After Twenty-five years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still cited as being in a class all its own, and one of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s most talked about roles. Why is that? I fall into the small group of fans who only consider the first three seasons to be truly canon, but there are still some things about Buffy that can’t be redone. One of them is the way Josh Whedon turned typical horror upside down by having the blonde who usually gets eaten or killed by the monster be the one to kick-butt—“She’s the thing the monsters have nightmares about.” This show was also one of the few that took vampires and demons more seriously, before being a vampire meant you could get away with MURDER because you were angsty and sexy. The things people can get away with due to cute armor never ceases to amaze me…but Vampire Diaries is a whole different story. Anyway, a big reason Buffy is still talked about today is because of the show’s main Heroine. To pun off of Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Heroine is Hard to Find.” Let’s dive into the basics of a true heroine and why Buffy Summers deserves that title.

Hero vs. Heroine: Why is there such a discrepancy in representation: One of the things I noticed growing up was the lack of female superheroes on screen. Their absence only made me happier when a female was able to appear on screen next to a male hero and perform any kind of assistance or little heroic act. I loved the male heroes, I grew up on them, I even related to their struggles. But I wanted to see a female character approach the same kind of struggles and self-sacrifice from a feminine perspective…easier said than done. (I’m leaving out comic book Heroines; because, while there’s plenty of them, we still don’t see them represented to the extent of male comic book heroes). My sister and I once searched into Google “female heroes,” or something of the like, and the results were very limited: Wonder Woman, Buffy Summers, Mulan, Nikita…In most YA novels the results would be even fewer because women don’t often get the role Hero, (though some may call them that within the show or series), they are more likely made to be desirable, shallow, and flesh minded. What writers don’t seem to get, or simply choose to ignore, is the traits that make any male character a hero also apply to creating a heroine:

• Selflessness (what it is and what its NOT): Being a hero in any capacity, and for any gender, requires putting the safety and need of others above your own personal desires. A lot of female characters I’ve been unfortunate enough to come into contact with only seem to care about what they want, ( i.e. the affections of some unbelievably attractive guy, while pretending to be deeper than that. Some don’t even pretend). Elena in Vampire Diaries is incredibly selfish to the point where people are dying (by Damon) and all she cares about is she wasn’t told she was adopted or whatever. Another time, Elena won’t speak to Stefan because he didn’t tell her his Ex looked liked her (as if that’s his fault), so she hangs out with Damon (an abuser and Mass Murderer) to spite him.

  Conversely, Wonder Woman leaves the safety of her island to enter into “The War to End All Wars” because she wants to save lives.

  -So what’s the takeaway? Selflessness IS putting yourself at risk for the sake of others and setting their needs above your own.

  -It ISN’T claiming you care about people when you put your own feelings, desires and wants as the most important factor in all situations.

• Self-sacrifice (what are you willing to give up for the good of others?): This is crucial to any character who claims to be a hero. You can’t just have the desire to help others, you need to show me what you are willing to lay down to prove it. It’s the—“put your money where your mouth is” part of being a hero. I see a lot of people risking nothing, because their plot protection is so thick, all the while claiming to be a Bad Dude (cough…Karen in Daredevil). Mulan is willing to die to keep her father from joining the army because she knows he won’t survive.

• They carry the weight of the world and nobody knows what that’s like: What follows these other traits is Suffering. There’s a disconnect between the hero and everybody else because the common person will never know how heavy their burden is. The abusive monkey in Sing 2 hit the nose right on the head, “Only through suffering can one become truly great.” Your hero has to SUFFER (and not superficially like in Gossip Girl where somebody called them a bad name and they probably had it coming anyway). Nikita, for instance, loses people she loves and gets tortured by enemies in the pursuit of bringing down the evil organization she used to work for.

Applying these traits to Buffy: I will limit myself to two of my favorite episodes and perhaps one of the greatest Season Finales—Becoming Parts 1 and 2:

First, let’s set the stage. Buffy’s one true love (Angel) has reverted back to his evil unredeemed self (Angelus) after the effects of a curse and is trying to raise hell in Sunnydale California. Her best friend, Willow, hopes to find a way to restore Angelus’ soul and therefore return him to the good man he was. However, Angelus plans to suck Sunnydale into hell, and only his blood can close the portal. Buffy has to choose between preserving the life of her love and holding onto hope of a future with him, or kill him and save Sunnydale along with the world. Hmm, someone you love vs the fate of the world-what do you think she chooses? Normal people might save the person they love; heroes, however, have to make tough calls.

• The entirety of Buffy’s character is selfless:

  - She didn’t want to, or choose to be, The Slayer. She was Chosen.

  -In this Finale, she is constantly putting what is best for others above her own wants and needs. She tells her mother, “I would love to be upstairs watching TV, or gossiping about boys or, *God, even studying*! But I have to save the world.” She’s gearing up to fight the man she once loved, save Giles, and stop a portal from sucking the world into Hell—not because she wants to—but because it’s what she was called to do.

• Buffy sacrifices A LOT in this Finale:

  -Willow, her best-friend, is hospitalized and Xander’s arm is broken.

  -Giles, her mentor and father figure, is kidnapped and tortured.

  -Her mother kicks her out of the house.

  -Her Principal kicks her out of school.

  -And she’s forced to kill Angel, her great love.

  (My oldest brother once said, this was a typical week in the life of Spiderman. I won’t argue.)

  This is one of the reasons Buffy Summers stands out as a character. Not many female characters can lay claim to such a weighty list or such a grippingly emotional Finale. Our minds might go to some male heroes having similar displays of self-sacrifice but not many female ones. I would also be so bold as to say that no male hero even has to sacrifice the woman he loves to save the world. Batman is going to let Harvey Dent die in order to save Rachel. Superman turns back time because of one woman, Lois Lane, the woman he loves. Buffy is actually put in the position where it’s either the world or the man she loves—and she runs him through with a sword.

• No one knows or understands what Buffy had to do:

  -Buffy’s mother kicks her out of the house but has no idea what Buffy is being put through. She doesn’t know about Angel, or Kendra, and she doesn’t know about the world almost ending.

  -Buffy’s friends don’t know what happened with Angel, or that Buffy had to kill him just as he turned back.

  -Angel doesn’t understand why Buffy kills him (she doesn’t have time to explain). She only has a few moments to tell him she loves him and kiss him before impaling him.

  -Buffy is carrying so much with Kendra’s death, her mother warning her never to come back home, being suspended, and Angel’s death, she can’t even face her friends. They wouldn’t understand. She can only watch them from a distance before leaving town with Sarah Mclachlan’s tear jerking song playing in the background.

  (This Finale always gets to me…) I fear I’ll never see another one like it, or another heroine like Buffy…but that’s one of the reasons my sister and I write—to add some unforgettable heroines to the seemingly small roster.

The winter here's cold, and bitter
It's chilled us to the bone
We haven't seen the sun for weeks
Too long too far from home…