Lesbianism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer :: TV Television Show Essays

Given that lesbian desire has often been associated with the monstrous in horror and vampire genres, and that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is seen as having reworked the conventions of these genres, it is worth considering how the yarn of lesbianism is weedt with in this series to contemplate if and how this desire has been resignified. This paper is concerned with critically analysing the overt representations of lesbian desire and identity as they are manifested through the willow tree (played by Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson) characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the coming out chronicles as they unfold in Season Four. It attempts to address several questions How has Buffy the Vampire Slayer reworked the representation of lesbians in the vampire genre? How are the themes of lesbian desire and coming out as lesbian dealt with in the series? Finally, has the show challenged stereotypical representations of lesbianism, or except perpetuated them? I start this paper w ith a sense of ambivalence active how the lesbian characters and lesbian desire are constructed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because on the sensation hand I gain pleasure from watching these representations, but on the separate hand I suspect that the series perpetuates some homophobic concepts about lesbianism. I am mindful that representations in horror and fantasy television programs and films are creative images and manifestations of ideas, mythologies and narratives. They are not perfect reflections of society, although the writers may attempt to deal with some social issues and identity politics within generic frameworks. However, fictional representations are still important sites where viewers negotiate personal and cultural concepts of sexual practice and subjectivity. This queer reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer investigates the disguised homo-erotic tensions between the out lesbian characters in the series. It avoids an elaborate search for homoerotic and non-normat ive sexual couplings between other characters in the series. If I were to do such a queer reading, I would probably concentrate on the Willow and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), or Faith (Eliza Dushku) and Buffy relationships as Farah Medlesohn has through with(p) in her essay, Surpassing the Love of Vampires(2002 45-60). Alternatively, I might focus on the sadomasochistic relationship between Spike (James Marsters) and Buffy, or the bizarre love trigon between Andrew, Warren and Jonathan in Season Six. Instead, this paper is more concerned with analysing the blatant representations of lesbian desire and sexuality as they are constructed through characterisation, metaphors, narrative and stylistic devices in particular episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to consider how these themes have been integrated into a youth-orientated, television program.