Buffy the Vampire Slayer

We just wrapped up the best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series where I went season by season depicting the good and the bad of each particular season. What I may have glazed over is the actual impact that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had on society and on television in general so I am doing a whole video essay on my favorite show. The good, the bad, the very bad and the show's impact.

Let’s start with the good;

The dialogue in this show is excellent and it is one of those shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and Psych that shaped an entire generation's sense of humor. In fact it is perhaps the most consistent part of the show, the one element that never suffers. Buffy is a very quippy hero and that keeps the show funny and interesting. Buffy is very well known for her uplifting monologues and it becomes kind of an ongoing joke in the fandom but in a good way.

The makeup design; Now we know I’ve got to draw attention to the incredible makeup artists that worked on the show. As a show that was largely monster of the week in an industry long before actual CGI the makeup artists that worked on this show were not only incredibly skilled at the execution part of the process but they were arguably some of the most creative people on the production team. Simply one of my favorite parts of the show.

Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yes the rest of the cast is also fantastic but I do believe that there are other people that could have played the rest of the roles, maybe not as well but pretty decently. There is no other person that could have played Buffy. Sarah Michelle was the perfect casting choice and she is a major reason why the show was as good as it was.

The themes. The show always did a really good job of using the monsters as a way to work through the struggles of growing up and going through love, relationships and insecurities. Buffy was always a very grounded and connected show that was very universal and relatable.

Okay let's move on to the bad;

The overwhelming amount of rapey episodes and vibes in the last 3 seasons. Pretty sure almost every episode Warren appears in has some form of rape or attempted rape in it. Is it at all necessary? No. Does it enhance anyone’s character arc or overall story in any way? No. It’s something I really really hate about the later parts of the show.

The entirety of season 5. Buffy goes from fighting monsters and vampires to fighting a literal God from a different dimension. It's just so out of left field and a major jump in the established reality. Also Dawn’s entire existence. She doesn’t add anything to the story or the group other than being majorly annoying and whiny.

The Impact;

Along with the incredible amount of Buffy the Vampire Slayer references in pop culture; from Gilmore Girls to Xena, from Charmed to Smallville, Friends, Supernatural, The Simpsons, True Blood, Castle, Heroes, Vampire Diaries, Big Bang Theory, This is Us, The Magicians, Ginny and Georgia Buffy’s presence is still very felt in the bones of pop culture but it's more than a reference in tv shows. The show had structural impacts to the entire industry.

It inspired the new era of Doctor Who. Russel T. Davies cited Joss Whedon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as inspiration for the structure of the new Who series.

The show pioneered LGBTQ representation in mainstream television. Willow and Tara are still one of the most iconic couples in television history but the show was threatened with cancellation if Joss didn’t break them up. He refused and our favorite lesbians became one of the first queer couples allowed to exist on screen.

It was literally one of the first shows to follow not only the monster of the week format but also have an overarching “big bad” that all the episodes of a season built to as well. Shows like Supernatural, Lost, Scandal, and Justified also followed this format.

Turning the pretty blonde dies first on its head. Normally in horror settings the pretty blonde girl gets killed off rather quickly. Having her be the one to have power to hunt the monsters was in of itself brilliant. And it changed the scope of television and film forever. I can already hear the boomers screaming “but Alien” at their screens but here’s the reality all “strong female” characters at this time were written as men with boobs. There was no femininity or feminine experience in them at all. This changed with Buffy. All of the incredible female characters you love now are thanks to Buffy.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the scope of television as a whole, it has impacts that we are still feeling today and for the most part the series holds up. The creator of it doesn’t and to be fair his involvement was always problematic and the real person we can thank for the show's best parts is Marti Noxon. Either way I am very aware that the show has its flaws but so much of what tv is now is owed to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.