DISCLAIMER: Buffy is owned by Joss Whedon and his company.
SPOILER: All seven seasons are mentioned.
More Than Just Vampires
When many people watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they only see the surface values of the TV series. At first, I did too think that Buffy was only about vampires, demons, Hell and magic. As I watched more of the series, I began to understand the deeper values that Buffy brings out, things like friendship, love, self-discovery and growing up.
There are issues of world that are presented in Buffy. The major issues of the series include love, friendship, self-discovery, and even death. Throughout the series, the characters have been slowly growing up and maturing. Even in the first episode, these real life issues were presented, like when Cordelia started bullying Xander and Willow. Throughout the first season, outcast has been a big issue. Buffy is a definitely an outsider, being the Slayer, she has the weight of the whole world pressured onto her shoulders. Xander and Willow are outsiders compared to the popular at school. Even Giles is an outsider, an Englishman in America.
By Season 2, serious issues start to come out, which included parent- teenager relationships. The season talked about the past, somewhat a darker past for Giles in "The Dark Age", and the future, which would be the careers that the teenagers would face after they graduate. "Bad Eggs" is a good example of the fear of parenthood and its responsibilities. In "Surprise", our hero Buffy loses her virginity, which then the series began dealing with the adult issue of sexuality. Death is first explored in "Passion" where Angelus kills Jenny Calendar. But perhaps on a deeper level, "Becoming Part 2" presented death through Buffy's own point of view. Buffy, being the Slayer, gave up the love of her life to save the world, which would be a very hard decision for a teenage girl to make. Also, Joyce's reaction to Buffy's calling left Buffy in the position to leave home.
In Season 3, we saw the return of Angel that had a big impact on not only Buffy but also the whole gang. We also saw betrayal on a small level when Willow and Xander had a short affair, which broke Cordelia's heart. I think the two main issues evident in the season all had to do with choices. In "Bad Girls", Faith killed a human by accident. She took the choice of running from the law and hence turning to the dark side for longing. From "Choices" to "Graduation Day", we see the gang making choices about the future. Angel left Sunnydale as a choice for the sake of Buffy. In the mist of all of this, it was the year when the Columbine High Massacre occurred and this disturbed millions of people in America. "Earshot" is an episode that, unfortunately, was scheduled to air at the wrong time. The episode itself also touched on school violence, but its message was to help troubled kids instead of letting them hurt others.
Season 4 was the start of university for the gang. New ideas were being played out especially the idea of homosexuality. Willow turns gay after Oz leaves. Buffy moves on with her relationships with a nice guy Riley who turned out to be from a secret government program that deals with demons and the supernatural.
Death was a heavy issue in Season 5. Buffy's mother, Joyce, was found dead in her own house in "The Body", by Buffy herself. The episode was full of sadness. But the biggest sacrifice that Buffy had to make was herself in "The Gift" when she gave up her life to save the world. Dawn was introduced in this season, bringing in family issues, and finally realising that she wasn't Buffy's sister.
Buffy kept going as Buffy got resurrected by Willow and the gang in Season 6. And as we saw in "Once More, With Feeling", Buffy was actually torn from Heaven, which she blamed the gang for it and was not happy about it. She used Spike to ease her pain. Season 6 also saw the death of the beloved Tara, which set Willow on fire (not literally) and vowed to destroy the world. Only Xander's love and friendship for her actually stopped her from becoming a murderous villain. So in this season, love, friendship and death are explored in a deeper depth and really brought out the values of life which we must face everyday. To top the season, Spike got his soul after trying to rape Buffy.
In Season 7, the end was very near. Anya and Spike died while sacrificing themselves for the world. We realised that there were many more potential slayers in the world. And the season saw Buffy go into motivational mood with lots of inspiring speeches.
Throughout the series, we saw Giles becoming a 'second' father for Buffy, the friendship of Buffy, Willow and Xander grow and nourish, and we see the transformations that some of the villains and bad-ass characters such as Faith and Spike. Buffy also touched on other issues which I did not cover but we can see that through Buffy, we realise how much evil is in this world. It is not about monsters and supernatural, but about death, love and friendship. Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave us insight on reality, on issues that we, normal human beings, face everyday.
