Sofia Cordova

Period 7

For my honors project I watched two television programs produced and occurring in the
United States (​Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars​) and I read a book that took place in
Scotland (​Garnethill​). All of these series occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s and had a
female protagonist that was required to do some form of detective work. ​Buffy the Vampire
Slayer was a sci fi television show that aired for seven seasons from 1997-2003. It had a teenage
girl who would fight vampires and other monsters. It follows her through her high school and
college years. During each season there was an overarching mystery that she would have to solve
or resolve by the end of the season. ​Garnethill is a series with three books (the first one which I
read was released in 1998). It is about a grown woman who is accused of murder and begins to
investigate in order to clear her name. ​Veronica Mars ​is a series that lasted for 3 seasons between
2004-2007. It is about a teenage private detective who works to solve a bigger crime each season
but works on smaller issues throughout the season. She is a high school student at the beginning
of the series. In the Garnethill series the main character Maureen does not elect to be a detective
and has a hard time accepting this as her fate. The trouble to accept her fate is similar to that of
Buffy however not only does Maureen not want to be a detective she doesn’t seem to really
continue in affairs and sleuthing that doesn’t directly pertain to or affect her contrary to the other
two. Also Maureen is older than Buffy and Veronica were at the beginning and at the end of their
television series (so not including their spin off literature and movies/shows). I accounted for
these differences here as they don't necessarily impact a cultural difference but they do lead to
some differences later on. Certain characters have more similarities and others have more
differences but each have elements that are similar. A commonality between all women
regardless of place is that they have family issues and have been victims of attempted sexual
assault but they have differences in their daily habits.
The protagonists’ backgrounds have certain common elements. All of these girls/females
have at some point been a victim of an attempted (Buffy) or successful (Veronica and Maureen)
sexual assault. One of the ways that this can be understood is that across the world that rape is
rather prevalent for women. “​Recent global prevalence figures indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of
women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or
non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.” (World Health Organization). This statistic shows
that the sexual assault is in both the US and Scotland making it a shared experience. ​The
situations that these occurred in vary due to varying statistics occurring in the US for example.
Throughout ​Veronica Mars and ​Buffy the Vampire Slayer ​we see victims of sexual assaults and
cases with an emphasis on campus rape. This was included due to the large amount of campus
rapes which is currently seen as an epidemic but at the time and even now is ignored and remains
unprosecuted. This is contrary to Maureen’s story which involves her being sexually assaulted as
a young child. However the struggles are similar between all of the girls. As well as eventual
driving forces.
All of the girls have strained or no relationships with their parents. ​Veronica Mars and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer have no biological siblings and their parents are divorced. “​about 40 to
50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce” showing the fact that both sets of
parents divorcing is a norm within the US. The fact that they have no biological siblings also
shows a trend in the US of having either 1 or 2 children. This is contrary to Maureen who has 3
siblings. They either have no relationship with either parent due to conflict or death. Veronica
has a close relationship with her Father but no relationship with her Mother. Her Mother was an
alcoholic similar to both of Maureen’s parents. In some way, shape, or form each girl has at least
one strained relationship with their parents. Resulting in them not having a safe haven or person
to turn to and being responsible for helping others.
Their daily habits differ tremendously. Buffy and Veronica both go to school, work, and
go out to solve a case daily. Maureen however works and occasionally goes out to help others in
the first book. What they do in their daily life depends due to age differences between the girls
however in a day a major difference is that Maureen typically goes out to drink and smokes at
least five cigarettes. This is a difference because even when Veronica and Buffy are old enough
they don’t ever smoke and they rarely have a drink. Part of this can be attributed to American
culture frowning upon these actions as both series would attempt to point out. During the time of
Denise Mina’s writing of Maureen there had yet to be a comprehensive smoke free air law in
effect in Scotland resulting in the use in many public spaces and an overarching difference in
attitudes and portrayals of cigarettes.
All of the girls have commonalities and differences. Many can be attributed to the culture
and society that they were raised in. Overall you can see that they all have family issues and have
been impacted by sexual violence but in their daily life their habits are very different.
