Celebration of Scholars
Slayers, Every One of Us”: Buffy on Challenging Patriarchal Systems
Name:
Alexandra Ash
Major: Communication
Hometown: Wheaton
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to provide a feminist analysis of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which provides a counterpoint to many of the images and ideals regarding women presented in the media. By analyzing a text that breaks media norms, standards can be created for better media practices. The show is unique because the lead female character, Buffy, overcomes the patriarchal institution of which she is part by creating a network of allies without hierarchy, a practice that is not seen elsewhere in television. Buffy closely follows this and other strategies for female liberation described by Mary Daly in Gyn/ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism and Hélène Cixous’ in “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer both provides a model for women and girls to navigate challenges in there own lives and defies many of the conventions of primetime television.Submit date: March 14, 2016, 1:58 p.m.