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Buffy Goes Dark: Essays on the Final Two Seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Television
Buffy the Vampire Slayer earned critical acclaim for its use of metaphor to explore the conflicts of growth, power, and transgression. Its groundbreaking stylistic and thematic devices, boldness and wit earned it an intensely devoted fan base-and as it approached its zenith, attention from media watchdog groups and the Federal Communications Commission. The grim and provocative evolution of the show over its final two seasons polarized its audience, while also breaking new ground for critical and philosophical analysis. The thirteen essays in this collection, divided into the perspectives of feminist, cultural, auteur and fan studies, explore the popular series' conclusion, providing a multifaceted examination of Buffy's most controversial two seasons.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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March 1, 2021
Still hate season six with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Also reads differently now that so much has come out of Whedon. Fuck that pos.
July 20, 2009
I enjoyed this collection of essays and feel compelled to marathon seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy, which I have always enjoyed. The “dark years” always seemed fitting to me and contain great stories and character arcs. Below is my reaction to each piece in this book.
Martin Noxon: Buffy’s Other Genius by David Perry.
I will bashfully admit I tend only to notice if Joss is the writer. I know the names of the other writers, but couldn’t identify their episodes. I’m fascinated by this look at Noxon’s work and now am sure she is utterly brilliant.
“Buffy is not a show that its fan simply watch; it inspires obsession. Fans fall in love with the show, and they fall in love with the characters.”
Top Noxon episode (by my standards): “Surprise.” She then was a co-executive producer and later executive producer on many other great episodes, including “Helpless,” “Hush,” “The Body,” “The Gift,” “Conversations with Dead People,” and “Chosen.” She went on to be a consulting producer on 66 episodes of Angel.
Understanding the Espensode by David Kociemba.
Great insight into Jane Espenson. I didn’t realize she wrote for Tru Calling! (And Dinosaurs and Ellen, favorite shows in my youth). I was aware of her blog (http://www.janeespenson.com/) and now I’m going to start investing some time there.
“Reminding the audience of the essential humanity of tough protagonists only raises the stakes in the long run; as it did on BtVS, the comic and the deadly serious build off one another and the distinctions between comedic and dramatic characters begin to collapse. That is an important step towards creating characters that evolve into being more than fictions even as they remain fictional.”
By coincidence, after reading this essay, Matt and I sat down to watch the pilot episode of “Warehouse 13.” I jumped online to look up one of the actors and soon realized Espenson is a co-creator and writer for the series! How fortuitous. And no wonder it was so good and clever!!
Espenson was the executive story editor on many of my Buffy faves: “Helpless,” “Hush,” “This Year’s Girl,” “Who Are You?” “The Gift,” “Bargaining,” “Selfless,” “Touched,” “Chosen.”
Evil, Skany, and Kinda Gay: Lesbian Images and Issues by Alissa Wilts.
Wilts asserts that, ultimately, Buffy “perpetuates the harmful stereotype of predatory lesbians,” as it gives way to the label of the “Dead-Evil Lesbian Cliché.” She recognizes that “television is a social educational tool” and thinks Whedon ultimately falls short on breaking barriers for the beloved lesbian couple, Tara and Willow. Wilts discusses the two years of a beautiful, loving relationship that Tara and Willow share, but believes it is undermined by the death and destruction that meet it in the end. She argues that, “the audience at home [will think:] that lesbians are manipulative and obsessive.” In all my years as a Buffy viewer, I never came to that conclusion. In fact, I think the relationship between Willow and Tara was one of the most beautiful on the series. Furthermore, Wilts believes that since “Tara’s death comes immediately after a scene of heavy sexual flirtation [it indicates that:] lesbian relationships end in misery and death.” I have two responses. First of all, the sexual overtone of the episode helps to show the intense bond between Willow and Tara, therefore demonstrating the deep pain of Willow’s loss when Tara dies. Secondly, to be fair, NO romance on Buffy survives, lesbian or straight. And, well, in actuality, the only couple that is still together in the season finale is a lesbian relationship (Willow and Kennedy). Wilts then says that “Buffy’s straight characters do not suffer in the same way [as Willow:].” I think Giles and Buffy would beg to differ: remember how Giles finds Jenny’s dead body in his bed and how Buffy has to kill Angel to save the world? Finally, Wilts discusses problems she has with the lesbians being portrayed as “feminine” and “attractive to straight men.” But, c’mon, isn’t everyone on Buffy pretty and appealing? Wilts writes her arguments well, but I think they fail to stand.
“It’s Complicated … Because of Tara”: History, Identity Politics, and the Straight White Male Author by Brandy Ryan.
This essay is a perfect rebuttal to the aforementioned “Evil-Dead Lesbian Cliché.” Ryan reasonably argues that, “Buffy’s history of pain and torment for its primary characters suggests that rather than positing Willow and Tara as a site of difference to be punished in ways unlike its other characters, this storyline cements their equality.” Who cares if Joss is a white, male writer? He’s writing about the human experience, something we all have in common regardless of race or sexual orientation. Wilts ultimately praises season six: “This is Buffy at its best: exploring how people deal with loss, struggle with weakness, and attempt to fight their internal darkness.”