 Buffy Summers is a short girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was born in 1981 in
Los Angeles. She was born an only child. When she was fifteen her powers as the slayer began
to kick in. Before her slayer powers she was a popular girl she was a cheerleader and popular
girl. After the discovery of being the slayer she becomes increasingly detached from her peers
and begun to isolate herself and only would associate with other outcast types. The slayer is a
young female who is chosen and has mystical powers. Prior to Buffy there was only ever one
slayer alive at time. The mystical powers originated in originate from the essence of a
pure-​demon​, which gives her ​superhuman ​senses​, ​strength​, ​agility​, ​resilience and ​speed in the
fight against forces of darkness. She occasionally receives prophetic dreams. In order for the
mystical powers to occur the current Slayer must die. The slayer has the purpose of defending
the world from any and all of the supernatural threats in the world. In narration for season 1 and
2 they describe what the slayer is and “​In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will
stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.” To a
degree this holds true (it changes over time). This fact of life puts a tremendous amount of
pressure on her that she struggles with prior to coming to Sunnydale and especially after she is
brought back to life. Being the only one who can truly understand this hits her hard and results to
her still being a bit closed off towards those who care about her the most because she feels so
isolated. Buffy throughout the series has a strong and at times heavy reliance on people but it
only begins after she has established strong relationships that she knows that she can trust and
are willing to risk themselves. She has had trust issues occur due to a tough past relationship (this
occurs after her establishment of a strong core group but it leads to doubt and trust issues) and
her willingness to share the fact that she is the slayer with the parents which resulted in her being
forced to stay in an insane asylum. The asylum would result in a distrust and hidden aspect of her
life. After she gets expelled from her high school for fighting demons which resulted in burning
down the school and going to the insane asylum she moves to Sunnydale (still in California and
is the location of the Hellmouth). She moved with her mother seeing as her parents divorced
soon after her expulsion and it leads to her seeking a father figure. She has a strained relationship
with her parents and it lead to her being secretive not only with her parents but also with others.
She enjoys making jokes to cover for the turmoil that she is going through. She struggles
throughout the series to accept this as her life but she never stops fighting. “Buffy: Does it ever
get easy? ​Giles​: You mean life? ​Buffy​: Yeah, does it get easy? ​Giles​: What do you want me to
say? ​Buffy​: Lie to me. ​Giles​: Yes. It's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and
true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we
always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies and... everybody lives happily ever after.”
she struggles but always try to keep her spirits high and find comfort. It is a part of who she is
and how she copes with all of the challenges thrown at her. Due to her parents lack of
involvement she heavily relies on giles to guide her but eventually she is forced to figure things
out by herself.
 Veronica mars is short girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was born in August of
1987. She resides in a fictional town known as Neptune California an unincorporated town in
balboa county of Southern California which is a town described as having practically no middle
class. The wealthy are extremely wealthy they like to live in the prestigious 90909 zip code and
are referred to as the 09ers. The remaining citizens are extremely poor in comparison and it leads
to many conflicts within the city. The lower class citizens are often associated with the title of
PCH (named due to the Pacific Coast Highway) which isn't as concrete as the 09er tag line.
Some of the people who have belonged to the 09er group in the past were closer to middle class
but we're usually brought into the group based on a relationship whether platonic or romantic.
This is how Veronica was able to get into the group. Veronica was closer to the middle class
before her father was fired as sheriff. After her father is fired her mother leaves them they are
forced to move and later mention that they are closer to the lower class. An example of this is at
one point Keith Mars her dad says “Tonight we eat, like the lower middle class to which we
aspire.” showing that they don’t have money and they use it to intensify the idea of a class war
and how she is able to transition between each side but how she doesn’t truly fit in with either
side anymore. We first meet Veronica when she is a high school student and is in her junior year.
Through series of flashbacks we discover that before her junior year Veronica is a stereotypical
preppy blonde girl who is very popular until the murder of her best friend occurs. Her
appearance leads to many people underestimating her and leading suspicion away from her.
