Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor & Morality Read online

  Chris is the smart one, the ego – what could possibly be more egotistical than believing it’s ok to raise the dead? Daryl is hidden away in the basement (duh!), deformed and unseen. Daryl’s power was in his physical expression, not his mind. Chris, being all ego, needed and wanted Daryl, just as we all need our own id: “He always looked out for me. Stood up for me.” And the id is what’s telling the ego that it doesn’t want to be alone: “He's all alone. Everybody loved him. And now he's all alone.”

  The Freudian analysis has a third component as well, a superego, which “comprises that organized part of the personality structure, mainly but not entirely unconscious, that includes the individual's ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency (commonly called "conscience") that criticizes and prohibits his or her drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. ‘The Super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt.’”

  Chris and Daryl have gotten this far because there’s no superego keeping them under control. That role should be played by their mother, but she’s absent because she has given herself over to the id. She’s spending all day watching reruns of Daryl’s football career.

  If mother/Chris/Daryl are the metaphorical superego, ego and id of a single person, then we should, as always, understand that metaphor as being about Buffy in some way. Daryl’s “love” for Cordelia was twisted and wrong. In order to get the object of its desire, the id would actually kill the object of its “affection” and unleash yet another monster on the world. In this case, the message is pretty clear: don’t let the id take control of the situation.

  This is the theme of the season. That’s right – an episode often described as a “standalone” episode – is actually laying out the season theme for the viewer in metaphor. Part of the show’s brilliance is this subtle prefiguring, which lays the groundwork for the events to come. It’s actually doing more, too. There are plotlines set up which will come to fruition later, but I won’t mention those in order to avoid spoilers.

  Trivia notes: (1) SAR seems loosely based on the movie Bride of Frankenstein (1935). (2) Cyrano de Bergerac was famous for his ability to charm women with his words, which he used for the benefit of a friend in Edmund Rostand’s eponymous play. The reference is perfect because Buffy is telling Giles what to say in order to ask Jenny out.

  School Hard

  Spike and Dru. They’re favorites of most Buffy fans, including me, and their entrance into Sunnydale and Buffy’s life makes School Hard a very popular episode. It’s certainly one of my personal favorites for re-watching. Every minute with Spike on the screen is mesmerizing, but there are lots of great moments. “How much sugar did you add?” might be my favorite.

  I think we can read the episode on multiple levels, but the problem is I can’t explain the details without spoiling possibly the biggest plot twist of the entire series. Let’s see if I can talk around the problem. That will involve talking about Spike, while I leave it to you to consider what or who Drusilla might represent.

  The first thing we learn about Spike is that he’s arrogant and self-centered. He’s ready to challenge any vampire present, he loves to brag about the way he killed two Slayers, he promises to kill Buffy, first to the Anointed One, then to Buffy herself. It’s part of what makes him so fascinating.

  For me, the most important scene in the episode is the very popular one at the end where Spike dusts the Annoying Anointed One. In my reading of S1, the Anointed One was a twisted mirror image of Buffy. He would stay a child forever, which is the future she risked if she didn’t commit to follow her destiny. Because she’s made that commitment, the Anointed One no longer serves any purpose. That problem is in the past and Spike and Dru represent the future: “Me and Dru, we’re movin’ in.”

  I also think it’s important that it’s Spike who destroys the child. My explanation for this, though, takes us into spoiler territory, so I’ll leave it for later.

  Spike and Dru are the first vampire couple we’ve seen, though we were told about Angel and Darla. Are they in love? That’s a tricky question indeed, and you’ll get a lot of arguments from Buffy fans about whether vampires can love. My own view is that they can, but their love is selfish and obsessive because they lack a soul. That’s a form of immaturity, too. Maybe it’s easiest to think of it as lust rather than love.

