Buffy as role model: her significance for female viewers

In bringing Buffy the Vampire Slayer to our screens, Joss Whedon introduced a strong female lead character. This, at least at the time, was relatively unusual in itself, but he is also reported as wanting his character to reverse the fortunes of the typical young female character in the horror genre; Buffy was able to take care of herself and was to become a force to be reckoned with rather than a mere victim. Her character therefore arguably creates possibilities for disrupting the stereotypical femininity and patriarchal relations so commonplace in popular fiction, especially those forms of popular fiction aimed at young audiences