Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer

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BuffytheVampireSlayer(USA:TheWB,1997

2001;UPN2001)

Product ion Deta i l s :

Wr i ters : Joss Whedon, Mart i Noxon, Jane Espenson,

Dav id Greenwal t , Dav id Fury , Doug las Petr ie

D i rec tors : Whedon, James A . Contner , Michae l E .

Gershman, Dav id So lomon, Dav id Grossman

Producers : Whedon, Fran Rubel Kuzu i , Ga i l Berman

Cast :

Buf fy AnneSummers (Sarah Miche l le Ge l la r )

Wi l lowRosenberg (Alyson Hannigan)

A lexander 'Xander ' Harr i s (Nicholas Brendon)

Rupert G i les (Anthony Stewart Head)

Anya/Anyanka (EmmaCaul f ie ld )

DawnSummers (Michel le Trachtenberg)

Sp ike/Wi l l i amthe B loody (James Marsters )

Ange l /Ange lus (Dav id Boreanaz )

Fa i th (E l i za Dushku)

Corde l ia Chase (Char i sma Carpenter )

Dan ie l 'Oz ' Osbourne (Seth Green)

R i ley F inn (Marc B lucas)

Tara Mac lay (Amber Benson)

Goodmov ies have somet imes beenmade into goodte lev i s ion shows; Robert

A l tmans M*A*S*H (1972) , for example , was t ransformed into a longrunning ,

popular TV comedy (19721983) , the f ina l ep i sode of which garnered the h ighest

ra t ings in Amer i can te lev i s ion h i s tory . Buffy theVampireSlayer may be the on ly

example of a bad mov ie that becamea super ior te lev i s ion ser ies . Now in i t s seventh

season (20022003) , Buffy , a hybr id i za t ion of teen drama, humor, and horror ( i t s

c reator Joss Whedondescr ibed i t in a BBC interv iewas a c ross betweenMySoCal led


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The Col lected Works of David Lavery 2

Li fe and TheXF i les ) , premiered in midseason on the WBnet let in 1997 and

became, desp i te ra t ings that would have led to cance l l a t ion on the major networks ,

one of The Frog s s i gnature shows. ThoughBuffys Nie l sens genera l l y ranked i t in

the bottomth i rd of pr imet imeprograms, i t a t t rac ted a l a rge enoughshare of the

h igh ly sought youth demographic to make i t luc rat i ve . About to go into synd icat ion

a f ter one hundred ep i sodes and embroi led in d i f f i cu l t contrac t negot ia t ions , Buffy

moved in Fa l l 2002 to r i va l UPN, a net let , better known for profess iona l wrest l ing

than qua l i ty te lev i s ion . In Fa l l 1999 , Buffy hadspunof f Angel , i t se l f an exce l lent

ser ies , that remains on the WB. A secondsp inof f , Ripper, starr ing Anthony Stewart

Head, was c reated for Br i t i sh te lev i s ion , and an Amer i can TV cartoonvers ion of Buffy

i s l i kewise in deve lopment .

Buffy te l l s the s tory of Buf fy Summers , a southern Ca l i forn ia post femin i st g i r l

( Johnson) , a G idget for the f in de s iec le (S iemann) l i v ing in Sunnyda le , a townbu i l t

over a center of demonic energya"Hel lmouth." ( In the shows Lovecra f t ian

mythology demons were the or ig ina l inhab i tants of the earth , and vampi res a re

demon/humanhybr ids . ) As the ser ies beg ins , Buf fy has a l ready d i scovered ( in the

mov ie) her chosen ro le as the "one g i r l i n a l l the wor ld w i th the st rength and sk i l l to

f i ght the vampi res ." Hav ing moved f romLos Ange les to Sunnyda le to escape her past ,

she would prefer to be a normal teenager , but her newhometown, p laguedby

vampi res , demons, and other ev i l s , w i l l not permi t her to i gnore her ca l l ing . Wi th the

ongoing he lp of her Scooby Gang f r iends , Buf fy cont inues to batt le not on ly the

forces of darkness but her own inner demons. Beg inn ing wi th Season Four , Buf fy and

the Scoobies head of f to co l lege (a t the Univers i ty of Ca l i forn ia , Sunnyda le) but w i th

no let up in the enemies they must confront . Wi th great w i t , emot iona l rea l i sm,

apoca lypt i c exc i tement , and the best spec ia l e f fec ts a sma l l te lev i s ion ser ies budget

can buy , Buffy theVampireSlayer stands as the perfec t example of what Sarah

Vowel l ca l l s a long hau l ser ies , capable of perpetua l se l f renewal . Exh ib i t ing some

of the best wr i t ing on te lev i s ion , i t has a lmost never sett led for s imple so lut ions ,

easy mot ivat ion , or superf i c ia l charac ters .

