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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.
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The Thin Blue Line, as I learned of it, isn’t what separates cops from society, though that separation does exist, has to exist. They are encouraged to participate in the community, yes, but also must keep themselves apart from it in order to better serve. They must always remain objective because, in reality, the way they serve the community is by serving the law. Really, being a part of the law. Buffy, I think, does this.
I disagree that she’s put more cops on the streets. (And I realize that right now I'm disagreeing with your terminology and we might be agreeing on the general idea.) I see this as, possibly, more weapons on the streets, guns in what might be the wrong hands, if you will. Police officers themselves are the Thin Blue Line separating society from chaos, and these girls aren’t a part of that line because in choosing to take the gun, they did not necessarily take up the badge.
I don’t see the Potentials living in Sunnydale as accepting that badge, and all it entails, because they were desperate. More military recruits than police officers. Kennedy, yes, I think she took up the badge and the mantle of “to serve and protect” just as I think Buffy accepted that duty long before.
Shoot, time to head off to work. My mind’s scattered now anyway, so I’ll think on this and check back in tonight.
Dude, I love your brain!
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At heart, it's really about fulfilling a mission, setting up institutions to serve that mission, and then the connects between that. Chosen, being a case where all the talk is about how Buffy did a grand thing, when IMHO, it never really got past the bureaucratic structure stage to benefit the community. Which, ought to be the mission anyway.
I think it really lends itself to a cop metaphor. I don't know that I can do it justice, but it merits more steaming brainwork. Thanks for the reply.
a question before I formulate a better response
Re: a question before I formulate a better response
In theory, perhaps the Guardian is a consultant who offers some reinterpretation of the Slayer's old role on the Org Chart. A redefinition of how the slyer's taks should flow from her mission.
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Yours is a very interesting perspective on the role of Slayer and her universe. I think the "empowerment" that was supposed to be theme of "Chosen" was badly botched by the writers. Buffy *was* empowered by the end, but she inadvertently disempowered a bunch of girls who didn't have a choice in whether they wanted to become Slayers or not. Still there's hope that the new generation of Slayers will be valued and protected in ways that their predecessors were not becuase the power in the hands of the Slayers.
My perception of the role of the Slayer and Buffy in particular, is based on my background in Anthropology - understanding culture, locality and the roles of women in different kinds of human societies. Also, on a personal level, it's based on my experiences as a girl grown to a womanhood within a particular culture, a product of a certain religion, socio-economic status and ethnicity.
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.
I think the Shadowmen represented the primordial "Patriarchy". They chose as the Slayer the one person who would be the most expendable (least valued) member of their society; an unmarried girl.
The Slayer was deprived of her place in human society, endowed with powers (or demonic origin) not for her own benefit, but rather to be used as a weapon in defense of the Shadowmen, their society and property. The Slayer was chattal, and therefore powerless, despite her personal/physical attributes. The Slayer was even less than a conscript, because she was handed a death sentence and expected to do her duty to preserve others' lives.
This mentality didn't die with the Shadowmen. It explains why the CoW was so quick to try to execute rather than rehabilitate Faith. The CoW may have written a Slayer Handbook, but I think it wasn't for the safety of the Slayer or neccesarily to prolong her life, but rather how to make her a more efficient killer. Normally, the Slayer was still a solitary conscript, set apart from her loved ones and everything in her existence was supposed to be subservient to her duty (as described by Kendra about her upbringing/training).
Of course, all this clashes with modern concepts of human rights and democracy. Buffy created a new Slayer paradigm, by taking "power for the people".
Buffy refused to fit the traditional role of Slayer. She didn't have the Slayer handbook. She flew by the seat of her pants and devised non-traditional strategies. It's one of the reasons she was considered a renegade after she quit the CoW and why her Watchers were fired because they couldn't "control" her.
But Buffy was also highly duty-bound. She *DID* her duty no matter what (except in a few instances when her heart became involved), but she put duty ahead the petty traditions and power structure of the CoW. She threatened the order of things. And yes, in the process of changing the paradigm, she made mistakes along the way.
Another way that Buffy changed the paradigm is by her "Public Involvement" as you describe it. Traditionally, the Slayer is alone in the world. But Buffy found a way to incorporate others into her strategies. She's the Slayer on her own terms.
Buffy became "empowered" at the moment that she forced the CoW to capitulate, and negotiate with her for her services (and to reinstate Giles).
Ironically, Buffy deprives other Slayers of this same empowerment by activiating the power without giving them a choice. There were risk to doing this, but it probably seemed the only solution at the time because the Amulet was too questionable. So in that regard, I think the writers failed in the general "empowerment" theme.
