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==Analysis==
"Who Are You?" is a turning point in Faith's redemptive arc that sees her taking the initial steps towards redemption.<ref name=marysue/><ref name=stevenson>{{cite book|last=Stevenson|first=Gregory|year=2004|title=[[Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]|publisher=[[Hamilton Books]]|isbn=0-7618-2833-8|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/televisedmoralit0000stev/page/120/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|page=120{{ndash}}122|chapter=A Tale of Two Slayers: Identity, Sacrifice, and Salvation}}</ref> AccordingElyce toRae Helford, a women's studies researcher Elyce Rae Helford, says this arc focuses on Faith's anger as it "shifts from externalized rage with underlying self-doubt to vicious and unrelenting self-hatred".<ref name=helford>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fightingforceswh0000unse/page/30/mode/2up|title=Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer|year=2002|editor-first1=Rhonda V.|editor-last1=Wilcox|editor-first2=David|editor-last2=Lavery |isbn=0-7425-1681-4|author-first=Elyce Rae|author-last=Helford|chapter='My Emotions Give Me Power': The Containment of Girls' Anger in ''Buffy''|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|page=31{{ndash}}32|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> While Faith has long envied Buffy's more privileged life, she has always held Buffy's moral obligations in contempt,<ref name=stevenson/> believing instead that she is better off being evil than a "joyless", "stuck-up tight ass" like Buffy.<ref name=forster/> Philosophy professor Karl Schudt says Faith's cynical view of morality is revealed in the scene where she, in Buffy's body, mocks Buffy in front of a mirror by pulling faces and repeating meaningless value statements like: "becauseBecause it's wrong".<ref name=schudt/> While pretending to be Buffy over the course of the episode, Faith gets to experience the acceptance and admiration others have for Buffy, which Buffy herself earned through years of altruism. Commentator Greg Forster calls Faith's encounter with Riley is the breaking point that shatters her cynical world view; having probably never experienced tenderness from a sexual partner, Faith cannot deny Riley's genuine love for Buffy. Thus, he says, Faith is thus forced to confront the ugly truth: being morally good has led Buffy to a happier life, while being evil has left her miserable.<ref name=forster/> WithFaith makes her first step towards redemption when she decides to save the hostages at the expense of her own escape. In his book ''[[Televised Morality]]'', Gregory Stevenson says this epiphanyis the moment that Faith acknowledges the emptiness of her life and accepts the moral responsibility of being a Slayer.<ref name=stevenson/> Schudt argues that Faith has come to realize the "basic moral truth" that it is the moral duty of the strong, such as Slayers, to protect the weak, and ignoring this duty is what made her an outcast to society.<ref name=schudt>{{cite book|title=Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale|editor-last1=South|editor-first1=James B.|publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]]|year=2003|isbn=0-8126-9531-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/buffyvampireslay00sout/page/30/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|pages=30{{ndash}}32|author-first=Karl|author-last=Schudt|chapter=Also Sprach Faith: The Problem of the Happy Rogue Vampire Slayer}}</ref> In the end, Faith's self-loathing is made clear in the scene wherewhen she, in Buffy's body, batters her own face, inhabited by Buffy, yelling, "You're nothing! You're disgusting!".<ref name=stevenson/><ref name=forster>{{cite book|title=Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale|editor-last1=South|editor-first1=James B.|publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]]|year=2003|isbn=0-8126-9531-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/buffyvampireslay00sout/page/14/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|pages=15{{ndash}}17|author-first=Greg|author-last=Forster|chapter=Faith And Plato: You're Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!}}</ref><ref name=schudt/>
