Week 10

How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?
In the series, Buffy the female`s role as a Vampire Slayer, the concepts of good and evil is unclear. Moral inconsistency is the key to the deconstruction of the notions of good and evil in this show. And the reason for it is explained by the Klein Theory, a psychological analysis pointed out by Melanie Klein. For example, the character Angel bears both the goodness of humanity and the viciousness of vampire. Angel, a vampire killer is devil in the nature soul . It is because of the curse given by one of his victims that Angel’s dark side is controlled by the human soul within his bloodthirsty body. When he meets Buffy, he devotes himself to assisting Buffy to fight with other vampires, which shows his goodness. However, after breaking of curse, namely having sexuality with the slayer, humanity immediately disappear and only leave the evil and revengeful Angelus. Thus he switches from an evil to a half-human vampire and then to a complete devil. Such kind of shifting of good and evil is a dilemma frequently encountered by us. But for Buffy’s understanding, problems encountered by the youth are metaphors of living monsters. For instance, she views a mother who deprives her daughter of the right to live freely as a witch. From the Klein Theory, we can explore the psychology of Buffy. Comparing the devil Angelus partly created by her and the ‘good’ companion and lover that Angel used to be, Buff is tortured by the psycho conflicts when she try to identify whether Angel is good or evil. It is a similar situation for infant who treats its mother as good or ideal because of everything she provides, nevertheless when its mother doesn’t give enough attention, the infant will cry for cannot finding any relief and has a bad impression of her mother. Actually in our growth, we constantly judge the good and evil of the people we love and ourselves as well. It is crueler for Buffy. As a slayer, she is responsible for wiping out the darkness of the world. Meanwhile she also has difficulties in distinguishing the good and evil of her lover.

How do you think Buffy has influenced the contemporary vampire drama “True Blood” and the “Twilight” series of novels and films?

I am interested in Buffy dramas so far, also have seen the twilight, true blood as well. As far as I see, I think the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a great influence in the contemporary vampire drama and movies, like True Blood and Twilight series of novels and films. The influence is demonstrated in several aspects. First, they are the continuation of vampire drama. Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be titled as pioneer of vampire series. Before it there were only several films mainly focused on the theme of vampire, such as Nosferatu and Dracula. Buffy the Vampire Slayer aroused fans’ furious reaction to the vampire drama thus a new pop culture emerged. Audience became increasingly interested in vampire and new TV series and films related to vampire sprung up like mushrooms. Second, the idea of installing humanity in vampires is evident in the latter vampire films. Take the Twilight as an example. Cullen family is vegetarians rather than blood-suckers. And Carlisle Cullen, Edward’s father is an amiable teacher with great sympathy. Third, the whole story is still governed by the fighting between good and evil. This is an endless question that appears in films of varied sorts. Just because of this question, the narration can go on and the film is able to attract audience’s interests. The element of humanity distinguishes the vulgar shows and quality TV. Thus humanity still can be seen in True Blood. And kinship involved in Twilight series is an innovation based on humanity. Fourth, romantic relationship is an indispensible element in the vampire drama. Buffy’s sexual relationship with Angel give rise to the main contradiction in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The development of romantic relationships among main characters promotes the progress of Twilight. Finally, the gothic tradition is an important feature of vampire drama. Mysterious and frightening atmosphere is created to attract audience who want to enjoy the sense of adventure in the film. Directors of True Blood and Twilight series took this into consideration. In the whole, Buffy the Vampire Slayer plays an charactor role game in the development of latter vampire plays. i think audience enjoy the way role game playing start and without ending...

Reference List:

Rose, A (2002) Of creatures and creators: Buffy does Frankenstein, in R. Wilcox & D. Lavery (eds) Fighting the forces: what’s at stake in Buffy the vampire slayer. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.

Braum, B. (2000) The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of
evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved 18 October, 2005 from:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_28/ai_64688900