The Witch, episode 1.3, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy from Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer creates a mix of classic horror tales about vampires, werewolves and other monsters with a modern twist. In the episode called ‘The Witch’ (1.3) we see Buffy and some of her friends trying out to be on the school’s cheerleading squad. During the first tryouts one of the girls trying out suddenly catches on fire. Buffy and her friends realize some dark magic is going on and go to talk to Giles about it. Strange things keep happening to the girls on the cheerleading squad throughout the episode and we soon discover that it is one of Buffy’s friends Amy, who was also trying out for the cheerleading team, that is causing the problems happening at school. Throughout this episode we learn more about the characters, especially Amy, and how gender stereotypes are represented in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   

This episode of the series the modern twist of the show is evident because it is based in a very stereotypical high school setting. There are many characters in this episode that play gender roles that are seen in many other shows created before. For example, there is the main character, Buffy who is the clever hero that always saves the day. Then we have her two best friends, Willow and Xander. Willow plays as the best friend who supports and helps Buffy throughout everything. Xander plays a stereotypical high school, guy friend role where he is always trying to get Buffy’s attention as a love interest. Buffy’s father figure in the show is Giles, her “watcher” in every sense, as he plays the role of Buffy’s protector and proves to be very knowledgeable. Buffy’s mom plays the role of the busy single mother.

The character of Amy in this episode

The character of Amy plays a huge role in ‘The Witch’ episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At the beginning of the episode Amy talks to Buffy about how her Mother used to be a cheerleader at school and she has been working very hard everyday alongside her Mother so she can follow in her footsteps and be on the team. Amy never ends up making it on the squad at first because she makes a mistake during practice. As the cheerleading teams starts mysteriously losing members one by one, Buffy and her friends figure out that it must be Amy that is making these girls get kicked off. They go to Amy’s house and Buffy discovers that Amy and her Mother have switched bodies. It turns out that Amy’s Mom is a witch and is extremely controlling over Amy. Throughout this episode we are aware when Amy is actually herself because her personality is very meek and insecure, probably from years of her mother trying to control her. She seems to try to be a big people-pleaser and do what will make her Mother and others happy, without regards for herself. I think girls are more likely to have this type of personality because, stereotypically , they feel like their only worth is what they can do for others and not for themselves. I think this feeling probably comes from years and previous generations of being expected to be a supporting role for men instead of focusing on your own needs as a woman. Towards the end of the episode, after Amy’s mother is gone, Amy seems to blossom a little more because she is now living with her Dad and has the positive attention that she craved before. 

Amy's Mother, the real witch

There are two versions of a stereotypical mom role in this episode. Buffy’s Mother always seems to be very busy. She is shown doing the “dirty” work for her gallery, as she is prying open boxes and organizing the different art pieces. Buffy seems to be a little upset that she does not get to spend a lot of time with her, but as a busy single mother, I think Buffy’s Mom is doing the best she can with what she has. On the other hand, there is Amy’s Mother who is very overbearing and tries to control every aspect of Amy’s life to the point of switching bodies with her.  Parents trying to vicariously live through their children is a stereotype that has been evident for many years, but Amy’s mother took it to a whole new level. I think that Amy’s mom is not content with how her life turned out so she is trying to relive her glory days by taking over Amy’s life. Towards the end of the episode, we see Buffy have a change of heart towards her Mom and I think it’s because she realizes the fact that it could be a lot worse and she understands that her Mom is doing the best she can. 

I think the fact that this episode chose cheerleading as the sport to be the focus says a lot about how gender is represented in the show. The sport of cheerleading itself is there to support another sport that, for the majority of the time, is a men’s team. So, cheerleading is almost never the main event in high school games, in this episode the main event was the basketball game and they were just cheering the players on. The fact that all of the girls are trying so hard and being so competitive to get onto a team in order to give support to a male team shows deep gender biases that were created long ago, but are still very popular today. 

The Witch episode of Buffy the Vampire tied in a classic tale of an evil witch with modern stereotypes that are very common today. By tying these two things together, the show created a very fictional story line that could also be seen as relatable to many different types of audiences today.