How Buffy the Vampire Slayer's LGBTQ+ Representation Holds Up In 2022

Doom Patrol. Audiences have grown to understand stereotypes and tropes on tv and how they can harm the queer community, so does Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature any of these tropes or stereotypes?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released in 1997 and after seven seasons Buffy ended in 2003. Buffy's creator and showrunner centered the show on teenage girl Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as she attended Sunnydale High School with her friends Xander (Nicholas Brendan) and Willow, while she trained with the Librarian Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) to fight demons and the forces of darkness. Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2 featured its first gay minor character Larry (Larry Bagby III) and introduced its first lesbian relationship in season 4 when Willow and Tara became a couple. Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured many themes that related to the queer experience, such as struggling with parental acceptance, finding a family that accepts you, and being made an outcast by society.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a huge step forward in queer representation on television, Buffy's representation even influenced future shows like 9-1-1. However, there are some aspects of the show that do not hold up to the standards of 2022. This is not to discount the importance of the LGBTQ+ representation for what it was at the time thtat Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired, however, with the benefit of time audiences can become aware of tropes or stereotypes that have been revealed to be harmful or disrespectful to the LGBTQ+ community that are featured in Buffy. By learning from Buffy's past mistakes and successes in how it represented its LGBTQ+ characters, modern television can create a better future for queer representation.

Willow Rosenberg

Willow Rosenberg began Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a brilliant but shy girl. By fighting alongside Buffy and getting over her crush on Xander, Willow learned to be confident and began dating Oz (Seth Green). Over time, Willow also became a powerful witch. During Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, episode 6, "Wild At Heart" Oz's inner werewolf became a danger to Willow so he left town. Then in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, episode 10, "Hush", Willow ed a campus Wicca group where she met fellow magic Tara Mclay. The two had an instant connection and over the course of the season, Tara and Willow became a romantic couple. The exploration of Willow's sexuality was Buffy the Vampire Slayer's biggest contribution to LGBTQ+ representation, as Willow was a likable, complex, recurring main character and therefore her sexuality could not be ignored. Also, Willow's personality was not solely defined by her sexuality, but it was a key part of who she was, which was uncommon for mainstream media representation at the time.

There were discussions among the Buffy the Vampire Slayer writers of making Willow bisexual given her relationship with Oz before he left, and her previous crush on Xander. Whedon and the writers ultimately decided against portraying Willow as bisexual, because they believed audiences needed to see Willow strictly identify as a lesbian otherwise they may not fully accept her sexuality. This idea is inherently harmful to the bisexual community, as they often receive criticism for "not being gay enough" or "not being straight enough" which is why truly positive bisexual representation is hard to find on television. This plays into wider issues of bi-erasure, which still plague both media and real-world communities in 2022. While Willow's sexuality discounted any discussion of bisexuality, it still gave audiences a powerful, complex, unabashedly queer character that people couldn't help but love.

Tara Mclay

Like Willow, Tara Mclay started Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a shy woman with hidden potential. She learned witchcraft from her mother, and while working with Willow she became even more powerful. Since the WB network was so hesitant at portraying gay relationships on television in the '90s, much of Willow and Tara's romance was portrayed through magical metaphors in season 4 up until their relationship status was confirmed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, episode 19, "New Moon Rising". The character of Tara explored trauma narratives that many queer people face. These notably include having an abusive and unaccepting family and having to create a new found family among friends. Tara's strength was also explored when Willow began abusing magic to manipulate the memories of both her friends and Tara herself. Although Tara loved Willow, she stood up for herself and left the relationship until she felt Willow was capable of accepting her boundaries.

Sadly, in Buffyverse delves into toxic tropes.

Andrew Wells

Andrew standing in the kitchen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) ed the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in season 6, episode 4, "Flooded". Andrew was a member of The Trio, a group of three nerds who wanted to defeat the Slayer and take over Sunnydale. Throughout season 6 Andrew was heavily implied to be in love with the Trio's most ruthless member Warren Mears. For example, after Warren abandoned Andrew and Jonathan, Andrew stated: "How could he do this to me? He promised we'd be together, but... he was just using me. He never really loved... hanging out with us." Andrew returned to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in season 7 and became an ally to the scoobies in their fight against The First Evil. In Buffy seasons 6 and 7 Andrew was coded with several gay stereotypes (mostly in his unspoken crush directed at the villainous Warren Mears), and his subtextually hidden sexuality was often played for laughs. Although the actor Tom Lenk's real-life advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and representation (and impressive performance as Andrew) is still commendable, Andrew's sexuality on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was ultimately undeveloped and relied too heavily on stereotypes surrounding closeted gay men.

Although some of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's LGBTQ+ representation does not hold up to modern standards of queer representation, its importance in the history of LGBTQ+ characters in media cannot be understated given how few main LGBTQ+ characters there were at the time. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics even went on to explore Buffy's sexuality, Andrew's sexuality, and Willow's relationships after Tara and Kennedy. Perhaps a future Buffy reboot could expand and update the original show's LGBTQ+ representation. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer's LGBTQ+ representation was far from perfect, for the time that it was made it was impressive nad important, and its flaws can help creators to curate better representation in the future. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was likey one of the shows that inspired future genre shows to include LGBTQ+ characters in their main cast, and will forever have a place in the history of LGBTQ+ representation on television.

Next: Doctor Who's Next Era Can Be Truly LGBTQ+ Friendly

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