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I don't approach BtVS from a "gender studies" perspective, but rather from a "Public Policy" perspective. Looking at "Chosen" in terms of Democratic Governance theories, it reads far more like a bureaucratic realignment rather than a metaphor for empowerment. Certainly, it's dramatic and empowering for the Potential, but offers little for the community as a whole.
It ties back to “Why we Fight”. The Mission. Everything flows from the mission.
And the mission of the Slayer, of the Watchers Council, of the Shadowmen, of the Guardian is, at heart, fairly simple: fight supernatural threats. Presumably, to defend and protect the community against those threats…
How each Institution fulfills that mission, is very different. I’d know that rather well. I am, after all, a defense contractor. I’ve interned in the Senate and worked on a congressional campaign. Congress. I’ve worked for an International Security Think Tank And I have one of them fancy degrees in Public Policy with a focus on Management and National Security.
The Shadowmen sought to create a slayer. But in order to preserve their bureaucratic preeminence atop the security pyramid, the Council maintained control over the slayer. There would be one girl, and the council, not the slayer, would retain institutional memory. The potentials were of the same class of the slayer, but merely less affected because they lacked her physical might.
Buffy, on occasion, used the uniqueness of the slayer as a source of power (“I quit”) in her bureaucratic struggles against the Council, in order to propound her organizing vision rather than the council’s own. And she cultivated her own loyal support team, thus reducing her dependence on council. Still, for the most part, Buffy shared the same guiding council vision – that the community she sought to defend had no real role in that defense. While community was not inherently discouraged to participate, neither was community sought out.
“Graduation” marked a contrast. Buffy embarked on a Public Involvement campaign. She enlisted members of the graduating class in a battle for their own defense. For the most part, those not already part of her politburo had no actual input, but she did encourage participation.
Season 7 disappointed me for many reasons. Among others, I found it artless, dull, and frequently so void of internal logic as to be nonsensical. These are issues of execution, not intent. (Though muddled intent leads to poor execution.) But these issues aside, “Chosen” disappoints me at its very core. Even if I grant that empowering tons of slayers with minimal aforethought is inherently good, even if I grant that they had any choice or say at all, even if I grant Buffy engaged the potentials in a democratic manner even if I grant the soundness of Buffy’s battle tactics…
It disappoints, because it doesn't address Public Service as a core value of the Slayer Enterprise mission. It’s the celebration of internal reform for it's own sake (even though it's such a great reform) beyond its significance. It’s spoken repeatedly of how Buffy empowers those potentials, but there is no tie-in to how this particular empowerment empowers anybody else.
When the town is beset by many foes, Buffy does nothing to raise community awareness. She does nothing to further community empowerment. This doesn’t mean they had to have civilians fighting with them – but there would have been other ways for the community to participate in its defense – perhaps in non-combat support or planning roles. In LA, Charles Gunn built a neighborhood defense organization. Anne by organizing an open shelter, has made her community safer. Even after Gunn leaves his boys behind, the community is better prepared to defend itself.
Buffy and the scoobies, on the other hand do no such thing. That the town is safer with Buffy gone over the summer than it was before she came, is because she expanded a bureaucracy such that she left a presence (in the form of Willow and Xander) when not there personally. The townsfolk, themselves, were no safer on their own.
The potentials can be seen as metaphorical representations of society-at-large. But this is a world where they are already marked and identifiable as special, and then sequestered from mainstream society because they are special, and empowered again because they are chosen. This undermines that metaphor.
I celebrate that Buffy would be about empowering these potentials, but it bothers me that it's not also about empowering anybody else. There needed to be a tie back to how empowerment of society as a whole - how Buffy as CEO of Slayer Enterprise serves her customer (the citizens) through this reform.
In essence, she’s done two things. First, she placed more cops on the streets. Secondly, she’s given those cops a much better say inside the division. That’s about it. She hasn’t done due diligence to make sure those cops are good cops. She hasn’t done anything about the Thin Blue Line that separates most cops from the rest of society. She hasn’t done anything on the topic of public involvement. She doesn’t prioritize her community, and though Buffy emerges victorious over the Shadowmen in her internecine struggle, the community is destroyed in the process.
This, by the way, is a major reason why the police forces are subject to oversight, and why police are generally charged to participate in the community to serve the community. The citizens of a community are important stakeholders, and in public service, stakeholder involvement (either directly, or though representatitves) is key part of performance. To reinforce the core value. Whether through stagnation, corruption, neglect, or abuse of power – when the Public Service organization loses sight of the mission, the public doesn’t get served. Faith’s murder spree. The Scoobies’ negligence of their own community, leading to it’s eventual downfall and destruction.
In the end, for all its themes of empowerment, “Chosen” is also a story about a group of bureaucrats who have lost touch with the fundamental organizational purpose which justifies the existence of that bureaucracy in the first place. Who fail to fulfill the mission to defend their community, in no small part, because they no longer see that as a core value. And amidst the hoopla and congratulations of Buffy’s “empowerment”, I’m not so certain that value hasn’t been lost on the new generation of slayers as well.
It ties back to “Why we Fight”. The Mission. Everything flows from the mission.