The Candide of Sunnydale: Andrew Wells as Satire of Pop Culture and Marketing Trends by Ira Shull and Anne Shull.
First, I must say that I adore Andrew. Of course he is terribly flawed, but he is also very entertaining. I’ve always been able to laugh with him as I get his pop-culture references. (My favorite line of Andrew’s is in Angel’s season five to the resurrected Spike: “You're like... you're like Gandalf the White, resurrected from the pit of the Balrog, more beautiful than ever. Oh, he's alive, Frodo.”)
In this essay, the Shulls compare Andrew to Candide. While I’ve never read Voltaire, a quick peek an online summary assured me that this essay makes a great comparison.
“Andrew may largely function as comic relief during Seasons Six and Seven of BtVS, but the evolution of his character contains satirical commentary by the show’s writers on how products are pitched to certain audiences, along with the dangers of critical thinking skills being ignored, under-developed, or dialed down. Ultimately, Andrew may be seen as a modern-day Candide … torn between both good and evil and individual thought vs. mindless following.”
Buffy and the Death of Style by Michael Adams.
Great look at the dialogue (“lexical innovation”) of Buffy, smartly intertwining lyrics from “Once More with Feeling.” Adams pulls together form, passion and pain to remind us this world isn’t pretty, but you need to dance in it anyways. This is something Buffy reminds of us, and something which Joseph Campbell discussed often. “All life stinks and you must embrace that with compassion” (Campbell, Pathways to Bliss). As Adams says, “The show argues … that there is unexpected power in accepting life for what it is, and for locating one’s purpose in it.”
“Set on This Earth Like a Bubble”: Word as Flesh in the Dark Seasons by Rhonda V. Wilcox.
Beautiful look at word (the characters are “world-wielders”) and flesh, pointing specifically to Buffy’s resurrection, Willow’s down-spiral, and various parts of Spike and Buffy’s relationship. Like Adam’s essay before, Wilcox reminds us of the joined horrors and beauties of this world, like Campbell reminds us that life eats on life and can be a monstrous thing. We have to learn to live in the joyful sorrows and the sorrowful joys.
Wilcox touches on many ideas that reflect the thoughts of Campbell and Jung. For example, in her discussion on the final battle in “Chosen,” Wilcox indicates that Willow “acts physically and symbolically upstairs while Buffy, Spike, and the other champions battle demons below, uniting the conscious and the subconscious.” Also, “by the end of the series, the majority of the central characters are liminal, and that in terms of the monstrosity of their bodies, as well: they are liminally monstrous.”
I always enjoy Wilcox’s analyses of Buffy. She is a great leader of Buffy scholarship.
Bodies and Narrative in Crisis: Figures of Rupture and Chaos in Seasons Six and Seven by Gregory Erickson and Jennifer Lemberg.
I don’t think these authors are entirely sure if they like or disliked seasons six and seven. There are many points they make that I disagree with, though they did provide some good insight.
My main contentions:
Claim: “Buffy’s idea of her heavenly state if a form of negative theology, as she describes a divine experience by what it is not.” My thought: I think this is an erroneous attack. Whatever Buffy’s experience was, I doubt she would be able to fully comprehend it after her resurrection, and it sure sounds peaceful enough to me!
Claim: Buffy has a “suicide attempt in the musical episode.” My thought: Her dance sequence was not a suicide. It was a result of the magical power of Sweet.
Claim: In reference to Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy: “By depicting tramatic events, especially rape … disrupt the individual’s connection organizing daily life.” My thought: it’s important to remember that it is an attempted rape. Yes, it is horrifying and changes the way we and Buffy view Spike, but it is NOT an act of rape. The series would have changed drastically had Buffy been a rape victim/survivor.
Claim: Buffy is the big bad of season seven. My thought: Can I just say NO and have everyone nod in agreement?
Claim: “The Trio accidentally kills Warren’s ex-girlfriend.” My thought: While the Trio is responsible for many things, it is so clear and I think so important that is explicitly Warren that kills Katrina.
On the positive side, the authors express: “By depicting her [Buffy’s:] return as a traumatic event, the show attaches a conceptual vocabulary to an unimaginable experience. Psychological trauma represents a rupture or a complete break from the past … it offers an appropriate framework within which to understand Buffy’s having survived an event … it is not Buffy’s death that makes her ‘detached’ or ‘dead inside’, but the trauma of being pulled from another dimension and then left alone underground.”
Reality Bites: Buffy in the UPN Years by Lynne Y. Edwards and Carly Haines
“After five seasons of training in Buffy’s Scoobie dojo, I was ready for the biggest monster of all: real life.” YES!
This essay supplies good insight and fascinating facts. Edwards and Haines take a look at the reality faced by the Scoobies in seasons six and seven, and then they look at the realities of the late ‘90’s and the networks. This essay flushes out the struggles between the WB and UPN and the realities of television networks.
“Just a Family Legend”: The Hidden Logic of Buffy’s “Chosen Family” by Agnes B. Curry and Josef Velazquez.
