In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, family takes the place of religion in the series. All symbols and items with common religious significance are either evil and against them or casual and irreverently used. In BtVS, the Scooby gang serves as the family image because they have more of a familial bond than any of the actual blood relatives of the gang as we saw in “Restless,” “Amends,” and “Gingerbread.”
Family and religion both take on different and, at times, unexpected roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the common roles have not been erased, merely shifted. As Reid B. Locklin wrote in his article “Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Domestic Church: Re-Visioning Family and the Common Good,” “the writers and producers of the show have also used [the show] as a venue to develop an alternative vision of the North American family, a vision that clearly refuses to sever family from the common good.” This idea of family as partly responsible for and connected to the common good is a very religious teaching, at least as far as my own faith, Catholicism, is concerned.
The show Buffy the Vampire Slayer “maps the notion of family onto a mythic struggle between good and evil and thereby upholds traditional family values even as it opens them to a broader sphere of concern. To be family, our analysis suggests, is to be in a saving relation to the world--a relation realized both in the internal life of the family itself and in its concrete engagement against the forces of darkness. If this interpretation is correct, then we can see in the show a definite parallel to the Catholic theology of the domestic church.” The article goes on to say, “family is the smallest community or manifestation of church.”
In the world of the show, this is even more true as all those things that would have traditionally been associated with the church have taken on either a darker or a superficial role. Crosses and holy water, both sacred symbols of Christianity, are merely tools to keep vampires at bay when you don’t have a better weapon. We have seen several characters that seemed to take on priestly roles, but they were all either villains or dead. Churches and cemeteries, normally considered to be holy ground and therefore places of sanctuary, are turned into battle locations and hunting parks.
Now, as we see in “Checkpoint,” even the very gods have turned against the Scooby family when we discover that Glory, one of the strongest villains Buffy has come against, is actually a god, and she wants to break up the family by taking Dawn. Glory is oddly reminiscent of the Greek gods and goddesses in her self-involved disregard for humanity. This seems to lower her status a little, at least in my own eyes. (I never could understand why a people would worship such arrogance and violation.) Still, Glory is a traditionally religious figure turned evil through the television series, and she is here to lay damage to the only still sacred ideal, the family. Family has become the only religion the Scooby gang can rely on and trust.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Are You Ready to Know?
In my last blog I talked a little about how Buffy now finally has the ability to become a crone; she has a guide in the first slayer and in Giles’ willingness to begin the search for information, not as a watcher but as a friend. In season five that search is starting to begin; in fact, the search is almost forced on Buffy when, not once but twice, she is nearly destroyed, the second time by an ordinary vamp.
The question now remains, is she ready to know? Is Buffy ready to find out who and what she really is? Spike claims that the slayers death is her curiosity, her need to know. He thinks it is the need to know what it is like to die after having been surrounded by that death for so long. I disagree.
From what little Spike revealed about the other slayers and himself and from what we know about Buffy, I don’t think it is a need to know about death that drives their curiosity. I think it is a need to know about themselves and the line of slayers the follows before them. Those slayers are dead; the only way to discover fully what it means to be a slayer is to die yourself. There is no other way to achieve full knowledge of who and what you are, and eventually you’re going to want to know more than your watcher can provide you with, so they turn to the final source, death, the completion of their calling.
Spike thinks Buffy will be the same; it will only take her longer because she has attachments to friends and family. He doesn’t know, though, that Buffy has another option. She has access to the first slayer; she has Giles with a watcher’s knowledge and a civilian’s freedom. Dracula almost pulled Buffy in, but at the taste of his blood, she recalled these sources of information, and she was able to break his trance. Buffy doesn’t need death to answer her questions. This slayer just might have a chance to pass into the phase of crone while still in this life, and she is going to find the knowledge to gain her wisdom.
The question now remains, is she ready to know? Is Buffy ready to find out who and what she really is? Spike claims that the slayers death is her curiosity, her need to know. He thinks it is the need to know what it is like to die after having been surrounded by that death for so long. I disagree.
From what little Spike revealed about the other slayers and himself and from what we know about Buffy, I don’t think it is a need to know about death that drives their curiosity. I think it is a need to know about themselves and the line of slayers the follows before them. Those slayers are dead; the only way to discover fully what it means to be a slayer is to die yourself. There is no other way to achieve full knowledge of who and what you are, and eventually you’re going to want to know more than your watcher can provide you with, so they turn to the final source, death, the completion of their calling.
