{"id":19379,"date":"2023-02-06T21:46:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T20:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/focus-3-buffy-the-cliche-slayer\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T16:35:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T14:35:49","slug":"focus-3-buffy-the-cliche-slayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/focus-3-buffy-the-cliche-slayer\/","title":{"rendered":"FOCUS #3 &#8211; Buffy, the clich\u00e9 slayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-ldsvq760-8507a5175be0d033528789d8facfd3b4 main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  focus-ensemble avia-bg-style-scroll av-minimum-height av-minimum-height-100 av-height-100  container_wrap fullsize'   data-av_minimum_height_pc='100' data-av_min_height_opt='100'><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-19379'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldt97fep-6aa5f901f0dc0e066590af5bcf55968a '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock retour-focus'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><a href=\"\/nos-focus\/\">&lt; Retour Focus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsvxm3d-1386618a47fc4eb0a75905c13aba3106\">\n#top .flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-1386618a47fc4eb0a75905c13aba3106{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:0px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-1386618a47fc4eb0a75905c13aba3106{\nbackground-color:#f5d74d;\n}\n.responsive #top #wrap_all .flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-1386618a47fc4eb0a75905c13aba3106{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-ldsvxm3d-1386618a47fc4eb0a75905c13aba3106 av_one_full  avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_one_full  numero-ensemble first flex_column_div  column-top-margin'     ><style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsvq00q-2a56f0484b2a96d7b20a9fd062d61200\">\n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsvq00q-2a56f0484b2a96d7b20a9fd062d61200 .avia_textblock{\nfont-size:20px;\ncolor:#00091e;\ntext-align:right;\n}\n<\/style>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsvq00q-2a56f0484b2a96d7b20a9fd062d61200 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock numero av_inherit_color'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">FOCUS<br \/>\n#03<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-85qqu-b0d96e52aabc3154420d9869cf6f7e8d\">\n.flex_column.av-85qqu-b0d96e52aabc3154420d9869cf6f7e8d{\nborder-width:4px;\nborder-color:#f5d74d;\nborder-style:solid;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-85qqu-b0d96e52aabc3154420d9869cf6f7e8d av_one_full  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_one_full  avia-builder-el-last  contenu first flex_column_div  column-top-margin'     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3{\npadding-bottom:10px;\ncolor:#3cbcd5;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3 .special-heading-inner-border{\nborder-color:#3cbcd5;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-ldsv3l8z-76c7b571061f53b7f491a6838c50b8e3 av-special-heading-h1 custom-color-heading blockquote modern-quote modern-centered  avia-builder-el-5  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first '><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Buffy, the clich\u00e9 slayer<\/h1><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsv5zyh-4afbcb8f23c229a3653e439597c564ad\">\n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsv5zyh-4afbcb8f23c229a3653e439597c564ad .avia_textblock{\ncolor:#000000;\n}\n<\/style>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsv5zyh-4afbcb8f23c229a3653e439597c564ad '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock chapeau av_inherit_color'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">By C\u00e9line Morin, senior lecturer, director of the Information-Communication Department at Paris-Nanterre University, affiliate researcher of the HAR\/ Irm\u00e9ccen Laboratory (Paris Nanterre\/ Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Alexandre Diallo, postdoctoral researcher at Paris 1 Sorbonne University, course lecturer at SciencesPo Paris and affiliate researcher of the Maurice Halbwachs Centre (EHESS-ENS-CNRS).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"><strong>Overview:<\/strong> Buffy the Vampire Slayer sparked a structural change in the production of television series. By breaking the mould of simple Hollywood storylines, its creator paved the way for new forms of fiction rejecting gender stereotypes. The series also showed how popular culture products could lead to a political debate on our societies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsy3oaj-284977359be355e9a0405ab45da8558f\">\n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-284977359be355e9a0405ab45da8558f .avia_textblock{\ncolumn-count:2;\ncolumn-gap:5%;\n}\n\n@media only screen and (max-width: 989px){ \n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-284977359be355e9a0405ab45da8558f .avia_textblock{\ncolumn-count:1;\n}\n.av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-284977359be355e9a0405ab45da8558f .avia_textblock.av_multi_colums > p:first-child{\nmargin-top:0.85em;\n}\n}\n<\/style>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsy3oaj-284977359be355e9a0405ab45da8558f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock av_multi_colums'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">In the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a teenager fighting against the evil forces (vampires, demons, spirits). From 1997 onwards, the average audience for each episode ranged between 4 and 6 million in the US, while the series, included in the Saturday night program of the French TV channel M6 (La Trilogie du Samedi Soir) reached several million viewers. As the flagship series of its era, Buffy is characterised by two breaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Firstly, Joss Whedon, the creator, has chosen not to follow the Hollywood tradition where &#8220;the blonde girl walks into a dark alley and <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">gets herself killed&#8221;. Buffy represents a new <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">type of heroine, who combines innocent <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">blondness and the use of violence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Buffy&#8217;s predecessors, Charlie&#8217;s Angels (1976-<\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">1981), carried out a stigma reversal: they turned <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">their much-depreciated femininity into their <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">major strength, in order to disarm the