Buffy vs. Edward

The clip below first hit the web a couple of years ago, but it's well worth posting given the recent discussions about Buffy and Twilight (which I encourage you to keep exploring, if that is interesting to you). Clearly there are lots of connections: young girl, vampires, girl loves a vampire (or two), vampires aren't all necessarily evil, etc. It would be interesting and productive to push this discussion further, asking how the protagonist(s) operate in each text, what values/worldviews the texts seem to embody, etc. All of this strikes me as really quite relevant given our recent class discussion about Buffy and feminist ethics.

I will admit to never having read a page of Twilight, although I did try to watch the movie once and had to turn it off around the time of the vampires playing baseball scene. Lordy. At the same time, I've had people of all ages and all levels of education/maturity/whatever tell me that the books are a lot of fun. So I am having it both ways here--being incredibly judgmental and dismissive of the texts while also being understanding of those who appreciate the Twilight series. (And yeah, I realize that's a bit of a cop-out.)

At this link, you can find an explanation of the video from the guy who created it (yes, a guy made it!). Some key passages:

"As an aspiring feminist guy, I wanted to speak out about issues of sexism and gender oppression in media but I wanted to do so carefully and intentionally. That’s why I chose to focus my critique on Edward’s patriarchal behavior in Twilight rather than on Bella’s actions. I didn’t feel it was my place to lecture her on desire (even in remix form), especially since her character is already disempowered by the original screenplay to the point of absurdity. So I built each scene around Edward, and then looked for appropriate responses from Buffy. Sorting through seven seasons worth of witty dialog and dramatic footage from Buffy was a lot of fun, and telling the tale through her and her friends’ perspective allows us to understand the messages underlying the mythology of the film and the TV show in a new way – and to enjoy the process. I should note that I am not the first to make this critique of the Twilight series, nor did I invent the process of re-imagining pop culture stories. I was inspired by women who have been creating fan fiction as self-conscious creative communities since before I was born. I was heavily influenced by fannish vidding as well as by feminist critiques of popular culture, especially those of bell hooks, whose writings have helped opened my eyes on issues of race, gender and love."

But I think this is my favorite part:

"In the end the only reasonable response was to have Buffy stake Edward – not because she didn’t find him sexy, not because he was too sensitive or too eager to share his feelings – but simply because he was possessive, manipulative, and stalkery."