  Indeed, Spike and Dru are overtly sexual. Their opening scene in front of the other vamps screams it. Besides their actions, we get Spike’s reference to “biggest wrinklies” and his promise that “I’ll do your Slayer for you.” When Spike watches Buffy at the Bronze, the music and the scene suggest a sexual predator. Note that Xander goes to get her stake and pulls out a yo-yo (representing Buffy’s childhood), a tampon (representing her sexual maturity), and finally the stake, representing her destiny, i.e., adulthood. Spike searches for Buffy by calling “here kitty, kitty”. And when Buffy finally confronts him in the corridor, every line consists of double entendres:

  “Spike: Fe, fi, fo fum. I smell the blood of a nice ripe (turns to face Buffy) girl.

  Buffy: (holding the ax) Do we really need weapons for this?

  Spike: I just like them. They make me feel all manly.

  He drops the pole and slowly steps toward Buffy. She drops the ax.

  Spike: The last Slayer I killed... she begged for her life.

  Buffy slowly walks to the middle of the hall, watching him intently.

  Spike: You don't strike me as the begging kind.

  Buffy: You shouldn'ta come here.

  Spike: No. I've messed up your doilies and stuff. But I just got so bored. (smirks) I'll tell you what. As a personal favor from me to you I'll make it quick. It won't hurt a bit.”

  Spike refers to Buffy’s menstrual blood, his pole is an obvious phallic symbol, redolent of rape, other slayers begged him, and he promises the virgin girl that “it won’t hurt”. Spike nearly wins, but Buffy is rescued by her mother. Lots of sexual themes in this episode. Sigmund Freud would have a field day with it.

  “A Slayer with family and friends.” That is new.

  Trivia notes: (1) The episode title takes its name from the movie Die Hard, and some of the scenes play off the movie. (2) Spike’s promise to Dru that “I’ll chop her into messes” quotes Othello, Act IV, sc. 1. (3) “What’s a sire?”, Xander asks. A sire, as we’ll soon learn, is the vampire who creates another vamp.

  Inca Mummy Girl

  Inca Mummy Girl doesn’t require very much of us in order to spot the metaphor. Ampata is a “Chosen One” like Buffy. If we needed more, other details reinforce the comparison: Xander’s instant attraction to her, just as he was attracted to Buffy; Ampata’s desire, which she tells Buffy, to lead “a normal life”, which has been Buffy’s desire from the very beginning; and, perhaps beating us over the head with the point, Ampata telling Buffy “You remind me of someone from very long ago: the Inca Princess…. They told her that she was the only one. That only she could defend her people from the nether world…. Out of all the girls in her generation... she was the only one... chosen.”

  Ampata’s death at a young age may have been more certain, but Buffy’s own life expectancy as the Slayer isn’t all that much to brag about. It’s natural, therefore, that we’d be sympathetic to Ampata, seeing her both as a victim and as a stand-in for Buffy’s situation. Note the way the Guardian describes her situation: “You are the Chosen One. You have no choice.”

  We’ve forgotten all about poor Rodney Munson and the real Ampata Gutierrez.

  Ah, but then events bring them back to mind. Ampata tries very hard to escape her Guardian, and we’re on her side because he seems pretty brutal and her situation so unfair. Then she kills him, and the truth becomes more complicated. She describes her plight in affecting terms: “Who knows what she had to give up to fulfill her duty to others? What chance at love?” But Ampata doesn’t just seek love, she continues to suck the life out of other people, ending with her attempt to kill Xander, the s
upposed object of her affection.

  That’s one level. On another level, we can see Ampata as representing Buffy’s view of her own situation. She’s trapped by a destiny which will kill her and hemmed in by a Guardian – perhaps seen as Giles, but maybe better seen as her conscience – who is forcing her to fulfill her destiny. The dialogue just after the teaser tells us that this is how Buffy sees her situation:

  “Buffy: So, can I go?

  Giles: I think not….

  Buffy: (pouts) How come?

  Giles: Because you are the Chosen One.

  Buffy: Mm. Just this once I'd like to be the Overlooked One.

  Giles: Well, I'm... afraid that is not...

  Buffy kicks the pad hard, making Giles stagger back a few steps.

  Giles: You have responsibilities that other girls do not.

  Buffy: Oh! I know this one! Slaying entails certain sacrifices, blah, blah, bity blah, I'm so stuffy, gimme a scone.”

