Buffy the Vampire Slayer

[ericadawn16]

About fifteen years and seven hours ago, my mom asked, "Are you going to watch that new show tonight? The paper really liked it and it sounds right up your alley."

With a shrug, I was like, "Well, maybe, I guess I don't have any homework."

Just like any fourteen year old would do...

I mean it was WB which had awesome children's programming but tended to suck in the prime-time realm...

However, I was quite hooked just by the beginning prologue of a mythological reason behind some real life tragedies like Salem. As a middle schooler, I was struggling with the realization...that I liked history. It just wasn't done. You were only supposed to like electives like PE or art.

Then, we meet up with a boy and girl at a deserted school.

How trite is that, right? He'll turn out to be evil or a vampire and kill her...

WOAH! SHE'S A VAMPIRE! She just ATE him!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer quickly became my most favorite show on the television. I read the books, I discussed possible vampire contraception issues in class, I drew pictures of what were sort of like Chibis, I wrote fanfiction and I scoured the internet for spoilers.

It's a love affair that has had its ups and downs but endured nonetheless.

Now, I know, not everyone watched Buffy, not everyone cares BUT Buffy the television series changed fandom, television and film forever.

Without Buffy, there would be:

No Dawson's Creek
No Felicity
No Roswell
No Angel
No Firefly
No Alias
No Rose Tyler
No Torchwood
No Tru Calling
No Lost
No Dollhouse
No DR. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
No Warehouse 13
No Fringe
No Grimm

A Very Different Doctor Who
A Very Different How I Met Your Mother
A Very Different Bones
A Very Different Castle
A Very Different Avengers

So I'm incredibly grateful to Joss Whedon and his cast and crew for paving the way for all of this.

Comments

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Can you explain why some of those shows wouldn't exist? I didn't know Buffy influenced them... I have seen a lot of linking between Buffy and Dawson's Creek, though, which surprises me because Dawson's Creek always seemed so... vain. Which was why I used to assume Buffy was vain before actually seeing the show (although maybe that means DC isn't as vain as I thought,

Otherwise, I agree with you. Doctor Who/Torchwood would be different (as RTD was heavily influenced by Buffyverse, like we've discussed). and I think shows would be less inclined to have truly strong female characters. And I mean, even with Buffy there's still an astonishing lack of female characters who act like women and not this false idea of what women really act, think and talk like.

I also think it probably re-shaped sci fi/fantasy/action-adventure a little. You know that genre a lot better than I do, though, so I won't go too deep into it.

I find it interesting how even though I never watched the show, I always knew of it and had a basic idea of how things went down. Some of that was being in the Harry Potter fandom - I knew who Spike was because everyone compared Spike to Draco (I can totally see fandom Draco in Spike, but canon Draco is more like Andrew or Jonathan minus the nerd factor), and there were a lot of random references. But even outside of fandom, magazines always talked about it, there were TV ads, and I had a few friends who liked it. So thinking about it, it was quite influential without having to actually watch the show. Although I'm glad I finally did, of course.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I have to say, though, I find the female characters of ''classic'' who just as 'strong' (which is a problematic term in and of itself) as the New Who females.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see these strong females in classic Who. I know Sarah Jane is one of them but I'm still on the First and sometimes, I want to scream or throw things because they're all worried about the POOR FEMALES!!!!! They're constantly having Susan scream and be all flaily. Now, sometimes, I understand how the Doctor is being protective of his granddaughter and all, but sometimes, it's like...dudes, they're NOT China dolls!

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Well, I would argue that it's more complex than that. For one, our whole perception of what it means to be ''strong'' is just as limited today as it was then; it's only moved from one narrow set of traits to another. So while Old School female characters might have been depicted more stereotypically ''feminine''* ways in the sense that they screamed and cried a bit more, they were also a great deal more progressive than today's female characters in other ways, for instance none of them ever seemed to view the Doctor as the centre of their Universe, obsessing over him and basing their whole existence on him, and were perfectly capable of being happy without him, which is what we see a lot of in New Who. I've written a whole essay on this topic.

*Another is issue is why we stereotypically ''feminine'' traits are viewed in derogatory manner. I'm afraid that we tend to base the whole notion of Strong Female Characters on how physically strong or action-heroine-y or able to hold onto their own in a fight (in other words, stereotypically ''masculine'' traits are seen as automatically positive) rather than on just being their own person.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

To me, a strong female doesn't have to be Buffy or Ripley with physical prowess but being able to lead a situation or at least hold their own or even come up with a solution without cracking under pressure.

I think that pattern with the NuWho females has a lot to do with the ages. Donna Noble and Sarah Jane were both older companions, seemed to love the experience as much or more than the Doctor himself and were fairly easily able to transition into life without him but still being fairly successful....I say fairly because I still have a problem with Rusty concluding Donna's story with being married off and coming into money...as though this was a Jane Austen romance or something.

I find the younger girls falling in love with him very realistic from my experience. Here's this mysterious man coming and taking you away from a mundane or really kind of miserable existence and taking you on fabulous adventures. The old stereotype about the college girls falling in love with their professors persists because it's very true. Young women are very susceptible to both someone showing them attention and introducing them to new experiences they haven't had before. I suppose there could also be a little but of Stockholm Syndrome there although unlike the older days, they all do choose to go with him.

