1. Buffy is often described as cult TV - what characteristics do you think define a film or television programme as 'cult'? What relationship do these characteristics have with Thompson's (as cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002) description of 'quality television'?
2. Buffy questions the traditional filmic dichotomy between good and evil. How was this seen in the week 9 screenings of Buffy?
3. Buffy often makes reference to other genres or pre-texts. Do you think it is necessary to be familiar with these genres or pre-texts to understand or enjoy watching Buffy?
4. Although it is a fantasy, Buffy is often described as being more realistic than most 'serious' television. Did this come across in the week 9 screenings?
A television programme can be broadly defined as 'cult' when it has a loyal audience of devoted followers. These followers "set fads and fashions, generate merchandise, inspire fan clubs and conventions or pervade the national consciousness to some degree" says TV critic Jeff Evans on the BBC news website. The followers may also engage in fanfiction, debating, taking part in activities wearing replica costumes, etc.
With regard to these characteristics, and their relationship with Robert Thompson's touchstones, I feel numbers 5 and 9 are the most relevant.
No. 5. says "Quality TV creates a new genre by mixing old ones."(p.6). The words it contains about Buffy: the series "elevates -no celebrates - these misunderstood and mistreated pop art forms" apply to the 'cult' definitions.
No. 9 (p. 7): "Quality TV aspires to 'realism.'" Here, the cult audience can identify with the real, but controversial issues such as lesbianism, included in the Buffy series. Also, many young people face adolescent problems similar to those portrayed at Buffy's high school, so I feel realism is an important factor leading to the establishment of Buffy fan groups, where audiences identify with elements in the programme.
Thank you Renabrab for sharing the information on cult TV. It helped to understand what cult TV is. Cult TV appeals strongly to some people that they do not just watch it but become, as you pointed out, devoted followers. I agree with Renabrab that realism is an important factor making ‘Buffy’ a quality TV. As I was watching ‘Buffy’, I noticed it deals with teenagers and their lives. As Campbell (cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002) noted, ‘it captures the conversational rhythms of teenagers and exploring issues that permeated their lives – friendship, jealousy, self-esteem, responsibility, rules, sex, good, and evil (p. xx)’. Therefore as Renabrab cited, many teenagers can identify with what the characters are experiencing. The other thing I noticed is that the teenagers in ‘Buffy’ are independent, have control over their lives and they accomplish many things, which are not usually the case for many teenagers in reality. I think this is also a reason which attracts more audience. I remember reading ‘The Adventure of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain when I was little. I enjoyed reading it. One of the things I liked was that Tom was actually in control over his life and adults while I was not.
Q2. According to Krzywinska (2002), ‘Buffy does not just adopt the traditional categories of good and evil but questions it and makes it relative (pp. 180-181)”. From the week 9 viewing of ‘Buffy’, however, I could only find ‘good versus evil; Buffy/the sccooby gang versus the vampires/Adam’. Maybe this is because I missed out something or I watched too few episodes. What do you think?
Q5. Yes, I enjoyed watching it. I liked because it was relatively light and funny compared to other vampire stories which are dark and serious without humour. Campbell (cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002 ) also says that ‘the sly humour in Buffy is one of the things kept him interest.
To me, it was also helpful what Renabrab explained about the cult TV. Frankly speaking, I was really not interesting this genre of TV series. But after watching (at first reluctantly) several episodes of the season one, I had to admit that I also have become a fan or, can I dare to say, devoted follower? Anyway, this may be one of the characteristics of the cult TV as both Renabrab and Harim said.
I agree with Renabrab’s thoughts about what characteristics of cult TV are related to Thompson’s touchstones.From my understanding, Thompson describes that ‘Buffy’, as a quality TV, it has shifted those misunderstood and mistreated old pop genres to more higher and important art forms, am I right?