And the mission of the Slayer, of the Watchers Council, of the Shadowmen, of the Guardian is, at heart, fairly simple: fight supernatural threats. Presumably, to defend and protect the community against those threats…
How each Institution fulfills that mission, is very different. I’d know that rather well. I am, after all, a defense contractor. I’ve interned in the Senate and worked on a congressional campaign. Congress. I’ve worked for an International Security Think Tank And I have one of them fancy degrees in Public Policy with a focus on Management and National Security.
The Shadowmen sought to create a slayer. But in order to preserve their bureaucratic preeminence atop the security pyramid, the Council maintained control over the slayer. There would be one girl, and the council, not the slayer, would retain institutional memory. The potentials were of the same class of the slayer, but merely less affected because they lacked her physical might.
Buffy, on occasion, used the uniqueness of the slayer as a source of power (“I quit”) in her bureaucratic struggles against the Council, in order to propound her organizing vision rather than the council’s own. And she cultivated her own loyal support team, thus reducing her dependence on council. Still, for the most part, Buffy shared the same guiding council vision – that the community she sought to defend had no real role in that defense. While community was not inherently discouraged to participate, neither was community sought out.
“Graduation” marked a contrast. Buffy embarked on a Public Involvement campaign. She enlisted members of the graduating class in a battle for their own defense. For the most part, those not already part of her politburo had no actual input, but she did encourage participation.
Season 7 disappointed me for many reasons. Among others, I found it artless, dull, and frequently so void of internal logic as to be nonsensical. These are issues of execution, not intent. (Though muddled intent leads to poor execution.) But these issues aside, “Chosen” disappoints me at its very core. Even if I grant that empowering tons of slayers with minimal aforethought is inherently good, even if I grant that they had any choice or say at all, even if I grant Buffy engaged the potentials in a democratic manner even if I grant the soundness of Buffy’s battle tactics…
It disappoints, because it doesn't address Public Service as a core value of the Slayer Enterprise mission. It’s the celebration of internal reform for it's own sake (even though it's such a great reform) beyond its significance. It’s spoken repeatedly of how Buffy empowers those potentials, but there is no tie-in to how this particular empowerment empowers anybody else.
When the town is beset by many foes, Buffy does nothing to raise community awareness. She does nothing to further community empowerment. This doesn’t mean they had to have civilians fighting with them – but there would have been other ways for the community to participate in its defense – perhaps in non-combat support or planning roles. In LA, Charles Gunn built a neighborhood defense organization. Anne by organizing an open shelter, has made her community safer. Even after Gunn leaves his boys behind, the community is better prepared to defend itself.
Buffy and the scoobies, on the other hand do no such thing. That the town is safer with Buffy gone over the summer than it was before she came, is because she expanded a bureaucracy such that she left a presence (in the form of Willow and Xander) when not there personally. The townsfolk, themselves, were no safer on their own.
The potentials can be seen as metaphorical representations of society-at-large. But this is a world where they are already marked and identifiable as special, and then sequestered from mainstream society because they are special, and empowered again because they are chosen. This undermines that metaphor.
I celebrate that Buffy would be about empowering these potentials, but it bothers me that it's not also about empowering anybody else. There needed to be a tie back to how empowerment of society as a whole - how Buffy as CEO of Slayer Enterprise serves her customer (the citizens) through this reform.
In essence, she’s done two things. First, she placed more cops on the streets. Secondly, she’s given those cops a much better say inside the division. That’s about it. She hasn’t done due diligence to make sure those cops are good cops. She hasn’t done anything about the Thin Blue Line that separates most cops from the rest of society. She hasn’t done anything on the topic of public involvement. She doesn’t prioritize her community, and though Buffy emerges victorious over the Shadowmen in her internecine struggle, the community is destroyed in the process.
This, by the way, is a major reason why the police forces are subject to oversight, and why police are generally charged to participate in the community to serve the community. The citizens of a community are important stakeholders, and in public service, stakeholder involvement (either directly, or though representatitves) is key part of performance. To reinforce the core value. Whether through stagnation, corruption, neglect, or abuse of power – when the Public Service organization loses sight of the mission, the public doesn’t get served. Faith’s murder spree. The Scoobies’ negligence of their own community, leading to it’s eventual downfall and destruction.
In the end, for all its themes of empowerment, “Chosen” is also a story about a group of bureaucrats who have lost touch with the fundamental organizational purpose which justifies the existence of that bureaucracy in the first place. Who fail to fulfill the mission to defend their community, in no small part, because they no longer see that as a core value. And amidst the hoopla and congratulations of Buffy’s “empowerment”, I’m not so certain that value hasn’t been lost on the new generation of slayers as well.
no subject
Slayers and short life spans are kind of like that old Citizen Soldier situation. In the stories, some guy comes in from off the farm, goes and fights his heroic battle and goes back to the farm. (or becomes a fat landowner) Which is cool, because there's a new generation of heroes that'll come after. But this model doesn't work for slayers - nobody shows up to follow unless you die. So, you have a situation where slayers either (A) have to just keep fighting and don't get retirement to do the real life things they actual prefer doing or (b) they have to get killed so someone new and fresh can take over. That system blows.
I have no idea how things work in the fallout of Chosen. Until such time as Joss actually explains how it gets from here to Fray, I guess we're free to draw our own conclusions and put forward our own theories. Not that I have any figured out.