The Slayer as Binary Deconstruction: Post-Freudian Power and Gender Subversion in Buffy

Abstract

This paper examines the construction of the Slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a liminal figure who complicates rather than reinforces traditional moral binaries. Through analysis of key episodes including "Bad Girls" (3x14) and "Fool for Love" (5x07), this study argues that the series reveals significant parallels between Slayers and vampires that challenge conventional categories of good and evil. Rather than serving as humanity's unambiguous champion, the Slayer emerges as a figure who exists in the spaces between traditional moral frameworks, possessing attributes that align her more closely with vampiric nature than with ordinary human morality. This positioning creates what can be understood as a post-Freudian space where power, rather than virtue, becomes the organizing principle, while simultaneously subverting traditional gender associations with strength and violence. The paper demonstrates how Buffy uses the Slayer concept to explore moral complexity rather than to reinforce simple binary oppositions.