RUNNING HEAD: WE USED TO BE 1

We Used To Be Friends: Third Wave Feminism and Veronica Mars

Timothy J. Burke

University of South Florida

13 April, 2006
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“She is not cute. She is sexy. Tough. Prematurely jaded. Angelina Jolie at 17.”

This initial description, by series creator Rob Thomas in the pilot episode script

treatment for the blockbuster UPN teen drama Veronica Mars, is an accurate and

descriptive projection for the title character eventually embodied by fresh-faced actress

Kristen Bell. Originally envisioned as a children’s book hero, Mars has quickly made its

way to the role of United Paramount Network flagship program. In only one-and-a-half

seasons, the witty and acerbic hourlong has earned both critical and public laudation;

some have considered it to be the rightful heir to the throne vacated when Buffy The

Vampire Slayer left the WB’s airwaves in 2003.

Seeing as how Buffy has long been a darling of the feminist research genre (more

than 250 published articles having made reference to it) and even Buffy creator Joss

Whedon considering Veronica Mars a better and more complete show (Whedon claims

it’s the best show on television), it becomes worthy of our interrogation through feminist

methodologies. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine how aspects of third-wave

feminism emerge in the plot and characterizations of Veronica Mars. We will first

examine the background and history of third-wave feminism, before examining its

application to popular culture artifacts, and finally observing how Veronica Mars and the

show dedicated to her character embody classical third-wave ideals.

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THIRD-WAVE: A RETROSPECTIVE

Or

“I love the smell of testosterone in the morning.”

The “wave” concept of feminism originated with what is traditionally referred to

as simply the “feminist movement.” Retroactively dubbing early, suffrage-seeking

feminists as “first-wave,” second-wavers focused on the inclusion of women in male-

dominated areas including the workforce and politics. The improvement of women’s

rights in general was a key selling point of second-wave activists, who come to the

forefront of social activism in the 1960s and 1970s. The expectations were, owing to their

attachment to and separation from first-wave feminists, grand. After all, the primary goal

of first-wave feminists, universal suffrage for women, was realized in 1920 with the

passage of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution. The relaxation of

feminist activism in the post-WWI period led to what many consider a nadir of feminist

activism and a contraction of women’s rights.

While second-wave feminists were primarily concerned with economic equality,

including the rights of women to have careers alongside motherhood, or the choice to

remain childless, the introduction of gender issues emerged within its myriad movements

as well. Lesbian women were recognized for the first time within second-wave

movements. Lesbian feminist campaigns began to emerge, as did the small minority of

radical lesbian feminists. To many, this small radical faction would prove to be a valuable

but dangerous contribution to the movement as a whole; current third-wavers like

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Maureen Dowd proclaim, “The triumphs of feminism lasted a nanosecond while the

backlash has lasted 40 years.”

Third-wave feminism emerged in the early 1990s. Initiated by a 1992 article in

Ms. magazine, expressing Rebecca Walker’s disgust with the offensive spectacle of the

Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing, third-wave grew as angry readers responded en

masse to solidify into a new feminist bloc. Focused primarily on sex and gender issues,

third-wave aims to challenge the establishment’s definition of both. No longer is the

primary attention on demolition of a massive patriarchal structure that maintains a status

quo of female oppression, but rather a greater understanding that will lead to equality

amongst the sexes.

That isn’t to say that the goals of second-wave feminism are completely ignored.

Rather, a central tenet to third-wavers is that second-wave feminism’s core aspirations

have yet to be achieved and must be accomplished. However, an important delineating

line establishes the marked difference between the two movements: third-wave feminism

argues equality does not equal similarity. Equality, to third-wavers, means re-establishing

the choices of female control of identity. Being female, third-wave writers argue, means

as much as being male.

Rooted in a post-structural tradition, third-wave feminism rejects labeling or even

attempts to define/pin-down concepts of sexuality, preference, gender, or feminism in

general. Many writers have maintained it is contrary to the movement itself to attempt

definition of it. This openness is reflective of third-wave criticisms that the second-wave

feminists focused on the plight of white, heterosexual women as the exemplar female

“condition.” Third wave has attempted to overcome this through a multiracial,

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multisexual approach. Queer theory is birthed from the head of third-wave feminism, as

is the extension of leadership positions to individuals commonly marginalized.

However, perhaps the most defining, or at least for our purposes, useful,

characteristic of third-wave feminists is their age range. While the movement is now

fifteen years old, third-wave feminists are commonly characterized as being “young,”

often 30 or under. Even third-wave founders Rebecca Walker, Amy Richards, and Dawn

Martin are still in their early- to mid-30s.

THIRD-WAVE RESEARCH: A LITERATURE REVIEW

or

“Did you guys know that 90 per cent of all identity theft is committed by relatives of the

victim? That's an interesting fact. At least I think so.”

The free-and-open inclusive approach to feminism brought by the third wave has

led to a broad spectrum of research under its banner. Popular culture research has

embraced third-wave perspectives in a particularly effusive manner. The very nature of

third-wave thought’s promulgation, through contemporary magazines and the newly-

innovated Internet, ensured a close relationship between popular culture and new

feminist, or postfeminist, thought.