After the death of her best friend which change her personality drastically she also has a large
shift in her appearance. She no longer dresses in a “girly” manner and is rarely seen in anything
other than a tee shirt and a pair of jeans. Also after the murder she no longer has long hair it has
become short continuing the idea of drastic changes in her life. It is rare in the series to encounter
any other character with hair as short as Veronica’s and if any girl does have short hair she is not
a part of the 09er culture. Veronica's short hair is used to signify her existence as an outsider
who not only is out of place there but is also in direct opposition with the rich and popular side of
the world. Most of the people that were in her circle turn against her after the death of Lily Kane
(her best friend) leading to her being an outsider because she wasn’t allowed back into the 09er
group and still not being a part of the PCH group. She then becomes more sarcastic and rebels a
bit more. She is a rape victim but keeps that knowledge mainly to herself due to her being
roofied when this occurred and with her attempts at reporting it to the sheriff failing miserable. Is
there anyone in particular you’d like me to arrest or should I just round up the sons of the most
important families in town? I’ve got not a shred of evidence to work with here but that really
doesn’t matter to your family, now does it? Ummm...look at this. She cries. I’ll tell you what
Veronica Mars, why don’t you go see the wizard? Ask for a little backbone.” This interaction
leads her to being even more closed off with her rape and leads to a strong distrust between her
and the sheriff. It impacts cases at times and if she’ll take them or work with the police. She
realized that it was easier to not tell anyone. This also results in her having less trust in people as
a whole and becoming very self reliant until Wallace comes along to open her up more but she
still remains rather closed off.
 Sofia Cordova
Period 7

Maureen “Mauri” O’Donnell is a scottish woman who currently lives on her own in the
suburb of Garnet Hill. She did not finish college due to mental issues. She was in an insane
asylum and needed psychiatric help. She needed psychiatric help because she was raped by a
family member at a very young age. She had PTSD. “Most people with no experience of mental
illness don’t see it as part of a continuum, it’s them and us, the nutters and the whole people.”
This shows that her time at a mental institution ends up being a distinguishing factor in her
interactions with her family and the police. She realized that it shapes how other people view her
and interact with her. Also when she was in shock she went into a dark corner of a closet and
defecated there while laying in a ball. This pattern later recurs as a way to deal with extremely
traumatic events for her. She is less than enthralled with life and tries not to burden other people.
At a young age her father left her which results in some sort of issue with developing certain
bonds with men. Not only did her father leave her and her siblings her mother is also an
alcoholic leading to extreme disagreements and no close bond. She seems to feel as though her
mother doesn’t care for her and is oblivious to her feelings. Her not having a strong parental
figure leaves her without clear guidance at times. Her parents didn’t have a very healthy
relationship which leads to Maureen not having a good example of how a romantic relationship
works. This leads her to get involved with a shady and married man (unbeknownst to her). Many
people (regardless of knowledge of marriage) look down upon the relationship because it is seen
as though he preyed on her during her recovery process. She doesn’t experience a lot of
heartbreak from the loss of her romantic partner because she has no time to deal with the
information. Through the process of interrogation it is shown how Maureen is a very observant
person. “He took the pause-and-prompt technique too far, refusing to accept that it wouldn’t
work with Maureen.”she quickly learned and was able to realize tactics that they tried to employ
in her. Due to this knowledge and observation it was easy for her to ignore the police when she
recognized them.
 ● has a strained relationship with some of family
● Has a lot of secrets
● Is curious
● Has a sense of justice
● Will do what it takes to have justice
● Isn’t open with most people about who they truly are
● Stubborn
● Sarcastic
● They didn’t chose their life (in terms of fighting crime and such)

The protagonist is a very strong person. They never let people see them crack and if they do it’s
someone that they really trust (it usually is a sidekick). They don’t treat their sidekicks poorly
because they know that without them their lives wouldn’t be the same. Just because they don’t
treat their sidekicks poorly doesn’t mean that they won’t treat someone else poorly. They try to
avoid treating people poorly or harshly but if they’ve gotten to know them or they have severely
hurt them or someone else in the past then they will treat people poorly. They try to be nice to
people who are seeking their help or appear to have done nothing wrong. Most have a strained
relationship (at times) with their family. They are not widely accepted within society and other
groups. They would rather have a few close friends then a large group of friends. They stand up
for what they believe in despite the trouble that it may get them in. They rarely have successful
romantic relationships. Large events have shaped who they are as people and why they do
what they do.
