Definitely Not the Opera
A recent Newsweek survey listed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her boyfriend Angel, the good vampire, as the toasts of the tweenage wasteland. Buffy is a three year old TV series that ranks near the bottom of the TV ratings, yet reaches the youthful and free-spending audience that advertisers so prize. Ads on Buffy go for $150,000 a minute. That's more than many shows drawing twice the number of viewers.
"I told him that I loved him and I kissed him and I killed him." This sound like something Lauren Bacall might have confessed to Humphrey Bogart in one of their 1940's film noir movies. Actually it's the way Buffy explains how she killed the vampire she loved. For those who don't know – and that number is shrinking – Buffy is a girl whose town happens to sit on a Hellmouth from which comes forth a variety of vampires and demons which Buffy – as a chosen Slayer – and her friends must battle.
Beginning with the Vampire myth and the sexuality that it evokes, Buffy makes use of symbol and metaphor to speak about teenagers and in doing so comes closest to depicting the reality of teenage life than anything else on television. Don't be fooled by the weekly dose of vampires and monsters. The vampires and monsters arethe point. This is, metaphorically, teenage reality. The obvious joke has always been that vampirism and lycanthropy are metaphors for reallyraging hormones." But the series explores the very serious side of this joke. It does this in an intelligent, witty, sensitive, yet off-the-wall way.
The show succeeds in portraying how real teenagers cope with the joys and sorrows of adolescence. Buffy is an inspirational role model for teenage girls. She is smart, willing to learn about herself, and live with who she is, even if she happens to be a vampire-slayer. In many ways, the show is reality-based. Her good looks and super training don't help her with the fact that she almost failed out of high school, or has problems dealing with her mother, or has been pegged as a problem child. Buffy is independent, reliable, maybe too much a Type-A personality, but altogether a pretty accurate portrayal of a 1990s teenager. Other shows deal with teenage problems – love, sex, peer pressure, school work, family problems, body image, dreams, insecurity, self-esteem. But Buffy deals with them in a way that is recognized by today's teens as being closest to their own lives – and does so with a real sense of humour.
The humour is quick, smart, often in the midst of the scariest or most serious scenes, allowing the viewer to laugh nervously. Best of all, it never takes itself seriously. When Cordelia suddenly goes blind during a driver's education course, Giles muses, "Why would anyone want to harm Cordelia?" To which Willow replies, "Maybe because they've met her."
For some, the appeal of Buffy is in the smart writing and dark, anything-goes storylines, for others it's humour or perhaps the wonderful cultural references, – there's a web site to explain the ones you don't get – from smarmy Cordelia's remark: "Nice dress. Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears." – to Xander who says to Buffy after she has just seen Death: "If he asks you to play chess, don't even do it. That guy's, like, a whiz." A reference to Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal is not what one expects to encounter on a teen TV show.
Others are attracted to its brutally honest portrayal of high school and college. And for others the attraction is a blond chick fighting vampires. All of these are fine by me. Watch the show for whatever reason – but do watch it. Buffy is one of the funniest and smartest shows on television.
John Pungente, SJ, is an author, teacher, executive member of the AML (Ontario), and president of the Canadian Association of Media Education Organizations (CAMEO). His most recent publication is Watching TV. He is also the author of the following lively commentary on the latest trends in cooking shows.