Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Genesis, plot and format

Writer Joss Whedon originally conceived of the show as an intentional reversal of horror film formula, by placing the recurrent vacuous, blonde girl in charge. Rather than shrieking and running off into dark alleys to be killed, petite valley-girl Buffy takes weapons in her own hands and actively hunts down potential enemies herself. As Whedon himself has stated: "I wanted her to be a cultural phenomenon. I wanted there to be dolls, Barbie with kung-fu grip." - to an extent, succeeding, as many have embraced this alternative paradigm as an emblem of female power, an issue that has been examined by both critics and academics.

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Secondly, the show aimed to establish a basic analogy of High School as hell, by quite literally putting the show's main characters, including Buffy herself, through both - Sunnydale High isn't just a regular school, with the trials such a place involves, but the location of an actual demonic nexus, drawing about many of the enemies the group are forced to face and permeating their lives with magical occurences which ilustrate those trials. (The show's metaphorical content as to high school in particular is further explored in this article's section on its Metaphorical nature)

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This combination of playfully handled feminist tendencies and the depiction of a consistent core of teenage characters in an exaggerated version of High School life is precisely what seems to have garnered Buffy a passionate and relatively varied fan following.

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Main characters

Buffy (portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is "The Slayer", one in a long line of (often short-lived) young girls chosen by fate to battle the forces of darkness. This calling also mystically endows her with dramatically increased physical strength, endurance, agility, intuition, accelerated healing, and a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. Buffy fights under the direction of her "Watcher", Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who begins the series as the high school's librarian.

Related Topics:
Buffy - Sarah Michelle Gellar - The Slayer - Clairvoyance - Watcher - Giles - Anthony Stewart Head

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She is also assisted by several friends, who later in the series are nicknamed the "Scooby Gang" because of their distant resemblance to the teens in the cartoon Scooby Doo. Most prominent among these are awkward semi-geek Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) and shy computer-nerd Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan).

Related Topics:
Scooby Gang - Scooby Doo - Xander Harris - Nicholas Brendon - Willow Rosenberg - Alyson Hannigan

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Other important members of the gang throughout the series include: seemingly vapid "alpha-girl" cheerleader Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter); the ensouled vampire and Buffy's would-be soulmate Angel (David Boreanaz); the taciturn werewolf and guitar player Oz (Seth Green); eccentric ex-vengeance demon Anya Jenkins (Emma Caulfield); shy witch Tara Maclay (Amber Benson); reluctantly reformed vampire Spike; and Buffy's younger teen-aged sister, Dawn Summers, created by magical means in season five. Buffy also lives with her recently divorced mother Joyce.

Related Topics:
Cordelia Chase - Charisma Carpenter - Angel - David Boreanaz - Werewolf - Oz - Seth Green - Anya Jenkins - Emma Caulfield - Tara Maclay - Amber Benson - Spike - Dawn Summers - Joyce

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The close interpersonal relationships between these characters is at least as important in the series as their ongoing battle against evil.

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Coincidentally, Gellar later played one of the actual "Scooby Gang", Daphne Blake, in the movies Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo 2

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Foes and supernatural elements

The most prominent monsters in the Buffy bestiary are vampires, who are presented in the show in a variety of ways, selectively following traditional myths, lore, and literary conventions. Buffy and her companions also fight a wide variety of demons, shape-shifters, ghosts, gods, zombies, witches, and each other. They are so frequently called upon to save the world from annihilation that they quickly find themselves, as the character Riley Finn puts it, "needing to know the plural of apocalypse". The mythology of the show is often inspired by traditional supernatural tales and other cultural, fictional, and religious sources. In its seven-year run, the series also developed an extensive contemporary mythology of its own. The supernatural elements of the show almost always have a clear metaphorical or symbolic aspect (see Metaphorical nature and moral connotations for more on this).

Related Topics:
Bestiary - Vampire - Myth - Lore - Demons - Shape-shifters - Ghosts - Gods - Zombies - Witch - Riley Finn - Apocalypse - Mythology - Supernatural - Contemporary mythology - Metaphorical nature and moral connotations

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Buffy and her "scooby gang" battle demonic forces using a combination of physical combat, detective work, various forms of magic and sorcery, and the extensive research of ancient and mystical texts. Hand to hand combat is usually undertaken by Buffy, often assisted by the supernatural strength of Angel and, later, Spike. Willow eventually becomes an adept witch, and Giles is relied upon for his extensive knowledge of demonology and supernatural references. Xander, whose primary responsibility sometimes appears to be getting donuts for the gang, is an Everyman character who provides perspective and grounding for the others.

Related Topics:
Magic - Sorcery - Witch - Donuts - Everyman

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Setting

The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, whose suburban Sunnydale High School rests on the site of a "Hellmouth", a gateway between our world and the realm of demons. The Hellmouth serves as a for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena. The Hellmouth lies directly beneath the school library (later, in a reconstructed school, beneath the Principal's office).

Related Topics:
California - Sunnydale - Sunnydale High School - Hellmouth - Library - Principal

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In addition to being an open-ended plot device, Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth as one of his primary metaphors in creating the series, suggesting that a large number of contemporary teenagers feel that their own high school is a sinister, threatening place.

