All about Buffy -

[butterfly]

One of the reasons that I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer so much is because it can be viewed on so many levels - several of them unintended by the creators of the show, but no less valid for that. Authorial intent isn't everything.

The reason that people latch onto the Heart/Spirit/Mind divide offered in Restless is because it works. And the reason

Comments

[dlgood]

When reading TWOP, I really liked Jack See's hypothesis of the "Primeval Defender". It really does work in a lot of ways.

Buffy has many shadow-selves, many 'what-if's. Cordelia, Kendra, Anne, Faith, Spike, and Kennedy all come to mind and there are probably more. All of them are rejected possibilities.

This is very true. One thing I do find ironic when watching the Becoming flashbacks is that Buffy is shown as Angel's shadow-self rather than the other way around. Among the myriad of reasons drawing him to want to help her, seems to be the intimation that after this huge change in her life he doesn't want her to wind up like himself.

That's not to say Buffy can't be viewed as the shadow-self of other characters. It's just a case where this is a bit more explicit.

[butterfly]

Oh, I actually host that series of essays on my site, with Jack See's permission. It's an interesting theory, definitely.

This is very true. One thing I do find ironic when watching the Becoming flashbacks is that Buffy is shown as Angel's shadow-self rather than the other way around. Among the myriad of reasons drawing him to want to help her, seems to be the intimation that after this huge change in her life he doesn't want her to wind up like himself.

Oh, that's a very good point. He sees a shimmering light and doesn't want the harshness of the world to put it out, as he feels that he was.

And yeah, it's all the more interesting when you can flip everything around. I like that the material is there to do that.

[dlgood]

Lots of great essays...

And it is very nice that the show could often give us such wonderful material to draw upon. As noted we can flip many of the characters and show how Buffy is their shadow as well. Thinking back, none is more obvious than the body-switch when Faith learns that she really could be "Buffy" if she'd devoted herself to it. Cordy in Homecoming is another example.

Becoming was just the first time I'd really noticed it that way, compared to the pretty clear "Cordy is what Buffy could have been" of S1-2.

[butterfly]

Exactly. I read an essay once that said Buffy isn't a woman, Buffy is a state of being. We can all be Buffy, as has been shown time and time over in the show.