Spontaneous Musings

Agreed re: the victim angle. I've occasionally heard people say that there's no real difference between the standard Last Girls of every slasher movie ever and Buffy; those women also go toe-to-toe with the monster and beat him (until 2 minutes into the sequel, at least, when it's revealed that he was Not Quite Dead). Which is a good point, since that's what Buffy was based on, but the difference is: they're still very much victims, even if they survive (and not always unscarred, either). Their story is entirely dependent on the monster, and they have no agency of their own - they only exist to be victimized by him. Horror movie fans remember the names Laurie Strode or Nancy Thompson; everyone remembers Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger. Buffy, on the other hand, isn't the victim of her monsters; she's the one who seeks them out and kills them. She walks willingly into the Master's lair, knowing what she'll meet, and when he kills her, she's the one who comes back at the last second. It's her story.