The authors seemingly don’t want to commit to a definitive stance, though mostly argue that Buffy is the new patriarchy (indicating that it’s not a matriarchy despite the female lead to which I question why physicality and protectiveness is singled to patriarchy only) and that chosen families shouldn’t be the goal. First of all, I think chosen families are beautiful and CAN include biological members, so it doesn’t have to be an argument against your born family.
Main contentions:
Claim: Buffy makes the ultimate decision to accept Tara as part of the chosen family in season five’s “Family” and fails to take Willow into account. My thought: It’s precisely because Buffy takes Willow into account that she stands up for Tara.
Claim: “It is Buffy and Buffy alone who judges that Anya must die” in season seven. True, BUT: Buffy holds herself to the same standards. Recall she wants to turn herself into the police when she believes she murdered Katrina. And shouldn’t we also recall that Anya is a demon at this point?
Claim: Willow’s “father may not have been emotionally close or affectionate enough to make her secure in her attractiveness.” I simply see no evidence for this argument.
Interesting ideas:
Daddy-issues identified throughout, particularly for Willow, Xander, and B. Makes me think of LOST: “All the best cowboys have daddy issues.” Interesting continuing commentary on our society.
“It seems, then, that the members of the Scooby Gang are strongly marked by their longing for their fathers.” Particularly interesting considering Whedon himself was raised by a single mother.
Yeat’s Entropic Gyre and Season Six by Elizabeth L. Rambo.
“In many ways, the entire sixth season seemed like what I like to call ‘the anti-Buffy,’ but in Yeat’s mysterious world of opposing spirals, that is the only way to fully come back from the grave, the only way to win one’s soul, the only way to get past vengeance to forgiveness.”
This essay takes a smart look at the way the Scoobies and the Trio progress, particularly in season six. Rambo uses Yeat’s pattern of gyres to explain the inevitable development in the characters, particularly the recently resurrected Buffy.
Season Six and the Supreme Ordeal by Paul Hawkins.
Hawkins discusses how season six fits into the monomyth (originally posited by the great mythologist Joseph Campbell). However, he uses terms from Christopher Vogler to do this “simply because his phraseology is clear and simpler to understand, as well as being more specifically tailored towards the visual medium.” Perhaps the tele-tailoring is beneficial, but there is no need to replace Campbell’s terms, which are perfectly clear and effective. Hawkins makes some good comments throughout, but overall I just didn’t see enough myth analysis present given the setup for the piece. I will admit I think I am being especially hard on this piece since it is so close to my own studies. It is quite possible I was simply put off by the replacement of Campbell’s terms (this would be my own issue and no flaw of the writer).
Kiss Kiss, Stake Stake: Stroytelling and the Philosophical Pleasure of Season Season by James B. South.
This is a really good analysis, taking into consideration the Andrew-centric episode of season seven, “Storyteller.” However, for such a short essay, I think South took too much time providing the philosophical background and too little time discussing his analysis of the episode.
All in all, I was satisfied with his conclusion: “BtVS may be, in Andrew’s words ‘educating and entertaining,’ but in ‘Storyteller,’ it is not so in the sense that we can learn from it – instead we learn through it.”
Martin Noxon: Buffy’s Other Genius by David Perry.
I will bashfully admit I tend only to notice if Joss is the writer. I know the names of the other writers, but couldn’t identify their episodes. I’m fascinated by this look at Noxon’s work and now am sure she is utterly brilliant.
“Buffy is not a show that its fan simply watch; it inspires obsession. Fans fall in love with the show, and they fall in love with the characters.”
Top Noxon episode (by my standards): “Surprise.” She then was a co-executive producer and later executive producer on many other great episodes, including “Helpless,” “Hush,” “The Body,” “The Gift,” “Conversations with Dead People,” and “Chosen.” She went on to be a consulting producer on 66 episodes of Angel.
Understanding the Espensode by David Kociemba.
Great insight into Jane Espenson. I didn’t realize she wrote for Tru Calling! (And Dinosaurs and Ellen, favorite shows in my youth). I was aware of her blog (http://www.janeespenson.com/) and now I’m going to start investing some time there.
“Reminding the audience of the essential humanity of tough protagonists only raises the stakes in the long run; as it did on BtVS, the comic and the deadly serious build off one another and the distinctions between comedic and dramatic characters begin to collapse. That is an important step towards creating characters that evolve into being more than fictions even as they remain fictional.”
By coincidence, after reading this essay, Matt and I sat down to watch the pilot episode of “Warehouse 13.” I jumped online to look up one of the actors and soon realized Espenson is a co-creator and writer for the series! How fortuitous. And no wonder it was so good and clever!!
Espenson was the executive story editor on many of my Buffy faves: “Helpless,” “Hush,” “This Year’s Girl,” “Who Are You?” “The Gift,” “Bargaining,” “Selfless,” “Touched,” “Chosen.”
Evil, Skany, and Kinda Gay: Lesbian Images and Issues by Alissa Wilts.
