When talking about “strong female characters” a lot of people jump to the conclusion that “strong” means “super strength fighter warrior woman”, or something to that effect. In actuality, to have a strong female character means to have a well-written one. A character that isn’t just a series of stereotypes built into one person. That is one brilliant thing about Buffy. In this show, the characters all show strength through a number of ways. Buffy is a blonde, pretty, skinny girl, who fights monsters. This is more towards what we typically see in movies that show “strong” girls. But Buffy has so much more to her character than that. She is a loving friend, she has a side to her that just wants to be a normal girl, and another side that will hunt you down if you mess with her family. Buffy is not just a “sexy fighter girl” trope, she’s a person. She has strengths, but she also has weaknesses. She isn’t invincible. On the other hand, her best friend, Willow, is a dorky, loveable girl who is also really good with computers. Willow’s strength isn’t as conventional for tv. She uses what she has, and still manages to love pink, and not be as strong a fighter as Buffy. Tara is a quiet, shy girl, who has trouble coming out of her shell. But she’s strong too. Every character of the show is made in different ways, with different strengths and weaknesses, whether they be a fighter, or a user of magic, or really good at research, they all bring something that is unique.
Buffy is also great at showing that the most dangerous things in the world aren’t always the demons, but the people. The show often deals with very real issues in today’s society, such as death, rape, and even just the feelings about relationships and love we have. Buffy manages to get herself into a very toxic relationship that she is unsure why she’s in. The relationship really reflects Buffy’s inner turmoils, and delves into her reasoning for staying with someone she knows can hurt her. She confesses to a friend at one point, and begins begging this friend to punish her for being wrong. “I’m wrong, tell me I’m wrong, please! Please don’t forgive me.” (Dead things, season 6 episode 13). One of the “big bads” of season 6 of Buffy is a trio of men set out to mess with Buffy and her friends. While there is a lot more going on, to save from spoilers I’ll be vague. The men, while maybe having some abilities beyond a “normal” human’s, should not be able to best Buffy as much as they do, she’s fought off way worse things than them, right? But they aren’t just there because the writer’s couldn’t think of anything better to use, these men are pointing out the way our society treats men and women. These men are normal guys. And yet they manage to do horrible things to the characters, including (more minor spoilers) killing Warren’s ex after she tries to escape them to tell the world of their attempted rape. “It's not a game, you freaks! It's rape!” (Dead Things, Episode 13 of season 6). These characters reflect today’s society and gives light to the way certain men treat women. Buffy is brilliantly written to point these things out from a new perspective.
Lastly, Buffy doesn’t just have strong characters, but diverse ones. The characters all have varying strengths and weaknesses, as previously discussed, but they also all have hugely independent personalities. Even the non fighter characters, such as Joyce (Buffy’s mom) are well written. Joyce is a stay at home single mom, and the show never makes fun of her for that. She still dates every so often, and supports Buffy, but not mindlessly. She has moments of very human emotions, which is rare to see in a mom character. While most “moms” are seen as just that, moms, Joyce actually has a life outside of her daughter. In addition, we see some characters who just love love love fashion, like Cordelia Chase, and others that couldn’t care less about it, such as Kendra. To be entirely fair, the show isn’t 100% perfect, it doesn’t have nearly as much racial diversity or varying body types as one would like. But it does have something many shows don’t which is: people. The characters are well rounded, and this goes for men as well as women. There are male characters who read and are nerdy, while still being able to fight fairly well. And men that are more typically strong in build, but still lose a lot of battles. There are tall men, short men, strong men, weak men. All the characters on the show are more than just tropes.
This show is so important and relevant in today’s society. So often we see “strong” characters as just surface warrior characters with nothing underneath. Something like Buffy is really eye-opening to just how stereotyped many popular television shows are. It gives a glimpse into what well-written characters are, and how we can improve in the future. Buffy gives an honest look to what our society is, and points out the problematic things. It’s so much more than just demons and fighting. It’s a show about our world, and how we can choose to live in it. To quote Buffy “the hardest thing to do in this world, is to live in it” so we may as well make living in it the best we can.
*so as not to include spoilers, rather than show a clip from Buffy, I would like to show you this video of the creator of the show, Joss Whedon, giving his speech for "Make Equality Reality". I think it's still related to my critique, as it shows the writer of the show's views on feminism, and equality, which really reflects his work overall, including Buffy.
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