Spike thinks Buffy will be the same; it will only take her longer because she has attachments to friends and family. He doesn’t know, though, that Buffy has another option. She has access to the first slayer; she has Giles with a watcher’s knowledge and a civilian’s freedom. Dracula almost pulled Buffy in, but at the taste of his blood, she recalled these sources of information, and she was able to break his trance. Buffy doesn’t need death to answer her questions. This slayer just might have a chance to pass into the phase of crone while still in this life, and she is going to find the knowledge to gain her wisdom.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Mommy Can Hear You...
We have reached the season four finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at last. This season, though not entirely connected and comprehensible, has lead to some important episodes and revelations. “Restless” is an attempt to sum up the characters and all the changes they have gone through up until this point; it is also a step into the next stage of the female journey for Buffy Summers, Sunnydale Slayer.
The episode opens with the focus on Willow. Her character changes are probably the most obvious and probably provided a hot topic among audiences despite some mild foreshadowing. Giles comments about how they are all hiding from and lying to the audience. We begin to understand that the dream is the interpretation of her insecurities about her changes both in her personality (less of a wallflower) and in her sexuality. Dream Tara tells her, “Everyone’s starting to wonder about you, the real you. If they find out, they’ll punish you.” Later Buffy asks her, “Why are you still in costume?” Suddenly, we see an image of the old Willow, the shy, too smart, unfashionably insecure high-school peer tutor/substitute. We leave her dream to enter reality in which Buffy calls her a “big faker” when Xander asks about her restless sleep.
Xander’s dream is next. We see him in the basement multiple times. Twice in this setting, he states to the rattling door, “That’s not the way out.” Anya asked him, “Do you know where you’re going?” Xander’s issues are with his family and his dead-end jobs. He hasn’t found a calling yet nor a place to belong. He has problems in his love life, too. Xander is pretty much unfulfilled and unsatisfied in all areas of his life. (Not that we needed a dream to tell us that.)
Giles is next with Olivia and Dream Buffy to whom he keeps saying, “I know you.” Yet the Buffy we see is sillier and childlike, not very much like the Buffy we know. At one point in his dream, Willow turns to him and accuses, “Do you know this is all your fault?” Giles is insecure about completing his duty and protecting Buffy; he is becoming more attached to her beyond the role of watcher. We have seen Giles portrayed in the role of father from Buffy’s perspective, but now we get to see this fatherly stance from Giles own eyes, yet he feels unwanted, unneeded. His slayer has grown up, and he doesn’t want her to.
Buffy’s dream is the culmination of the episode, revealing what monster is that is after them. Buffy’s fear is the loss of her friends; they are, or at least seem to be, her greatest strength. The slayer also fears what she may become. She may be super-human, but as she insists, “we are not demons.” The use of the plural is interesting; who is she talking about? We can assume she means the Scooby gang, but it is clear that they are human. Only the slayer’s origins are uncertain.
This brings us to the sandbox, the empty loneliness, the primitive violence of nature. In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about how Buffy could never pass into the crone stage because she has no one to guide her. Her mother is hardly capable of leading her, Maggie Walsh was corrupt and betrayed her trust; all the previous slayers had to die in order for Buffy to begin her journey. This was true. Now, however, the scoobies have called on the power of the first slayer. They awoke her, and she is ready to instruct.
There’s just one problem; Buffy doesn’t like the lesson. The slayer finally finds her own voices and speaks to her saying, “No friends. Just to kill. We are alone.” Buffy insists, “It’s over. We don’t do this anymore.” She believes the line of slayers have passed into a new level of understanding that is not just brute force but comprehension and now friendship. She tells the first slayer, “You’re not the source.” For Buffy, the source is her support system of friends.
One final separate note on the riddle of the random cheese man The psychoanalytical answer: she is the cheese, Buffy that is. His comment to Willow is “there’s enough room for the cheese.” Willow and Buffy have grown a little apart since Tara, and Willow is insecure about that distance. To Xander he says, “The cheese can’t protect you.” Buffy often rescues Xander from demons, but she can’t do anything about the direction of his life. Cheese man tells Giles, “I wear the cheese; the cheese does not wear me.” The comment plays on Giles loss of his role as watcher. He no longer has the ability to give the slayer order; Buffy is in charge now. So because I can’t leave a riddle without finding an answer (logical or otherwise), the cheese is Buffy, and the man’s presence shows her role in the loves of those around her and how she has affected them.
