Angel- Why no Love!
- Thread starter Snick27
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It doesn't really bother me, but the discussion came up and I happen to agree with Hermiod on this.
Wesley became my favorite character
An interesting interpretation of the sexual politics of Buffy, focusing on Xander's experience in The Zeppo (the title of which, on the subject of Xander being "the male lead" of the show, should clear things up considerably. Giles was the male lead of the show, not Xander or Angel.)
Marc Camron, University of Colorado, Boulder
The Importance of Being the Zeppo: Xander, Gender Identity and Hybridity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"For many feminist critics this is a real concern. If a powerful, self-aware character such as Buffy can’t represent a true feminist heroine, who can? If the patriarchal order appropriates Buffy as a text of its own, post-modern pop culture may lose one of its most valiant efforts at creating a feminist icon. The answer, albeit an answer that contains additional problems, may be in the character of Xander, the only character with no true power. For this let us look at the episode “The Zeppo” (3013), and see how Xander may show that Buffy is indeed a feminist text, though one not completely removed from current patriarchal ideology.
[6] At the beginning of “The Zeppo,” Buffy and the gang are in the middle of fighting a particularly nasty group of female demons, the Sisterhood of Jhi, which is bent on opening up the Hellmouth and destroying the world. Willow casts a spell and Buffy tackles one demon. The struggle is difficult, so Giles steps in to assist in wrestling the she-beast. The demon immediately throws Giles out of the way, as Faith comes in and skewers it with a sword. When the battle finishes, we discover Willow’s casting of a “clouding spell” allowed Buffy and Faith to dispatch the monsters. The women are responsible for every visible, positive action. The only male action we witness is brushed aside like an unwanted insect. The battle is finished and Buffy quickly takes a headcount of the gang. But what’s this? Xander is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly a pile of boxes begins to move. Xander emerges, proclaiming himself “fine, just a little bit dirty.” But Buffy and Faith both show concern over his well-being and tell him to stop “leaping into the fray,” lest he become hurt or killed (“The Zeppo” 3013). Before the opening theme song plays, we see Xander as the weakling of the group; the first one out of the battle and the only one who needs help getting up at the end. When he tries to assert himself, he is verbally castrated by one of the slayers:
Xander: Who at a crucial moment distracted the lead demon by allowing her to pummel him about the head?
Faith: Yeah, that was real manly, how you shrieked and all. (3013)
Xander is immediately marginalized by his group, both physically—not appearing in the portion of the fight we, the audience, are privy to—and verbally—as Faith, one of the text’s most powerful characters, categorizes him as less than a man. (Editors’ note: See Wilcox’s Chapter 8, on “The Zeppo,” on the waning and waxing of Xander’s verbal skills in the episode.) As the episode progresses and the Sisterhood’s plot reveals itself, Xander becomes further marginalized. He does not seem to comprehend why his confidants, when faced with a life or death battle, will not rely on him. He is not lacking in bravery or willingness to place himself in harm’s way, so why is he being pushed aside? His ex-girlfriend, the rich debutant Cordelia, is more than happy to explain:
Cordelia: It must be really hard when all your friends have like, superpowers – slayer, werewolf, witches, vampires – and you’re like this little nothing...The boy who had no cool.
Xander: I happen to be an integral part of that group. I happen to have a lot to offer.
Cordelia: Integral part of the group? Xander, you’re the...the useless part of the group. You’re the Zeppo. (3013)
The Zeppo is a reference to Zeppo Marx, the handsome, more serious member of the Marx Brothers some people feel was out of place with the goofy-looking comic genius of Groucho, Harpo and Chico, a character perpetually on the sidelines, still in the film but never getting the chance to look up Margaret Dumont’s skirt. We are led to believe what Xander is missing is “cool,” but what he really lacks is traditional masculinity. Xander does not want to acknowledge he is the only one without power. Instead he feels he must look for a hook, something to inject him with the much-coveted quality of cool.
[7] Of course, what Xander opts for is a material representation of cool – a car, a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air convertible, to be exact. When asked what he’s doing, he says, “It’s my thing that makes me cool, you know, that makes me unique. I’m car guy! Guy with a car.” However, Buffy manages to nail it on the head – so to speak – when she asks him outright, “Is this a penis metaphor?” (3013). Of course it is, although Xander will never admit it. Xander seeks to replace his missing masculinity with the form of the large, classic automobile (Detroit “muscle”). (Editors’ note: See Rogers and Scheidel on “The Zeppo,” cars, and masculinity.) The ploy doesn’t work, though. The car does not change who Xander is, nor does it change his position in the group. When the group begins planning for the upcoming attack, Xander is relegated to running for donuts. While fetching the group’s sustenance, he runs into a “car girl.”[4] When she quizzes him on the car’s specs he only is able to respond, “Uh...very possibly” (3013). Although Xander is more than willing to give her a ride, he soon finds himself bored to tears as she regales him with talk of past car exploits. Xander does not become a car guy by driving a nice car. In fact, one could argue the introduction of the car does nothing more than further marginalize him. The car draws women in, defends them (as we shall soon see), and takes them places Xander without a car cannot. In effect, he becomes second fiddle to a pile of steel and chrome. If this isn’t bad enough, Xander on his own is out of harm’s way, but Xander, “guy with a car,” is involuntarily drawn into a dangerous situation involving four zombies, a bomb and the end of the world.