SPOILER: All seven seasons are mentioned.
More Than Just Vampires
When many people watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they only see the surface values of the TV series. At first, I did too think that Buffy was only about vampires, demons, Hell and magic. As I watched more of the series, I began to understand the deeper values that Buffy brings out, things like friendship, love, self-discovery and growing up.
There are issues of world that are presented in Buffy. The major issues of the series include love, friendship, self-discovery, and even death. Throughout the series, the characters have been slowly growing up and maturing. Even in the first episode, these real life issues were presented, like when Cordelia started bullying Xander and Willow. Throughout the first season, outcast has been a big issue. Buffy is a definitely an outsider, being the Slayer, she has the weight of the whole world pressured onto her shoulders. Xander and Willow are outsiders compared to the popular at school. Even Giles is an outsider, an Englishman in America.
By Season 2, serious issues start to come out, which included parent- teenager relationships. The season talked about the past, somewhat a darker past for Giles in "The Dark Age", and the future, which would be the careers that the teenagers would face after they graduate. "Bad Eggs" is a good example of the fear of parenthood and its responsibilities. In "Surprise", our hero Buffy loses her virginity, which then the series began dealing with the adult issue of sexuality. Death is first explored in "Passion" where Angelus kills Jenny Calendar. But perhaps on a deeper level, "Becoming Part 2" presented death through Buffy's own point of view. Buffy, being the Slayer, gave up the love of her life to save the world, which would be a very hard decision for a teenage girl to make. Also, Joyce's reaction to Buffy's calling left Buffy in the position to leave home.
In Season 3, we saw the return of Angel that had a big impact on not only Buffy but also the whole gang. We also saw betrayal on a small level when Willow and Xander had a short affair, which broke Cordelia's heart. I think the two main issues evident in the season all had to do with choices. In "Bad Girls", Faith killed a human by accident. She took the choice of running from the law and hence turning to the dark side for longing. From "Choices" to "Graduation Day", we see the gang making choices about the future. Angel left Sunnydale as a choice for the sake of Buffy. In the mist of all of this, it was the year when the Columbine High Massacre occurred and this disturbed millions of people in America. "Earshot" is an episode that, unfortunately, was scheduled to air at the wrong time. The episode itself also touched on school violence, but its message was to help troubled kids instead of letting them hurt others.
Season 4 was the start of university for the gang. New ideas were being played out especially the idea of homosexuality. Willow turns gay after Oz leaves. Buffy moves on with her relationships with a nice guy Riley who turned out to be from a secret government program that deals with demons and the supernatural.
Death was a heavy issue in Season 5. Buffy's mother, Joyce, was found dead in her own house in "The Body", by Buffy herself. The episode was full of sadness. But the biggest sacrifice that Buffy had to make was herself in "The Gift" when she gave up her life to save the world. Dawn was introduced in this season, bringing in family issues, and finally realising that she wasn't Buffy's sister.
Buffy kept going as Buffy got resurrected by Willow and the gang in Season 6. And as we saw in "Once More, With Feeling", Buffy was actually torn from Heaven, which she blamed the gang for it and was not happy about it. She used Spike to ease her pain. Season 6 also saw the death of the beloved Tara, which set Willow on fire (not literally) and vowed to destroy the world. Only Xander's love and friendship for her actually stopped her from becoming a murderous villain. So in this season, love, friendship and death are explored in a deeper depth and really brought out the values of life which we must face everyday. To top the season, Spike got his soul after trying to rape Buffy.
In Season 7, the end was very near. Anya and Spike died while sacrificing themselves for the world. We realised that there were many more potential slayers in the world. And the season saw Buffy go into motivational mood with lots of inspiring speeches.
Throughout the series, we saw Giles becoming a 'second' father for Buffy, the friendship of Buffy, Willow and Xander grow and nourish, and we see the transformations that some of the villains and bad-ass characters such as Faith and Spike. Buffy also touched on other issues which I did not cover but we can see that through Buffy, we realise how much evil is in this world. It is not about monsters and supernatural, but about death, love and friendship. Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave us insight on reality, on issues that we, normal human beings, face everyday.