The episode opens with the focus on Willow. Her character changes are probably the most obvious and probably provided a hot topic among audiences despite some mild foreshadowing. Giles comments about how they are all hiding from and lying to the audience. We begin to understand that the dream is the interpretation of her insecurities about her changes both in her personality (less of a wallflower) and in her sexuality. Dream Tara tells her, “Everyone’s starting to wonder about you, the real you. If they find out, they’ll punish you.” Later Buffy asks her, “Why are you still in costume?” Suddenly, we see an image of the old Willow, the shy, too smart, unfashionably insecure high-school peer tutor/substitute. We leave her dream to enter reality in which Buffy calls her a “big faker” when Xander asks about her restless sleep.
Xander’s dream is next. We see him in the basement multiple times. Twice in this setting, he states to the rattling door, “That’s not the way out.” Anya asked him, “Do you know where you’re going?” Xander’s issues are with his family and his dead-end jobs. He hasn’t found a calling yet nor a place to belong. He has problems in his love life, too. Xander is pretty much unfulfilled and unsatisfied in all areas of his life. (Not that we needed a dream to tell us that.)
Giles is next with Olivia and Dream Buffy to whom he keeps saying, “I know you.” Yet the Buffy we see is sillier and childlike, not very much like the Buffy we know. At one point in his dream, Willow turns to him and accuses, “Do you know this is all your fault?” Giles is insecure about completing his duty and protecting Buffy; he is becoming more attached to her beyond the role of watcher. We have seen Giles portrayed in the role of father from Buffy’s perspective, but now we get to see this fatherly stance from Giles own eyes, yet he feels unwanted, unneeded. His slayer has grown up, and he doesn’t want her to.
Buffy’s dream is the culmination of the episode, revealing what monster is that is after them. Buffy’s fear is the loss of her friends; they are, or at least seem to be, her greatest strength. The slayer also fears what she may become. She may be super-human, but as she insists, “we are not demons.” The use of the plural is interesting; who is she talking about? We can assume she means the Scooby gang, but it is clear that they are human. Only the slayer’s origins are uncertain.
This brings us to the sandbox, the empty loneliness, the primitive violence of nature. In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about how Buffy could never pass into the crone stage because she has no one to guide her. Her mother is hardly capable of leading her, Maggie Walsh was corrupt and betrayed her trust; all the previous slayers had to die in order for Buffy to begin her journey. This was true. Now, however, the scoobies have called on the power of the first slayer. They awoke her, and she is ready to instruct.
There’s just one problem; Buffy doesn’t like the lesson. The slayer finally finds her own voices and speaks to her saying, “No friends. Just to kill. We are alone.” Buffy insists, “It’s over. We don’t do this anymore.” She believes the line of slayers have passed into a new level of understanding that is not just brute force but comprehension and now friendship. She tells the first slayer, “You’re not the source.” For Buffy, the source is her support system of friends.
One final separate note on the riddle of the random cheese man The psychoanalytical answer: she is the cheese, Buffy that is. His comment to Willow is “there’s enough room for the cheese.” Willow and Buffy have grown a little apart since Tara, and Willow is insecure about that distance. To Xander he says, “The cheese can’t protect you.” Buffy often rescues Xander from demons, but she can’t do anything about the direction of his life. Cheese man tells Giles, “I wear the cheese; the cheese does not wear me.” The comment plays on Giles loss of his role as watcher. He no longer has the ability to give the slayer order; Buffy is in charge now. So because I can’t leave a riddle without finding an answer (logical or otherwise), the cheese is Buffy, and the man’s presence shows her role in the loves of those around her and how she has affected them.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
"The Heading of Ironic"
It seems Joss Whedon has taken his feminist images a little farther down the stereotypical path. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has finally associated the idea of female strength with lesbianism. Although the message might have carried a little more strength if the slayer herself had been involved, there probably would have been audience rebellion if the hot, pathetic man aspect was eliminated from Buffy’s list of struggles.
Still, the slayer may not be lesbian, but her best friend/side kick has acknowledged a deeper feeling for another woman. In her search for power, Willow found that Wiccan strength is intensified all the more with the help of another woman, and it all began with holding hands in a moment of desperation. Even Oz is inferior to the female strength, because he cannot master his power to change. He can control it more than most, but in moments of intense feeling, he looses his strength over the forces. As he says, “it turns out... the one thing that brings it out in me is you... which falls under the heading of ironic in my book.”