 Sofia Cordova
Period 7

Leslie is a young woman between the ages of 20-30. She volunteers at a shelter for
battered women. This leads to her taking on a mothering role in most aspects of her life and a
very protective attitude over herself and other females. “Leslie looked dismal. “I’m so fucking
sorry, Maureen. I didn’t like him but I’m so sorry.” She is there for Maureen even when Maureen
doesn't want her to be. She feels that it's her responsibility to help other women especially
Maureen due to the fact that they are close friends. Since she has lived seeing and continuing to
see in daily life the abuse of rape and women she believes in punishment of those who harm
women. It has also lead her to a distrust in the justice system which she has seen fail many
women frequently. She is friends with Maureen. She is always there to help and ready to listen.
Even though it is very hard for Maureen to open up for the fear that she may be a burden on
Leslie who has to deal with the stress of everyday injustices against women and has to also deal
with the potential closing of the shelter. She rarely shows her fears to the world and puts up a
tough exterior which is evidenced through her use of a motorcycle and constant wear of leather.
She is also big into self-defense which leads to her carrying around (and advising Maureen to
carry around) a sharpened comb so that if she needed to she could stab an attacker. She still
questions Maureen’s decisions and thoughts when they may have long standing repercussions.
Throughout the book she is still trying to manage her own life and keep the shelter open. She is
able to help calm down people who are in trauma or under high stress that has occurred due to
unnatural or violent causes. She is able to handle her stress. She is observant and sympathetic
towards others. Her sympathy for Maureen leads her to trying to get Maureen's family to
understand what Maureen went through and lead to understanding. “Leslie made Maureen draw
up a list of facts corroborating the abuse and brought her books with firsthand accounts by other
survivors, telling how their families had reacted when they told. It seemed that physical damage,
DNA tests, even a criminal conviction, could be ignored if the family didn’t want to believe, and
Winnie did not want to believe.” She won't give up on helping Maureen and getting her family to
acknowledge her past. She knows that it will be hard but she has to be there for Maureen and
wants others to be there for her too. She does get afraid though because of what she has seen.
 Wallace Fennel is a black male that is also a junior at the beginning of Veronica Mars
series. He was raised by his adoptive father and his biological and eventually single mother. We
first meet the characters in the series after summer and at the beginning of junior year. Wallace is
new to town and is not of the 09er zip code but his mother begins working at Kane software (a
huge company which perfected streaming video and is responsible for the wealth of many in the
town and the family was Veronica’s best friend’s family as well as her boyfriends). Since he is
from the middle to lower class he has a job at a local convenience store. It is because of this job
he crosses the PCH biker gang as they attempt to steal from the store, he calls the sheriff and it
leads to the PCH biker gang calling him a snitch and getting revenge. They duct tape him to a
flagpole at school that all the kids see and none of the kids help him. However Veronica cuts him
down and then establishes their friendship. At first she was reluctant but he quickly became one
of her strongest and only similarly aged allies. He plays basketball and is rather good at it which
leads to a degree of popularity for him but he always sticks with Veronica. He sticks to this
statement which he said the first day that they met throughout the series “Well, I figure I’ve got a
choice. I can either go hang out with the punks who laughed at me, took pictures of me while I
was taped to that flagpole, or I can hang out with the chick who cut me down.” This choice leads
to their close friendship throughout the series and was designed to make two outsiders feel as
though they belonged. He aspires to be a Mechanical engineer. Throughout the series he helps
Veronica without question and he is the closest friend she has ever had. He helps her. ​After
befriending Veronica, he starts helping her in many cases. Because he is an office aide at
Neptune High, Veronica often asks for "favors" in order to see school records and gain
information on other students. He also gives her tardy slips and occasionally provides bits of key
knowledge which helped Veronica in her investigations. When not working as her liaison into
the school files, he is most often seen driving the getaway car (literally), providing distractions
so Veronica could sneak around unseen, or planting bugged items around Neptune. ​They feel
comfortable around each other and he is the only person she opens up to about her rape. “ No, I
don't care about me. I just wish I could do something. Or say something.” Wallace said this when
she opens up to him about her rape. This shows how he was a supportive friend who just wanted
to comfort his friend. This marked a point in their friendship where they were truly able to start a
line of communication with Veronica being less secretive and letting him in on all of her plans.