More to say, Thompson says that Whedon is interested in “emotional realism”. When I watched the season one episodes, realism truly struck on me. Although Buffy is ‘vampire slayer’, she cannot deny the fact that she is just a girl who wants to go out with the man she likes and have fun together. It could be seem a bit cruel for teenager girl to slay vampire, as most of teenage girls and boys do not have such a paramount burden on their shoulder as Buffy does. In fact, what they care about is things like what to wear tomorrow, how to be cool in the school etc. Buffy knows that the power of slaying vampire is given to be for very special reason in deep inside her heart, but simultaneously, she wants to live like any other normal teenagers do. I don’t know which episode that was (but still one of season one episodes), anyway, when Owen, a guy whom Buffy fancied, asked Buffy on a date, she instantly said ‘yes’ and we could see how happy she was. Nevertheless, when vampire watcher (Giles) told Buffy that on the very same date, vampire is arising, as most of teenager would do, she kept refusing to corporate with him (Giles). Here, as you guys said audiences can identify with what Buffy is experiencing.
5. Yes, I also enjoyed watching it. As I said I wasn’t interested in this type of dramas, because personally, I thought these seemed to be a bit infantile. So initially, I borrowed and watched it reluctantly for the study purpose, but later I have found it interesting which made me keep watching the following episodes. So far, I believe I have watched the entire season one (because I finished watching the 3 DVDs of season 1). Although, Buffy, she alone stands and fights against the vampires or demons, and someone can say it is scaring; but I feel, like Harim, is was a bit light and interesting than I thought earlier.
2. Hi Harim, yes, on the week 9 screening of Buffy showed ‘good versus evil’. I think ‘Buffy’ who may stand on ‘good’ side as a slayer of vampires, however some characters in Buffy seems not to be shown clearly in the ‘good’ side or ‘evil’ side.
In week 9 screening of Buffy, Riley notices Spike as the vampire, but Spike admits himself that he cannot bite anymore. Virtually, both Spike and Angel initially had killed thousands of innocents depicting ‘evil’ side, but later they start to show opposite side of the evil supporting Buffy. In other words, both of them were once ‘evil’ but later turn to ‘good’ side and fell in love with the slayer. Angel finally makes love with Buffy, and then turned to Algelus and starts to kill again.
Therefore, unlike traditional filmic dichotomy of good and evil, I think, the notions of good and evil in Buffy shows less fixed (Braun, 2000). I’m not sure, but this is my view on that question.
Hi, Hannah! Thank you for your reply. Since my last comment, I have watched 5 or 6 more episodes at home. I watched the episode ‘Angel’ as well. I agree that the depiction of good and evil is more complex in Buffy.
I have found that unlike some other TV shows (dramas), Buffy is quite unpredictable. I mean each episode deals with something new, not the same villain repeating same troubles all the time. For example, each episode shows different variety of vampires, the demon trapped in a book for instance or other supernatural matters such as nightmares becoming reality. The only thing I can predict in Buffy is each episode will have a happy ending. I think predictable TV shows are boring and i don't like watching them.
Yes, I absolutely agree with your thought,Harim. I think you mentioned a really good point. Since we all think than Buffy is unique compared to other characters in this television programme, we are more attracted to Buffy. personally, everytime I watch it, curiosity of what would happen next always makes me to keep watching it and wait for the end or answer, so to say. I think this may be a reason why vast universities include Buffy series in their course.( Am I correct to say this? I think I heard it from Darryl during our lecture. Please correct me if I am wrong.)
Q.2 Re good and evil. Although not completly relevant to the Wk 9 screening, I would like to add the following piece in relation to Hannah's opinion. This came from a slide on our lecture notes: 'Characters may be heroic on one level, but presented as ambigious or dangerous on another level, or clearly evil in one episode and remorsefully, genuinely good in another... Buffy the Vampire Slayer offer(s) a vision or morality that resists easy categorization". I thought that quote summed up the good v evil happenings in Buffy well.
Q.3 I don't think it is necessary to be fmiliar with pre-texts to enjoy Buffy, but to get the full appreciation and understanding from Buffy and other texts incorporating intertextuality, it obviously helps enormously in our enjoyment of a text if we can pick up the subtleties and sub-texts imbedded.