For Willow and Tara, a strong female relationship on a deeper emotional level only serves to strengthen their power, allowing the two to complete complicated spells that neither would be able to master on their own. It is the female relationship that provides the support that lends itself to Buffy’s power. I have already mentioned in a previous blog that Buffy derives her real strength from those around her. Buffy is not the kind of slayer who can stand alone (perhaps that’s why she’s lived longer than most); we learned previously that her real strength is her support system. Willow and Buffy’s relationship is stronger than Buffy and Riley, and with Angel gone, Buffy’s strongest relationship is with Willow. This was emphasized at the beginning of season four when the two young women originally roomed separately; the Scooby gang began to suspect Buffy of insanity, and the slayer was left without anyone to support her theories. Now, Willow and Buffy live together, and we have seen a lot less of the random chaos and a lot more of the big picture episodes. They are stronger together.
So far, Willow and Buffy are the most powerful characters in the series. Now, Tara has joined, and things seem to be suggesting that she too will now feed through Willow on the slayer’s power. (It is important to not that the power of the slayer is restricted to females; this is ironic because power is usually thought of as masculine.) This feeding is not parasitic but symbiotic as Buffy receives just as much benefit from their strength as they do from hers.
The only question now is where will this power take the two lovebirds?
Still, the slayer may not be lesbian, but her best friend/side kick has acknowledged a deeper feeling for another woman. In her search for power, Willow found that Wiccan strength is intensified all the more with the help of another woman, and it all began with holding hands in a moment of desperation. Even Oz is inferior to the female strength, because he cannot master his power to change. He can control it more than most, but in moments of intense feeling, he looses his strength over the forces. As he says, “it turns out... the one thing that brings it out in me is you... which falls under the heading of ironic in my book.”
For Willow and Tara, a strong female relationship on a deeper emotional level only serves to strengthen their power, allowing the two to complete complicated spells that neither would be able to master on their own. It is the female relationship that provides the support that lends itself to Buffy’s power. I have already mentioned in a previous blog that Buffy derives her real strength from those around her. Buffy is not the kind of slayer who can stand alone (perhaps that’s why she’s lived longer than most); we learned previously that her real strength is her support system. Willow and Buffy’s relationship is stronger than Buffy and Riley, and with Angel gone, Buffy’s strongest relationship is with Willow. This was emphasized at the beginning of season four when the two young women originally roomed separately; the Scooby gang began to suspect Buffy of insanity, and the slayer was left without anyone to support her theories. Now, Willow and Buffy live together, and we have seen a lot less of the random chaos and a lot more of the big picture episodes. They are stronger together.
So far, Willow and Buffy are the most powerful characters in the series. Now, Tara has joined, and things seem to be suggesting that she too will now feed through Willow on the slayer’s power. (It is important to not that the power of the slayer is restricted to females; this is ironic because power is usually thought of as masculine.) This feeding is not parasitic but symbiotic as Buffy receives just as much benefit from their strength as they do from hers.
The only question now is where will this power take the two lovebirds?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
It's a Female Thing
Let’s take another look at the classic female journey as portrayed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The journey begins with the virgin transitions through the “sacred marriage” into the mother and finally, once the wisdom of women is fully absorbed, becomes the crone. As determined in an earlier post, Buffy has passed into the mother stage of the female journey. When I wrote that post, I did not take into consideration the few examples of crone-ness that Buffy had previously displayed for brief periods.
In season 3 especially, there were several example that seemed to portray Buffy in the crone’s role. She had the experience and the discipline that Faith did not and she appeared at times to be passing it on. This would have been the role of the crone, but Buffy’s position in this role never lasted long. Buffy herself was still trying to figure everything out, and a lot of what she did know had to be learned with experience rather than passed down through words. In addition, Faith was not always receptive to her lessons preferring to take the lead as teacher, and Buffy was very willing to accept the role of student until things got to far out of hand and she was thrown into the full acceptance of the mother’s role. This brings us to where she is now, exploring and experimenting with this position as caregiver/protector.
So when will she move to become a true crone? As things stand now, it might not be possible for Buffy to ever fully finish the journey and accept the final stage. I’m not referring to the very real fact that she could die before the chance should present itself; I mean to say that the very nature of the position, passing down wisdom, seems to elude her as well as every slayer before her.