He is an all around nice guy.
 ● Most sidekicks have a close friendship with the protagonist
● They are some of the only confidants of the protagonists
● They tend to be one of the only close relationships of the protagonist or one of
the only ones past an acquaintance
● The sidekick tends to be more on the nerdy side but may also participate in
sports
● Depending on the order of who moved where the sidekick is either one of the
protagonist first friends or the sidekicks first friend
● They tend to be loyal but at times they must go off on their own
● While they might not always help it is frequent even if in small ways (they
become more involved as their friendship develops

Sidekicks are loyal to the protagonist regardless of the situation. They rarely, if
ever, truly leave the protagonist. In instances where this occurs it is because serious
issues arise within the sidekicks personality that they must deal with and explore. They
support the protagonist through thick and thin. They not only support them in their
personal life but also in their various missions They are constantly providing help in
order for the main event to be accomplished. Sidekicks stick to it even when the going
gets tough and always try to make sure that the protagonist doesn’t give up. They tend
to be some of the only people that the main characters can turn to. They fulfill many
roles for them. They also tend to be relatable.
 Sofia Cordova

Willow Rosenberg is a redheaded girl. She was born on August 1, 1981. Throughout her
high school years she had a real talent for computers and hacking a skill which she utilized for
many of the seasons. She was seen as the nerdy smart one and at times got bullied or made fun of
for it. “Even I was bored and I'm a science nerd.” She identified herself as a nerd and it was easy
for her to put herself in this box. Being a nerd or extremely passionate about a specific topic and
then having to find a lot of information about it is a part of Willow’s personality. She exhibits
this with her knowledge of computers which at the time of production was a rather new field and
skill. She also exhibited this personality trait when she quickly and passionately delved into the
world of witchcraft. She is native to Sunnydale, California and is childhood bestfriends with
Xander. For much of her high school career she had a crush on Xander but he never returned her
feelings (similar to his crush on Buffy). As she went on she became a witch which lead to a lazy
and addictive personality. When willow begins to heavily rely on magic it leads to her becoming
very deceitful. Throughout the series continues she continues to be friendly, smart, and a
caregiver. As she is in college she gets a girlfriend named Tara who is also a witch. Tara joins
the scoobies which is Buffy’s group of friends and sidekicks who help her When Tara dies it
leads Willow to betray her core characteristics and go to the dark side. Upon first glance this
seems like a sudden and logical turn due to a stressful and traumatic event but I would argue that
she experienced this sudden switch of her personality based on fear. A lot of her life she is scared
of things “I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, and their sticky webs, and what do they
need all those legs for anyway?”. She has always been fearful and part of her fear arises from
being defenseless and unable to handle something which most likely results in her having been
bullied in the past. Prior to Tara’s death she is fearful the Tara will leave her and she will be
alone. She is very resourceful. As she becomes friends with buffy she becomes more confident
and less shy. Willow becomes more powerful as time goes on and she learns more. Throughout
the series Willow is very bookish and likes to be knowledgeable on all fronts so she is good at
identifying who causes what problems or potential culprits of crimes. She was very much a
wallflower before meeting Buffy but was always very proud. Willow becomes one of the most
powerful witches ever and continued to help out the scoobies.