Buffy Vampire

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
A Study Guide
By Desmond Murphy
Preface
This study guide has been prepared in the first instance for students and teachers of the Scottish Qualifications
Authority (SQA) National Qualifications in Media Studies. However, I hope it will also prove useful to students studying
other courses. It uses Buffy the Vampire Slayer to deepen the study of a television text through applying the Key
Aspects of Media Studies, a conceptual framework developed to give a coherence to the study of media texts. The
Key Aspects (or Concepts) were developed from the early 80s by a number of pioneer media educators and are widlely
used, with variations according to different systems and exam boards. All variants, however, have a combination of both
textual and contextual concepts. In the SQA Media Studies Arrangements, the Key Aspects are defined as: Categories,
Language, Narrative, Representations, Audience, Institutions and Technology. In this study, Technology is not treated as
a separate concept but one that can permeate the other Key Aspects.
I happened to watch the first episode of Buffy shown on UK television when my youngest daughter Rachel wanted to
watch it and I watched with her so I could turn it off if it became nightmare-inducingly scary. She said she was indeed
scared but no nightmares ensued and she was determined to continue to watch it, became a solid fan (as did her two
older sisters), an authority on all things Buffy and, as such, a tremendous resource I could call on in the writing of this
study guide. I therefore dedicate this work to her.
As for me, I was vaguely aware of the show in the background, thinking it was like Sabrina the Teenage Witch but with
more of an ensemble cast (a mistake the Sky and BBC executives committed as will be seen when we deal with the
show’s UK screening). But it wasn’t untill the second series took off, the first full twenty-two episode season, that I began
to be a regular viewer, finding the writing witty and intelligent, and the acting, direction and other technical aspects to
be outstanding. It was perhaps the fact that this was the season where the use of narrative arcs really took off, hooking
me into the long-term development of character and plot. Another source of attraction for a Media Studies and English
teacher was the richly allusive text, with the most unexpected “hommages“ popping up and a cornucopia of references
to classic literature, films both arthouse and popular, and all aspects of our media-saturated culture. Later, seeing
beyond the humour, the excitement and the scary moments (although these are very few for a show operating partly in
the horror genre), I was taken by the richness of the text, especially its metaphorical levels which allowed a show about
vampires and demons and with a heroine going by the name of Buffy to address significant issues.
It was this textual richness and allusiveness, as well as the fact that it was an example of a concept of “quality TV” from
the USA which was drawing serious attention from scholars and commentators, that caused me to use it in my own
Media Studies teaching, where I found that many of my students knew more about Buffy than I did, always a salutary
lesson for a Media Studies (and any other) teacher. I should therefore like to thank those students from Bridge of Don
Academy in Aberdeen for their insights which made their way into this study guide.
Because of the regretable lack of systematic provision of media education across all schools and stages in Scotland,
students will come to Media Studies with different levels of prior learning. Some will have been exposed to media
education from S1 or even primary school; others will be studying it for the first time in S5. Even in single-level classes,
there will be a wide range of ability and experience. This study guide is designed so that the key aspects are at first
dealt with at entry level for those doing Media Studies for the first time and then at a more advanced level, where
concepts required for a top pass at Higher, Advanced Higher and the early stages of higher education are dealt with.
Desmond Murphy
Aberdeen
December 2006
Preface
1
Contents
Preface
1
Introduction
7
CHAPTER 1: CATEGORIES
1.1
Medium and Form
13
1.2
Genre
1.2.1
1.2.2
1.2.3
1.2.4
1.2.5
1.2.6
1.2.7
15
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
The Repertoire of Elements
Generic hybridity
A Semantic/Syntactical Model of Genre
Horror
Gothic and Vampire
Youth/Teen/High School Drama
Comedy
1.3
Tone
23
1.4
Postmodernism
1.4.1 Intertextuality and Pastiche
1.4.2 Self-referentiality and self-reflectiveness
24
25
26
1.5
Auteurism
27
1.6
Cult
28
CHAPTER 2: LANGUAGE
2
2.1
Mise en scene and Cinematography
33
2.2
Technical and Cultural Codes, Polysemy and Anchorage
34
2.3
Editing: the Continuity System
34
2.4
Sound
35
2.5
Film Language in Buffy
35
2.6
Specific Sequences
(i)
Opening scene of first episode: Welcome to the Hellmouth