The problem is that a slayer must die before the next is called. Prior to Buffy’s drowning and resuscitation, there could only be one slayer at a time. Each slayer died before she had the opportunity to pass down her wisdom to the next heir of her birthright. This is supposedly the point of the Watcher’s Council, to pass down knowledge and maintain tradition, but there is a problem the Council has overlooked, or perhaps encouraged.
Slayers are women; theirs is a separate journey from the male hero; they pass through different stages; their epiphanies come in different forms, yet the Council is predominantly male. The few females we have heard of were either corrupt or inept and led to the disastrous consequence of a rogue slayer. Men, however, cannot take the place of crone; it is a woman’s job. Giles and the other male watcher’s can never fully understand the position of the slayer and they were not trained for that purpose.
This leaves Buffy without any female role model to look to, without any crone to gain wisdom from that she too might pass into the next stage. Yes, she may die before she has the chance, but the nature of her position dooms her to that fate of death before completion because there is no one for her to look to for guidance in the slayer/female department. Giles provides book knowledge on demons, but he is inept at offering any real training advice, and when it comes down to it, Buffy must face the darkest evils of Sunnydale without him, without anyone. The slayer’s tradition prevents the completion of her journey.
In season 3 especially, there were several example that seemed to portray Buffy in the crone’s role. She had the experience and the discipline that Faith did not and she appeared at times to be passing it on. This would have been the role of the crone, but Buffy’s position in this role never lasted long. Buffy herself was still trying to figure everything out, and a lot of what she did know had to be learned with experience rather than passed down through words. In addition, Faith was not always receptive to her lessons preferring to take the lead as teacher, and Buffy was very willing to accept the role of student until things got to far out of hand and she was thrown into the full acceptance of the mother’s role. This brings us to where she is now, exploring and experimenting with this position as caregiver/protector.
So when will she move to become a true crone? As things stand now, it might not be possible for Buffy to ever fully finish the journey and accept the final stage. I’m not referring to the very real fact that she could die before the chance should present itself; I mean to say that the very nature of the position, passing down wisdom, seems to elude her as well as every slayer before her.
The problem is that a slayer must die before the next is called. Prior to Buffy’s drowning and resuscitation, there could only be one slayer at a time. Each slayer died before she had the opportunity to pass down her wisdom to the next heir of her birthright. This is supposedly the point of the Watcher’s Council, to pass down knowledge and maintain tradition, but there is a problem the Council has overlooked, or perhaps encouraged.
Slayers are women; theirs is a separate journey from the male hero; they pass through different stages; their epiphanies come in different forms, yet the Council is predominantly male. The few females we have heard of were either corrupt or inept and led to the disastrous consequence of a rogue slayer. Men, however, cannot take the place of crone; it is a woman’s job. Giles and the other male watcher’s can never fully understand the position of the slayer and they were not trained for that purpose.
This leaves Buffy without any female role model to look to, without any crone to gain wisdom from that she too might pass into the next stage. Yes, she may die before she has the chance, but the nature of her position dooms her to that fate of death before completion because there is no one for her to look to for guidance in the slayer/female department. Giles provides book knowledge on demons, but he is inept at offering any real training advice, and when it comes down to it, Buffy must face the darkest evils of Sunnydale without him, without anyone. The slayer’s tradition prevents the completion of her journey.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Phallic Fallacies OR Size Does Matter in the Slaying World
As season 3 ends and season 4 starts off, there is no shortage of sexual encounters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At least not for those around our super woman; Buffy herself seems to be continually stuck with the short of the umm... well, she never makes it past that first night in bed. All her men just seem to change after their first sexual encounter with her. "Is this the way it's always going to be?” Buffy gloomily asks Willow in “The Harsh Light of Day,” “I sleep with a man; he turns evil?" So what is it about Buffy that makes all her men go running the other way?
Is it the fact that she carries a “security” stake named “Mr. Pointy” with her everywhere she goes so she can slay the random vamp wandering around the town? Could it possibly be her inhuman strength that drives away all masculinity, or is it maybe her take-charge attitude? The point is that Buffy is intimidating, and her girly wants and clothes do nothing to lessen the bruising blow. I mean really, she stomped the terrible demon of fear into the dust, crushed him with her shoe. The demon barely came up to her ankle; what man can stand before that kind of woman and survive? They’d always be behind her, defended by her. It’s not exactly a traditional man’s role.