[ 8] Fortunately for Xander, halfway into the episode, conditions begin to shift. Xander finds himself with a carload of zombies who want to initiate him, their new “wheel man,” into their gang. Not being too keen on this idea, especially after his new buddies rob a hardware store, Xander escapes the zombie horde and heads toward home, away from the trouble everyone is so eager to keep him from. Naturally, this is when he notices Faith fighting one of the Sisterhood. She is fighting hand-to-hand, holding her own but not clearly winning. Xander hits the demon with his car, temporarily stunning her, and spirits Faith away to her apartment. There he finds his deliverance:
Faith: “She got me really wound up. A fight like that and no kill... I’m about ready to pop.”
Xander: “Really? Pop?”
Faith: “You up for it?”
Xander: “Oh I’m up.” [Faith grabs his crotch.] “I’m suddenly very up. It’s just...um...I’ve never been up with people before.”
[Faith kisses him aggressively.]
Faith: “Just relax. Take your pants off.”
Xander: “Those two concepts are antithetical.”
[Faith removes his shirt, grabbing him and kissing him vigorously. When he starts to react in kind, she throws him on the bed, bounding after him like a wild animal. She straddles him and removes her own top.]
Faith: “Don’t worry, I’ll steer ya around the curves.” (3013)
This encounter at once confirms and confounds critics’ claims of gender reversal. Faith is clearly the authority figure here. She has sexual experience while Xander is a virgin. The sexual encounter stems from Faith’s need to expel unspent energy, something to satisfy her needs, and we are left with no doubt that Xander could have been replaced with Brad Pitt, the pizza guy or possibly a massaging shower head to the same effect. Faith asserts her power by instigating the encounter and remaining in control the entire time. As soon as Xander calms down and begins returning her advances, she increases the physicality by throwing him on the bed and leaping on top of him. She removes both her own clothes and his, making it clear things will progress at her discretion. She even appropriates Xander’s “car guy” persona, making Xander the car and promising to steer him “around the curves” (see Rogers and Scheidel). We view a bit of the act itself, reflected in the television (cf. Wilcox 141), and it’s no coincidence that Faith remains on top the entire time. Xander’s submission does not stem from his lack of experience, but rather from his lack of power. Faith’s strength, a very masculine strength, allows her to dominate. At no time does Faith risk becoming subjectified. After the coitus, as they lay in bed, her head remains higher than his on the pillows, again contrasting the expected image of the woman lying on the man’s chest. But here is also where the gender reversal begins to break down. Xander’s head is not on Faith’s chest either. Now deflowered, he is beginning to rise up, to seize a small bit of power. Xander remains slightly below Faith, but still in a higher position than he was before the commercial break.
[9] The encounter has cost Faith nothing; her power remains unchanged. The tender post-coitus cuddle lasts only a moment. The music stops abruptly and Xander is dismissed, escorted from the apartment with his clothes in his hands (all but his boxers) as Faith excuses herself with a very curt, “That was great. I gotta shower,” and slams the door closed behind her (3013). Faith’s final words continue to enforce her masculine side, as she acts in the callous, dismissive way we would expect from a lothario. But Xander is no longer playing his reversed role. He is not upset at being kicked out, only confused that he’s just had sex in the first place. He expects nothing; perhaps for the moment he recognizesthat Faith has no interest in him beyond a quick shag for fun.[5] And he doesn’t care. In this moment, the focus shifts from Xander as feminine to Xander as masculine. A three-minute encounter transforms him forever. He still does not have super powers, he still is not a demon, but he has found a piece of his missing masculinity.