Fromthe beg inn ing Buffy s ensemble cast has beenone of i t s g reatest

s t rengths . A l l ma jor and someminor characters have acqui red devoted fans in the

Uni ted Sta tes and abroad, insp i r ing ador ing webs i tes and generat ing pro l i f i c fan

f i c t ion . So a t tent i ve has Buffy beento i t s fans that devot ion to the bad guy Sp ike , a

oncev i c ious , b leachb londe, punk vampi re , resu l ted in h i s e levat ion to ma jor

character s ta tus . Neutered by a computerch ip in h i s bra in in Season Four ( I 'm


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say ing that Sp ike had a l i t t le t r ip to the vet and nowhe doesn ' t chase the other

puppies anymore) , Sp ike has beenpa instak ing ly morphed into a hero , unt i l , a t the

end of Season S i x , he too, l i ke Ange l , has reacqui red h i s sou l .

Buffy has generated a mul t i tude of anc i l l a ry texts . Of f i c ia l t i e in books l i ke

the twoWatchers Guides, TheMonster Book, scores of nove l s , comic books , and

sc r ipts of the f i r s t twoseasons a re ava i l ab le , and the ser ies has garnered a great

dea l o f c r i t i ca l a t tent ion as wel l . At th i s wr i t ing , twobook length co l lec t ions of

essays have beenpubl i shed (Wi l cox and Lavery ; Kaveney) , a t l east three more are on

the way , and Buffy , l i ke Xenabefore i t , has insp i red an internet scholar l y journa l :

Slayage: TheOnl ine Internat ional Journal of Buffy Studies (ht tp ://www.s layage. tv ) . In

October of 2002 , B lood, Text , and Fears : Read ing AroundBuffy theVampireSlayer

was he ld a t the Univers i ty of East Ang l ia in the UK . A North Amer i can scholar l y

conference i s p lanned.

Scholars and c r i t i c s have foundBuffy a complex te lev i s ion text , r i ch in

cu l tura l s i gn i f i cance , invest igat ing i t s w i t ty and pun f i l l ed use of l anguage (Any

S layer can brandi sh a weapon, Overbey and PrestonMatto observe , but for Buf fy

the Vampi re S layer , the tongue i s as po inted as the stake) , i t s metaphor i c dep ic t ion

of the horrors of h igh school , i t s subvers ion of the t rad i t iona l fami ly and c reat ion of

subst i tute fami ly un i ts , i t s se l f consc ious and p lay fu l invers ion of the convent ions of

the horror genre ( Johnson) , i t s h igh ly postmodern intertextua l i ty and se l f

re ferent ia l i ty , i t s h igh popcu l ture IQ , i t s energet i c fan base , i t s re l i g ious themes

( see Er i ckson, P layden) , i t s dep ic t ion of l esb ian i sm, otherness , and minor i t ies , i t s

s ta tus as a femin i st text .

Thoughser ies c reator Joss Whedonhas of ten ins i s ted he set out to make a

femin i st te lev i s ion ser ies , Buffy i s somet imes descr ibed as post femin i st , and some

on the po l i t i ca l l e f t have quest ioned the shows femin i st c redent ia l s , d i s turbed by

the somet imes sexua l l y provocat i ve appearance of Sarah Miche l le Ge l la r , espec ia l l y

in her many extra d ieget i c appearances as a model ( see Dougherty , He l ford , Pender ,

V int ) . Others have been t roubled by i t s fa i lure to inc lude s ign i f i cant minor i ty

characters ( see Edwards) . To the ever recurr ing c r i t i ca l quest ion i s Buffy the

VampireSlayer a groundbreak ing , empower ing and t ransgress i ve text , or i s i t s

po l i t i ca l potent ia l compromised, commodi ty dr i ven and conta ined? Pender of fers

the fo l lowing tentat i ve response: Buffy i s a te lev i s ion ser ies that de l i ghts in

de l iberate ly and se l f consc ious ly ba f f l ing the b inary ; the juxtapos i t ion of mundane

rea l i ty and surrea l fantasy in the l i ves of the S layer and her f r iends evokes a wor ld in


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which the sentent ious mora l i ty of b lack and whi te d i s t inc t ions i s i t se l f demonized as

an unnatura l threat f roman anc ient past (35) .

