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Joyce comes to mind. And Tara - she hardly ever uses her magic. Oh, and Darla. Legolas Send a noteboard - 18/01/2012 10:58:57 PM
The so-called Buffy-verse features a number of ordinary mortal male characters such as Xander, Gunn, Giles, Wesley, Robin Wood, Lindsey, Holtz and even Oz (his werewolf curse never enhanced his combat prowess in any practical way), whereas Buffy & Faith had their superhuman strength (and by the way, fought vampires who were explicitly stated more than once on both shows to be weaker than they; whereas Angel and Spike fought their peers, or else demons, almost all of whom were stronger than vampires), Willow & Tara had magic, Cordelia got magic visions (from kissing a guy) and Anya remembered stuff from when she was a powerful demon (made into one by a patriarchal demon after she overreacted to her man cheating on her, and who spent centuries running around torturing people according to the whims of hyperbolic emotional women). No woman on the show was powerful without magic or being evil.

The Buffyverse's premise of having all those vampires and demons obviously makes it a requirement to have a lot of physical fighting - and then yes, human women may need something to balance out the odds. Darla and Drusilla, being vampires, do not.

But even with all the violence as metaphor for other things, there's enough non-violent scenes where women are allowed to shine. Joyce, Tara, Cordelia on Angel (her importance goes far beyond her superpower), Fred, to some extent even Darla. They are much more than "useful", they're crucial, without any magic or with the magic making little or no difference. Not in combat, no, but then you list numerous male characters above (Xander, Giles, Wesley, Lindsey, Oz) whose contributions to physical combats were also rather limited and often were little more than moral support for those doing the real fighting.
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A thought about women in action roles - 17/01/2012 10:42:28 PM 1483 Views
The actress in Haywire is a former MMA fighter. - 17/01/2012 11:13:03 PM 835 Views
Ok bad example - 18/01/2012 01:03:45 AM 776 Views
How many men did she beat in those fights? - 18/01/2012 01:47:04 AM 765 Views
Regular but fit guys still wouldn't stand a chance, I guess. - 18/01/2012 08:23:07 AM 742 Views
I don't know - 18/01/2012 02:21:24 PM 820 Views
Haywire may not be the best example - 17/01/2012 11:33:31 PM 824 Views
I thought she was an American Gladiator? *NM* - 18/01/2012 01:04:20 AM 347 Views
you're not wrong - 18/01/2012 05:37:51 AM 709 Views
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Crush. *NM* - 18/01/2012 08:31:06 PM 343 Views
You rarely ever see that kind of stuff in "realistic" movies... - 17/01/2012 11:53:33 PM 757 Views
What about Enough with Jennifer Lopez? - 18/01/2012 01:05:13 AM 688 Views
I've thought about it before. - 18/01/2012 12:22:29 AM 936 Views
So: Action roles should have bigger women. - 18/01/2012 03:29:38 AM 838 Views
Actually, Buffy is worse because it implies women need magic to be useful. - 18/01/2012 05:34:09 AM 840 Views
That's what you got from watching Buffy? *NM* - 18/01/2012 06:38:06 PM 389 Views
There's not much to get FROM Buffy *NM* - 18/01/2012 06:46:35 PM 343 Views
Joyce comes to mind. And Tara - she hardly ever uses her magic. Oh, and Darla. - 18/01/2012 10:58:57 PM 723 Views
magic isn't what makes women useful - 19/01/2012 04:51:35 AM 721 Views
I really doubt the outfit did much to make Xena look big. - 18/01/2012 06:53:59 PM 687 Views
I challenge you to say that while wearing her costume. *NM* - 18/01/2012 10:03:09 PM 324 Views
I'm pretty sure I would look frumpy and ridiculous - 19/01/2012 12:37:07 AM 708 Views
Lucy Lawless is pretty much Amazonian. - 19/01/2012 09:28:11 AM 973 Views
It's true that she's not as tiny as others. - 19/01/2012 05:46:59 PM 687 Views
"Not as tiny as the others" is about the best you can say for her. - 19/01/2012 08:54:03 PM 687 Views
of course she could - 19/01/2012 11:17:39 PM 656 Views
No. - 20/01/2012 03:55:20 AM 859 Views
aahahaha. this makes me laugh. *NM* - 19/01/2012 07:18:26 PM 354 Views
Re: A thought about women in action roles - 18/01/2012 04:13:27 AM 700 Views
The problem I had with that scene is what I call Buffy Syndrome. - 18/01/2012 05:10:59 AM 851 Views
Wellll - 18/01/2012 01:26:24 PM 729 Views
Re: A thought about women in action roles - 18/01/2012 07:50:28 PM 833 Views
She is some kind of super hero in super hero movie, is't she? *NM* - 19/01/2012 07:30:50 AM 361 Views
I don't think she's technically supposed to have super powers. - 19/01/2012 08:58:40 PM 693 Views
The Avengers are going to be such a lame team - 19/01/2012 09:13:18 PM 774 Views
This is exactly what I think of the movie as well - 19/01/2012 11:24:16 PM 795 Views
Contemplating the female action hero…let’s talk about Ripley - 19/01/2012 09:24:18 PM 825 Views
So did anyone actually see Haywire this weekend? - 23/01/2012 02:34:43 PM 708 Views
It just depends on how much you're willing to accept. - 23/01/2012 04:23:36 PM 724 Views
You're nitpicking and drawing an arbitrary line. All action is ridiculously unbelievable. *NM* - 24/01/2012 04:53:40 AM 381 Views
I tend to agree with you. - 24/01/2012 05:25:45 AM 713 Views
Realism alone is not the issue. - 24/01/2012 03:42:21 PM 680 Views

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