However, this is a very good case for needing more variety in companions; namely, men and aliens. I have also liked the bits that addressed a married couple traveling with the Doctor and how Amy's affection was directed more and more towards her husband rather than her imaginary friend come to life.

I don't know if it changes over time but NU Who also seems to spend more time on the companions' background and family.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Well, most Classic Who female companions were more than able to do that. Barbara Wright was the first companion (that we know of) to ever give the Doctor a piece of her mind.

It might have been the ages, but even the very young Classic Who companions were never obsessed with the Doctor, and River is an example of a ''older'' woman who is fixated on him. Donna might not have been in love with him, but she still used a lot of the Knight-on-a-White-Horse symbolism when talking about him. I guess I just don't agree that the New Who companions are more progressive in all ways at all.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

And also: Sarah Jane was 23 when she started traveling with the Doctor, so she was in the same age-range as Amy, Martha and Rose. And there were several men and aliens (especially the awesome Romana) back then, too.

[psyko-kittie.livejournal.com]

To me, the link between Buffy and Dawson's Creek is more about the rise of teenage drama shows. Before Buffy, it was more teenage comedy than actual drama.

So, I think Buffy painted the way for all these shows centered around the lives of teenagers with angst and adult emotions rather than canon!fodder for a few cheap laughs. Or at least that is my opinion.

Because other than that, I don't really see a connection.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is absolutely part of it, but it also has to do with WB specifically. Joss Whedon and Buffy was the first time they took a chance with a 32 year old screenwriter with basically no producing experience, no experience at being in charge and known for doing screenplay rewrites.

Since that experiment worked, they tried Kevin Williamson and when that worked out, they hired JJ Abrams. I can't think of any other network that actively sought 32 year old scriptwriters with little experience but big ideas to create new shows for them.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

As I explained on AIM, Buffy proved that teenagers were not only EXTREMELY lucrative, could be lured away from MTV/cable by network television AND weren't dumb as well as spending money on young visionaries who were cheap from having small resumes but big on desire, creativity and talent could really pay off.

Thus, the WB took a chance on Kevin Williamson, a 32 year old who only had about two screenwriting credits to his name even though one of them was the heavily-buzzed about/critically praised Scream and he created Dawson's Creek.

Because both Dawson's Creek and Buffy did so well, the WB hired JJ Abrams, a 32 year old who only had a few screenwriting and producing credits here and there. He created Felicity where he honed his craft by experimenting with teasing information, longterm character development, creating mysteries that would go unsolved, twist endings, flash forwards, flash-backs and alternate universes. It was during Felicity that he developed the idea for Alias whose success on ABC convinced that network to take a chance on his weird show idea called Lost.

Obviously, the success of these teen shows convinced the WB to greenlight Angel and Roswell although both were safer choices based off entities that were already popular.

Ah yes, Rose Tyler, with The X-Files, the majority of viewers were women. This was dismissed as a fluke until Buffy came along. Again, the most visible, attentive viewers were female. When studying how to reboot Doctor Who, it was concluded that those who watch television the most actively and have the biggest responsibility over what their household watched and spends is...women. They also concluded that because of that, the new show would have to actively target the female demographic and to do that, they studied Buffy. Thus, our main character during that first season was not the Doctor, but Rose Tyler, a blonde who was young and pretty, working a job she hated and usually underestimated by others. They also made sure new viewers who were unfamiliar with the classic series would root for a romance between the two because females tend to prefer romance which was a big factor in Buffy and The X-Files.

The romance is exactly why Rusty felt he had to throw a distraction/complication in the way which would become Jack Harkness. Jack was only created as a reason why Rose and the Doctor couldn't get together and without Jack, there would be no Torchwood.

Tru Calling was created, produced and written mainly by people who had made their mark on Buffy and Dawson's Creek. Grimm and Warehouse 13 were both created by Buffy veterans, plus, Warehouse 13 probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Torchwood which wouldn't exist except for Buffy.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

And without Twin Peaks, there would have been no Buffy. :)

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Well, considering the television network was the WB but it was made by Fox and a lot of the story/production ideas involved, I think it owes a lot to The X-Files which owes its creation to Twin Peaks and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

It does always amaze me how... simplistic tv used to be back in the day.

[mediate89.livejournal.com]

I remember when I was in eighth grade my friend could recite the title of every episode from every season. I don't know how many seasons there were at that point (ca 2003) but she had quite the list.

EDIT: I just Googled and apparently the show ended in 2003. So I guess it was every episode.

[carrotgirl.livejournal.com]

Another reason this show is so amazing is that it stands the test of time. I can rewatch it every few years and it is just as good (okay, the special affects aren't as impressive as they once were, but the writing is so strong that it just doesn't matter).

[carrotgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I would also add that we wouldn't have certain other media either. The computer game I fell in love with before Christmas - Dragon Age - has quite a few Buffy references (line quotes thrown in several places) , and apparently one of the love interests was based loosely on a cross between Xander and Mal Reynolds.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're absolutely right about both the strength of its writing and stories and how its influence reached all media, not just film and television. I should have addressed that but it was like 2 AM when I was writing it.