I always take the talk about Buffy's power being routed in masculinity with a pinch of salt, ... [b]ut when she's set against Darla, then the masculine/feminine divide definitely comes out, because they're technically physical equals.
Oh, I'm so relieved you got that. I generally dislike assertations that Buffy's storyline is male, because there's nothing 'innately male' about getting to make quips, having broody love interests and sacrificing oneself to save the world a lot. The main reason, I think, that more men than women seem to get that kind of story is tradition.
Now, it's also tradition to cast women as temtpresses, backstabbers, bringers of corruption (which is Darla's basic job description on BtVS), but it also reflects a widespread social paranoia. Most women get accused of being manipulative at some point, I think. So her story IS more 'innately female', in a sense, and it's she's the very person women are told they must abhor while simultaneously being prompted to try to become. (You know, "good girls never use sex for anything" vs "7 Ways to Get Your Hubby to Do What You Want".)
And I love AtS forever for making Darla a sympathetic (though still evil) character rather than a caricature of maligned feminity created just so Buffy could fight it. (And ultimately not beat, interestingly. I still think that killing Darla was one of the creepiest things Angel ever did, circumstances nonwithstanding. Not wrong or out-of-character necessarily, just chilling, and probably somewhat messed up on a thematical level.)
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Oh, I'm so relieved you got that. I generally dislike assertations that Buffy's storyline is male, because there's nothing 'innately male' about getting to make quips, having broody love interests and sacrificing oneself to save the world a lot. The main reason, I think, that more men than women seem to get that kind of story is tradition.
Now, it's also tradition to cast women as temtpresses, backstabbers, bringers of corruption (which is Darla's basic job description on BtVS), but it also reflects a widespread social paranoia. Most women get accused of being manipulative at some point, I think. So her story IS more 'innately female', in a sense, and it's she's the very person women are told they must abhor while simultaneously being prompted to try to become. (You know, "good girls never use sex for anything" vs "7 Ways to Get Your Hubby to Do What You Want".)
And I love AtS forever for making Darla a sympathetic (though still evil) character rather than a caricature of maligned feminity created just so Buffy could fight it. (And ultimately not beat, interestingly. I still think that killing Darla was one of the creepiest things Angel ever did, circumstances nonwithstanding. Not wrong or out-of-character necessarily, just chilling, and probably somewhat messed up on a thematical level.)