Wilts asserts that, ultimately, Buffy “perpetuates the harmful stereotype of predatory lesbians,” as it gives way to the label of the “Dead-Evil Lesbian Cliché.” She recognizes that “television is a social educational tool” and thinks Whedon ultimately falls short on breaking barriers for the beloved lesbian couple, Tara and Willow. Wilts discusses the two years of a beautiful, loving relationship that Tara and Willow share, but believes it is undermined by the death and destruction that meet it in the end. She argues that, “the audience at home [will think:] that lesbians are manipulative and obsessive.” In all my years as a Buffy viewer, I never came to that conclusion. In fact, I think the relationship between Willow and Tara was one of the most beautiful on the series. Furthermore, Wilts believes that since “Tara’s death comes immediately after a scene of heavy sexual flirtation [it indicates that:] lesbian relationships end in misery and death.” I have two responses. First of all, the sexual overtone of the episode helps to show the intense bond between Willow and Tara, therefore demonstrating the deep pain of Willow’s loss when Tara dies. Secondly, to be fair, NO romance on Buffy survives, lesbian or straight. And, well, in actuality, the only couple that is still together in the season finale is a lesbian relationship (Willow and Kennedy). Wilts then says that “Buffy’s straight characters do not suffer in the same way [as Willow:].” I think Giles and Buffy would beg to differ: remember how Giles finds Jenny’s dead body in his bed and how Buffy has to kill Angel to save the world? Finally, Wilts discusses problems she has with the lesbians being portrayed as “feminine” and “attractive to straight men.” But, c’mon, isn’t everyone on Buffy pretty and appealing? Wilts writes her arguments well, but I think they fail to stand.
“It’s Complicated … Because of Tara”: History, Identity Politics, and the Straight White Male Author by Brandy Ryan.
This essay is a perfect rebuttal to the aforementioned “Evil-Dead Lesbian Cliché.” Ryan reasonably argues that, “Buffy’s history of pain and torment for its primary characters suggests that rather than positing Willow and Tara as a site of difference to be punished in ways unlike its other characters, this storyline cements their equality.” Who cares if Joss is a white, male writer? He’s writing about the human experience, something we all have in common regardless of race or sexual orientation. Wilts ultimately praises season six: “This is Buffy at its best: exploring how people deal with loss, struggle with weakness, and attempt to fight their internal darkness.”
The Candide of Sunnydale: Andrew Wells as Satire of Pop Culture and Marketing Trends by Ira Shull and Anne Shull.
First, I must say that I adore Andrew. Of course he is terribly flawed, but he is also very entertaining. I’ve always been able to laugh with him as I get his pop-culture references. (My favorite line of Andrew’s is in Angel’s season five to the resurrected Spike: “You're like... you're like Gandalf the White, resurrected from the pit of the Balrog, more beautiful than ever. Oh, he's alive, Frodo.”)
In this essay, the Shulls compare Andrew to Candide. While I’ve never read Voltaire, a quick peek an online summary assured me that this essay makes a great comparison.
“Andrew may largely function as comic relief during Seasons Six and Seven of BtVS, but the evolution of his character contains satirical commentary by the show’s writers on how products are pitched to certain audiences, along with the dangers of critical thinking skills being ignored, under-developed, or dialed down. Ultimately, Andrew may be seen as a modern-day Candide … torn between both good and evil and individual thought vs. mindless following.”
Buffy and the Death of Style by Michael Adams.
Great look at the dialogue (“lexical innovation”) of Buffy, smartly intertwining lyrics from “Once More with Feeling.” Adams pulls together form, passion and pain to remind us this world isn’t pretty, but you need to dance in it anyways. This is something Buffy reminds of us, and something which Joseph Campbell discussed often. “All life stinks and you must embrace that with compassion” (Campbell, Pathways to Bliss). As Adams says, “The show argues … that there is unexpected power in accepting life for what it is, and for locating one’s purpose in it.”
“Set on This Earth Like a Bubble”: Word as Flesh in the Dark Seasons by Rhonda V. Wilcox.
Beautiful look at word (the characters are “world-wielders”) and flesh, pointing specifically to Buffy’s resurrection, Willow’s down-spiral, and various parts of Spike and Buffy’s relationship. Like Adam’s essay before, Wilcox reminds us of the joined horrors and beauties of this world, like Campbell reminds us that life eats on life and can be a monstrous thing. We have to learn to live in the joyful sorrows and the sorrowful joys.
Wilcox touches on many ideas that reflect the thoughts of Campbell and Jung. For example, in her discussion on the final battle in “Chosen,” Wilcox indicates that Willow “acts physically and symbolically upstairs while Buffy, Spike, and the other champions battle demons below, uniting the conscious and the subconscious.” Also, “by the end of the series, the majority of the central characters are liminal, and that in terms of the monstrosity of their bodies, as well: they are liminally monstrous.”
I always enjoy Wilcox’s analyses of Buffy. She is a great leader of Buffy scholarship.
Bodies and Narrative in Crisis: Figures of Rupture and Chaos in Seasons Six and Seven by Gregory Erickson and Jennifer Lemberg.
I don’t think these authors are entirely sure if they like or disliked seasons six and seven. There are many points they make that I disagree with, though they did provide some good insight.