[10] We now face an impasse, a confusing break in continuity for those who wish to believe that Buffy simply represents a world of swapped genders. Things are no longer quite so simple. They say “sex changes everything,” and this is particularly true in Sunnydale. When Buffy lost her virginity to Angel the world nearly ended (“Surprise,” 2013). Everything young women are taught to fear about sex comes true for her. At the moment of orgasm (portrayed here as “true happiness”), Angel loses his soul and is transformed once again into Angelus, a monster, a soulless killing machine. Justine Larbalestier addresses this in her article about sex in Buffy: “Buffy has ‘given’ herself to a man and he has changed...His civilized veneer is stripped away; he has become the brutish demon we are taught lies at the heart of all men” (204). More than just a diminished afterglow, the repercussions of this act reach much deeper. Once unleashed, Angelus kills Willow’s fish, taunts Buffy and her mother by leaving gruesome drawings in their house, tells Buffy’s mother about having sex with her daughter, kills Jenny Calendar, indirectly causes the death of short-term slayer Kendra, murders several other people, and tortures Buffy’s mentor, Giles. This escalating series of atrocities is meant to drive Buffy mad, to rub in her face the fact that what she has done has cost her dearly (BTVS 2014-2022). Angelus makes her regret surrendering her chastity by removing whatever innocence she had left. Nothing and no one is safe and it is clearly Buffy’s fault. In the end, the only way for Buffy to restore peace and find a semblance of redemption (her lost chastity?) is to kill her lover and send him, literally, to hell: an act she must complete even after it is clear Angel’s soul has been restored and he is no longer the evil Angelus (“Becoming” Part Two, 2022).
[11] Despite its seemingly advanced agenda, Buffy must contend with the sexual attitudes of late 20th century society, which occasionally reflect some truly warped ideas:
When it became clear that there was a mutual sexual attraction between a more-than-200-year-old walking dead man (ewww!) and a 16-year old girl, there were no cries of protest; when it became clear there was a mutual sexual attraction between two young women over the age of consent (and neither undead) there was a good deal of consternation and debate (Larbalestier 197).
So although the relationship between Buffy and Angel is somewhat conventional (after all, he doesn’t look 200 years old and dead), there still must be a price to pay for her dalliance. Buffy learns a lesson in proper sexual norms and does not again experiment until college, the earliest time a proper girl should do such things (monogamous relationships only, no sluts please). Faith, on the other hand, can get away with such things because she is no innocent high-school girl. She may not be older, but she is more experienced; she has lived a harder life and has earned the right to be promiscuous. Likewise, when Willow decides she is a lesbian, she is in college, the acceptable time for such experimentation, at least in the patriarchal fantasy world. Every sexual encounter must be framed in the proper societal context; therefore Xander’s foray into manhood is lauded, not scorned. (Editors’ note: Cf. Jowett on Xander’s encounter with Faith: “Sexual prowess is again called on to demonstrate that a new man is in fact a real man” [136]). Sex in the Buffyverse, it turns out, is less about power and more about convention. All of Buffy’s power cannot salvage the negative effect her sexuality had on her and the world around her. Similarly, Xander’s lack of power cannot temper the positive effect having intercourse has on him."
^So, in other words, Buffy is a feminist icon because all the guys in the show are useless ?
There's nothing patriarchal about that. There's nothing even all that original about it. In order for women to look strong, men must look weak. Been there, done that, worn the t-shirt.
Still, they corrected for it somewhat when it was Xander became the only one who actually grew up over the course of the show. Buffy ends up flipping burgers and then gets a job as the world's worst guidance counsellor. Willow just ends up mooching off of Buffy and Anya... well, she's another story entirely.
There's nothing patriarchal about that. There's nothing even all that original about it. In order for women to look strong, men must look weak. Been there, done that, worn the t-shirt.
Still, they corrected for it somewhat when it was Xander became the only one who actually grew up over the course of the show. Buffy ends up flipping burgers and then gets a job as the world's worst guidance counsellor. Willow just ends up mooching off of Buffy and Anya... well, she's another story entirely.
Exactly!
Chakotay from Voyager springs to mind.
However, I think the whole Buffy as a feminist icon comes crashing down when you consider Buffy couldn't pay the bills, morgage on the house or even fill out the legal paper after her mom died without Giles.
Buffy & Dawn would have been hungry & homeless without him.
Well, apart from Commander Plywood (oh, and the Ensign who appeared to lack any kind of sexual organs whatsoever), I actually thought Voyager did a pretty good job with this.
No "blah blah blah, I'm a woman, you must respect me, blah blah blah" nonsense from Janeway at least.
Check out what I added in regards to Giles.
Jeri Taylor admittied the idea of weakening Chakotay's character to make Janeway seem stronger. That's why I added Chakotay as the example.
Yes, that's exactly what the article says. In Bizarro world.
