{"id":24984,"date":"2014-04-09T06:30:18","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=24984"},"modified":"2014-04-08T12:13:03","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T00:13:03","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-buffy-the-vampire-slayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2014\/04\/09\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-buffy-the-vampire-slayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/h3>\n

Back in August last year I wrote about Xena Warrior Princess<\/strong>, calling her one of the two most famous feminist icons of the nineties. The second icon is, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike Xena, who started out as a guest character on another show and was eventually deemed popular enough to warrant her own spin-off, Buffy had more premeditated origins. Created by writer\/director Joss Whedon, the character was born out of a deliberate subversion of that old horror-movie clich\u00e9: an attractive blonde wandering down an alley at night, only to be attacked by whatever monster was lurking in the shadows.<\/p>\n

Why, asked Whedon, did the helpless girl always have to be the victim? What if she had the ability to fight back?<\/p>\n

Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/strong> was first introduced in the 1992 movie starring Kirsty Swanson. As the name would suggest, it relied on campy comedy and horror in equal measure, revolving around the premise of a vapid Valley girl fighting off an army of vampires.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kirsty Swanson as the original Buffy. Bonus Luke Perry.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was not a huge success, but generated enough of a cult following that Whedon was given the opportunity to revisit the concept \u2013 this time on television. As a reboot of a less-than-successful movie, the show may not have had a particularly auspicious beginning, was soon to prove itself an extremely popular hit.<\/p>\n

Premise:<\/h3>\n

Buffy Summers (now played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) has just transferred from Los Angles to Sunnydale High School. Although it\u2019s never made clear to what extent the show is meant to be a continuation of the film, it soon becomes apparent that Buffy is already well-aware of her destiny as a Slayer. She\u2019s one of a line of young women who have been \u201cchosen\u201d to fight evil forces: demons, vampires, various apocalypses \u2013 you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Each Slayer is imbued with supernatural strength and heightened instincts \u2013 but there\u2019s a catch: there is only ever one Slayer in the world at a time, for it\u2019s only when one dies that another can be called. In the words of the opening narration: <\/em><\/p>\n

“Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone<\/strong> will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first season\u2019s core cast: Willow, Cordelia, Buffy, Giles and Xander<\/em><\/p>\n

I bolded the word \u201calone\u201d, for that\u2019s the key word in that passage, and the reason why Buffy is so unique. Right from the first episode the show establishes that friendly, bubbly Buffy is not only uninterested in fulfilling her destiny as the Slayer, but (after being pressed into it) determined not to go it alone. Just a few days after arriving in Sunnydale, Buffy acquires what is eventually known as \u201cthe Scooby Gang\u201d (named for the teenagers in the crime-solving cartoon): the shy and intelligent Willow and the dorky but loyal Xander, as well as school librarian Giles, whose true role is that of Buffy\u2019s Watcher \u2013 her appointed guardian who trains and monitors the Slayer\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

Story:<\/h3>\n

The show ran for seven seasons in total, featuring an extensive cast (across the show\u2019s entire run there were twelve different actors featured in the opening credits), not to mention dozens of recurring guest stars and hundreds of monsters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Season Five\u2019s significantly larger cast:<\/em>
\nL-R (rear): Giles, Tara, Spike, Riley; L-R (mid): Willow, Dawn, Anya; L-R (front): Buffy, Xander.<\/em><\/p>\n

One thing each season had in common was the presence of a \u201cBig Bad\u201d. That is, a particular adversary for Buffy to face, whose long-term plan (usually conquering and\/or destroying the world) was built up over the course of a season, interspersed with more standalone episodes.<\/p>\n