macho <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">enemy. Buffy goes beyond this trap-like <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">strategy, and turns the stereotype of the candid young girl into a &#8220;virago&#8221;: a powerful <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">woman able to arouse a zombie-like <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">male desire as well as to repel it. By <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">controlling her powers, killing dozens of <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">vampires every week, and saving the <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">world in every season, the stigmatized <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">thin, blond woman becomes a young girl <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">with tremendous physical strength, able <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">to keep up with her studies during the <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">day and to walk through cemeteries at <\/span><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1352 aligncenter\" title=\"photo focus 3\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-300x203.png\" alt=\"photo focus 3\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-300x203.png 300w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-400x270.png 400w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3.png 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Buffy may wander and doubt, but she is not afraid of her mission or her enemies, which makes her a crucial turning point in women&#8217;s representations. Many other shows followed, directly or indirectly inspired by this character, such as Charmed, Dark Angel, Alias, Veronica Mars, Doctor Who&#8230; up to a reboot of the original series with an African American actress playing Buffy. The series marks a historical moment in feminism (Laugier, 2017), through the consequences of reversing (and cancelling) a hackneyed Hollywood formula.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;BUFFY KILLED THE HOLLYWOOD CLICH\u00c9 OF THE DEFENSELESS YOUNG BLONDE GIRL. SHE IS NOW A WOMAN EXPECTED TO SAVE THE WORLD&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Secondly, the series has gained considerable recognition even far beyond its fandom. It became a true object of popular culture, proving that images circulate within the society and can encourage a political debate.<\/p>\n<p>To start with, the series received many nominations, pushing it out of the restrictive framework of pure sci-fi entertainment. It was nominated for the prestigious Golden Globes, and won Emmy and SFX Awards. Empire magazine called it the second-best series of all time. TV Guide magazine ranked it among the 50 best TV shows, while Entertainment Weekly ranked it 13th in its Top 100 best TV series. A common agreement is shared by the French- speaking press on the place of the series. In its ranking based on the votes of 22 French- (Switzerland) placed the series among the 50 best series ever made, Time Out ranked it 16th best series, while the French radio station France Inter ranked it among the best series. Beyond the numerous rankings in the specialist press, it is also ranked in the general media. The series was acclaimed as a genre series, yet instead of being confined to the vampire (or sci-fi) genre, it went further than that and became part of the broader teen drama genre.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1354 aligncenter\" title=\"photo focus 3\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-1-177x300.png\" alt=\"photo focus 3 1\" width=\"177\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-1-177x300.png 177w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-1-236x400.png 236w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-1.png 355w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-1-177x300@2x.png 354w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 177px) 100vw, 177px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The series then went off-screen and settled into everyday life. Numerous extensions were made: six video games between 2000 and 2009, card games, DVDs, RPGs, more than 80 novels, fan fictions, and a spin-off series. As a true franchise, the series manages to address its fans, but also to open up to a wider group of enthusiasts, i.e. individuals who have with this type of media &#8220;a sustained, researched, and elaborate approach, regardless of the media or procedures&#8221; (Hennion &amp; al., 2000).<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, the series gave rise to many works: the Buffy studies, nringing together different disciplines &#8211; sociology, communication, philosophy, feminism and psychology. This academic recognition highlighted the links between popular culture and political &amp; philosophical thinking. In the words of its founder: &#8220;its always important for academics to study popular culture, even if the thing they are studying is idiotic. If it\u2019s successful or made a dent in culture, then it is worthy of study to find out why. (&#8230;) We think very carefully about what we\u2019re trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we\u2019re writing it&#8230; So it really is, apart from being a big pop culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode&#8221;.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;TRUE POP CULTURE PHENOMENON, BUFFY WENT OFF SCREEN TO LEAD TO DEBATE AND ACTION\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Buffy the Vampire Slayer represents a turning point in the history of television series. In international structural change in the production of television series. By placing the audience in the footsteps of a heroine who broke the mould of Hollywood simple storylines, the creator of the series paved the way for new forms of fiction rejecting gender stereotypes. The series also marked an important moment in the search for legitimacy of the series format by building communities, and thereby demonstrating how popular culture products can be used to engage in political debate about our societies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1356 aligncenter\" title=\"photo focus 3\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-2-186x300.png\" alt=\"photo focus 3 2\" width=\"186\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-2-186x300.png 186w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-2-248x400.png 248w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-2.png 472w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-3-2-186x300@2x.png 372w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 186px) 100vw, 186px\" 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