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But the only point I would make to defend Buffy accepting your "police" analogy, is that some communities are simply in the wrong place (suddenly active volcano, in the real world) and then once things get to a certain point there's nothing to do but make sure as many people get away alive as possible. Although, then again, she did very little to actually protect the general populace, and hardly even showed a great deal of interest in them.
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Wow, I hadn't even thought about how uninvolved Buffy was with the 'real' world around her. How much the ordinary was neglected for the monsters. (And I like the injection of reality, the mundane. One of the reasons I liked the real life issues intruding in S6).
And I was thinking - wouldn't it have been fun to see Buffy assuming that kind of leadership, and trying to deal with the attendant ethical/moral issues of being responsible for this whole community? (Now that I say it, it does have some echos of AtS S5)
While we talk about the kind of models of generalship/patriarchy taht S7 was supposed to be constructing and pulling down, I am reminded that the real model for patriarch (giant snake called dick who founded Sunnydale and who had a fatherly relationship with a slayer) was indeed someone involved with the local community.
Couldn't BtVS S7 have tackled the very model it put up in S3? Just some of the thoughts your post brought to mind.
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VERY thought-provoking post. One of the reasons I liked the Angel ep "Damage" was because it addressed one of the downsides to the choice Buffy made to active the Potentials - that some unknown "citizens", as you put it, were actually HARMED by her decision.
One the contrasts I really enjoy between BtVS and AtS is the fact that AtS tends to focus on the *consequences* of choices - what they mean to the immediate character making a certain choice, and the impact it has on the community at large.
The ex you made of Buffy as CEO of the new Slayers, Inc, needing to serve the community, etc... creates an interesting parallel to Angel as CEO of Hell, Inc.. who is trying to serve the community. W&H is judged (per Andrew) by the new WC as being evil, and therefore of no value to the community/those needing real help (Dana) - and yet, it was a deranged Slayer who was creating the death and mayhem on the streets of LA, a Slayer that Buffy/Giles and Co were not even aware of until Angel brought it to their attention. Part of walking that thin blue line is policing your own so as to not cross that line yourselves. To shrug off the tragegy of Dana as having "fallen through the cracks" was hopefully NOT the reaction Giles and Buffy were actually feeling.
I think perhaps the events of "Chosen" - while sloppily executed in some aspects - were an intriguing setup to the concept that this new order of Slayers (created for serving the greater good/community) is going to have to find their own balance of power, the system of checks and balances to keep the Faith's and Dana's of the Slayers from undermining the purpose of their calling - protecting the community rather than menacing it or being indifferent to it. At least, it kind of plays that way in light of what happened in "Damage" as a follow-up to "Chosen".
Oh boy, I could go on a whole other tangent of comparing the new WC vs Angel-controlled branch of W&H - but I suspect that's getting off the point of your original observations, so I'll just put a sock in it for now, lol.
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That's true to an extent. But prior to "Chosen" they were roughly in the same boat as Buffy w/respect to the world, but largely under the radar because they lacked power. Now they have the power to tell Buffy to go take a flying leap and still take care of themselves. They can define their own paradigm, just as Buffy once did.
Another way that Buffy changed the paradigm is by her "Public Involvement" as you describe it.
I disagree here. With the exception of "Graduation", Buffy never engaged in Public Involvement. She recruited a secretariat. By the end of S2, the Scoobies aren't civillians anymore, and by the end of high school - functionally they're almost as cut off from the community as she is. Public Involvement requires a feedback loop, and Buffy et al do not display that.
I think the "empowerment" that was supposed to be theme of "Chosen" was badly botched by the writers.
I'd agree. I do think she empowered the Slayer Class w/respect to the Watcher class. Which is good. It's that dynamic between Slayer/Watcher and Society as a whole where I feel let down. Society remains as dependent and beholden on the Watcher/Slayer as before - and the Watcher/Slayer team as cut off as before.
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Wow, I hadn't even thought about how uninvolved Buffy was with the 'real' world around her. How much the ordinary was neglected for the monsters. (And I like the injection of reality, the mundane. One of the reasons I liked the real life issues intruding in S6).
Something that, ended up letting me down. Because the real life issues, while introduced, weren't followed through. What I liked about S1-3, is that my reality felt represented. I didn't identify solely with the characters - I identified with the community they lived in. Were my family in Sunnydale - they'd have been of the unenlightened, and by close, they'd either be dead or refugees.
And a part of me wanted to see the episode where Buffy and Spike were confronted with the reality of citizens dying one night, specifically - because Buffy abandoned her post to engage in the self-destructive hate-sex that Spike kept encouraging. "Dead Things", for me, was the realest and best episode of the season on that score. As a constituent of the slayer, I'd felt like my issues were getting heard. That was the rare episode where I felt like I mattered - not just to Buffy - but to the show.
