Hair, and warrior women

[beccaelizabeth]

I haven't made notes on 'Halloween' yet. I'm having one of those days when I can't settle. I keep reading a couple of pages then switching to a different book.

So instead I write one thought.

Hair. Specifically, Buffy's hair. At the start of Halloween its a sort of a plot point that slaying messes up Buffy's hair. Being 'pretty coiffed' is a distinguishing point of the old fashioned femininity, the princess lady in the book, and pretty much Cordelia too. Having the time to make hair look good, and the kind of life where it stays looking good. Buffy compares her own hair unfavourably to book girl and to Cordelia, and so feels her life comes up short.

Hair is a Big Deal.

Thing is, there aren't many episodes where Buffy's hair is ever less than perfect. And when it is, its a plot thing.

Buffy fighting the Master, gets hair soaked. Happens again in Bad Girls, fighting in the sewer. Beer Bad hair goes cavegirl messy (to a degree that usually takes me weeks). If Buffy's hair is messed up, its because she's messed up, emotionally and plot wise.

(At this point if someone comes up with a counter example my entire theory falls apart.)

So I started thinking about all the different femininities in the show, Cordy and Willow and Buffy and all. All the ways they are different from each other, those I tend to notice. But ways they are the same?

All have good hair.

All, generally speaking, are conventionally attractive, presenting themselves in conventionally attractive ways. Makeup and hairstyles and paying attention to it. In Inca Mummy Girl when they dress up for culture dancing the Mummy-monster is getting all makeup and hairdo (and its vaguely interesting that the more life she eats, the more makeup she gets, except for thats just meant to be looking healthier). Buffy is going to work, not dance, so she wears dungarees and t-shirt.

When else does she do that?

I think in 'Helpless' she wears that.
And I did notice in Reptile Boy she wore a see through lace top for the day but changed into sporty solid clothes for training and patrol.
But mostly Buffy gets to dress up pretty and kick ass both.


So I was thinking of the strand of feminism that reckons women won't be liberated until they're free not to wax their legs. Not to conform to all conventional standards of beauty, attractiveness, how a woman should present herself.

On BtVS even the geek girl shows her growing confidence by getting more fashionable and doing stuff with her hair. Initially Willow was dungaree girl sometimes. But later, confident Willow meant a big long dress or something.


So thats one whole big area where BtVS isn't challenging conventional roles one bit. She kicks ass, and dresses up pretty and worries about being attractive to boys.


My cultural studies teacher from the year I didn't manage to turn up reckoned Buffy wasn't a feminist text, it was classic post feminist backlash. I meant to ask what they meant by that, but there was the not-turning-up factor. But backlash in the books means showing women trying to have it all and therefore having things go horribly wrong. Writing about career women working themselves sick, for instance.

A lot of Buffy's life goes horribly wrong.

And Buffy has that multiple loads thing, the thing like in sociology where women are expected to work for pay, keep house, look after children, and do the planning and keeping people happy parts. Buffy's job list is a bit different, but with many lives together. At least three, she says in School Hard.


So now I'm kind of poking at Buffy to see how feminist it isn't.


Partly because I'm in a grumbly mood.


Warrior woman is in some respects a departure from the norms. Contrasts greatly with fluffy pink princess with the job of being beautiful. But does it contrast so much with previous representations of women on TV?

Well my sample is very limited, because I'm a SF&F fan and I was a teenager when Buffy started so before that I remember less. But there are previous kick ass characters. Even on Doctor Who, which had its fair share of screamers. Leela, for one. Ace was much later. On Blakes 7 the women all kicked ass in their own way. Pilots and rebel fighters and weapons designers. And an evil queen of the universe. Next Gen briefly had a woman security officer. DS9 had Jadzia, who liked Klingon weapons.

It seems to me that within F&SF the woman warrior is ever present.

Or, you know, it could be I only *like* shows that have someone to fit that role. *shrugs*

ANYways, if Buffy is especially revolutionary, surely to show it would need comparing her to her predecessors in the kick ass chick role?


There's a Thrud comic page I want to put in here. Shows their barbarian warrior lady showing other women how to fight. With the 'oops I dropped my sword' technique - bend over, show breasts, decapitate the opposition while they're drooling over the cleavage.
Then the strip shows the other women. They're... not equipped for quite that manuever. All shapes and sizes. So barbarian lady sighs and reckons she'll show them how to use a bow.
I have it on paper somewhere, but haven't found it online.

Buffy is definitely not that kind of warrior. We don't get an 'oops look at my breasts' ploy ever. She plays up the presumed weakness of women, with the run and trip, but I don't recall a time she uses sexy to win.



So now I'd wander off into a compare/contrast to see what the characters have in common, how Buffy compares, etc etc.

Most obvious start is she is not the sidekick. She's in the title.


there's other stuff but I've gone all yawny and tired. can't settle to anything today. blech.
will post despite blobbiness of thoughts.