Is This A Penis Metaphor? (Reptile Boy)

You know how it goes. Girl meets Boy. He’s older and more experienced – but seems nice, kind, thoughtful. Girl falls for Boy. They get close; maybe they sleep together. And then, when she wakes up, he’s changed. He’s cruel, mean, even evil. It turns out he just wanted to use her, and never really cared about her at all. 

That is the basic story at the heart of season two. The grand, gothic, star-crossed love story of a redeemed sinner and an anointed hero, constructed around a simple story of a teen girl whose first boyfriend turns out to just be a real dick.

It’s also the story in this episode – the slightly less grand story of Buffy and Tom the Frat Guy.

Tom the Frat Guy is introduced to us, and Buffy, about ten minutes into the episode – after we’ve already established that the Frat Guys as a wider group are Up To No Good. He is presented as a more charming alternative to the other Frat Guys – most notably Richard, the more dickish boy who flirts with Cordelia and we see chasing down the girl in the pre-credits sequence. He is Not Like The Others – sensitive and kindly spoken, while still maintaining the allure of being older and a little bit mysterious.

In a word, he is Angel. Angel is older, and retains the allure of being a vampire while emphatically being Not Like Other Vampires. Just as Owen in last season’s fifth episode was an own-brand version of Angel, so is Tom here. Buffy is once again demonstrating her type. The most important difference for her in this episode, is that Tom is available, while Angel isn’t.

Angel pulls away from her in this episode, citing all the logical reasons they shouldn’t be together – his vampirism, their age difference. He’s doing what he thinks is best for her. It obviously stems from his love and care for her, but there is a slight element of paternalism in how he makes these decisions on her behalf. It’s an element that never entirely leaves their relationship – as we will see when we get to The Prom.

Buffy herself unintentionally gives us the most pertinent reason they should stay apart, in a line that has become somewhat infamous in Buffy fandom.

“When you kiss me I want to die.”

Buffy Summers, 2×05 Reptile Boy

I actually don’t think this line deserves the mockery it often receives. I think the previous line from Angel (“This isn’t some fairy tale. When I kiss you, you don’t wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.”) is actually a clunkier and overall worse line. But I get why this one stands out – it’s an off-puttingly poetic line that immediately provokes confusion over what exactly she’s talking about. To be honest, on a pure character level, I’m not sure what she’s saying either.

I can see two clear metaphors at play here. The first is the sexual one. The death she refers to is a little one. Kissing can lead to more than kissing, and she wants to do both with Angel. We will see the dangers of that emerge in Surprise. This is trading on a similar idea to Ampata’s “Kiss of Death” in the last episode. 

The second metaphor is how, as we’ve mentioned in this season, Buffy’s relationship with Angel represents a threat to her humanity. She could die, and become a vampire. Becoming a vampire would simplify most of the issues in their relationship, for sure. However, neither of these ideas make much sense for Buffy to actually verbalise in this way. This infamous line is just one small but memorable example of Buffy working so well on the metaphorical/thematic level that it loses communication with the literal a bit.

What does stand out to be in this conversation is how eager Buffy is to lose herself in the thrill and fiery passion of her new romance. She doesn’t want to think sensibly about her life, she wants a wild romance with the Byronic Hero. And honestly, who doesn’t? Love is more exciting when it’s a little bit out of control.

“I’m just tryin’ to protect you. This could get outta control.“
“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?“

Angel and Buffy Summers, 2×05 Reptile Boy

What’s interesting is that, after several years of maturing and being burned by several toxic romances, Buffy ends up on the opposite side of this argument in season six. She becomes the one talking down her Byronic Vampire Boyfriend from his eagerness to lose himself in passionate love. 

“Trust is for old marrieds, Buffy. Great love is wild … and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes.“
“Until there’s nothing left. Love like that doesn’t last.“

Spike and Buffy Summers, 6×19 Seeing Red

It makes sense that Buffy’s turns around on this. Her love life unfortunately becomes a relentless seminar on the dangers of uncontrolled passion. She is repeatedly drawn towards these enticing, dangerous loves, and repeatedly she suffers for it. She gets burned by Angel, by Faith, by Angel again, by Parker… by the time it comes to Spike, she is far too jaded by the fire to romanticise it anymore.

I don’t think this means that Buffy’s romantic arc is one of “maturing” out of passion and excitement. That would be a sad arc to suffer through. Rather, it is about finding a healthy balance – enjoying the thrill of uninhibited romance while also not losing herself within it. That’s why her final romantic moment in the series is one where she rediscovers the fire. 

Some of the talk here about dangerous sexuality and becoming consumed by love might be a little subtle, of course. So let’s throw subtlety to the wind and take a look at the real star of the show, who we’re all really here to see – the great big honking Penis Metaphor at the centre.

I ragged on Inca Mummy Girl a bit for making its central metaphor so obvious, but here, I kind of enjoy it. There’s something a little bit thrilling about how blatantly Buffy waves its Penis Metaphors around. Three young girls go to a party with older boys, have a drink, and then are literally threatened with a giant snake, which itself emerges from a large tunnel – it’s not hard to work it out. It’s an absurd joke, and one that Giles’ final line basically shoves down our throats.

“I told one lie. I had one drink.“
“Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words ‘let that be a lesson’ are a tad redundant at this juncture.”