  Other comments and facial expressions throughout the episode reinforce Buffy’s sense of being trapped, and it’s clear she’s resenting the restraint. But eliminating the Guardian leads to yet worse consequences. Without her Guardian, Ampata is just a super-powered danger to everyone, sucking the life out of even those she loves. Buffy may chafe under the constraints of her situation, distraught at what she has to give up to fulfill her destiny and concerned that her situation leaves her no chance at love, but escaping those constraints would be deadly.

  The parallel between Guardian and Watcher/conscience also expresses a fundamental point. The Watcher/conscience may seem cruel, forcing Buffy to adhere to her path without diversion, and leading eventually to her death. At the same time, though, the alternate scenario of Ampata and her Guardian suggests that Giles/her own conscience serves an essential function, one which certainly protects the world and in some sense protects Buffy from herself.

  Buffy has committed to following the path to adulthood, but there are going to be diversions and distractions along the way. She’s risking her own destiny, as well as the lives of others, if she ignores what her conscience is telling her.

  Uh, could you please pass me one of those scones?

  Trivia notes: (1) The name Ampata comes from the Spanish word “amparar”, which means “to defend”. Thus, her name means “Defender”, a very clever additional connection to Buffy. (2) The storyline here was taken from a National Geographic article about the discovery of an adolescent girl mummy at the summit of Nevado Ampato (!) in Peru. (3) The plot is somewhat loosely based on the 1932 film The Mummy. (4) Xander, dressed like Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy, says he’s from the country of “Leone”, a joking reference to the Italian director of those films, Sergio Leone. (5) The band at the Bronze, which we see here for the first time but not the last, is known on screen as “Dingoes Ate My Baby”. This is a reference to the movie A Cry in the Dark. In real life, the band is Four Star Mary. (6) Danny Strong, the actor who plays Jonathan, read for the part of Xander. (7) Seth Green (Oz) appeared with Alyson Hannigan in My Stepmother Was An Alien and actually had an uncredited role in the Buffy movie.

  Reptile Boy

  Reptile Boy, whether in spite or because of its heavy-handed, sexually charged theme and metaphor, is ranked consistently down there with IRYJ among the least liked of the series. Perhaps we can find a nugget if there’s a way to reconcile text and subtext.

  Let’s start with what I’m calling subtext, though it’s just barely disguised. Buffy has been having dreams about sex with Angel. Just after the break we get this dialogue:

  “Willow: You dreamed about Angel again?

  Buffy: Third night in a row.

  Willow: What did he do in the dream?

  Buffy: Stuff. [Her tone of voice here says it all.]

  Willow: (smiles wide) Oh! Stuff! (Buffy smiles) Was it one of those vivid dreams where you could feel his lips and smell his hair?

  Buffy: It had surround sound. I'm just thinking about him so much lately.”

  Then, in the graveyard with Angel, Buffy makes it even more explicit:

  “Angel: I knew this was gonna happen.

  Buffy: What? What do you think is happening?

  Angel: You're sixteen years old. I'm two hundred and forty-one.

  Buffy: I've done the math.

  Angel: You don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you want...

  Buffy: Oh. No, I, I think I do. I want out of this conversation. (starts to walk past him)

  Angel: (bumps into her) Listen, if we date you and I both know one thing's gonna lead to another.

  Buffy: One thing already has led to another. You think it's a little late to be reading me a warning label?

  Angel: I'm just tryin' to protect you. This could get outta control.

  Buffy: Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

  He grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her closer. She draws a startled breath.

  Angel: This isn't some fairy tale. When I kiss you, you don't wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.

  Buffy: No. When you kiss me I wanna die.”

  “Die” I think we should read here in the Shakespearean sense of sex/orgasm as the “little death” (in French “petite mort”). It’s particularly meaningful when we remember that she’s talking to a vampire, and the various metaphors available for the vampire’s bite.