Title sequence
(ii)
(iii)
Hush: The Gentlemen at work
(iv)
The Body
37
37
38
39
40
Contents
CHAPTER 3: NARRATIVE
3.1
Diegesis
45
3.2
Plot and Story
45
3.3
Chronology
46
3.4
Narrative Structure: Equilibrium and Disruption (Todorov)
47
3.4.1
47
Todorov and an episode of Buffy: Inca Mummy Girl (2.4)
3.5
Long-form Television: Series and Serial
48
3.6
Hybrid Long-form Narrative and Narrative Arcs
48
3.7
Narrative Arcs in Buffy
49
3.8
The Four-Act Structure
3.8.1 Four-Act Structure in Buffy
(i)
SCHOOL HARD [2.3]
(ii) LIE TO ME [2.7]
(iii) CONSEQUENCES [3.15]
(iv) HUSH [4.10]
50
51
51
52
52
53
3.9
Propp and Narrative Functions
3.9.1 Propp and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
53
54
3.10 The Monomyth and the Hero's Journey
3.10.1 The Journey
54
56
3.11 Levi-Strauss and Binary Oppositions
58
3.12 Barthes' Narrative Codes
3.12.1 The Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code
3.12.2 The Proairetic (Action) Code
3.12.3 The Semic Code (Code of Signs)
3.12.4 The Referential/Cultural Code
3.12.5 The Symbolic Code
59
59
60
60
61
61
CHAPTER 4: REPRESENTATION
4.1
Gender
65
4.2
Sexuality
66
4.3
Social Class
66
4.4
Englishness
66
4.5
Race
66
4.6
Religion
67
4.7
Buffy and Metaphor
67
Contents
3
CHAPTER 5: AUDIENCE
5.1
Target Audience
73
5.2
What Audiences Get from Texts - Uses and Gratifications
(i)
Personal identity
(ii)
Social interaction and the need for companionship
(iii)
The need for information
(iv)
The need for entertainment
74
74
74
75
75
5.3
Differential Reading/Coding and Decoding
5.3.1 Differential Decoding and the Postmodern Text
76
77
5.4
Mode of Address
77
CHAPTER 6: INSTITUTIONS
6.1
US Network Television
81
6.2
Film and Television
82
6.3
The "Big Three" and the newer networks
83
6.4
The Economics of US Network TV: Nielsen ratings and the "Sweeps"
84
6.4.1 The "Sweeps" and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
84
6.5
Broadcasting and "Narrowcasting"
85
6.6
Buffy's Defection to UPN
86
6.7
Institutional Constraints
(i)
External controls
(ii)
Internal controls
(iii)
Institutional constraints in the UK
87
87
87
88
Appendix 1:
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON AND EPISODE
SUMMARIES
91
Appendix 2:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
95
Appendix 3:
FILMS AND TELEVISION PROGRAMMES REFERRED TO
97
Appendix 4:
GLOSSARY
99
4
Contents
Acknowledgement
I should like to thank Liz Roberts for proof-reading and for helpful suggestions for making things clearer for the
uninitiated.
Some of the material in this study guide appeared in The Media Education Journal Issue 35 (Spring 2004.)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Study Guide is typeset in Avenir saved as a pdf file.
Cover design by Scott Cumming (Title font: Buffied font (available at http: simplythebest.net/fonts/fonts/buffied/html)
Typesetting by Jackie Dixon
Copyright c 2006 by Desmond Murphy and Aberdeen City
Acknowledgement
5
The complete seven series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are available on DVD and can be found in the main retail outlets
such as Virgin and HMV, and can be ordered online at such sites as www.play.com and www.amazon.co.uk. They can
also be found on www.ebay.co.uk.
The DVDs can also be borrowed from many public libraries.
Sky Television regularly shows reruns of Buffy on weekdays throughout the year and Buffy also appears intermittently on
the Scifi Channel.
In this guide, terms in boldface are defined in the Glossary on page 87 - 97].
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is referred to as a text: in Media Studies, texts are not limited to the written word; films, TV
programmes, pieces of popular music, newspapers and magazines etc. are referred to as texts when the product is an
object of study.
6
Introduction
Introduction
Buffy the Vampire Slayer began on US television in 1997 and featured Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Anne Summers.
The basic premise of the show is stated in the first episode by the stuffy English school librarian, Rupert Giles:
This world is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold
aeons, demons walked the Earth, made it their home, their Hell. In time, they lost their purchase on this reality, and the
way was made for mortal animals. For Man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: certain magicks, certain
creatures...."
Buffy, along with a small group of friends (who became known as the Scoobie Gang or Scoobies) are pitched against a
range of vampires and other demons, from which she must defend the world. According to Joss Whedon, creator of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the original idea for the show came with the reversal of an image from traditional horror: a
fragile-looking girl walks into a dark place, is attacked - and then turns and destroys her attacker. 1 The series mission
statement, therefore, aims to challenge gender stereotyping and invert the audience’s expectations.
