Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 99

B u ff y t h e V a m p ir e S l a y e r

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find objectionable. The executives of WB delayed the broadcast of the concluding
third season episode over concerns that the violence, set in the high school, was
too nuich of a reminder of the Columbine tragedy. The show has been criticized
for its violence in a general sense, as well. One fan wrote the following response to
this issue in her email: *1:ven though that thing happened with Colorado, you
shouldn't punish all of us tlie hard Ihtfl'y fans....The news has more violence than
^’es. the show does ha\e violence in it but that's not what the show is
about...it is show ing that the girls can have self defense skills.” Although not as
sensitive as we might wish, this viewer “reads” Buff}' as a show about a young
woman who faces the challenges of adolescence with strength and cunning,
supported by her network of friends, and informed by the care and guidance of
caring adults. Death is not portrayed lightly on the show; it can have terrible
consequences such as when another Slayer accidentally kills a human without
remorse. This character falls into the evil clutches of other demons and suffers
Buffy’s retribution for her actions.
Another criticism of the show is that Sunnydale seems to be almost entirely
white, middle class. Although these demographics may represent some
communities, it would be preferable to see a more culturally diverse representation
in a fictional town. Just as we have discussed how heroes and villains come in both
genders, they also come in different cultural and class representatives. “Young
women, indeed all women, and particularly those further marginalized by race,
class, and ethnicity, must struggle to keep from disappearing in Western culture,
from having no identity” (Harper 7). Or, as Luce Irigaray suggests they must struggle
from identifying with absence as organized by cultural texts. Ideally, when a strong
female presents herself in our cultural texts, she should be accessible to females of
all b ackgrounds.
In 1970, a television show premiered that garnered similar speculation as to
its influence in the cultural shaping of femininity. I was seventeen years old when
The M ary Tyler M oore Show debuted on television—the same age as my daughter.
Bonnie J. Dow categorizes M T M as “...as the first popular and long-running
television series clearly to feature the influence of feminism” (24). Over twenty
years ago, some critics cited M T M as a new representational space for the female
audience in the same way that some do today for Biiff}\ However, some feminist
critics cited limitations of the show in the same way that we see limitations in
Buffy. Mary Richards struggled against views of women as limited to traditional
roles of caretakers and nurturers. Buffy Summers struggles against views of young
women as limited to traditional roles of passive actors in the drama of active young
men’s lives. Mary’s struggles were lightened by the support of her “family of co
workers and friends.” Buffy is supported by her “family of friends” as well.
Unfortunately, we have made little progress in the physical representation of these