The "Kick Butt Era"

I like to call the era of the second appearance of John Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” the “Kick Butt Era.” I say the second appearance because clearly the first time we saw it on our TV screens it was not consistent with what we thought Whedons message was all about...a “feminine” (word used lightly) young lady who will not be taken advantage of. This run of “Buffy” resonated to what most of us admired most about third wave feminism. The addressing of “contradictions and challenging the second wave’s essentialist mindset that seemed to emphasize that there was somewhat of a “universal feminine identity.” A blonde, attractive girl can “kick butt.”

As Rachel Fudge states in her article “The Buffy Effect,” hit close to home for a number of teens who liked her somewhat apparent “subliminal” messages. The “high school horrors” were all dealt with from what drugs can do to you to dealing with gangs. Surprisingly it even managed to hit home a little alluding to the problem of parents who “don’t understand.” As a whole, it did a lot for women everywhere, still very much living in a patriarchal society’s and giving us a little hope that we can “kick butt” too, not like men, but in our own way. I often avoid the term “just like men” because it seems to imply that men are the standard… that I aspire to be them when really I just want to be fully me.

Rachel Fudge raises up really good points when it comes to what I call “the medias diluting” of a potentially incredibly strong message. Yes, Buffy wore tank tops, and lacy underlay’s, but that’s not all the Buffy “Kick Butt era” was about. As always, everything has to be twisted! Instead of people actually heading to the message of “learn to defend yourself, you can be beautiful, smart and strong willed, don’t let men take advantage of you,” it’s become a “let’s play pretend while wearing a tight see-through tanktop” movement.
What young women think is making them look tough is actually part of a plot to keep them down. Sad!


It was interesting to read about the beginnings of Lara Croft and how she was appealing to both men and women, according to Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky in “The Phenomenon of Lara Croft.” I grew in the time of “Street Fighter” and “Teken 3” and both had representation of women in them but it always seemed the girls just didn’t have as much virtual power as the other characters. The guys didn’t normally want to fight with the girl fighter because her image was too “sweet.” Lara Croft, being that she was able to appeal to both sexes, transformed the virtual world. Her background also gives off a strong, independent feeling within any woman who may like her especially as she didn’t go with societal norms to marry and have children like her parents would have liked. Such is the case with many women today who are forced into situations because of societal roles for women.
I also like the fact that her hobbies aren’t the ordinarily applauded hobbies that society deems fit for women, shooting and free climbing. Like Buffy, Lara Croft showed that women, even the animated ones, can be strong, beautiful, smart and not be a man to prove it.