My main contentions:
Claim: “Buffy’s idea of her heavenly state if a form of negative theology, as she describes a divine experience by what it is not.” My thought: I think this is an erroneous attack. Whatever Buffy’s experience was, I doubt she would be able to fully comprehend it after her resurrection, and it sure sounds peaceful enough to me!
Claim: Buffy has a “suicide attempt in the musical episode.” My thought: Her dance sequence was not a suicide. It was a result of the magical power of Sweet.
Claim: In reference to Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy: “By depicting tramatic events, especially rape … disrupt the individual’s connection organizing daily life.” My thought: it’s important to remember that it is an attempted rape. Yes, it is horrifying and changes the way we and Buffy view Spike, but it is NOT an act of rape. The series would have changed drastically had Buffy been a rape victim/survivor.
Claim: Buffy is the big bad of season seven. My thought: Can I just say NO and have everyone nod in agreement?
Claim: “The Trio accidentally kills Warren’s ex-girlfriend.” My thought: While the Trio is responsible for many things, it is so clear and I think so important that is explicitly Warren that kills Katrina.
On the positive side, the authors express: “By depicting her [Buffy’s:] return as a traumatic event, the show attaches a conceptual vocabulary to an unimaginable experience. Psychological trauma represents a rupture or a complete break from the past … it offers an appropriate framework within which to understand Buffy’s having survived an event … it is not Buffy’s death that makes her ‘detached’ or ‘dead inside’, but the trauma of being pulled from another dimension and then left alone underground.”
Reality Bites: Buffy in the UPN Years by Lynne Y. Edwards and Carly Haines
“After five seasons of training in Buffy’s Scoobie dojo, I was ready for the biggest monster of all: real life.” YES!
This essay supplies good insight and fascinating facts. Edwards and Haines take a look at the reality faced by the Scoobies in seasons six and seven, and then they look at the realities of the late ‘90’s and the networks. This essay flushes out the struggles between the WB and UPN and the realities of television networks.
“Just a Family Legend”: The Hidden Logic of Buffy’s “Chosen Family” by Agnes B. Curry and Josef Velazquez.
The authors seemingly don’t want to commit to a definitive stance, though mostly argue that Buffy is the new patriarchy (indicating that it’s not a matriarchy despite the female lead to which I question why physicality and protectiveness is singled to patriarchy only) and that chosen families shouldn’t be the goal. First of all, I think chosen families are beautiful and CAN include biological members, so it doesn’t have to be an argument against your born family.
Main contentions:
Claim: Buffy makes the ultimate decision to accept Tara as part of the chosen family in season five’s “Family” and fails to take Willow into account. My thought: It’s precisely because Buffy takes Willow into account that she stands up for Tara.
Claim: “It is Buffy and Buffy alone who judges that Anya must die” in season seven. True, BUT: Buffy holds herself to the same standards. Recall she wants to turn herself into the police when she believes she murdered Katrina. And shouldn’t we also recall that Anya is a demon at this point?
Claim: Willow’s “father may not have been emotionally close or affectionate enough to make her secure in her attractiveness.” I simply see no evidence for this argument.
Interesting ideas:
Daddy-issues identified throughout, particularly for Willow, Xander, and B. Makes me think of LOST: “All the best cowboys have daddy issues.” Interesting continuing commentary on our society.
“It seems, then, that the members of the Scooby Gang are strongly marked by their longing for their fathers.” Particularly interesting considering Whedon himself was raised by a single mother.
Yeat’s Entropic Gyre and Season Six by Elizabeth L. Rambo.
“In many ways, the entire sixth season seemed like what I like to call ‘the anti-Buffy,’ but in Yeat’s mysterious world of opposing spirals, that is the only way to fully come back from the grave, the only way to win one’s soul, the only way to get past vengeance to forgiveness.”
This essay takes a smart look at the way the Scoobies and the Trio progress, particularly in season six. Rambo uses Yeat’s pattern of gyres to explain the inevitable development in the characters, particularly the recently resurrected Buffy.
Season Six and the Supreme Ordeal by Paul Hawkins.
Hawkins discusses how season six fits into the monomyth (originally posited by the great mythologist Joseph Campbell). However, he uses terms from Christopher Vogler to do this “simply because his phraseology is clear and simpler to understand, as well as being more specifically tailored towards the visual medium.” Perhaps the tele-tailoring is beneficial, but there is no need to replace Campbell’s terms, which are perfectly clear and effective. Hawkins makes some good comments throughout, but overall I just didn’t see enough myth analysis present given the setup for the piece. I will admit I think I am being especially hard on this piece since it is so close to my own studies. It is quite possible I was simply put off by the replacement of Campbell’s terms (this would be my own issue and no flaw of the writer).
Kiss Kiss, Stake Stake: Stroytelling and the Philosophical Pleasure of Season Season by James B. South.
This is a really good analysis, taking into consideration the Andrew-centric episode of season seven, “Storyteller.” However, for such a short essay, I think South took too much time providing the philosophical background and too little time discussing his analysis of the episode.
All in all, I was satisfied with his conclusion: “BtVS may be, in Andrew’s words ‘educating and entertaining,’ but in ‘Storyteller,’ it is not so in the sense that we can learn from it – instead we learn through it.”