Q2: The earlier seasons of Buffy is without a doubt a manifestation of the traditional filmic dichotomy between good and evil. This creeps out quite obviously during the week 9 screenings of Buffy. The plot itself embraces this dichotomy by portraying the standoff between Buffy, the slayer appointed by fate, and the evil bloodsucking vampires. However, this is not to say that Buffy is perfect, as Renabrab said, she does have some ambiguous and dangerous qualities, a good example of which was mentioned in the very first episode, where numerous references to her burning down the gym of her previous school arose. The line between good and evil blurs as the series progresses. We latter learn that Angel is in fact a Vampire, which is, in itself, a contradiction. The very paradox of a good Vampire [Angel] flies in the face of the dichotomy between good and evil. As the plot develops further, we are told that Vampires can in fact regain their soul and fight for the side of good – Spike; and also that Slayers can fall over to the dark side – Faith.
Q3: I don’t think it’s really necessary to be familiar with the pre-texts to enjoy Buffy, but it definitely helps to have at least some understanding of the pre-texts and the genre to understand the plot. For example, Buffy does have quite a lot of sub-textual references to the bible and Christian beliefs, such as the naming of the characters – Angel, Lucifer etc. However the audience doesn’t necessarily have to know Lucifer from the bible to guess that the ugly Vampire guy with massive teeth is up to no good. We as audiences might not notice these subtleties since we are so used to the concept of Christianity, but viewers who do not have the contextual knowledge may find it difficult to grasp the more intimate details of Buffy. That been said however, not understanding these details does not prevent the audiences from being able to enjoy or understand Buffy. In short, though it may help to know that sunlight and stake through the heart would kill a vampire, it is not necessarily an essential knowledge to have prior to watching Buffy.
Q4. One of the major factors which make the audience think that Buffy is more realistic and believable than other fantasy TV series is the way it incorporates everyday issues into each episode. Although it is a fantasy about killing vampires and demons, it also deals with issues such as high school popularity etc. For example, in the first episode of the series, Buffy is faced with a decision over which crowd of people she hangs out with. From the audiences’ perspective, this correlates to an increase in the degree of believability, bridging the gap between Buffy the TV series and reality, as they are shown that Buffy has to deal with high school ‘politics’ just like everybody else does. The downside of this however, is that for some people the gap between fantasy and reality becomes so obscured that they start to think that vampires actually exist.
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Questions for discussion
1. Buffy is often described as cult TV - what characteristics do you think define a film or television programme as 'cult'?
What relationship do these characteristics have with Thompson's (as cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002) description of 'quality television'?
2. Buffy questions the traditional filmic dichotomy between good and evil. How was this seen in the week 9 screenings of Buffy?
3. Buffy often makes reference to other genres or pre-texts. Do you think it is necessary to be familiar with these genres or pre-texts to understand or enjoy watching Buffy?
4. Although it is a fantasy, Buffy is often described as being more realistic than most 'serious' television. Did this come across in the week 9 screenings?
5. Did you like watching Buffy?
A television programme can be broadly defined as 'cult' when it has a loyal audience of devoted followers. These followers "set fads and fashions, generate merchandise, inspire fan clubs and conventions or pervade the national consciousness to some degree" says TV critic Jeff Evans on the BBC news website. The followers may also engage in fanfiction, debating, taking part in activities wearing replica costumes, etc.
With regard to these characteristics, and their relationship with Robert Thompson's touchstones, I feel numbers 5 and 9 are the most relevant.
No. 5. says "Quality TV creates a new genre by mixing old ones."(p.6). The words it contains about Buffy: the series "elevates -no celebrates - these misunderstood and mistreated pop art forms" apply to the 'cult' definitions.
No. 9 (p. 7): "Quality TV aspires to 'realism.'" Here, the cult audience can identify with the real, but controversial issues such as lesbianism, included in the Buffy series. Also, many young people face adolescent problems similar to those portrayed at Buffy's high school, so I feel realism is an important factor leading to the establishment of Buffy fan groups, where audiences identify with elements in the programme.
Thank you Renabrab for sharing the information on cult TV. It helped to understand what cult TV is. Cult TV appeals strongly to some people that they do not just watch it but become, as you pointed out, devoted followers.
I agree with Renabrab that realism is an important factor making ‘Buffy’ a quality TV. As I was watching ‘Buffy’, I noticed it deals with teenagers and their lives. As Campbell (cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002) noted, ‘it captures the conversational rhythms of teenagers and exploring issues that permeated their lives – friendship, jealousy, self-esteem, responsibility, rules, sex, good, and evil (p. xx)’. Therefore as Renabrab cited, many teenagers can identify with what the characters are experiencing.