In truth, Buffy’s invincibility actually causes her to be more vulnerable. She’s raw from the fight. She doesn’t know who she can trust, if any man, and her position as slayer prevents her from really becoming close to anyone. Angel was pretty much her one shot at maintaining an intimate relationship with at least somewhat traditional gender roles, but eventually it would have grown old (or rather she would have). Face it, Buffy needs a man with superhuman strength, knowledge of the “other world,” plus the ability to age. Where’s she going to find all that in one person?
Cue next episode...
Is it the fact that she carries a “security” stake named “Mr. Pointy” with her everywhere she goes so she can slay the random vamp wandering around the town? Could it possibly be her inhuman strength that drives away all masculinity, or is it maybe her take-charge attitude? The point is that Buffy is intimidating, and her girly wants and clothes do nothing to lessen the bruising blow. I mean really, she stomped the terrible demon of fear into the dust, crushed him with her shoe. The demon barely came up to her ankle; what man can stand before that kind of woman and survive? They’d always be behind her, defended by her. It’s not exactly a traditional man’s role.
In truth, Buffy’s invincibility actually causes her to be more vulnerable. She’s raw from the fight. She doesn’t know who she can trust, if any man, and her position as slayer prevents her from really becoming close to anyone. Angel was pretty much her one shot at maintaining an intimate relationship with at least somewhat traditional gender roles, but eventually it would have grown old (or rather she would have). Face it, Buffy needs a man with superhuman strength, knowledge of the “other world,” plus the ability to age. Where’s she going to find all that in one person?
Cue next episode...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Silly Buffy, Tricks are for Kids
Season four marks the beginning of a new stage for Buffy, or at least that’s what we’re supposed to think. Personally, the whole “I don’t know who I am or where I fit” act is getting just a tad redundant. Still, we can say that Buffy has finally passed out of the deluded virgin stage, literally and figuratively. She tried the whole sacred marriage deal with Angel, and we all know how that turned out... with the man of the house turning his back and walking away, leaving (yes, that’s right) the mother to take care of what’s left.
That mother is Buffy, or at least she is becoming the mother. Her first attempt on her own didn’t start out so great; she spent most of her time moping around about the fact that she was alone or, at least, felt like it. The girl deserves a little trial and error, though; it’s not as if her own mother was all that great at being a role model, spending her time either hiding from the truth or trying to change it.
Let’s get serious, though. Buffy is beginning a new phase of life. She left home to go to college, and while the school is only about five minutes down the road, she has shed herself of her authority figures, no parents and no watchers. Her friends have lives of their own too, so she can’t expect them to be there at all hours of the night to take battle orders from her anymore.
She still has that sense of duty and responsibility that has slowly been developing as she watched what happens when a slayer (i.e. Faith) rejects that aspect of her calling. Buffy helps people (flashback to “Anne” episode one of season three), that’s who she is. When it seems like someone might be in trouble, Buffy steps in.
That’s what happened in “Freshmen.” Disappearances on campus alerted that mother-instinct in Buffy and she hit the ground fighting. Okay, so it was more like she fell, whining about a sore arm (since when does an average vamp leave a mark on the slayer?), but the point is that she stepped up. She took responsibility for all the other students on campus and dusted the bullies. Buffy is no longer the self-involved little girl we saw in the beginning of the series.
That mother is Buffy, or at least she is becoming the mother. Her first attempt on her own didn’t start out so great; she spent most of her time moping around about the fact that she was alone or, at least, felt like it. The girl deserves a little trial and error, though; it’s not as if her own mother was all that great at being a role model, spending her time either hiding from the truth or trying to change it.
Let’s get serious, though. Buffy is beginning a new phase of life. She left home to go to college, and while the school is only about five minutes down the road, she has shed herself of her authority figures, no parents and no watchers. Her friends have lives of their own too, so she can’t expect them to be there at all hours of the night to take battle orders from her anymore.
She still has that sense of duty and responsibility that has slowly been developing as she watched what happens when a slayer (i.e. Faith) rejects that aspect of her calling. Buffy helps people (flashback to “Anne” episode one of season three), that’s who she is. When it seems like someone might be in trouble, Buffy steps in.