Read
January 15, 2018Strong selection of critical essays focusing on the final two seasons of BTVS. I love reading about Buffy so of course I enjoyed this book. Seasons six and seven are darker, more complicated, and more polarizing than the other seasons of Buffy. I can confidently say that I prefer seasons 2-5. But that's ok, because these essays illustrated so well the changes that Buffy underwent during the UPN/Marti years. I am glad that I purchased this collection.
September 27, 2022
3.5 stars
January 17, 2024
kind of lackluster, expected better.
thoughts:
“evil, skanky and kinda gay: lesbian images and issues” by alissa wilts: probably my least favorite. it’s very of its time with the focus on “good/bad” representation, arguing queer villains are inherently “bad” representation, and arguing on queer people can create “good” queer representation. things that queer folks are, for the most part, very “who gives a fuck” about nowadays. let’s get into some specifics, shall we?
i’m over people talking about “bad” lesbian representation and including women who date women then “head back to boystown” like can y’all keep mspec/fluid/etc. characters out of your list of “damaging” or “stereotypical” lesbian representation? it’s kind of disingenuous to talk about the “history of lesbian representation” and only discuss “negative” or “bad” portrayals that fit your narrative. i think bits of this essay are looking too deeply, to be honest. i don’t think every single time willow does something mean or evil or bad it’s literally telling audiences “lesbians are mean, evil, and bad.” that’s a quite literal and dramatic generalization that i feel undermines the intelligence of the audience and the intent of the story. and most importantly, considering willow is a very fleshed out, complex character who goes through years of development over seven seasons, it’s hardly logical to say that willow’s brief time (literally three episodes) being evil is a negative, stereotypical representation of lesbians. she gets far more depth than a lot of the characters the author mentioned as negative lesbian representation. and stating tara and willow fit the “dead/evil lesbian cliche” is false, considering neither were introduced to be killed or evil, and again willow doesn’t “end up” evil. another annoyance is saying “just to add insult to injury, a man gets to save the world from the crazy, grieving lesbian” because seriously? that’s how you’re framing the power of willow and xander’s platonic love literally saving the world, in a society where it’s usually romantic love being positioned as the most intense and powerful? really?
i take issue with the author saying if a writer isn’t queer then they can’t possibly create thoughtful queer representation, and even if they have close personal relationships with queer people, because it’s “not the same” as actually being queer, it doesn’t matter and can’t inform their creation of queer characters. slamming the lesbian representation on buffy for being “conventionally feminine in appearance” is weird in two ways; one, i’d argue cordelia chase is more in line with the conventions of traditional heterosexual femininity than any of the lesbians on the show, and two, lesbianism doesn’t have a look so what are we doing here? and lastly, i briefly touched on this already, but the author ignores the conclusion (as far as the btvs show is concerned) for characters, probably because their arguments fall apart when you take the full context of the show into consideration. arguing death or villainy is unique to the queer characters is laughably false. larry and tara die, sure, but willow and andrew don’t “end up” evil. i’ve said it twice already, but willow spends 3 episodes evil out of 144, and andrew gets redeemed. and plus also, nonqueer characters have their love interests killed off, too. giles loses jenny when she’s killed (and goes on a revenge mission just like willow did), xander loses anya when she’s killed. while not permanent, buffy loses angel when she sends him to hell (right after having sex with him turns him evil, mind you) and spike when he sacrifies himself to save the world. relationships ending in heartbreak, whether someone is written off or killed off (permanently or temporarily), for everybody. heartbreak is not specific or unique to the lesbians of this show. and if you want to go there, willow is actually the only one who ends the show in a relationship.
“‘it’s complicated...because of tara’: history, identity politics, and the straight white male author” by brandy ryan: probably my favorite. this essay addresses a lot of my issues with the essay i just ranted about: ignoring willow and tara’s characters and purposes as a whole in order to argue they fit the evil/dead lesbian cliche; ignoring the complete depiction of magic on the show in order to argue magic is a metaphor for lesbianism; arguing there is one correct, legitimate reading of the show to the dismissal of all others; ignoring wider, full context of the show in the analysis of the queer representation; the problem with arguing queer characters being flawed, messy, evil, etc. is “bad” representation.
“‘just a family legend’: the hidden logic of buffy’s ‘chosen family’” by agnes b. curry and josef velazquez: definitely my second least favorite. a big old hard pass. so much of this essay made me cringe and was ick. from the religion, to the poor psychoanalysis, to the binary gender roles, to arguing choosing your family or longing to indicates privilege, to acknowledging the need for chosen families while still warning it isn’t a “stable alternate structure” and shouldn’t be the “dominant social ideal.” no thanks.
