I want to talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer today. I'm still obsessed, even though the show's been over for over three years now (Cue Michelle Branch's "Goodbye to You" song!) Many Christians refuse to believe that the show has a spiritual side to it. For example, many shows, like 7th Heaven and the cancelled Joan of Arcadia, preach about the power of God, but Buffy actually shows the power of God at work - in the fact that crosses are used to repel evil. Buffy herself has many Christlike qualities... in fact, she is everything a true friend should be. She lays down her life, quite literally, twice in the series' 7 year run. She puts aside her own personal needs and wants in favor of her friends' (and the world's) needs and wants. She is faithful - always loving her friends even when they turn on her. And her friends depend on her. And she shares her deepest thoughts with her friends. She isn't quite willing to share the dark part of her life with her friends, though. But they force her to accept their help and love. This is deep and intimate in very way. And then, love, unconditional love. Buffy the Vampire Slayer portrays this for sure! When her friends falter and turn toward the dark, she's always there pulling them back to safety. Or if not her, then someone else. In the sixth season finale, her carpenter friend, Xander, saved the world by merely saying, "I love you." Characters on the show repeatedly show the Jesus kind of love for each other. It's part of the reason why I do not understand why people, most of them Christians, do not even give the show a second look. I get soooo exasperated when people roll their eyes at the mere mention of it. I wonder what their reaction would be if the show was entitled "Buffy Summers" (after Veronica Mars) or even "Buffy and Friends." People can be sooooo prejudiced sometimes.
Hahaha. Told ya I was obsessed... Look how much I think about it! The creator, Joss Whedon, has even admitted that it could have been scarier. As it is, the show is so much more about Buffy and her relationships with her friends and family, and her friends' relationships with each other than it is about the scary. Whereas that doesn't at all mean that it's completely kid-friendly (it's rated PG-13 for crying out loud, and in one issue of the BtVS magazine, there's this letter from a little girl who's been watching the show with her mother ever since she was 7, none the worse for wear) - as there are scary scenes and sad scenes and sex scenes and everything - I think it's a real treasure, and I'm sorry if you don't see it in the same light as I do. You are not gonna change my mind - Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best show in the history of television, and I didn't even tell you the half of it!
mydandysunshine3 posted on Sep 03, 2006
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Comments
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SeanRenaud said on Sep 03, 2006....
Buffy lays down her life ONCE. Getting killed doesn't count so when the Master kills her that isn't laying down her life. Not in the same way she did to seal off the Hell Dimension and it isn't even fair to mention the two in the same breath.
They do not show the Jesus kind of love, they love their friends and ard all very judgemental of their enemies. Xander might love Willow with all his heart but how does he treat Angel and Spike throughout the series? How well do they accept Faith into the group?
Buffy is not a Christlike figure. She is a warrior, she is a fighter. She has lots of self doubt. Crosses stopping vampires isn't enough to over shadow the prevelance of magic, lesbians, demonology, premarital sex. One thing in the positive thing does not overshadow everything else that is going on.
I love the show, I think Angel often overshadowed Buffy quality wise, particularly seasons 4 of Angel easily overshadows the quality of Buffy 6 which was so random that it hurt.
Interesting point of view though.
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mydandysunshine3 said on Sep 03, 2006....
No. Buffy lays her life down twice... In Prophecy Girl (season 1 finale) she quits when she finds out that she is destined to die at the hands of the Master. But then Willow calls her about the dead bodies she and Cordelia found at school and when Willow asks her what they are going to do, and Buffy quietly replies "What we have to." What SHE has to do is to stop the Master, and if she has to die in order to do that, all the more power to her. You ever notice that the Master did NOT bite her? She had a cross around her neck. The Master merely hypotizes her and drops her into the water. Of course, that doesn't explain why the hypotizing thing didn't work in the second and final round!
Xander had defends Buffy to the Potentials: "Let me tell you something about Buffy. I've been through more battles with Buffy than you can imagine. She's stopped everything that's ever come against her. She's laid down her life - literally - to protect the people around her. This girl has died, two times, and she's still standing. You're scared ? That's smart. You got questions ? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle. I've seen her heart - this time not literally - and I'll tell you right now she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned it." (Dirty Girls, Season 7)
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SeanRenaud said on Sep 03, 2006....
No she was destined to die and free the Master. If she hadn't gone and faced her fear he wouldn't have been released. He couldn't be released until she died. That doesn't count, I'd be more willing to count her as laying down her life when she went to fight against Angel at the end of Season 2 not really knowing if Spike could be trusted. We can back and forth about this all day though, I just don't feel that her losing a fight is the same. Would you say that Wesley death is laying a life down in the same way as Darla's self sacrifice was?
It doesn't work the second time because it only worked the first time because she went there to die. She knew she was going to lose and she let him take over. Same reason why Dracula couldn't do it to her, and it is explained rather clearly by Spike. She'd already reached the point where she wondered what death was like. She died (clinically) didn't like it came back, kicked ass.
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