a damsel, Faith is the bad guy, and Buffy the hero. In S4 - Riley is the damsel, Spike is a damsel/a bad guy/and occasionally helpful, Angel comes and mainly lurks, Oz is a damsel, Willow is a damsel, Xander is a damsel, and in S5, Spike is the damsel and helps, Xander is a damsel and helps...honestly they have the boys be the damsels in this show consistently throughout, it's rather impressive.