  Sex is one of those things which adolescents think of as “adult”. The rest of the episode – the text – deals with Buffy’s desire to be treated as an adult. The scene transitions from Buffy’s conversation with Willow to Giles telling her, very tediously, that romance is a distraction from her destiny (another theme from S1). After Giles first criticizes Buffy for blowing off training recently, we get this dialogue:

  “Buffy: Digging on the undead doesn't exactly do wonders for your social life.

  Giles: That's exactly where, where being... different, uh, comes in handy.

  Buffy: Right! Who needs a social life when you've got your very own Hellmouth?

  Giles: Yes! Y-you, you, you have a duty, a-a-a purpose, y-y-you have a commitment in life. Now how many people your age can say that?

  Buffy: We talkin' foreign or domestic? How 'bout none?

  Giles: (he's had enough) Well, here's a hard fact of life: we all have to do things we don't like! And you have hand-to-hand this afternoon and patrol tonight. So I, I suggest you come straight here at the end of, of period six a-and you get your homework done. And don't dawdle with your friends.”

  The next transition takes us to Buffy patrolling, where she runs into Angel and has the conversation I quoted above. I see this back-and-forth movement between the issues as noting the connection between the two.

  The remainder of the episode plays out a teenager’s sense of adulthood, which involves acting like one but without actual responsibility. Buffy resists Giles’ advice and ends up lying to her metaphorical conscience in order to go to a party because the pressure of her destiny makes her “tired of being mature”. The consequence gets spelled out via a metaphor that’s about as subtle as an anvil but does tie text and subtext together again: she’s nearly devoured by a snake-shaped monster living in the basement of frat boys who worship it. Buffy then cuts the head off the snake monster. Ahem.

  In the end we see that Buffy’s regained control of herself, including her fantasies about Angel. First Cordelia, her shadow self who lured Buffy to the party, swears off older boys, then Buffy tells Angel – who’s very much older indeed – that she’ll “let him know” about “coffee”.

  Trivia notes: (1) Sixties songs references: Buffy said there was a “kind of a hush all over Sunnydale”. “Kind of A Hush” was by Herman’s Hermits; Xander said, “okay boots, start walkin’”. “These Boots Were Made for Walking” was by Nancy Sinatra. (2) Writer David Greenwalt says the name of the demon, Machida, came from the name Makita on the drills carried by the crew. It’s a tool company. Get it?

  Halloween

  Halloween is o
ne of my favorites, though I can say that about most of the remaining episodes in S2. There are lots of classic moments here, the best (for me) probably being when Willow walks through the wall into the library and Giles’ reaction, though I could be talked into “eyeballs to entrails”. Naturally I think we’re learning something important about Buffy in addition to being entertained, so let’s talk about that.

  Halloween tells us in no uncertain terms that the world, Buffy’s world, is changing:

  “Drusilla: Don't worry. Everything's switching. Outside to inside. (breathes at Spike's neck) It makes her weak.

  Spike: Really? Did my pet have a vision?

  ***

  Spike: Come on, talk to Daddy. This thing that makes the Slayer weak? When is it?

  Drusilla: Tomorrow.

  Spike: Tomorrow's Halloween. Nothing happens on Halloween.

  Drusilla: Someone's come to change it all. Someone new.”

  We then get a flash cut to Ethan invoking the god Janus. The Roman god Janus looks forward and backward – note that Ethan’s statue has faces on both sides – which is why the month of January marks the transition from one year to another. In metaphor, he looks backward to Buffy’s adolescence and forward to her adulthood, the first major step towards which she will take in the very next episode. All Buffy fans would agree that S1 began with a very light tone, and we’ve seen this continue so far in S2. Similarly, all fans agree that it becomes a much darker, more adult show over time. JMHO, but I see Halloween as marking the impending tonal shift.

  Janus also represents, as Giles explains, division of self. Who is it who’s “divided”? All the SG: Buffy is both Slayer and helpless girl; Willow is both shy and sexy; Xander both a victim (of Larry) and a hero (as soldier); Giles both a tweedy librarian and Ripper. The costumes reveal a fantasy self for each of them, but that fantasy builds off a real substrate. Note that Cordelia doesn’t change either in her costume or her personality. Cordy is as Cordy does.