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Journal of Communication Inquiry
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"Nothing Like a Brisk Walk and a Spot of Demon Slaughter to Make a Girl’s Night": The Construction of the Female Hero in the Buffy Video Game

Magdala Peixoto Labre

Lisa Duke

Advertising department at the University of Florida.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a television cult series about a California "valley girl" who slays vampires and other demons, has attracted substantial scholarly attention. Less is known about a video game based on the series, released in summer 2002. This article analyzes the construction of Buffy as a hero who fights in the video game, contrasting it with her somewhat different portrayal in the television show. Unlike the television series, the video game provides a onedimensional construction of female heroism, based on the Warrior archetype and omitting the Caregiver/Martyr archetype often present in descriptions of heroes, including the television version of Buffy. The series’ collectivist style of problem solving and focus on relationships also is absent from the game, which, like other fighting games, exaggerates the sexual characteristics of its female characters.

Key Words: Buffy the Vampire Slayer • female heroism • video game

Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 28, No. 2, 138-156 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0196859903261795
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