I've been having lots of thoughts lately about the mythology of the Buffyverse, particularly in relation to Joseph Campbell's theory of the "monomyth" - a detectable pattern of the hero's journey that seems to crop up across many cultures and eras.  The theory holds that, when deconstructed, most stories about mythological and religious heroes ( Read more... )

I was reading a fanfic musing over at shapinglight's journal.  I started to respond, but it was getting a little long-ish, so I decided to do a post instead.  It's an interesting read in general, but this question in particular stood out to me:

Which leads me to wondering why it is that the Buffyverse is still the only fictional world invented by other people ( Read more... )

I know I've been missing of late, but I just wanted to pop in to say thanks to whoever nominated my essay, Rules of Engagement, at the No Rest For the Wicked Awards, in the category "Not Fade Away".  I suppose I was in an essay-writing mood all last year, and while I didn't get around to writing everything I'd planned, I was fairly proud of the ( Read more... )

(Note: The LJ upgrade royally screwed me the first time I tried to post this.  Sorry for any comments I might have deleted when I was finally able to undo the nightmare of abstract art that the update software spit out.  Here's hoping that the second time's a charm.)

So, a few weeks back I listed the first 5 of m top 10 fave Buffyverse Monsters.   ( Read more... )

True Story: a  conversation on another post inspired me to write about alternative sources of authority in the Buffyverse.  I decided I was going to blow everyone's minds with a scathing takedown of presumptive authority that even my sworn enemy and world-famous crazy person Jacques Derrida might envy.  So, I sat myself down and said, "Self, why don ( Read more... )

rebcake recently posted a poll regarding the onset of Buffy and Spike's sexual relationship in the BtVS episode "Smashed."  I answered "neither" and began to post a comment to explain, but it started to get long-ish, so I thought I'd just do a long-ish blog post instead.  What I wrote turned out to be somewhat off-topic in terms of her poll, and more ( Read more... )

So, I closed my poll.  The result wasn't close and didn't look like it was gonna be, and the topic chosen required a lot of work, so I thought I should get cracking on it right away.  It's coming along fine, but it's gonna take a bit more time to cook -- with myths like this one, I've discovered you have to do a lot of long, boring research and ( Read more... )

(cross-posted from btvsfans)


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So, the other day I was making some icons, and I started thinking about whether there was a way to capture The "Chosen" Moment.  You guys know the one I'm talking about, right?


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I've been knocking around fandom for about six or so years now.  Not a long time by some measures, but long enough to hear a thing or two about a thing or two. These ain't no virgin ears.

But one thing I've never heard talked about is That Guy.

He's not special.  In fact, That Guy was designed to be the polar opposite of special; a faceless drone in ( Read more... )