To Begin

I came late to Buffy, watching my first episode a year or two after it ended. That’s a story unto itself. Since my inital binge of all seven seasons, I’ve watched specific episodes (the Halloween and Thanksgiving episodes at the appropriate times, mainly), but I haven’t done a true rewatch.

Until now. For years, Joss has has been on the short list of writers I would love to work with in the hypothetical parallel universe where I pursued writing as a career. That’s no longer true, and even being a Buffy fan is now…controversial. (As is my affection for Harry Potter. At least I don’t have an allegiance to the Cosby Show.)

In light of changing times and new perspectives, I’m rewatching Buffy and sharing my thoughts every so often.

In every generation.…there’s one. The Slayer, mystically chosen to keep mortals safe. The Buffy movie, which isn’t official canon, shows her learning that she’s called, and she’s not thrilled about it. Since that is a recurring theme in the TV show, I started thinking about that.

Joseph Campbell fans know the hero’s journey template. We’ve seen it in Star Wars, Kung Fu Panda, Lord of the Rings, and too many other stories to list. On the surface, Buffy is an excellent example of this, a woman-hero for the ages, ready to inspire little girls everywhere. I’d accepted that logic, even used it while espousing Buffy as an example when I taught high school students about the hero’s journey.

I was wrong. I’m at least thinking through whether Buffy fits Campbell’s pattern. Of course Buffy acts heroically; that’s not in question. But after considering her origin story, well…it’s problematic. The issue is in the first two steps, The Call to Adventure and Refusal of the Call. Both of those are self-explanatory–and steps that Buffy had forced on her. There was not an option. The Call to Adventure was a notification that her status has changed. Like a princess who becomes Queen at the death of her parents, Buffy becomes the Slayer. No option, no ability to say “thanks, but no,” so it was more binding than being Queen. She was the Slayer. Final decision. If she didn’t want to serve, death was the option–then a new Slayer would be mystically called. Buffy refused the call every way she could think of–and speeches she gave in the first two episodes underline her flat refusal–but it was immutable. Slayer or Death. As Slayer, she was created to act. Do we, the audience, care that the writers have created a women whose words we are to ignore, to disregard the emphatic verbal refusal she makes multiple times in the first two episodes?

Of course, after Buffy “died” at the end of season one, there’s Kendra, then Faith. Buffy could have just stopped…in theory. Of course, she still would have been irrevocably physically changed and mentally damaged–being the Slayer comes with a price, and there were no refunds. However, could Buffy just let Kendra be the only Slayer? When I start rewatching season two, I’ll consider that more, but based on what I remember, Buffy was backed into a corner. Letting Kendra, then Faith be THE Slayer, meant she would have to accept being powerless when situations hurt those Buffy loved. That was not going to happen; power was forced upon her, and choosing to not use it when she knew it would help–that wasn’t in her programming, and everyone forcing the situation upon her (Hello, watchers’ council) knew that.

Joss (and the other writers, I know he had a team) decided to create a situation where instead of getting a call that their hero could choose to answer or not, they created a situation where she had no options; they then had her be ignored as she repeatedly stated that she did not want to be the Slayer. Her words didn’t matter…and they created the situation where she was mystically programmed to act as she did, against her stated wishes.

Damn, that sounds bad when I say it that way. And yet, I like the show. I like the characters–and the actors who were involved in the show have made thoughtful, sensitive statements about being proud of the show while still acknowledging a toxic workplace. I’m going to keep watching and writing. We will see how I end up feeling about my collection of Buffy dvds and tee shirts.