Book Review — INTO EVERY GENERATION A SLAYER IS BORN by Evan Ross Katz
Explore the history and cultural impact of a groundbreaking television show adored by old and new fans alike: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Over the course of its seven-year run, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cultivated a loyal fandom and featured a strong, complex female lead, at a time when such a character was a rarity. Evan Ross Katz explores the show’s cultural relevance through a book that is part oral history, part celebration, and part memoir of a personal fandom that has universal resonance still, decades later.
Katz—with the help of the show’s cast, creators, and crew—reveals that although Buffy contributed to important conversations about gender, sexuality, and feminism, it was not free of internal strife, controversy, and shortcomings. Men—both on screen and off—would taint the show’s reputation as a feminist masterpiece, and changing networks, amongst other factors, would drastically alter the show’s tone.
Katz addresses these issues and more, including interviews with stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, Seth Green, Marc Blucas, Nicholas Brendon, Danny Strong, Tom Lenk, Bianca Lawson, Julie Benz, Clare Kramer, K. Todd Freeman, Sharon Ferguson; and writers Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson, and Drew Z. Greenberg; as well as conversations with Buffy fanatics and friends of the cast including Stacey Abrams, Cynthia Erivo, Lee Pace, Claire Saffitz, Tavi Gevinson, and Selma Blair.
Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born engages with the very notion of fandom, and the ways a show like Buffy can influence not only how we see the world but how we exist within it.
Release Date: March 15, 2022
My ThoughtsEvery once in a while, a TV show comes along that pulls us into its vortex and becomes a cultural phenomenon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one such show.
Sarah Michelle Gellar became so wrapped up in the part of Buffy that it’s difficult to separate the two. The show was ahead of its time in presenting empowered females and gay relationships, and it managed to straddle that line between a show teenagers relate to and adults loved.
With Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born, Evan Ross Katz gives us both an inside view and a cultural perspective of all things Buffy.
The first half of the book gives a briefing of each season, including highlights and interviews with cast members. The second half gives us a deep-dive into Joss Whedon’s emotional abuse on set, particularly in regards to the females. Coming from a show and a man claiming to empower women, it’s especially disturbing to learn how he treated them.
Fascinating book for all Buffy fans.
*I received an ARC from Hachette Books.*
The post Book Review — INTO EVERY GENERATION A SLAYER IS BORN by Evan Ross Katz appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
