Buffy: The Vampire Slayer


This is the topic that me and my group had to do our final girl presentations on. When I started this I had no idea how interested I would become. I am now a Buffy fanatic to say the least. I wanted to talk about her as a final girl although we are presenting on this just to voice my own opinions. For one, she completely breaks the final girl stereotype. Final girls are supposed to be braver than their male companions. This is one aspect in which she fits the stereotype. Xander is her male friend who, let's not kid ourselves, is kind of a dweeb in the first couple episodes. She is definitely braver than him and he senses it which makes him nervous in a couple episodes because while she's off fighting crime, he's just sort of sitting there..being Xander.

Another aspect of the final girl is that they are supposed to not be sexually active. She breaks this boundary because in one of the episodes she has sex with Angel (a dreamy vampire who was given his soul back because of a curse some gypsies gave him). Although this is so, she is a sort of exception because in the first couple episodes, although she is lonely she rejects male attention. One example of this is Xander and how he is in completely love with her but she blows him off. Also this is seen by how Owen (a random human) wants to keep dating her for a life of adventure, she blows him off too. She knows that she can't be in a relationship while also being a dedicated slayer (of course this all goes out the window when she meets angel).

Another trait of a final girl is their boyish or unisex name. (Sam..I think I'd make a great final girl, no?) Buffy on the other hand is practically the girliest name out there..other than like Madeline or something. Not only this, but she's a cheerleader. I get the feeling that final girls are supposed to be tom-boyish but she's not. In fact she's quite the opposite. In the early episodes she's really just an average teenager(apart from having burned down a school gym full of vampires) who wants to date(even though she knows she shouldn't , worries about her appearance, and deals with things like "do these pants make me look fat?".

One other way that she does fit the stereotype is that she utilizes the gaze. Not only does she herself look for vampires, but she looks at them as she kills them. She is the one that reduces them to nothing.

Passing. This is a big thing in this series because it happens so often. Buffy looks like an ordinary girl which means that vampires have no idea that shes the chosen one. One vampire who is fighting her even says that he expected her to be bigger. It always works to the vampires advantage because they can have a normal face but when their vampire side emerges, their faces contort to show who they are. This works for them because they can walk around looking like normal humans while really they are looking for prey. This is shown by when a vampire leads willow away towards a graveyard and only when his face changes does she realize she's in danger. In one specific episode this is shown by way of the anointed. The anointed is supposed to be someone who will help Master escape from underground and will defeat the slayer. Instead of being a big, buff guy, the anointed ends up being an innocent looking little boy. No one will ever suspect him of being the one to help bring about the end of the world.

Colonialism is also portrayed in this series but not on Buffy's side. Master, a vampire who is trapped underground, wants to escape so he can basically take over the world.

And that, my friends, is the awesomeness of Buffy.