I mean, just that Whedon was probably paid millions for such lousy, clunky dialogue is embarrassing. To say nothing of the fact that nobody was like “actually, this scene isn’t working the way it should.”

Agree with nearly everything you just said, but wanted to add that IMHO, the nail in James Cameron’s maybe-a-feminist coffin was Dark Angel.

“Ugh, shut up, Xander” is exactly how I feel about him pretty much every time he says or does anything. Plus it’s what I’m going to say to annoying self-proclaimed feminist nice guys from now on whenever they piss me off.

Apparently a whole string of people, but also he was generally a jackass to his wife.

I can easily see how it made it through most of the production process. The final version of the scene could’ve went through a hundred edits before ending up the way it did. And anyone involved in the production, already knowing the original intention of the scene, wouldn’t interpret the dialogue any other way.

I was in my 20s when Buffy debuted and had already seen what a creator’s avatar can do to a show. Wesley Crusher became far less insufferable as time went on, however. I could never abide Xander; I found him petty, resentful, entitled to the attention and affection of the women around him, and boring as all get out.…

I really don’t see how he’s the heart of the scoobies - that’s frequently stated but never really shown. I mean, it’s shown I guess when he talks Willow down from destroying the world and when he lectures Buffy about the fight she’s in with Riley, but in the first scenario I can’t help but see that as Joss letting his…

Oh, of course not. But the fact that that reviewer just reached for the “Lolita” trope said a lot about how badly misinterpreted just about every text on female power is.

Oh, I completely agree with that. And the thing is, I completely believe that the original intent with the scene is closer to what you are suggesting, as for all her faults I just don’t see ScarJo going out there to film a scene where she establishes that sterilized women are monsters. It is just that they made such…

I propose that the scene is poorly written and poorly edited, and thus opens it up to the misinterpretation. The fact that this is widely believed to be the interpretation of the scene proves this.

He did say he hates the term feminist. Being an ass generally and being an ass in particular ways are not mutually exclusive. 

I don’t think that Buffy’s first few episodes, which is what the NYTimes reviewer is most likely basing the assessment on, are a full representation of the scope of the series.

I have a huge problem with this argument. It’s not that it doesn’t agree with the read on the scene, but rather the claim that it is somehow misunderstood. It’s not, like legitimately it is not, but rather this is a question how of one views dialogue and its implicitations.

Recently did a rewatch of the series to introduce my boyfriend to Buffy, a show that did have a profound impact on me growing up, and Xander does come across as Joss Whedon writing himself into the narrative. However, I gave Xander a bit of a pass based on what we know about him and his home life. He was in an abusive…

It was certainly a rise from his previous position as uncredited script doctor (if you loved Speed, that was him). And you can’t discount the number of people who developed writing experience under him that went on to do things:

My Black partner asked if I considered myself “woke/an ally”. I responded that those are terms that have to be earned, you don’t get to claim them. The individuals you claim to support can determine if you are truly helping or just giving lip service. Any man who is crowing about what a feminist he is, is likely full…

Let’s not forget who the target demographic for Buffy was. Joss might say it was young women, but the non-public side of him, along with the network execs knew it was teen boys looking to fill the spankbank. To those people girl + girl = hawt! But boy + boy = disgusting!

“In 2021, when seemingly every new streaming property with a woman as its central character makes some half-baked claim to feminism, it’s easy to forget just how much Buffy stood out among its against its contemporaries. Action movies—with exceptions like Alien’s Ripley and Terminator 2's Sarah Conner—were ruled by…

Or Larry, the sexist, bullying jock who was really just closeted (!) and who dies at graduation.

The weirdest part to me was always that, for all that Willow and Tara were a groundbreaking gay couple, he’s always seemed to think that it’s only female homosexuality that deserves to be treated with respect, as gay male characters only ever exist for cheap jokes (just witness the entire character of Andrew Mills).