This is, interestingly, somewhat of a backlash against the concept of “cultural

feminism.” Established in the mid-1970s, cultural feminism referred to the separation of

women’s culture from that of the mainstream. In essence, cultural feminism created an
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alternate universe; essentializing the differences between men and women and embracing

a separatist viewpoint, cultural feminism faced criticism nearly upon its inception.

Feminism’s third wave coincided with the rise of “girl culture” and “girl power”

in America during the 1990s. Popular culture began the trope toward a more youthful and

feminine direction. Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia helped put the issue of teen girls on

the national cultural agenda. It indicted our "media-saturated culture" for "poisoning" the

nation’s girls. It would go on to sell more than a million copies.

Despite the criticisms, girl culture rolled on. The defining film of the decade,

Titanic, was supported mainly by teen girls’ repeated viewing. Clueless, about a teen

girl’s manipulation of her friends and environment (and based on Jane Austen’s Emma),

served to many as a testament to the goals and desires of the 90’s teen girl. It launched a

trend of movies and television shows featuring teen girl protagonists, a trend that

culminated in 1997’s premiere of the series version of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.

Researchers have pointed to this turn being in part precipitated by a shift in

monetary control, one that was a marked goal of the second-wave feminists. While not

necessarily a signifier of increased social power, the greater decision-making power in

terms of spending was reflected in cultural content producers’ catering to their tastes in a

serious manner. Of course, that’s a somewhat trite and superficial goal to understanding

the way teen girls in the 1990s thought. Far more important were attempts, like Pipher’s,

to interrogate the processes behind girls’ choices of cultures and their identification with

their artifacts.

The collision of the new look of female cultural heroes with the perceived

feminist icons of the past led Time magazine to publish a controversial cover on a 1998
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issue. Showing a progression of feminist representatives, from Susan B. Anthony to

Gloria Steinem, the timeline ended with Ally McBeal star Calista Flockheart and the

words, “Is Feminism Dead?”

Third-wave research has focused particularly on the trend of women’s embracing

of feminist ideals while rejecting the identity of “feminist.” The social conservatism of

the 1990s have led to girls being reluctant to identify with any particular social

movement, regardless of personal ideals, goals, or reflections. The repercussions of this,

feminist authors argue, have been a further marginalization of the poor and minority

women third-wave was originally supposed to provide voice to.

By far the most investigated pop-culture artifact by third-wave researchers has

been Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Buffy has been described as both representative of the

archetypal third-wave heroine as well as a metaphor for the strained relation between

second- and third-wave feminists. Being that third-wave feminists were often raised by

second-wavers, it is a direct parallel to the consistent conflicts portrayed on screen by

Buffy and her mother.

Buffy is seen as a third-wave heroine through her majestic, powerful status.

Williams (2005) explains she is a revolutionary character in that she stands alone without

the cast of victimage so common to earlier representations of women on the small screen.

Stronger than even the undead, Buffy saves the lives of both men and women. Some

theorists have even posited her as “the patriarchy slayer.” Starting the series as a loner,

gathering friends, and boyfriends, along the way, she is seen by many to be representative

of third-wave’s journey against an evil, dystopic world that requires cooperation with

men in order to address its flaws.

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Yet not all feminists embraced the Buffy appeal. Sarah Curtis-Fawley argues the

stereotypical female victim image is presented by the series’ star, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Tall, blonde, attractive, unblemished, and thin, Curtis-Fawley suggests Buffy is simply

the new “Barbie.” Yet due to her powerful nature, her physical approach to being the

world’s savior against evil, and the fact she is not overtly sexualized in the show, she has

come to represent as a whole what germinal theorists Baumgardner & Richards dub

“Girlie Feminism.”

Girlie Feminism, according to the writers, is an embracing of the feminine as a

source of power. By highlighting the feminine, women set the terms for their own

assumption of power. Of course, when the feminine is represented without agenda, the

tactic easily falls back into 1980’s style objectification. Responses to this can also

contribute to the representations – many have stated the lack of acknowledgment or

underestimation of Buffy’s power by her evil foes are the sign of a victory for women’s

equality.

VERONICA MARS: BUFFY THE SECOND?

or

“It's all fun and games till one of you gets my foot up your ass.”

Despite the debate, Buffy is by a majority of academics revered as a positive role

model for girls and a pop culture representation of third-wave ideals. In order to evaluate

whether the character of Veronica Mars is a new incarnation of those representations,

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we’ll first examine the story arc of the character before drawing some conclusions about

where she fits into the taxonomy of feminist ideologies.

When we’re introduced to the character of Veronica Mars, her high school and

community are in tumult. The fictional town of Neptune, she tells us through voiceovers,

“has no middle class.” The town and high school’s social classes are divided amongst the

ultra-rich who live a Beverly Hills-type existence and the poor families who serve at their

whim. The murder of Veronica’s best friend (and sister of her boyfriend) Lily Kane splits

the city down the socioeconomic lines; Veronica is demoted to lower-class status when

her single father is ousted as Sheriff after attempting to investigate the dead girl’s father,

a sickeningly-rich software executive (modeled after Microsoft founder Bill Gates).

