#comrade buffy

We have to talk about Giles in Band Candy. No, not the psychic damage to an entire generation of queer people when our fictional dad turned into Daddy. I mean what is apparently my new beat- Buffy and class.

Giles’ “young” accent isn’t regional so much as it is a lower class accident. Given the apparent attention to the reality of England throughout most of the show I’m sure the Doyalist explanation is that someone said “I don’t know young Giles probably had some Sex Pistols energy.”

But if we accept the idea that Giles DID actually have a lower class accent as a teen- this opens up some fascinating questions. We know that Giles came from a family of Watchers, and everything we know about the Watchers indicate that they seem to need to perform an aggressively middle-class set of values. (We see Wesley but we also hear about the watchers retreat in the Cotswalds…they’re going for a vibe). Therefore it is unlikely this was Giles’ actually childhood accent. While lots of people (particularly at Oxford) change their accent in University if Giles’ father at least likely sounded like adult Giles. Which means the entire sound is a conscious affectation.

I feel deeply weird about the “Cordy gets poor and learns a valuable lesson” storyline at the end of season 3 for a whole host of reasons. The main one is that this story isn’t even about Cordy-it’s about *Xander*. Up until now Cordy has certainly been a bit of a “rich bitch” stereotype- she’s materialistic, cares too much about her car, and only hangs out with other wealthy, status-chasing girls.

But her biggest sin seems to be the way this emasculates Xander when they’re dating. While the show never explicitly discusses Xander’s class background- he is persistently depicted as having less wealth than his friends. (For example he’s the one always complaining about the cost of dance tickets and formal wear). This makes him dependent on Cordy (she needs to drive him around, she’s able to leave town over the summer leaving him behind). By bringing Cordy financially low and having Xander buy her prom dress, even if they’re not together, he can still be her provider- if only for a moment.