Buffy – a cultural phenomenon

There are shows you watch for mindless entertainment. There are shows you get hooked to, ones you simply need to watch every week. And then there are shows that come to define so many aspects of your life. For me, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is just that show.

In 1992, a man called Joss Whedon had a unique idea: what if, instead of the silly little blonde girl who walks into an alley and gets killed in every horror movie, that same girl turns around and beats the crap out of her attacker? It was an idea that would result in a cultural phenomenon.

Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, the first episode introduces audiences not only to the main characters of the show, but also to the mythology of vampires and magic - “In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.” Every Slayer has a Watcher, whose purpose is to guide and train the Slayer. In Buffy, this job falls to Rupert Giles, played by Anthony Stewart Head, the stuffy librarian at Sunnydale High School. Very early on, Buffy is joined in her mission by Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon), together forming ‘the Scooby Gang.’ Season One of BTVS is told in a ‘monster/mystery-of-the-week’ format which worked well in the initial stages, but it quickly became apparent that audiences were more interested in the relationships between the characters and not so much the scary demons.

Long before Edward and Bella there was Buffy and Angel. Stephanie Meyer can eat her heart out, the love between Buffy and Angel is the ultimate human/vampire romance and one that all future relationships will be compared to and, inevitably, fall short of. This is passion and heartbreak the way it’s meant to be and the evolution of their relationship is the real driving force behind Season Two. Seth Green joins the cast as Oz, while vampires Spike and Drusilla become the Big Bad of the season.

Amongst other things, BTVS is a prime example of a show with consistently improved writing. After a very rocky start in Season One, by the time high school is over and Season Four comes around, there is really very little to criticize. This is also the point where Whedon’s creative genius becomes even more apparent and garners him his first Emmy nomination for “Hush,” the truly creepy episode with no dialogue. The following seasons feature more complex storylines and the writers continue to show us that life doesn’t stop being painful after high school, it just develops into a different kind of pain. The Season Five episode “The Body” offers viewers an hour of television unlike any I have seen before or since (incidentally, it recently won an Emmy in the Drama Category for Television’s Most Memorable Moment), whereas “Once More, With Feeling” allowed Joss Whedon to realise his dream of producing a musical. Full of engaging characters, amazing acting and witty dialogue, Buffy is one of the few shows that is unafraid to take risks with character development and by the end, the Scoobies barely resemble the insecure teenagers we met in Season One. Everyone has shades of grey, but do bear in mind that nobody is safe in Whedon’s world…

In its seven year run Buffy the Vampire Slayer cleverly used its supernatural elements as metaphors for real-life issues – high school resting on the mouth of hell, anyone? It was never a show that shied away from tackling controversial topics ranging from addiction, grief, sexual orientation, attempted rape and murder to feelings of alienation, teenage rebellion, atonement, death, love and all the things in between that define us. At times comedy, at times horror, but mostly a dramatic portrayal of life, the show gathered a cult following that lives on today. Not only that, Buffy is also notable for attracting attention from academics and is often studied in Popular Culture Studies, as well as being the first show in U.S. television history to feature a long-term lesbian relationship among the core characters. Most importantly though, it managed to do what it originally set out to do – empower women. It showed the industry that it is possible to have strong female leads without objectifying them, as was the case with for example Xena – Warrior Princess.

If you’re a fan of vampires, magic and all things mystical then I do recommend you watch this. Buffy is the show that brought vampires back from the dead (pun completely intended, sorry) and made them cool. If you do watch it and find yourself enjoying it, then never fear, Buffy lives on. There was a spin-off series ‘Angel’, which ran for five seasons, and both shows are being continued in comic book form. Linked to REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’, Buffy came into my life over a decade ago and has become a permanent fixture. As clichéd as it may sound, it helped me through some tough times and for that, I will be forever grateful.