It seems that Giles is as sexualized as any other character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In three of the episodes we have seen, Giles has been romantic with a different lady friend in each of them. It was the three sisters in Buffy vs Dracula, then his "girl friend" in Hush, and in Tabula Rasa, he finds himself married to Anya. Ironically enough, as Decandido points out in her essay, Bibliographic Good vs. Evil in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Giles is the librarian! This is a classic example of role reversal. Buffy is physically the most powerful member of the gang. Her power is by no means feminine however. As we see in Tabula Rasa, Buffy has a "natural" ability to vanquish demons which is rooted deep within her person. Even though she can't remember her name, due to Willow's brain washing spell, Buffy still maintains her physical prowess. This indicates that her powers are more than just ones that people can train and develop. Her ability stems directly from her natural make-up. On the other hand, the guiding force of the group's intelligence operation is Giles, the male. To my knowledge, we have yet to see him exert his physical strength once. More often than not, Giles is either studying inquisitively, brooding in isolation, or entertaining female company. is is a stark contrast from what we have read in class. In Dracula, the men are the ones who go off and slay the vampires while the sole woman is left at home to deal with the paper trail and other odds and ends. So the show makes a commentary on stereotypes not just for females but for males as well. Instead of being a dumb-brute, Giles is a dedicated academic but yet still sexy and still a hero. The same way that Buffy is still sexy despite her masculinity.
Another way to tie Dicandido's thesis back to our class readings is through the awareness of story telling. Decandido makes the argument that Buffy is self-aware of her role as the hero. Through Giles' library, Buffy has learned all about the role that heros play. Likewise, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland reads all about heroines and lets her imagination get the best of her. Austen even makes a point to say that heroines should be conscious of those who have come before them. Before ever becoming a heroine, Catherine learns the basic skills through her books.
DeCandido G. Bibliographic Good vs. Evil in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. American Libraries [serial online]. September 1, 1999;30(8):44-47. Available from: ERIC, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 11, 2011.
Ah, I love this. As I wrote earlier, Giles is my favorite. I like how you compared his intellectualism against male stereotypes. This is especially interesting, because as it turns out our sexy librarian has a bit of a dark past. In the episode "The Dark Age" (Season 2 Ep 8), we learn more about Rupert's past which makes his anti-stereotype that much more complex.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm Really excited that I can finally use another episode of Buffy to post a comment, I'm working my way through the series online. #addiction
Giles is definitely a very interesting character to explore. In a few episodes, mostly in the second and third seasons I think, the scoobies learn of Giles's rather risque past, and that he was very heavily involved in practicing the dark arts. I think his role as a watcher helped him mellow out a lot. Your post here makes me think how Buffy and Giles kind of follow opposing lines of development: Buffy begins as an innocent California girl and becomes a bad-ass fighter who flirts with the dark side (often literally) when she adopts her role as the slayer, whereas Giles begins as one seduced by the dark arts and then evolves to the calm, sensible librarian we all know and love.
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