But for the first three seasons in particular, while Buffy and her cohorts still attended school, the show revolved around a particularly clever metaphor: \u201chigh school is hell.\u201d In this case, quite literally, as Sunnydale High is revealed to be built directly on top of a Hellmouth (a portal into Hell), explaining why so much demonic activity is centred on the town. As such, the storylines are filled with typical teenage anxieties that are given a supernatural twist: the bullies are possessed by evil spirits, the perpetually-ignored girl eventually turns invisible, a boy met in an on-line chat-room is a demon, and making sure everyone makes it safely to the Prom is just as important as preventing the end of the world.<\/p>\n

At times the metaphor cut a little too close to home,\u00a0 as seen in the infamous delaying of an episode on the heels of the Colombine High School shooting, one in which Buffy is granted temporary telepathy and overhears the thoughts of someone planning to massacre the entire student body.\u00a0 It\u2019s chilling, but also demonstrates just how deeply the show managed to tap into serious social issues.<\/p>\n

Characters:<\/h3>\n

But more than the ingenious premise, the real strength of the show lay with its vivid characters. The image of a petite blonde brandishing a wooden stake has become a permanent part of popular culture, but Sarah Michelle Geller\u2019s Buffy was backed up by co-stars whose characters more than pulled their own weight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Petite blonde brandishing a wooden stake…or crossbow!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Alyson Hannigan\u2019s Willow starts out as a painfully shy computer nerd and grows in power as she begins to explore her magical abilities, and Nicholas Brendon\u2019s Xander is a typical male teenager who struggles \u2013 and then accepts \u2013 his position as the only ordinary member of a group that includes slayers, witches, werewolves, ex-demons and other supernaturally gifted individuals. Other cast members came and went, but it was these three characters and their friendship that was always \u2013 deep down \u2013 the heart of the show.<\/p>\n

Across the seven seasons we also met Anthony Head as Giles, the only adult of the initial Scooby Gang, whose exasperation with the teenagers gradually grows into paternal affection, and David Boreanaz as Angel, the original ensouled vampire in a tragic human\/vampire love story. Emma Caulfield played Anya, an abrasive ex-demon whose blunt views on humanity provided a running gag that never grew old, and Seth Green was the monosyllabic band member and werewolf who helped Willow come out of her shell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>James Marsters as Spike, who seems to be well-aware of the controversy that surrounded him<\/em><\/p>\n

Then there was James Marsters as Spike, the bleached-blonde, leather-clad vampire whose enduring popularity almost (for better or worse) stole the entire show. Fan opinion was evenly divided between those who thought he was the best thing since sliced bread, and those who believed he took too much focus away from the other characters. I\u2019ll let you debate the point, though the discussion still seems to be going strong ten years after the show\u2019s conclusion. And on that note…<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/h3>\n

What can really be said about Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/strong> that hasn\u2019t been said a thousand times before? It was (and is) a television landmark, inspiring and enabling such shows as Charmed<\/strong>, Joan of Arcadia<\/strong>, Dead Like Me<\/strong>, and even the rebooted Doctor Who<\/strong>. Melding campy fun with genuine pathos, philosophical discourse, themes of acceptance and loneliness, as well as witty dialogue that spawned a million pop culture references, Buffy struck a winning formula that still resonates today: girl power meets horror clich\u00e9s that are subverted to hell and back (sorry, I had to say it).
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time: Angel<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

Well, while we\u2019re on the subject of Buffy we may as well explore its very own spin-off Angel. Departing Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the end of season three, Angel moves to Los Angeles and starts up a detective agency. A lot darker and moodier than Buffy, the spin-off revolved around its tag-line: <\/em>\u201cIf it takes an eternity, he will make amends\u201d, styling the show as Angel\u2019s personal crusade for redemption.
\n.<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rebecca Fisher<\/p><\/div>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her LiveJournal<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:<\/p>\n

Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Fisher Introduction: Back in August last year I wrote about Xena Warrior Princess, calling her one of the two most famous feminist icons of the nineties. The second icon is, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unlike Xena, who started out as a guest character on another show and was eventually deemed popular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-worlds-on-small-screens-with-rebecca-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24984"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25018,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24984\/revisions\/25018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}