In Season 2, Episode 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Title: “Reptile Boy”), Buffy lies to Giles to get out of her Slayer responsibilities and goes to a frat party where she takes one drink, which happens to be drugged, and is nearly fed to a giant snake monster, worshiped by the fraternity brothers.
The metaphor for teenage life, in this case, is as transparent as Buffy gets. Go to parties, lie to care-givers, give in to immaturity, and bad things (related to drinking and date rape) can happen to you. On the first level of metaphor, this is actually a fairly trite narrative, one seen a thousand times on every family sitcom and teen drama. Go to a party and crash your car, throw a party and get in trouble, etc. etc.
Being drugged and subsequently fed to a giant, phallic snake suggests to audiences that high school girls sneaking out to frat parties are in danger of being raped, or otherwise taken advantage of. Yet in this telling, there lies another layer of meaning behind the cautionary tale. What’s fascinating about the Buffy interpretation is that the metaphor extends beyond Buffy’s eschewing of responsibility. Look through the transparent didacticism and you’ll find an intriguing, underlying commentary on gender and power.
Unlike other narratives concerning sexual assault that (horribly) blame a female victim for the clothes she wears, or (half-heartedly) explain male aggression by childhood abuse, or psycho-pathology, Buffy’s treatment of the issue (in this episode) fully acknowledges a fact I’ve heard told many times, but rarely seen in fictional representations: rape is about power.
This is ultimately demonstrated in the backstory explaining the relationship between the fraternity and the snake demon. Chanting in ritual the brothers explain, they owe all their wealth, success, and power, to Him (the emphatically male member). Feed the snake weak, powerless, women and he will grant a life-long power advantage to those men who worship Him.
Beyond the triumphant moment when Buffy castrates the snake monster, this backstory is (to me) what captures the much lauded feminism of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here is a story that warns a girl not to lie and go to parties and drink, not so much because she’s an immature victim, but because she’s not playing with a fair deck. This is a story that explains how, regretfully, men owe much of their power, success, and wealth to a phallic snake that subjugates women.
And here is a story that not only represents, but demonizes that gendered power imbalance, condemning men who take advantage of a patriarchal system, and celebrating a girl-who-would-be-victim, who refuses to be victimized.