The other thing I noticed is that the teenagers in ‘Buffy’ are independent, have control over their lives and they accomplish many things, which are not usually the case for many teenagers in reality. I think this is also a reason which attracts more audience. I remember reading ‘The Adventure of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain when I was little. I enjoyed reading it. One of the things I liked was that Tom was actually in control over his life and adults while I was not.
Q2. According to Krzywinska (2002), ‘Buffy does not just adopt the traditional categories of good and evil but questions it and makes it relative (pp. 180-181)”. From the week 9 viewing of ‘Buffy’, however, I could only find ‘good versus evil; Buffy/the sccooby gang versus the vampires/Adam’. Maybe this is because I missed out something or I watched too few episodes. What do you think?
Q5. Yes, I enjoyed watching it.
I liked because it was relatively light and funny compared to other vampire stories which are dark and serious without humour. Campbell (cited in Wilcox and Lavery, 2002 ) also says that ‘the sly humour in Buffy is one of the things kept him interest.
To me, it was also helpful what Renabrab explained about the cult TV. Frankly speaking, I was really not interesting this genre of TV series. But after watching (at first reluctantly) several episodes of the season one, I had to admit that I also have become a fan or, can I dare to say, devoted follower? Anyway, this may be one of the characteristics of the cult TV as both Renabrab and Harim said.
I agree with Renabrab’s thoughts about what characteristics of cult TV are related to Thompson’s touchstones.From my understanding, Thompson describes that ‘Buffy’, as a quality TV, it has shifted those misunderstood and mistreated old pop genres to more higher and important art forms, am I right?
More to say, Thompson says that Whedon is interested in “emotional realism”. When I watched the season one episodes, realism truly struck on me. Although Buffy is ‘vampire slayer’, she cannot deny the fact that she is just a girl who wants to go out with the man she likes and have fun together.
It could be seem a bit cruel for teenager girl to slay vampire, as most of teenage girls and boys do not have such a paramount burden on their shoulder as Buffy does. In fact, what they care about is things like what to wear tomorrow, how to be cool in the school etc. Buffy knows that the power of slaying vampire is given to be for very special reason in deep inside her heart, but simultaneously, she wants to live like any other normal teenagers do.
I don’t know which episode that was (but still one of season one episodes), anyway, when Owen, a guy whom Buffy fancied, asked Buffy on a date, she instantly said ‘yes’ and we could see how happy she was. Nevertheless, when vampire watcher (Giles) told Buffy that on the very same date, vampire is arising, as most of teenager would do, she kept refusing to corporate with him (Giles). Here, as you guys said audiences can identify with what Buffy is experiencing.
5. Yes, I also enjoyed watching it. As I said I wasn’t interested in this type of dramas, because personally, I thought these seemed to be a bit infantile. So initially, I borrowed and watched it reluctantly for the study purpose, but later I have found it interesting which made me keep watching the following episodes. So far, I believe I have watched the entire season one (because I finished watching the 3 DVDs of season 1). Although, Buffy, she alone stands and fights against the vampires or demons, and someone can say it is scaring; but I feel, like Harim, is was a bit light and interesting than I thought earlier.
2. Hi Harim, yes, on the week 9 screening of Buffy showed ‘good versus evil’. I think ‘Buffy’ who may stand on ‘good’ side as a slayer of vampires, however some characters in Buffy seems not to be shown clearly in the ‘good’ side or ‘evil’ side.
In week 9 screening of Buffy, Riley notices Spike as the vampire, but Spike admits himself that he cannot bite anymore. Virtually, both Spike and Angel initially had killed thousands of innocents depicting ‘evil’ side, but later they start to show opposite side of the evil supporting Buffy. In other words, both of them were once ‘evil’ but later turn to ‘good’ side and fell in love with the slayer. Angel finally makes love with Buffy, and then turned to Algelus and starts to kill again.
Therefore, unlike traditional filmic dichotomy of good and evil, I think, the notions of good and evil in Buffy shows less fixed (Braun, 2000). I’m not sure, but this is my view on that question.