I t s ac tors cons i s tent l y snubbedby the prest ig ious Amer i can EmmyAwards

( ind iv idua l ep i sodes [Hush, The Body] were nominated but fa i l ed to w in) , Buffy

did rece ive the 2000 Founders Award f romV iewers for Qua l i ty Te lev i s ion . Indeed,

Wi l cox and Lavery a rgue that Buffy can lay c la imto a l l the def in ing character i s t i c s of

qua l i ty te lev i s ion as ca ta loguedby Thompson: a qua l i ty ped igree , a l a rge ensemble

cast , a ser ies memory , c reat ion of a newgenre throughrecombinat ion of o lder ones ,

se l f consc iousness , pronounced tendenc ies toward the controvers ia l and the rea l i s t i c

( see Introduct ion) . In 2002 , however , the conservat i ve Parents Te lev i s ion Counc i l

would rank the ser ies as the s ing le worst ser ies ( i .e . , conta in ing the most

ob jec t ionable content) on te lev i s ion . Unt i l such dubious recogni t ion , the ser ies ,

desp i te i t s sexua l exp l i c i tness , de l i c ious double entendres , occu l t themes, and

extens ive v io lence , had for the most part f lownbeneath the radar of the po l i t i ca l

r i ght , though i t d id not ent i re ly escape controversy . In the wake of the Co lumbine

massacre in Apr i l o f 1999 , twoSeasonThree ep i sodes (Earshot , in which Buf fy

seeks to s top a k i l l i ng spree a t Sunnyda le H igh School , and Graduat ion Day , Part I I ,

in which a g igant i c serpent s a t tempt to consumethe graduates a t commencement i s

fo i led by Buf fy and her c lassmates work ing as a team, though they must destroy the

school in order to save i t ) were postponed. (See Tay lor . )

Hav ing learned lessons about the l i ab i l i t i es of mul t ip le season story a rcs f rom

the forever incomplete TwinPeaks andthe ever f rustra t ing TheXF i les , Buffy has

sought c losure in each year s narra t i ve l ine . In the f i r s t f i ve seasons Buf fy and the

Scoobies batt led , in add i t ion to a var iety of ind iv idua l menaces in s tanda lone

monster of the week narrat i ves , a s ing le mul t ip le ep i sode b ig bad nemesi s ,

defeat ing i t in a nonc l i f f hang ing season f ina le . In Season One, i t i s the resurrec t ion

of The Master , an anc ient powerfu l vampi re , and the opening of the He l lmouth that

must be stopped. (Buf fy d ies in the process , not the on ly t ime in the ser ies run ,

brought back to l i fe thanks to Xander s mouthtomouth resusc i ta t ion . ) In Season

Two, Buf fy must save the wor ld f romthe ev i l Ange lus (Ange l w i thout a sou l ) and send

h imto he l l i n the process . In Season Three, the Scoobies batt le Sunnyda le s century

o ld mayor , R i chard Wi lk ins , whoasp i res to becomean immorta l demonunt i l

destroyed, a long wi th Sunnyda le H igh , in the f ina l ep i sode. Season Four s B ig Bad i s

Adam, a Frankenste in i sh "k inemat i ca l l y redundant , b iomechanica l demonoid ,

c reated by The In i t i a t i ve , UC Sunnyda le s topsecret agency of mi l i ta ry demon


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f i ghters , who i s vanqui shed on ly a f ter G i les , Wi l low, and Xander cometogether to

summonthe inher i ted power of The F i rs t S layer . G lory , Buf fy s nemesi s in Season

F ive , i s no less than an ev i l god f romanother d imens ion, cometo Sunnyda le to c la im

a supernatura l key , now incarnated in the formof DawnSummersas i s ter ne i ther

Buf fy (nor the shows fans) ever knewshe had, that w i l l enab le her to open the door

betweend imens ions and return her to power . To save the wor ld and her s i s ter and to

s top G lory s p lans , Buf fy must aga in d ie in the f ina le . ThoughSeason F ive ends w i th a

c lose up of her headstone

BUFFY ANNESUMMERS

19812001

BELOVEDS ISTER

DEVOTEDFRIEND

SHESAVEDTHEWORLD

A LOT

she wi l l be resurrec ted by Wi l lows w i tchcra f t in subsequent ep i sodes . Only Season

S i x , the darkest season so fa r , departs f romthe customary narrat i ve pattern : instead

of one enemy, Buf fy has severa l , inc lud ing her own inab i l i ty to read just to l i fe a f ter

hav ing beenca l led back f romthe grave , three loca l geeks whoasp i re to becomeher

nemeseses , and Wi l lowherse l f , whose ev i l wrath i s un leashedby Tara s death .

