Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Helpless

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a TV show about a teenage girl whose destiny as "The Chosen One" changes her life forever. As the opening title of the show puts it, "In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer". However in "Hopeless", as a rite of slayer passage, her Watcher, Giles, begins poisoning her during their training sessions. The organic compound he injects her with drains Buffy of all her slayer strength and coordination. All slayers upon reaching their 18th birthday are required to be striped of their powers and locked in a dark house to fight a vampire.

         Without her strength, Buffy isn’t even able to stand up to human high school bullies or fight off cat-callers. Completely dismayed, Buffy tells Giles how scared she is. His heart breaks for her so he tells Buffy about the rite of passage. Horrified that her own Watcher would poison her, Buffy runs home only to find out that the insane vampire she was supposed to kill has kidnapped her mother. Forced to engage in this barbaric ritual for her mother’s safety, Buffy enters the house. She eventually outwits the vampires, kills them, and rescues her mother.

         This episode shows that even without her strength Buffy still has power. Even though her father forgot about her birthday, Giles cares enough about her to loose his job. Buffy has purpose beyond her slayer calling. Even those without superpowers can fight evil, like the Scoobies and Giles. Redemption comes from Buffy’s will to rid the world of evil not her slayer powers.

Why do you think that the directors chose to show Buffy’s lack of physical strength in a sexualized way from males? Is this something that most women without superpowers feel?

Do you think that Giles deserved to be fired? Did he care too much about Buffy to do his job? Or do both Giles’ passions and Buffy’s passions make them better fighters of evil?