The Power Of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

Beowulf shares characteristics with female superhero Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman sprung to the top of box office charts last summer, the story focuses on a female warrior named Diana who endeavors to defeat the malevolent forces of the Nazi regime. The morally righteous Diana travels from her peaceful home to war torn Germany, where she contends with Ares and other super villains to restore peace for the innocent citizens of the country. Beowulf also travels to aid the villagers who desperately need his help. “He who had come to them from across the sea, bold and strong-minded, had driven affliction off” (344-345). Much like the previously mentioned James Bond, Wonder Woman does not need swords or shields in battle, she is described as a weapon herself, “the God Killer”. While Beowulf’s followers wield their sword against Grendel to no avail, Beowulf uses his sheer strength to tear off “the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder” and snap Grendel’s bone, leaving him to die of blood

Throughout comic book series publication the recurring theme of female suppression is prevalent in the Wonder Woman comic book series, there are several panels of wonder woman straining against the bindings of society. The Golden Age (1930’s -1940’s) women were portrayed as damsels in distress, in almost every comic book cover a lady is tied up with a man trying to save her. Facebook’s group created a page which focuses on the portrayal of women in comics, the site summarizes women in the Golden Age as career-oriented girls. Comic book characters as Nellie the

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.

The representation of diverse people and experiences in comics is important to expand the thoughts and minds of readers. Yang and Wilson, the minds behind American Born Chinese and Ms. Marvel, use the medium of comic books and graphic novels to help bring a new sense of belonging and acceptance to marginalized people. They do this by applying a “millennial mindset” to their respective stories. What this means is that the characters they have created, whether they are based off real people or are fiction, address the problems of race, religion, or sexuality that we are facing today. These characters also act to threaten the current atmosphere of the comic book industry. Typical comic book characters and superheroes, before now, were mostly white and from a typical American background. Heroes that were women were generally over-sexualized and unrealistic. These two authors hope to challenge the current status quo of the comic book industry by creating characters whose background is much different than previous superheroes.

In the span of our history, women have always been outcasted as “something else,” to put lightly. Cultures tend to see women in different lights, usually ending up being the assumption that all women are home goers and weak, and not as strong and willed as their male counterparts. Not to say many women do not follow this assumption. Nonetheless, women can be perceived in many more lights than only one simple assumption. The Odyssey views women as strong, but ruthless and snake-like. Wonder Woman views women as strong, but weak and useless as well. Both these pieces of literature show women in the many limelights society has seen over the years. Both The Odyssey and Wonder Woman show women in different ways, together as strong, and separate in their own ways.

Just how the forces of good organize themselves in each text reveals much about the assumptions about gender roles present in their cultures of origin. Buffy Summers, a teenage girl, is the Vampire Slayer -- "One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the. . . the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of evil" (Giles/Buffy, "Welcome to the Hellmouth") -- and her friends, the so-called Slayerettes, and her Watcher Giles only provide assistance and support. Dracula's Mina is merely a minor -- and weaker -- member of a large group of men, including her husband, who fight in order to protect her. Without doubt, the image of the petite Buffy fighting and killing vampires week after week forces the viewer to recognize her strength and power. Despite her physical passivity in the novel, "sweet-faced, dainty-looking" Mina reveals she too is strong and necessary to the fight against evil, even if in less obvious ways (226). Seward credits Mina's skill in typing and work in compiling hers, Harker's, and his diaries with providing the key without which they "could never have found the dates otherwise" (232). The information she provides while under hypnosis -- visions echoed in Buffy's prophetic dreams ("Welcome to the Hellmouth," "Prophecy Girl," "Surprise," "Innocence") -- makes

Mentors feature prominently in the Gothic genre. From Dr Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's Dracula, who leads the young heroes into their quest to annihilate the Count, to Rupert Giles, the Watcher in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, older and more experienced adults have provided essential guidance for the younger protagonists of the genre. The differences in media of expression and the subsequent adaptations from novel to television series has not affected the presence of this character, more than a hundred years after the publication of Dracula in 1897. What also unites the novel and the series is their fin-de-siècle resonance.

The Amazons were a group of warrior women who fought many of the great Greek heroes. They consistently went against what was considered the normal female role and led lives like their male counterparts. Unlike some myths in Greek mythology, the myths that involve the Amazons are spread out over time and often have multiple variations of one myth. Myths involving the Amazons even sometimes have versions of the same myth with different Amazon warriors, making it difficult to understand what Amazon women is associated with the certain myth. Throughout Greek mythology, the Amazons were portrayed as fierce warriors and this carries over into today’s society.

In a society dominated by male superheroes, it is not that often that a female character is able to step forward and defend the world. There have been quite a few female superheroes throughout the ages of popular culture, including the Canadian Marvel super-heroine, Aurora ("Marvel"), and DC Comic's character, Black Canary (Kanigher, and Infantino). Yet for every one female superhero that is encountered, there are at least a dozen more male superheroes to stand around—and often in front of—her. Even more frustratingly, the female superheroes are often merely there to be the gendered counterpart to the much more powerful, dominant male superheroes. There have been few women who have stood out as being independent, admirable sources of

To some, wonder woman is regarded as a feminist icon. However, O’Reilly does not believe so because of the submissive themes that her creator included in the comics.

In the long legacy of DC comics there are two female archetypes who couldn 't be more different: one is a paragon of virtue and one is a psychopath. One has an abusive relationship with an insane criminal that defines her identity; the other encourages women and girls to fight for their independence. One has decades of historical canon and an inception full of purpose; the other was meant to be a one-off and a short amusement in a kids ' cartoon, but exploded into a phenomenon. Despite their many differences, they are both beloved the world over. They hold constant interest for fans over the years and, for many women, both mark milestones of feminism. To understand this phenomenon more we will take a closer look at the characters of

“Wonder Woman is a walking- and sometimes flying- paradox of attributions and images. She is, at once, a female sex symbol and feminist icon: physically vulnerable, morally virtuous, financially independent, self-determining, and, in tune with her womanly ways, self-sacrificing” (Wright 6). Wonder Woman was created by William Marston in order to show and achieve women empowerment. At the time that Wonder Woman was assembled, there were no women superheroes. The only superheroes that were created at the time were powerful, strong, fully-clothed, white, males. Even though Wonder Woman is just as powerful and important as other male superheroes, she is often easily centered out from other superheroes because of her physique, lack of clothes,

Typically, Greek mythology, including Homer's epics, note particular "characteristics" of femininity. Although there is very little said about the attractiveness of gods and heroic men, beauty seems to be noted among most myths pertaining to goddesses, women, and other feminine creatures. The Gorgons were noted for being outcasts because of their ugliness. Intelligence is another trait associated with women. Many goddesses devised schemes to help which ever mortal they favored. By handing Achilles the spear, Achilles knows that he is to kill Hector. Magical powers also seem to attributed to femininity in Greek myths. Circe and the Sirens were known for their magic found in The Odyssey were known for their

the "damsel-in-distress" character to be, but she is constantly victimized (helplessly raped twice by two different enemy demons) and is saved a countless number of times by

In the beginning of comics, it was male-dominated and that didn’t seem like it was going to change, until Wonder Woman came along, and this fact alone makes her a massive emblem of female empowerment in the world. She was still written by a man, but it was a start of a whole new era. Wonder Woman’s story begins on an island of all women who called themselves The Amazons. The queen of The Amazons wanted a child and her tribe told her to make one out of clay, and thus, Diana AKA Wonder Woman was born. Diana was “as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise