A Summary of “Killing Us Softly? A Feminist Search for the Real Buffy”
A Summary of “Killing Us Softly? A Feminist Search for the Real Buffy” Sherryl Vint, feminist and science fiction scholar, analyzes the close relationship between feminism and popular culture, in her online essay “Killing us Softly? A Feminist Search for the Real Buff.” Vint utilizes the commonly watched TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to exemplify how multiple perspectives within culture are beneficial to building scholarly feminists who can critically fight against the “ideological battle” of gender construction (parag. 22). She does this by showing how secondary sources, such as magazines can construct images that are contrary to a primary source’s original motives, such as the main character Buffy, in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Vint hopes that audiences will begin to think critically. She argues that popular culture doesn’t require young women to think critically or to recognize that feminism still has relevance in their lives.
Images are used within her article to display how visuals can create contradictory meanings. Vint points out how secondary sources can, “… take what they can use from the primary text and recontextualize it to serve their own needs and desires” (parag. 17). She uses an article published in Esquire magazine in January 2009, to provide an example of text at odds with visual image. The article states how the creator, Joss Whedon, envisions the character Buffy as a challenger of the “stereotypes of female sexuality,” and how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is “one of the most realistic television shows because it deals with complex emotional issues without becoming trite or preachy” (parag. 13). The reader can see how the text within the article in compliant with the primary source, but how the visual image is not. The picture displays a “highly sexualized” view of the actor Sarah Michelle Gellar who plays Buffy, which contradicts Joss Whedon’s intentions as a feminist. Vint also states that “it is important to note that the primary
Images are used within her article to display how visuals can create contradictory meanings. Vint points out how secondary sources can, “… take what they can use from the primary text and recontextualize it to serve their own needs and desires” (parag. 17). She uses an article published in Esquire magazine in January 2009, to provide an example of text at odds with visual image. The article states how the creator, Joss Whedon, envisions the character Buffy as a challenger of the “stereotypes of female sexuality,” and how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is “one of the most realistic television shows because it deals with complex emotional issues without becoming trite or preachy” (parag. 13). The reader can see how the text within the article in compliant with the primary source, but how the visual image is not. The picture displays a “highly sexualized” view of the actor Sarah Michelle Gellar who plays Buffy, which contradicts Joss Whedon’s intentions as a feminist. Vint also states that “it is important to note that the primary