Whedon, a th i rd generat ion te lev i s ion wr i ter , authored the sc reenplay for the

or ig ina l 1992 campf i lm, a c r i t i ca l and commerc ia l fa i lure , went on to wr i te for other

te lev i s ion programssuch as Roseanne, andhad subsequent ly ga ined a reputat ion as a

sc r ipt doctorhehe lped rewr i te such f i lms as Speed (1994) and ToyStory (1995) .

Buffys success as a cu l t h i t e levated of Joss to rockstar s ta tus among fans of the

show. Though long tempted by a career move to the mov ies , Whedonhas

demonstrated a t rue gen ius for the mediumof te lev i s ion (Lavery 25156) .

Many of the t ru ly memorable and innovat i ve ind iv idua l ep i sodes of Buffy

Whedonboth wrote and d i rec ted: Hush, in which The Gent leman, fa i ry ta le

monsters , s tea l the vo i ces of the res idents of Sunnyda le and fu l l y ha l f the show

transp i res w i thout a word of d ia logue; Rest less , compr i sed of four aston i sh ing

dreamsequences in which the sp i r i t o f the F i rs t S layer t r ies to k i l l the Scoobies a f ter

they have defeated Adam; The Body , minute ly deta i l ing the emot iona l a f termath of

the suddendeath of Buf fy s mother ; Once More wi th Fee l ing , a long ant i c ipated


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musica l ep i sode in which a v i s i t ing demoncauses the Scoobies and a l l o f Sunnyda le

to behave as i f t rappedon Broadway .

In an interv iewwi th TheOnion, Joss Whedonadmi ts that

I des ignedBuffy to be an i con, to be an emot iona l exper ience , to be loved in a

way that other showscan ' t be loved. Because i t ' s about adolescence, which i s

the most important th ing people go through in the i r deve lopment , becoming

an adu l t . And i t mytholog i zes i t in such a way , such a romant i c wayit

bas i ca l l y says , Everybody whomade i t throughadolescence i s a hero. And I

th ink that ' s very persona l , that people get someth ing f romthat that ' s very

rea l . And I don ' t th ink I cou ld be more pompous. But I meanevery word of i t .

I wanted her to be a cu l tura l phenomenon. I wanted there to be do l l s , Barb ie

w i th kung fu gr ip . I wanted people to embrace i t in a way that ex i s ts beyond,

'Oh, that was a wonderfu l showabout l awyers , l e t ' s have d inner . ' I wanted

people to interna l i ze i t , and make up fantas ies where they were in the story ,

to take i t homewi th them, for i t to ex i s t beyondthe TV show. Andwe've done

exact l y that .

I t i s d i f f i cu l t to imag ine howanyonewhohas fo l lowedBuffy theVampireSlayer as

both a te lev i s ion showanda cu l tura l phenomenoncou ld d i sagree. In the Season

Three ep i sode The Wish , Corde l ia s fantasy that Buf fy Sommers had never cometo

Sunnyda le i s g ranted by the vengeance demonAnyanka , w i th d i sastrous resu l ts :

Sunnyda le i s overrun by the c reatures of the He l lmouth; vampi res ru le the n ight . I f i n

somea l ternate un iverse Buffy theVampireSlayer hadnever cometo te lev i s ion , the

l andscape of the mediumwould a l so have beena l tered. The imag inat i ve l i ves of i t s

fans might seemas b loodless as a vampi re s v i c t im.

QuestionstoConsider:

Buffy i s somet imes descr ibed as post femin i st , that i s to say that i t s imply presumeswomens equa l i ty and never a rgues for i t . What do you th ink of Buffy as

a femin i st text?

What ro le does l anguage p lay in Buffy ? Cr i t i c s l i ke Larbe lest ier and Zweer ink and Gatson have shownhowBuffy has

respondedto i t s fan base . In what ways does Buffy exh ib i t an awareness of i t s


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audience? Can you p inpoint spec i f i c scenes that demonstrate i t s se l f

consc iousness as a te lev i s ion text?

Buffy i s a ser ies h igh ly dependent uponcu l tura l and popcu l tura l re ferences in estab l i sh ing i t s humor and i t s meanings . Can you g ive someexamples?