In response, Keith Mars has opened a private investigation business for which

Veronica serves as secretary and occasional assistant. Picking up on her father’s tactics,

she quickly starts a lucrative career solving crimes for the handful of rich kids who

haven’t entirely rejected her since the controversy’s eruption.

While the first season story arc is mainly consumed with Keith and Veronica’s

search for Lily Kane’s murderer, there is a significant subplot that is not resolved until

late in the season, one significant to our consideration of Veronica Mars’ status as third-

wave femme hero. We’re informed early of Veronica’s rape and subsequent loss of

virginity while drugged at a party, and her desire to find the boy who violated her and

“make him pay.”

A third storyline that emerges later in the season is the search for and discovery of

Veronica’s estranged mother, who ran off soon after her husband’s ouster from legitimate

law enforcement. Finding her drunk and in a roadhouse bar, Veronica attempts to bring
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her mother back into the family fold. In the end, she is forced to spend her college nest

egg to ship Mom off to a rehab facility.

Throughout, Veronica’s rocky relationship with Duncan Kane becomes a key

point of contention. Frustrated with his moodiness and hesitation to assist her in the

various investigations, they part and she begins dating his best friend. The rape

investigation culminates in the discovery her rape was committed by Duncan himself,

while under the influence of the same GHB she’d been (accidentally) drugged with. And,

finally, Lily Kane’s real murderer is revealed, with the final scene of the season featuring

Keith Mars saving Veronica from the burning box into which she’d been sealed.

It is important to note that Veronica’s key character identity is her independence.

Despite being shunned by half her school’s population, she maintains a lucrative

investigation business that allows her to accumulate the funds needed to finance her first

year of college. We’re led to believe she earns excellent grades and is considered to be

“too smart for her own good” by the administration. Indeed, she is often found in the

principal’s office, being reprimanded for an offense committed in the course of one of her

wacky investigations. She singlehandedly resolves the major question of the first season,

foiling the attempts of the ever-present antagonist replacement sheriff. Along with her

recognized fashion sense, perky face, and blonde hair, she represents in many ways the

same characteristics of “girlie feminism” as Buffy.

Yet one key characteristic of Buffy is lacking in Veronica’s representation. While

Buffy was never portrayed as a victim and was physically superior to her foes, Veronica

is victimized from the onset of the series (as both a rape survivor and friend to a
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murdered girl) and is unable to fend off the consistent physical threats from men

throughout the 21 episodes.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the season’s closing scene, in which she’s

physically dominated by Kane’s murderer and set aflame. While never “winning”

physical confrontations on the series, she occasionally weaseled out of them with her

biting wit. Words, of course, do little against burning flames, and it took a man (her

father, no less) to save her in the end.

Of course, this doesn’t make her a dangerous role model in any shape. Much like

Buffy, we’re led to believe Veronica to be a virtuous, if not particularly possessive of a

central ethos, person. She consistently rejects pressures to have sex, and when she does

commit to the decision, it is on her own terms – and representations of her sexual

behaviors reflect this throughout the rest of her relationship with Duncan. However, sex

is a far less prominent feature, in general, than it is on Buffy. Queer issues are also much

more understated, though in a fairly recent episode Veronica works to protect the

identities of several gay students who frequented a particular campus website, making her

at the least an ally, but certainly more demurred from Buffy’s gay Willow character.

Of course, the same criticisms of Buffy – that she is more representative of

second-wave’s ignorance to other perspectives – are applicable to Veronica as well.

Veronica is white, middle-class, and straight. The program is presented from her gaze,

both through cinematography and voiceover. The school’s principal is male and white.

The school’s nurse is white and female. Town politicians are, without fail, represented as

white males. This may, however, be intentional as a portrayal of the race and

socioeconomic rift existent in the fictional town of Neptune.

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CONCLUSIONS

or

“We Used To Be Friends”

Irene Karras explains third-wave feminists have seized pop culture as the

battleground and weapon of choice for achieving equality. Images alone can’t change

societal structures, but they can help instill awareness to a movement’s ideologies.

Veronica Mars continues the Buffy legacy in many ways, by providing positive

role imagery for girls and representing women as being capable of outsmarting men on a

consistent basis. Perhaps this is the beneficial contribution; while Buffy “kicked butt,”

Veronica uses her head. Combined the two portray a woman capable of achieving her

own destiny. Yet with the glaring deficiencies in Veronica’s reliance on men to extricate

women from precarious positions, we cannot fully endorse Veronica Mars as an

exemplar of third-wave feminist thinking. It has merits, this is certain. Yet until we are

able to see a mass-marketed (preferably minority) physically- and mentally- strong

woman in control of her own destiny and decisions, the mysterious case of the missing

third-wave icon will remain an open file.