Hi, Hannah! Thank you for your reply. Since my last comment, I have watched 5 or 6 more episodes at home. I watched the episode ‘Angel’ as well. I agree that the depiction of good and evil is more complex in Buffy.
I have found that unlike some other TV shows (dramas), Buffy is quite unpredictable. I mean each episode deals with something new, not the same villain repeating same troubles all the time. For example, each episode shows different variety of vampires, the demon trapped in a book for instance or other supernatural matters such as nightmares becoming reality. The only thing I can predict in Buffy is each episode will have a happy ending. I think predictable TV shows are boring and i don't like watching them.
Yes, I absolutely agree with your thought,Harim. I think you mentioned a really good point. Since we all think than Buffy is unique compared to other characters in this television programme, we are more attracted to Buffy. personally, everytime I watch it, curiosity of what would happen next always makes me to keep watching it and wait for the end or answer, so to say.
I think this may be a reason why vast universities include Buffy series in their course.( Am I correct to say this? I think I heard it from Darryl during our lecture. Please correct me if I am wrong.)
Q.2 Re good and evil. Although not completly relevant to the Wk 9 screening, I would like to add the following piece in relation to Hannah's opinion. This came from a slide on our lecture notes: 'Characters may be heroic on one level, but presented as ambigious or dangerous on another level, or clearly evil in one episode and remorsefully, genuinely good in another... Buffy the Vampire Slayer offer(s) a vision or morality that resists easy categorization". I thought that quote summed up the good v evil happenings in Buffy well.
Q.3 I don't think it is necessary to be fmiliar with pre-texts to enjoy Buffy, but to get the full appreciation and understanding from Buffy and other texts incorporating intertextuality, it obviously helps enormously in our enjoyment of a text if we can pick up the subtleties and sub-texts imbedded.
Q2: The earlier seasons of Buffy is without a doubt a manifestation of the traditional filmic dichotomy between good and evil. This creeps out quite obviously during the week 9 screenings of Buffy. The plot itself embraces this dichotomy by portraying the standoff between Buffy, the slayer appointed by fate, and the evil bloodsucking vampires. However, this is not to say that Buffy is perfect, as Renabrab said, she does have some ambiguous and dangerous qualities, a good example of which was mentioned in the very first episode, where numerous references to her burning down the gym of her previous school arose. The line between good and evil blurs as the series progresses. We latter learn that Angel is in fact a Vampire, which is, in itself, a contradiction. The very paradox of a good Vampire [Angel] flies in the face of the dichotomy between good and evil. As the plot develops further, we are told that Vampires can in fact regain their soul and fight for the side of good – Spike; and also that Slayers can fall over to the dark side – Faith.
Q3: I don’t think it’s really necessary to be familiar with the pre-texts to enjoy Buffy, but it definitely helps to have at least some understanding of the pre-texts and the genre to understand the plot. For example, Buffy does have quite a lot of sub-textual references to the bible and Christian beliefs, such as the naming of the characters – Angel, Lucifer etc. However the audience doesn’t necessarily have to know Lucifer from the bible to guess that the ugly Vampire guy with massive teeth is up to no good. We as audiences might not notice these subtleties since we are so used to the concept of Christianity, but viewers who do not have the contextual knowledge may find it difficult to grasp the more intimate details of Buffy. That been said however, not understanding these details does not prevent the audiences from being able to enjoy or understand Buffy. In short, though it may help to know that sunlight and stake through the heart would kill a vampire, it is not necessarily an essential knowledge to have prior to watching Buffy.
Q4. One of the major factors which make the audience think that Buffy is more realistic and believable than other fantasy TV series is the way it incorporates everyday issues into each episode. Although it is a fantasy about killing vampires and demons, it also deals with issues such as high school popularity etc. For example, in the first episode of the series, Buffy is faced with a decision over which crowd of people she hangs out with. From the audiences’ perspective, this correlates to an increase in the degree of believability, bridging the gap between Buffy the TV series and reality, as they are shown that Buffy has to deal with high school ‘politics’ just like everybody else does. The downside of this however, is that for some people the gap between fantasy and reality becomes so obscured that they start to think that vampires actually exist.
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