And I was thinking - wouldn't it have been fun to see Buffy assuming that kind of leadership, and trying to deal with the attendant ethical/moral issues of being responsible for this whole community? (Now that I say it, it does have some echos of AtS S5)....Couldn't BtVS S7 have tackled the very model it put up in S3?
I desperately wish it had. I would have loved to see the First Evil be defeated, because Buffy rallied the community to stand against it. And not on her own, but by working with representatives of that community. A new principal, a new mayor, a religious leader, etc...
It's an interesting juxtaposition that the Patriachal Mayor kept the city running (at the cost of lives) while the town was destroyed on Buffy's watch.
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Those unknown citizens, of course, being the people whom Dana murdered. My issue was not the harm done on ill-prepared slayers like Dana. (That's simply an issue I hadn't gone to raise.) My issue was the lack of help given to people not already part of the "Chosen" crowd.
It would make a setup to the theme of protecting the Community from the dangerous or indifferent slayer like Faith and Dana. But that's not really done, as through S7 it becomes more and more clear that protecting the community isn't really Buffy's value. The only dynamic she's dealing with is Watcher vs. Slayer, with normals like Xander and Dawn acting as her secretariat rather than as representatives of the community. She's pretty much written off the rest of the human race.
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It would make a setup to the theme of protecting the Community from the dangerous or indifferent slayer like Faith and Dana. But that's not really done, as through S7 it becomes more and more clear that protecting the community isn't really Buffy's value. The only dynamic she's dealing with is Watcher vs. Slayer, with normals like Xander and Dawn acting as her secretariat rather than as representatives of the community. She's pretty much written off the rest of the human race.
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Just to play Devil's Advocate: perhaps the community connection Buffy was supposed to have was meant to be represented by her being a school counselor. Her connection to the kids/helping them with their problems. Although I will admit that this portrayal, if it was meant to serve this purpose, was very poorly handled. (Helping Cassie and maybe one or two other kids vs. the times she was shown as being distracted from that job by other (Slayer) concerns.)
Hmm, thinking further on this, what we were shown was that Buffy started caring about that job and the kids, and gradually became distanced from it by the distractions The First was throwing her way. Culminating in Principal Wood actually firing her and telling her that her focus should be on her Slayer duties, not helping the kids.
*goggles*
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Great thoughts, though. It's great hearing different perspectives on stuff like this.
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But the Shadowmen/Council arrangement works on two levels. On the internal - the oppression of the woman/slayer. On the external, a society that remains largely dependent upon an elite cadre of warriors - an elite that is unrepresentative, unresponsive, and so divorced as to be largely unconcerned with society as a whole.
Buffy's priority, in S7, is really open to question. Those class of people, who are not to be chosen, are they beyond her interest? I'm reminded of the turn of the century suffragettes who were all about extending the right to vote to women, but remained largely silent about the right to vote for women of color, or for women outside the propertied class.
S7 codified a two class system. Those who were born into the elite class - identified as potentials - were empowered by Buffy. Those women in Sunnydale who were not to be "Chosen" became refugees. Buffy empowered some women, but to what extent? Is Buffy really any more concerned about society as a whole, than the Council of Watchers was. Or is she just another elite, whose concerns are limited to her class?
Amidst all the hoopla, that's why I can't get too excited. Because it's female empowerment, but only for those who were already to be Chosen anyway? Did she overturn what the Shadowmen set up, or did she just finish their job and take it to the next level? For me, I really needed to see what Buffy felt about those people who were not Chosen - the society as a whole? Those women who don't have Potential - does she offer them anything to help them stand up too, or are they as dependent upon the watcher/slayer team as they ever have been?
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This is a purpose it could have been shown. I would have liked it very much.
Unfortunately, that's not how she was portrayed. Buffy wasn't distracted by Slayer Concerns - she was distracted by personal issues and her own lack of interest in the students she was hired to help. She only seemed to be truly into the cases which related more to her slaying role. (Cassie, most clearly) When Wood fires her and tells her to focus more on Slaying - it can be read as an attempt to separate her from the school and delve more into slaying.
Or it can be a reaction to Buffy's own lack of passion and competence as a counselor. She's not really invested in helping the students who have mundane problems, and she's not particularly good because of that. It's just not a value. So she should quit and focus on what she actually does care about.
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I never felt that empowered by that, though. Just... meh. An army of little girls... *shudder*
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I think he just isn't aware of it, which isn't in any way uncommon in US TV, really.
Heh!
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I don't see much of any evidence for the latter actually. Yeah, Buffy gets authoritarian in S7, but I don't see any ideology behind it as that would indicate some real coherency in the season ;)