essays by ira shull & anne shull, michael adams, rhonda v. wilcox, and paul hawkins were all interesting. and the rest i didn’t care for. sometimes facts about the show are wrong. one thing that came up in two essays (rhonda v. wilcox’s and gregory erickson & jennifer lemberg’s) is describing things that are not rape (usually any form of violation or removal of free will, even when they aren’t sexual in nature) as rape. i think it’s a shallow and insensitive attempt at analysis. especially when there are actual rapes or attempted rapes on the show being discussed, it’s like, why are you then describing someone’s mind being messed with or random acts of torture as rape? it just grosses me out and honestly pisses me off whenever i see it, so i wasn’t happy to see it in two essays in this collection. another big annoyance is one author describing torture, violence, abuse, and murder as s/m, even going as far as calling willow a “bondage queen” because she tied up a warren and skinned him alive. like. let’s not.
thoughts:
“evil, skanky and kinda gay: lesbian images and issues” by alissa wilts: probably my least favorite. it’s very of its time with the focus on “good/bad” representation, arguing queer villains are inherently “bad” representation, and arguing on queer people can create “good” queer representation. things that queer folks are, for the most part, very “who gives a fuck” about nowadays. let’s get into some specifics, shall we?
i’m over people talking about “bad” lesbian representation and including women who date women then “head back to boystown” like can y’all keep mspec/fluid/etc. characters out of your list of “damaging” or “stereotypical” lesbian representation? it’s kind of disingenuous to talk about the “history of lesbian representation” and only discuss “negative” or “bad” portrayals that fit your narrative. i think bits of this essay are looking too deeply, to be honest. i don’t think every single time willow does something mean or evil or bad it’s literally telling audiences “lesbians are mean, evil, and bad.” that’s a quite literal and dramatic generalization that i feel undermines the intelligence of the audience and the intent of the story. and most importantly, considering willow is a very fleshed out, complex character who goes through years of development over seven seasons, it’s hardly logical to say that willow’s brief time (literally three episodes) being evil is a negative, stereotypical representation of lesbians. she gets far more depth than a lot of the characters the author mentioned as negative lesbian representation. and stating tara and willow fit the “dead/evil lesbian cliche” is false, considering neither were introduced to be killed or evil, and again willow doesn’t “end up” evil. another annoyance is saying “just to add insult to injury, a man gets to save the world from the crazy, grieving lesbian” because seriously? that’s how you’re framing the power of willow and xander’s platonic love literally saving the world, in a society where it’s usually romantic love being positioned as the most intense and powerful? really?
i take issue with the author saying if a writer isn’t queer then they can’t possibly create thoughtful queer representation, and even if they have close personal relationships with queer people, because it’s “not the same” as actually being queer, it doesn’t matter and can’t inform their creation of queer characters. slamming the lesbian representation on buffy for being “conventionally feminine in appearance” is weird in two ways; one, i’d argue cordelia chase is more in line with the conventions of traditional heterosexual femininity than any of the lesbians on the show, and two, lesbianism doesn’t have a look so what are we doing here? and lastly, i briefly touched on this already, but the author ignores the conclusion (as far as the btvs show is concerned) for characters, probably because their arguments fall apart when you take the full context of the show into consideration. arguing death or villainy is unique to the queer characters is laughably false. larry and tara die, sure, but willow and andrew don’t “end up” evil. i’ve said it twice already, but willow spends 3 episodes evil out of 144, and andrew gets redeemed. and plus also, nonqueer characters have their love interests killed off, too. giles loses jenny when she’s killed (and goes on a revenge mission just like willow did), xander loses anya when she’s killed. while not permanent, buffy loses angel when she sends him to hell (right after having sex with him turns him evil, mind you) and spike when he sacrifies himself to save the world. relationships ending in heartbreak, whether someone is written off or killed off (permanently or temporarily), for everybody. heartbreak is not specific or unique to the lesbians of this show. and if you want to go there, willow is actually the only one who ends the show in a relationship.
“‘it’s complicated...because of tara’: history, identity politics, and the straight white male author” by brandy ryan: probably my favorite. this essay addresses a lot of my issues with the essay i just ranted about: ignoring willow and tara’s characters and purposes as a whole in order to argue they fit the evil/dead lesbian cliche; ignoring the complete depiction of magic on the show in order to argue magic is a metaphor for lesbianism; arguing there is one correct, legitimate reading of the show to the dismissal of all others; ignoring wider, full context of the show in the analysis of the queer representation; the problem with arguing queer characters being flawed, messy, evil, etc. is “bad” representation.
“‘just a family legend’: the hidden logic of buffy’s ‘chosen family’” by agnes b. curry and josef velazquez: definitely my second least favorite. a big old hard pass. so much of this essay made me cringe and was ick. from the religion, to the poor psychoanalysis, to the binary gender roles, to arguing choosing your family or longing to indicates privilege, to acknowledging the need for chosen families while still warning it isn’t a “stable alternate structure” and shouldn’t be the “dominant social ideal.” no thanks.
essays by ira shull & anne shull, michael adams, rhonda v. wilcox, and paul hawkins were all interesting. and the rest i didn’t care for. sometimes facts about the show are wrong. one thing that came up in two essays (rhonda v. wilcox’s and gregory erickson & jennifer lemberg’s) is describing things that are not rape (usually any form of violation or removal of free will, even when they aren’t sexual in nature) as rape. i think it’s a shallow and insensitive attempt at analysis. especially when there are actual rapes or attempted rapes on the show being discussed, it’s like, why are you then describing someone’s mind being messed with or random acts of torture as rape? it just grosses me out and honestly pisses me off whenever i see it, so i wasn’t happy to see it in two essays in this collection. another big annoyance is one author describing torture, violence, abuse, and murder as s/m, even going as far as calling willow a “bondage queen” because she tied up a warren and skinned him alive. like. let’s not.