In their book discussing [[existentialism]] in Whedon's works, Michael J. Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb argue that the body-swap premise allowed Whedon to explore [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s notion of "[[Being_and_Nothingness#Part_3,_Chapter_1:_The_look|the Look of the Other]]",{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|pages=43{{ndash}}45}} whereby an individual's self-identity is predicated on how others perceive them.{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|page=40}} By inhabiting Buffy's body, Faith gains an external perspective of herself such that when faced with her own body at the end, "Faith is finally seeing herself as Buffy sees her and is even harder on herself than Buffy has ever been."{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|pages=43{{ndash}}45}} Greg Forster and Dean Kowalski both draw parallels to the [[thought experiment]] put forth in book two of [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', which asks if it is more desirable to live as a moral person who is mistaken for an immoral one (as with Buffy-as-Faith), or an immoral person who is mistaken for a moral one (Faith-as-Buffy). Both academics separately conclude the episode supports Plato's position that the moral person is always happier than the immoral one, as reflected by Faith's inner turmoil even as she gets to live Buffy's life.<ref name=forster/><ref name=kowalski>{{cite book|title=Joss Whedon as Philosopher|chapter=On Being Horrible (and an Angel)|publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|year=2017|first=Dean A.|last=Kowalski|isbn=978-0-7391-9666-3|pages=36{{ndash}}38}}</ref> In his book ''[[Televised Morality]]'', Gregory Stevenson writes that the longer Faith pretends to be Buffy, the more she identifies with her and her moral responsibilities, culminating in Faith's decision to save the hostages at the expense of her own escape.<ref name=stevenson/> According to Schudt, Faith has come to the realization that it is the moral duty of the strong, such as Slayers, to protect the weak, and ignoring this duty is what made her an outcast to society.<ref name=schudt>{{cite book|title=Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale|editor-last1=South|editor-first1=James B.|publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]]|year=2003|isbn=0-8126-9531-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/buffyvampireslay00sout/page/30/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|pages=30{{ndash}}32|author-first=Karl|author-last=Schudt|chapter=Also Sprach Faith: The Problem of the Happy Rogue Vampire Slayer}}</ref>
In her book discussing the representation of identity in media, Caroline Ruddell writes that a key element of the episode is the way in which Buffy and Faith use each other's bodies; this in turn "allows the viewer to see who Buffy really is (despite being in Faith's body) and this is central to the notion of autonomy and identity which are two of the show's recurring themes".<ref name=ruddell/> In Buffy's body, Faith spends significant time inspecting Buffy's appearance in a mirror, and also changes her hairstyle and dresses her in darker and more revealing clothes. Ruddell says this prominent focus on Buffy's appearance, as dictated by Faith, helps the audience appreciate how different the two Slayers are. Ruddell also analyzed the mirror scene from the perspective of the [[Lacanianism|Lacanian]] [[mirror stage]] and how it leads to self-alienation. Namely, Faith sees Buffy's reflection in the mirror as the ideal image that she aspires to be, and her inability to be Buffy causes her to lash out. The body swap thus creates a dissonance between Faith's mind and Buffy's body, which is emphasized in the mirror scene through the use of [[jump cut]]s, and later alluded to by Tara's description of "Buffy{{"'}}s aura as "fragmented".<ref name=ruddell>{{cite book|first=Caroline|last=Ruddell |title=The Besieged Ego: Doppelgangers and Split Identity Onscreen|year=2013|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|isbn= 978-0-7486-9203-3 |chapter=The Monster Within|pages=71{{ndash}}74}}</ref> In her chapter on Faith in ''Sexual Rhetoric in the Works of Joss Whedon'', Pnina Moldovano rejects the idea that the body swap is a manifestation of Faith's desire to be Buffy. Rather, she argues, Faith's identity as Buffy is a performative mockery of Buffy and her stereotypical white, middle-class life. Faith-as-Buffy's actions can then be explained as her attempts to ridicule Buffy's "good girl" image; from her antics in the mirror (which Moldovano compares to a clown's act) to donning black leather pants and red lipstick.<ref name=mol>{{cite book|title=Sexual Rhetoric in the Works of Joss Whedon: New Essays|editor-first=Erin B.|editor-last=Waggoner|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|first=Pnina |last=Moldovano|year=2010|chapter=Virtually a Femme Fatale: The Case of ''Buffy''{{'s}} Faith|pages=208{{ndash}}210|isbn=978-0-7864-5691-8}}</ref>
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