That’s what happened in “Freshmen.” Disappearances on campus alerted that mother-instinct in Buffy and she hit the ground fighting. Okay, so it was more like she fell, whining about a sore arm (since when does an average vamp leave a mark on the slayer?), but the point is that she stepped up. She took responsibility for all the other students on campus and dusted the bullies. Buffy is no longer the self-involved little girl we saw in the beginning of the series.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Blurry Grays
It’s getting harder and harder to tell good from evil these days. The line is becoming blurred, and Buffy might not be able to tell if she’s crossed it anymore. Today's episodes seem written specifically to show just how blurry the line has gotten.
In “Doppelgangland,” Willow is mistaken for a much more evil, Vampire version of herself. Even though the dual persona is clearly a danger, Willow refuses to allow Buffy to kill claiming that she “deserves a chance” just like everyone else. While Willow attachment to a mirror image of herself is understandable, the others are perfectly agreeable to going along with releases the demon back to her home. Willow has developed an affinity with her darker self, and the others respect that without question.
In “Enemies,” this juxtapose of an unidentifiable good and a hidden bad is taken even father in the opening scenes with the demon who tries to sell the slayers the Books of Ascension. As Faith says, “A demon’s a demon;” demons are supposed to be evil. However, this demon is a harmless person just trying to survive in dangerous times. In reality, he is probably more “human” than the hardly innocent Faith who condemns him. The audience is very much aware of the irony of the situation. The human is the evil; the demon just an innocent bystander.
In “Earshot,” everyone is sure they who the killer is. It has to be the angsty newspaper writer. He is obsessed with negatives. He’s depressed, and he hates everyone so it must be him, but it’s not. The next turn is to the shy awkward guy everyone picks on. No one ever pays attention to Jonathan; a massacre would be the perfect way for him to get attention. It isn’t Jonathan either. The real culprit is one no one ever suspected, the lunch lady. It is getting harder and harder to figure out who the big bads are now.
Angel blurs the line even further when we are unable to tell if he was turned or not. The question everyone is asking during the entire “Enemies” episode is did the spell work? Is Angel now Angelus? We don’t know, because the truth is he could be either. They are the same person on the outside. No one is able to tell when Angel is good or evil; they all rely on his actions to try to discern the situation of his soul. Actions can be tricky, and we find out that “it was just an act,” as Buffy says in an attempt to reassure both Xander and herself. The fact of the matter is, though, it’s getting harder and harder to discern the good guys from the bad guys now, and even when we know the difference we can’t be sure that that character really is all good or all bad. Things just aren’t black and white anymore.
In “Doppelgangland,” Willow is mistaken for a much more evil, Vampire version of herself. Even though the dual persona is clearly a danger, Willow refuses to allow Buffy to kill claiming that she “deserves a chance” just like everyone else. While Willow attachment to a mirror image of herself is understandable, the others are perfectly agreeable to going along with releases the demon back to her home. Willow has developed an affinity with her darker self, and the others respect that without question.
In “Enemies,” this juxtapose of an unidentifiable good and a hidden bad is taken even father in the opening scenes with the demon who tries to sell the slayers the Books of Ascension. As Faith says, “A demon’s a demon;” demons are supposed to be evil. However, this demon is a harmless person just trying to survive in dangerous times. In reality, he is probably more “human” than the hardly innocent Faith who condemns him. The audience is very much aware of the irony of the situation. The human is the evil; the demon just an innocent bystander.
In “Earshot,” everyone is sure they who the killer is. It has to be the angsty newspaper writer. He is obsessed with negatives. He’s depressed, and he hates everyone so it must be him, but it’s not. The next turn is to the shy awkward guy everyone picks on. No one ever pays attention to Jonathan; a massacre would be the perfect way for him to get attention. It isn’t Jonathan either. The real culprit is one no one ever suspected, the lunch lady. It is getting harder and harder to figure out who the big bads are now.
Angel blurs the line even further when we are unable to tell if he was turned or not. The question everyone is asking during the entire “Enemies” episode is did the spell work? Is Angel now Angelus? We don’t know, because the truth is he could be either. They are the same person on the outside. No one is able to tell when Angel is good or evil; they all rely on his actions to try to discern the situation of his soul. Actions can be tricky, and we find out that “it was just an act,” as Buffy says in an attempt to reassure both Xander and herself. The fact of the matter is, though, it’s getting harder and harder to discern the good guys from the bad guys now, and even when we know the difference we can’t be sure that that character really is all good or all bad. Things just aren’t black and white anymore.
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