Why You Should Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I am a vocal fan of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer',
which for a few reasons is an unexpectedly difficult job.
There's the Mormon abstinence, sparkle vampire stare fest that is 'Twilight'.
There's the show's unfortunate and slightly-embarrassing-to-say-out-loud name.
Then there's the Gothy depressed stereotype vampire mythology seems to carry with it.
"Why are you fighting this?"
"It's what we want."
"It's our chance for immortality."
All of this lately makes the show a hard sell to my friends who haven't seen it because they think 'Buffy' is for teenage girls
...which...
...well...
...it IS.
But that's certainly not ALL it is.
Like most great entertainment it can be enjoyed on multiple levels.
The point of this video is I'm tired of explaining to my friends why they need to watch this show.
I thought I'd just record my 'Buffy' sermon, once and for all, and be done with it.
What the show is
All right so in brief: 'Buffy' ran from '97 to '03 and was created by writer/director Joss Whedon.
Whedon said he got the idea for 'Buffy' from countless horror movies
where the witless blonde wanders into an alleyway and gets eaten by the monster.
He thought:
"Wouldn't it be cool if the blonde walked into the alley,
"...the monster attacked her..."
"...and she kicked its ass?"
The show follows Buffy, the latest in a line of young women known as vampire Slayers.
There's only one Slayer at a time and they've been around for a thousand years.
Each time the present Slayer dies a new one is gifted superpowers for the battle
against vampires, demons and other baddies.
Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher who guides, teaches and trains her.
Unlike predecessors Buffy surrounds herself with friends.
"You're the Slayer and we're like, the Slayer-ettes."
The show's seasons are serialized.
Each season has one overarching bad guy called the Big Bad.
'Buffy' ranked 41st on TV Guide's list of 50 greatest shows of all time,
2nd on Empire's 50 greatest shows of all time
and was listed on Time magazine's hundred best shows of all time.
It features some of the greatest episodes of television ever made.
So why is it so hard to get people to watch it?
It looks like more Twilight Crap
'Twilight' is about catatonic teenager
who falls for a creepy vampire boner
that sparkles in the sunshine.
Its underlying message is the only thing that matters is finding a man
and submitting to him.
Edward Cullen stalks what's-her-nuts,
watches her sleep for months
"I like watching you sleep."
"Do you do that a lot?"
"Just the past couple of months."
corners her, abuses her
and she's tooooootaaaally fine with it.
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' on the other hand is about a girl with superpowers
who punches people in the face.
But I don't like vampire stuff
You don't have to be a fan of the genre to get something out of the show.
Mostly the monsters are metaphors for specific obstacles that we all face growing up.
For instance, within the show's mythology vampires are soulless creatures that don't age.
According to Whedon, the soul, as it's depicted in the show, serves as a moral compass.
Lacking that, vampires are driven by purely selfish motives,
which means they're incapable of moral development.
In other words, they can't grow up.
"You were my sire, man.
"You were my..."
"...Yoda."
"Things change."
--- "NOT us.
"Not demons."
So Buffy being the Slayer allows her to kill vampires,
metaphors for her personal demons that could prevent her from growing up.
Anyway, the point is the monsters are not an end in and of themselves but rather
they are the medium for considering complex topics of
morality,
isolation,
sexuality,
and meaning.
Also, they are things for her to punch in the face.
But the production values are terrible
The show started as a mid-season replacement for 'Savannah'
and generally had a small budget.
Part of the reason all the season finales feel like series finales, until around 'Season 6'
is because Whedon was always nervous about cancellation.
To me, most shows primarily fall into two categories:
cinema and theater.
We have different expectations for a movie than we do a play.
No one goes to the 'Merchant of Venice', looks at the stage and says:
"This totally doesn't look like Venice."
"This play sucks."
Likewise, not many people question the realism of six friends with retail jobs
living in a thousand square foot apartment in downtown New York that's missing a fourth wall.
Anyone who wants to appreciate any show needs to be able to put production issues aside.
'Buffy' isn't ABOUT the monsters.
It's about her path to becoming an adult.
Besides, are the effects any more egregious than...
"On the house."
"What are you gonna do?"
"Moisturize me?"
"With acid."
"UH AH!"
"Back!"
"For the rest of the book,"
"'To Serve Man'..."
"...it's..."
"...it's a cookbook!"
"AH...
"...NO!"
All right...I've tried watching it, but I couldn't get through Season 1. It REALLY sucks.
WELL....
*cough*
...yeah.
Remember.
Mid-season replacement on a shoestring budget.
But the first season is....
...rough.
[clown laughing]
*sigh*
Okay, fine.
Really, there are only a couple of first season episodes you need to watch.
But if you do go that route, I'm working on an episode by episode guide
which should be up here soon...
...if I don't get an attack of the lazy.
Get through the first season...
...and I suggest the second.
If you give it a good effort and by the end of the second season you still think it's not a show for you...
"That's fine."
"I get that."
"But you're wrong and I hate you."
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