Buffy Summers and Rupert Giles

Buffy has a long and noble tradition of snake monsters and the obvious thing they represent. We’ll see them again in Band Candy, Graduation Day, and Shadow (though by my reckoning only two of those are Penis Metaphors^TM). It’s a tool the show uses repeatedly in order to represent the dangers of a patriarchy that our young feminist hero must fight against.

The sexual metaphor, as we already touched on, is well and truly at play here. It is in fact made literal after Buffy is drugged and passes out in the bedroom, as Richard (yes, I must emphasise, this character’s name is Richard – nobody said this episode was subtle) appears to make a move to sexually assault Buffy. He is stopped by the Nice Frat Guy, Tom, who is more committed to Machida (the Snake Demon, who I must note was apparently named after a tool box that the writer saw on set^[1]), and ensures that Buffy remains only in danger of metaphorical date rape.

The Tom/Angel parallels here turn into obvious foreshadowing. The guy who seemed so nice and charming at first turns nasty, and shows that he is no different to all the others. Just as Angel’s full demonic nature is revealed after he sleeps with Buffy, and he becomes just as evil as all the vampires he has up until now shown himself to not be like. The danger of sexuality is directly linked to the danger of the guy you’re dating turning out to be a monster.

It’s not just the sexual metaphor in play. The Frat Guys are complete representations of patriarchy and toxic masculinity. They are a group of rich, privileged white men who own stocks and have fathers who are CEOs. Cordelia even points out the lack of diversity in the frat house. Just as in real life, their wealth and power is built on the blood of the less privileged – the weak and vulnerable that they exploit and sacrifice for their own good. They explicitly seek out young, high-school age girls who have less power than them, which emphasises both the sexual predator angle but also the power hierarchies at play here. They exploit their class status to solidify their class status. They’re capitalism. They’re white supremacy. They’re the goddamn Demon Lizard Patriarchy. 

“He who is the source of all we inherit and all we possess. And if he is pleased with our offerings, then our fortune shall increase.”

Tom, talking about either the embedded hierarchical structures of a society built to benefit rich white men, or the demon Machida

The threat that these symbols of patriarchy pose to Buffy is existential. As a symbol of feminist power, she cannot reduce herself to please the patriarchy. The advice that Cordelia gives in this episode is to do just that – reduce her own power and personality in order to please a man. And unfortunately, Cordelia doesn’t learn the lesson that she shouldn’t need to do this by the end of the episode. While Buffy breaks her chains, saves the day, and slays the Penis Metaphor, Cordelia showers all the praise for it onto Angel, a man. 

“See? Dr. Debi says when a man is speaking you make serious eye contact, and you really, really listen, and you laugh at everything he says.”

Cordelia Chase, 2×05 Reptile Boy

It is not only women who suffer under this system. Xander’s experiences in this episode show how this system can be attractive to young men, but that same system will chew them up, bully them, and spit them back out. When Xander gets forced to become a “pledge” for the fraternity, he is being forced into toxic masculinity, a mold of personhood that he thinks he wants, but will never make him really happy. He just gets humiliated, paraded around, and then kicked out of the house. When he re-enters, it is in the disguise of a fraternity member, but his experiences in this episode have helped him towards learning not to internalise their idea of masculinity. A frat, a demonic cult, toxic masculinity – they’re all the same. A system that promises so much, but makes most people suffer for the benefit of only a few. 

Giles represents another form of patriarchy in this episode, both as Buffy’s boss and also as her father figure. He chides her, belittles her, and tries to control her actions. Early in the episode, he treats her like a father would a young child, and a pushy one at that. We are really starting to see both a building up of the father/daughter relationship that Buffy and Giles have, and of the inherently patriarchal structure of the Watchers. Both will be more fully examined in a season’s time, but the initial foundations are here.

It is the fact that both Giles and Angel infantilise Buffy in this way that causes her to act out. Her motivations for going to the party are two-fold. First, because of Giles’ controlling behaviour, and secondly because Angel gives her the brush-off. They are both patronising Buffy, and could have avoided any danger by respecting her more. As much as both Giles and Angel care about Buffy, there is an inherent patriarchal element to their relationships with her.

It is Buffy’s metaphorical spirit who fights back against them. Willow calls them out, and she’s right. Buffy was entirely happy just hanging out with Xander and Willow until Giles’ strictness stopped her even being able to do that. Angel’s unwillingness to take a little bit of risk and have a date puts Buffy in much more danger than coffee with him poses. 

In the end, they both learn their lesson. Giles agrees to give Buffy more independence, and Angel agrees to Buffy’s suggestion of going for a coffee date. They cede their power to Buffy, and therefore create a healthier relationship. That is Buffy’s role – she either kills the Penis Metaphor and destroys the patriarchal structures, or she reforms them. She chooses the relationships that she values, and forces them to become better. 

The value of Buffy as a purely feminist text is often in doubt, and for good reason. This is a show written by a white straight man who has become best known for exploiting his power over young women. Just next episode we will push up against the limits of its 90s feminism. But episodes like this remind us of how steeped this show is in feminist and anti-patriarchal ideas. It’s core to the show’s identity and that will always lead to interesting ideas. At least, we get to see a superpowered woman slay a Penis Monster. The symbolism there is fun enough on its own.

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References:

[1] Mark Field, Myth, Metaphor, and Morality, p. 71