In what sense can the Scooby Gang be seen as a subst i tute fami ly? Somec r i t i c s have beenperp lexed by Buffys mixture of dramaandhumor. Do they

work wel l together? Howdo the c reators of the ser ies succeed (or fa i l ) a t mix ing

such d iverse e lements?

Johnsonspeaks of Buffy s se l f consc ious and p lay fu l invers ion of the convent ions of the horror genre . (42) . Buffy demonstrates a l leg iances w i th other formulae as

wel l . What other genres put in an appearance?

RecommendedReadings

Kaveney , Roz , ed . (2002) . ReadingtheVampireSlayer: AnUnoff ic ia l Cr i t ical

Companionto Buffy andAngel , London: Taur i s .

Wi l cox , Rhonda V . (1999) . There Wi l l Never Be a Very Spec ia l Buffy : Buffy and

the Monsters of Teen L i fe . Journal of Popular F i lmandTelevis ion 27 .2 : 16 23 .

Republ i shed in Slayage: TheOnl ine Internat ional Journal of Buffy Studies . Number

2 (March 2001) : ht tp ://www.s layage. tv/essays/s layage2/wi l cox .htm

___ and Dav id Lavery , eds . (2002) . Fight ingtheForces: Whats at Stake in Buffy the

VampireSlayer. Lanham, MD: RowmanandL i t t le f ie ld .

FullListofReferences

Dougherty , AnneMi l l a rd . Just a G i r l : Buf fy as I con. Kaveney : 14866 .

Edwards , Lynne. S lay ing in B lack and Whi te : Kendra as Trag i c Mulatto in Buffy the

VampireSlayer . Fight ingtheForces: 8597 .

Er i ckson, Gregory . Somet imes You Needa Story Amer i can Chr i s t i an i ty , Vampi res ,

and Buf fy . Fight ingtheForces : 10819 .

He l ford , E l yce . My Emot ions G ive MePower : The Conta inment of G i r l s Anger in

Buffy . Fight ingtheForces : 18 34 .

Interv iewwi th Joss Whedon. BBC Onl ine .

ht tp ://www.bbc .co .uk/buf fy/rea l l i fe/ joss interv iew.shtml

Johnson, Cather ine . (2001) . Buffy theVampireSlayer . TheTelevis ionGenreBook.

Ed. G len Creeber . London: BF I . 42 .


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Joss Whedon. OnionAVC lub 5 September 2001 .

ht tp ://www.theonionavc lub.com/avc lub3731/avfeature_3731 .html

Larba lest ier , Just ine . Buf fy s Mary Sue i s Jonathan: Buf fy the Vampi re S layer

Acknowledges the Fans . Fight ingtheForces : 22738 .

Lavery , Dav id . The Genius of Joss Whedon. Fight ingtheForces : 25156 .

Overbey , Karen E i leen and Lahney PrestonMatto . Stak ing in Tongues: Speec Act as

Weapon in Buffy . Fight ingtheForces: 7384 .

Pender , Patr i c ia . I mBuf fy and You re H i story : The Postmodern Po l i t i c s of Buffy .

Fight ingtheForces : 35 44 .

P layden, Zoe Jane. What you are , what s to come : Femin i sms, C i t i zensh ip and the

d iv ine . ReadingtheVampireSlayer : 12047 .

S iemann, Cather ine . Darkness Fa l l s on the End less Summer: Buf fy as G idget for the

F in de S iec le . Fight ingtheForces : 12029 .

Tay lor , Char les . The WBs B ig Daddy Condescens ion. Salon.com.

http ://www.sa lon.com/ent/ log/1999/05/26/buf fy_rant/ index.html .

Thompson, Robert J . (1996) . Televis ions SecondGoldenAge: From Hi l l S t reet B lues to

ER. NewYork : Cont inuum.

V int , Shery l . " K i l l i ng us Sof t l y ? A Femin i st Search for the Rea l Buf fy . Slayage

Number 6 . ht tp ://www.s layage. tv/essays/s layage5/v int .htm

Vowel l , Sarah. P lease S i r May I Have a Mother? Sa lon.com.

http ://www.sa lon.com/ent/co l /vowe/2000/02/02/vowel l_wb/ index.html

Wi l cox , Rhonda V . and Dav id Lavery . Introduct ion . Fight ingtheForces : xv i i xx i x .

Zweer ink , Amanda and Sarah H. Gatson. www.buf fy .com: C l iques , Boundar ies , and

Hierarch ies in an Internet Communi ty : 239249 .


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