The article is discussing that even though BtVS strives to have Buffy be a feminist icon, its approach to sexuality is still very grounded in the partiarchal order. Thus Xander losing his virginity results in his acquisition of personal and emotional power - even when his deflowering is at the hands of an aggressive female. Meanwhile Buffy's loss of virginity, even at the hands of a tender, loving mate, results in a loss of power vis a vis her lover, who is transformed by the demonzing power of released female sexuality into a creature of evil - which is a very traditional, patriarchal view of feminine sexuality.
The point is that Buffy's take on male/ female gender/ sexual politics is not as simple as "All women = strong= good, All men = weak=good", but is, in reality, much more complicated than that.
Given your interest, and often quite thoughtful criticisms of material involving powerful female heroes, I thought you'd find this fascinating reading. Perhaps I was wrong.
Funny, Bizarro world is also where Xander was treated well in the first five seasons of the show.
Even that was as ridiculously on the nose as season seven. Men turn in to monsters once they've gotten what they want. There is no way, shape or form that the way Faith treated Xander can be portrayed as a good thing for him. All of the women in Xander's life - Cordelia, Faith, Anya - kept the guy's balls in a jar.
Buffy is the worst possible example of a powerful female hero. She's a whining, useless, pathetic, immature child who just so happens to have superpowers.
Remember that episode of Futurama where Leela meets all the other kids from the orphanage again ? She's successful space captain while the rest of them are still deadbeats, yet because she's only got one eye she's the loser. That's pretty much how the show presents Xander. He's the loser because he doesn't have superpowers.
^No. 
Angel actually did a better job of keeping the "I am woman, hear me roar" business down. Cordy and Fred got in to trouble sometimes and needed men to help them, but they could generally handle themselves and acquitted themselves as heroes a lot better than the Cheerleader or the Mooch ever did on Buffy.
Angel actually did a better job of keeping the "I am woman, hear me roar" business down. Cordy and Fred got in to trouble sometimes and needed men to help them, but they could generally handle themselves and acquitted themselves as heroes a lot better than the Cheerleader or the Mooch ever did on Buffy.
That may be - I don't know. I just finished season 5 for the first time and am fairly over the show. The article I posted was about a single episode from long before season 7.
Except that before the sex he is ineffectual, after the sex he finds his power and defeats the dead guys essentially by being ballsy.
So, yes, I was wrong that you're at all interested in anything other than a predetermined simplistic interpretation. Good to know. I will stop trying to bring up more interesting shades of gray then.
Unless there's anyone else about who'd like to discuss them.
Well she did have some pretty important extracurricular activities on her hands. Pretty tough to hold down a 9-5 job capable of taking care of two people with only a high school diploma given those circumstances.
True but Buffy became a Slayer in the 80's, what did the Slayers before her in the modern era do in the economic world we live in? A Slayer would have no choice but to be dependant on her Watcher to care & provide for her. That's the point I'm trying to convey. If her Watcher is a man, then she is dependant on him for EVERYTHING.
Well, I have the benefit of hindsight. I've seen the whole thing. I've been properly introduced to The Trio, Caleb and The First.
Is it seriously your assertion that the change in Xander's behaviour, which lasted all of one episode until season five, was a result of sex with Faith ?
I suggest you do catch up with the rest of the show as you will see the real, lasting change in Xander's behaviour has nothing to do with a woman. It's actually a man, well a male vampire, that causes it - "I'm tired of being everyone's butt monkey".
Simplistic ? No, simplistic is season seven's final episode. Simplistic is "Xander mans up because a woman had sex with him".
Forget just watching season six, listen to what Giles says to her all along. Buffy is a spoiled brat and she continues to act like it well in to adulthood. I do not consider that to be a particularly heroic trait.
Compare her to Cordelia and look at the difference in growth between them. Compare Cordy to Willow as well. By the time Buffy ends, Cordelia is a grown woman. Buffy and Willow are still children.
Buffy wasn't exactly doing all the Scoobying on her own.
She chose the reject the "normal" life of a Slayer yet wasn't enough of an adult to accept the consequences of her actions.
3D Master
Rear Admiral
How does sucking his dick after he told her to leave equate to "Surrendering to his wishes"? She may not have forced him to have full penetrative sex but she certainly sexually assaulted him.So she should have raped him?
Way to go around in circles there. Dizzy yet ? Buffy didn't "surrender" by not having sex with him. Do you "surrender" to all the women you want to have sex with who don't let you ?
.
No, she didn't. Attempting to change someone's mind by sexually arousing them is not sexual assault. It only becomes sexual assault if you keep going after someone tells you not to, and refuses your advances. This obviously didn't happen, as Buffy remained unsatisfied and thus left and accepted his wishes after he stayed adamant. Thus, there is no sexual assault.
If your idea of sexual assault were actually sexual assault, than anyone making the first move attempting to seduce someone is a someone who commits sexual assault. EVERYONE.
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