a DIACHRONIC study of the IMAGE of the POWERFUL FEMALE in POPULAR (and maybe other) CULTURES
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
YEAR 1992: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Year 1992 should probably get the honorary title of "the Year of the Woman Superhero." It's not that Buffy was the best superhero, or even the best of her horror-oriented subgenre. But in contrast to the live-action flops of SUPERGIRL and SHEENA (both 1984), BUFFY the film was at least a modest success-- which led to the 1997 teleseries.
So what about the original film? Scripter Joss Whedon has said many times that the director wanted it to be more of a comedy than Whedon did. Without my seeing the original Whedon script, I can't judge whether it looks like the director made massive changes. The final shooting script is extremely loose, though, and only rarely does the potential of the concept come across.
It's neither a very funny nor very thrilling film, though Kirsty Swanson (unlike male lead Luke Perry) at least plays the concept relatively straight. In the history of the femmes formidables, BUFFY the movie is essentially an interesting footnote.
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