May 7, 2013
I've read a couple of Buffy-related anthologies, and although I was very interested in what these authors had to say about the "the dark seasons" I didn't enjoy much of the writing. I didn't feel that they added much to my understanding or appreciation of the show or the characters.
July 3, 2025
Favorite essays were “‘Set on This Earth Like a Bubble’: Word as Flesh in the Dark Seasons” by Rhonda V. Wilcox and “Bodies and Narrative in Crisis: Figures of Rupture and Chaos in Seasons Six and Seven” by Gregory Erickson and Jennifer Lemberg. Wish there was more diversity in the topics covered (why was there two essays on Willow?) but overall an interesting look at the controversial seasons. Season 6 defender for life 😌
January 17, 2022
So boring
This book of essays was completely dry and managed to make the topic so bland. Most of the essays read like college papers and had far too many long quotes from other scholarship on the subject.
This book of essays was completely dry and managed to make the topic so bland. Most of the essays read like college papers and had far too many long quotes from other scholarship on the subject.
January 22, 2019
This collection of essays was well-worth the read! Obviously, I’m a literary nerd, so my favorite points of entry revolved around literary points of entry — oh my god, the Yeats essay was phenomenal. But this opened my eyes to so many different readings of BtVS, and I love that the editors weren’t afraid to include contradictory essays within this collection, sometimes even right next to each other. Overall, I think this collection is at its best when delving into character analyses, but all parts of it were interesting.
June 27, 2011
I enjoyed this book just as much as the other ones I've read so far, especially the essay, "It's Complicated . . . Because of Tara:History, Identity Politics, and the Straight White Male Author" which responds to the whole discussion re: Tara's senseless death, the responsibility some expect of the show to reject the evil lesbian cliché that repeats itself in many stories, on screen, etc. which Joss Whedon apparently was not aware of, and neither am I (not totally because I haven't seen/read a lot of the examples listed). Also really enjoyed the Andrew Wells as Candide essay + the one that examines the concept of the Chosen Family in BtVS, which looks at some "negative" sides, including Buffy's authority, which has a "frightening subtext" indeed. I'm glad these essays were written. Season six is my favorite.
September 17, 2015
Seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy are notably different from earlier seasons, and at least, we have a book that explains WHY. What I especially appreciate about this anthology (whose contributors have all sorts of backgrounds) is that it provides different viewpoints of the same issue, ie. whether or not Tara/Willow's relationship reinforces the stereotype of the Evil-Dead Lesbian. Buffy is an epic show that spanned 6 years, so it's refreshing to have a volume dedicated to a specific portion of the show. Seasons 6 and 7 (especially 6) are also dark and often disturbing and depressing, and that's reflected in the articles here as well.
September 20, 2011
There were all fantastic essays. Only one or two was off to me. My favorites were Rambo's article on Yeats' Entropic Gyre, the Word as Flesh article by Wilcox, and the Erickson and Lemberg piece on Bodies and Narrative in Crisis. Very much love here. I checked this out of the library because my favorite season of the show is the sixth and I'm very partial to the seventh so it was nice to see a book dedicated to giving those two seasons some love and attention instead of hate. It felt like I was talking to wonderful people who also agree with me. Always good :-)
August 2, 2011
Overall an enjoyable anthology of essays about Buffy's final two seasons. While this will only appeal to both hard-core BTVS fans and people who like to read academic essays for funsies -- if that is you then it's worth the read. However like any anthology, the quality and the interest is all over the place. Some essays like "Just A Family Legend" are meandering messes, some like "Understanding the Espensode" are pure gold.
September 20, 2012
A nice collection of essays regarding the 6th and 7th season of Buffy. I didn't like every author, nor did I find anything particularly illuminating/new. However, this collection is still interesting and of some value. There is a lot to examine when it comes to Joss Whedon's show and this book is a great contribution to Buffyology.
August 16, 2025
A very interesting collection of essays, some better than others. Of course Wilcox is the expert, but I also enjoyed Rambo and South amongst others. The essays did, in the main, centre seasons 6 & 7 but often strayed into season 5, which I was a bit disappointed with, as so much has been written about that season. I'd still recommend this book for all Buffy fans.
November 3, 2015
What a great collection of essays on such a worthy topic of discussion. I very much appreciated Brandy Ryan's take on the "straight white male" approach towards queer representation on Buffy. Would recommend.
March 1, 2009
Of course it was amazing! It's my (co-edited) book, with Lynne Y. Edwards and James South. Everyone should read it.
April 18, 2025
Really enjoyed this collection. Favorites were the first two pieces, on Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson, and Rhonda Wilcox's piece on the word as flesh. Pretty great.
January 30, 2013
Certain articles were fascinating and true-to-Buffy, others drifted a bit too much to me. Overall, a nice compilation.
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