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The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School, in Torrance, California. The school exterior is frequently used in other television shows and movies, most notably Beverly Hills 90210 and the spoof, Not Another Teen Movie.

Related Topics:
Torrance High School - Torrance, California - Beverly Hills 90210 - Not Another Teen Movie

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In addition to the high school and its library, action frequently takes place in many of the town's cemeteries, local nightclub The Bronze, and Buffy and her mother's home, where many of the characters also live at various points in the series.

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Format and content

The show is noteworthy in part for its blending of genres, including horror, martial arts, romance, melodrama, farce, and comic banter. Unlike the movie, which, for the most part, was poorly received (and practically disowned by its writer, Whedon), the TV series achieved great popular and critical success, appreciated equally by middle-aged TV critics and its primarily teen/twenty something audience. Fans of the show attribute its success to smartly written, continuity-aware scripts and its creator's vision. The show and characters inspire an unusually strong emotional connection with fans.

Related Topics:
Horror - Martial arts - Romance - Melodrama - Farce - Teen - Twenty something

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Buffy has also been noted for taking risks with both its format and content. The 1999 episode "Hush" included 26 minutes without any spoken dialog, and received an Emmy Award nomination for best teleplay. The 2001 episode "The Body", which revolved around the death of Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, and which used no non-diegetic music, was included in over 100 major critics' Ten Best lists that year. The fall 2001 musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" also received many plaudits. All three episodes are frequently cited as fan favorites.

Related Topics:
1999 - Hush - Emmy Award - 2001 - The Body - Joyce Summers - Non-diegetic music - Once More, with Feeling

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Continuity

Whedon has stated that he is a fan of serialized fiction, and, to this end, each season, rather than being purely episodic, tends to follow a largely self-contained story arc, with its own unique villain. This "Big Bad" is often preceded by a "Little Bad", a minor villain introduced to throw viewers off-track. The series is also characterized by the close attention it pays to the continuity and consistency of its universe; references to events that occurred in earlier seasons occur both as major plot points and as throwaway jokes.

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Metaphorical nature and moral connotations

Many Buffy stories are thinly veiled metaphors for the anxieties and ordeals of adolescence or young adulthood. In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" invisibility is used as a metaphor for being ignored. In "The Pack", Xander and other teens become possessed by hyenas, which allegorizes the pack mentality that often results from negative peer pressure. The tragic love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphorical elements, the most noteworthy of which occurred when their first sexual consummation resulted in the vampire losing his soul and becoming a murderous villain. As Sarah Michelle Gellar puts it:"That's the ultimate metaphor. You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."? Bye-Bye Buffy on 2003-05-20 at CBS News

Related Topics:
Metaphors - Adolescence - Out of Mind, Out of Sight - The Pack - Allegorizes - Peer pressure - Angel - Villain - 2003-05-20 - CBS News

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The show has also garnered criticism for this and other ostensibly "puritanical" subtexts. However, Whedon argues that rather than endorsing a particular moral stance, the show is much more concerned with consequences and the role they play in gratifying the audience's emotional investment in the story ? though this gratification is seldom a simple matter of wish fulfilment:

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Don't give people what they want, give them what they need.

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He continues:

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What they want is for Sam and Diane to get together. ' Don't give it to them. Trust me. ' No one's going to go see the story of Othello going to get a peaceful divorce. People want the tragedy. ' Things have to go wrong, bad things have to happen.?Interview for The Onion AV Club

Related Topics:
Sam - Diane - Othello - Tragedy - The Onion

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While fans may joke about characters being punished for sex, Whedon has insisted that the show must "earn" its emotional moments, and that he and his writers are more concerned with exploring the consequences of actions than making broad moral statements. Buffy's resurrection in season six is not a simple plot device; it sends ripples through the last two seasons of the show. These include both supernatural repercussions (a killer demon follows her back from the afterlife) and emotional fallout (Buffy suffers from severe depression and isolation). The ongoing exploration of choices and consequences in life, depicted both literally and metaphorically, constitutes what Joss Whedon refers to as one of the show's many "mission statements".

Related Topics:
Sex - Resurrection

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Also, over the course of its seven seasons, Buffy has engaged with a number of social issues, most notably (and controversially) the question of sexuality, and has received a great deal of critical attention ? from fans, critics and the academic community ? for its treatment. See the main article on this topic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Social Issues for a full account.

Related Topics:
Sexuality - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Social Issues

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Influences

Whedon has often noted the impact that comic books have had on his work. He is currently writing for the Astonishing X-Men series and has credited Kitty Pryde, who he is currently handling in that series, as a significant influence on the character of Buffy, as well as some of his other female characters. In addition, comics such as Superman and Spider-Man explore similar themes, particularly those relating to the tension between the duties of a superhero and the more mundane concerns of their "ordinary" alter ego.

Related Topics:
Comic books - X-Men - Kitty Pryde - Superman - Spider-Man

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Other influences include My So-Called Life, whose sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties served as an acknowledged template for Buffy ("I'm basically trying to write My So-Called Life with vampires" http://www.tvshows.nu/article.php3?id_article=4984), and the "monster of the week" storylines of X-Files. Whedon has also cited cult film Night of the Comet as a "big influence" on Buffy. http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/425/425492p6.html

Related Topics:
My So-Called Life - X-Files - Night of the Comet

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