The character of Buffy Summers was first aired in the 1992 film starring Kirsty Swanson and Donald Sutherland. The
script was by Joss Whedon who claimed to be unhappy with the result and, learning that film is more of a director's
medium than a writer's, Whedon became the Executive Producer when he was offered the chance to develop it into a
television series, wrote many of the episodes and later directed a number as well. Unlike in the film, Whedon has a
considerable degree of control over the show.
The television series picked up where the film ended with Buffy, while fighting vampires in her old school in Los
Angeles, having managed to burn down the gym, now moved to Sunnydale, a "one-Starbuck town" in Southern
California - which happens to be located on a "Hellmouth" (a portal to other dimensions which means that demonic
energies are rampant.) She gathers round her a group of helpers, starting with the brilliant but "nerdish" Willow
Rosenburg and class-clown Xander Harris under the direction of Rupert Giles, who has been appointed by the
Watchers' Council, a powerful anti-demon authority based in England, to be Buffy's Watcher - her guardian and trainer.
The series was made by Fox Television and was given a run of 12 episodes by the Warner Brothers network and ratings
were sufficient to allow a complete 22-episode second season. It moved to a rival network, UPN, at the start of Season
6; a seventh and final season followed. The first three seasons were based at Sunnydale High School; in the fourth
season, the main characters moved on to the Sunnydale Campus of the University of Southern California and the show
explored more adult themes as the characters confronted new experiences. At the end of the third season the school
burned down and was rebuilt in time for Season 7, where Buffy got a job as school councillor while her sister Dawn, who
was suddenly introduced in Season 4, was a student.
Early in the first season, we meet a mysterious character called Angel who comes out of the shadows to warn Buffy
about impending danger. Their relationship develops later into a romance. It turns out that he is a vampire but one with
a soul. A gypsy curse (revenge for his having killed one of their tribe) has restored his soul so that he will have a
conscience and suffer remorse for all his evil deeds. He spends his time trying to atone for these actions by helping to
defeat vampires. Buffy and Angel fall in love but it is a love which can have fatal consequences. Unknown to Angel and
Buffy, the curse is so arranged that he will lose his soul if he achieves one moment of pure bliss - which he does the first
time he and Buffy sleep together, on her seventeenth birthday, in Season 2. This has disastrous consequences, with
Angel reverting to his alter ego Angelus who, linking up with, fellow vampires, Spike and his girlfriend Drusilla, wreaks
havoc in Sunnydale, including killing Jenny Calder, techno-pagan computer teacher and love-interest for Giles. She is of
the same tribe as the one which implemented the curse and is sent to keep an eye on him but, from remorse at what
has happened, she tries to find a way of returning his soul. She succeeds but Angelus kills her before she can pass on
the computer disk where the spell is stored. The season ends with Buffy having to kill Angelus/Angel just after Willow
has found the spell which restores his soul, returning him to his "good" self but Buffy has to kill him to save the world
from an apocalypse, sending him to a hell dimension at the moment she realises his soul has been restored. However,
the popularity of the character was such that the producers found a way of bringing him back in the next season.
Introduction
7
Season 2 also saw the arrival of another slayer, a West Indian girl called Kendra, summoned by the (temporary) death of
Buffy at the end of the first season. (It is part of the mythology that there is only one Slayer but a larger nunber of
“slayers-in-waiting,” ready to take up the call at the death of the Slayer.) She helps Buffy to defeat Spike early in the
season and returns home but later in the season, with Angelus gone bad, she is summoned again but is hypnotised and
killed by Drusilla, an English mystic-vampire.
Each Season has its "Big Bad" - the main villain pitted against Buffy. In Season One it is a monstrous ancient vampire
called the Master, modelled on the vampire in one of the earliest vampire films, Nosferatu – a Symphony of Terror, a
German silent film directed by FW Murnau in 1922. However, the Master had limited appeal for the show's youthful
audience and in Season 2 an English punk-style vampire called Spike rolls into Sunnydale with girlfriend Drusilla (whom
Angel had "sired", that is, made into a vampire, she in turn having sired Spike) and makes regular appearances as the
resident evil or "Big Bad" (a role he shares in Season 2 with Angelus). Spike has, for a vampire, a fatal flaw: love - and
jealousy. Confined to a wheel chair due to injuries he received fighting Buffy and jealous of Angelus's advances on
Drusilla, he offers an alliance to Buffy against Angelus which she accepts out of desperation. Spike manages to flee at
the end with Drusilla. Buffy's mother Joyce at last realises her daughter's calling but finds it difficult to come to terms
with it.
Another slayer, Faith, is summoned near the start of Season 3 by the death of Kendra. She is wilder and less disciplined
than Buffy, and she leads Buffy into bad ways. After killing a human being by mistake, Faith goes over more and more
to the dark side. She kills Mr Trick, vampire henchman of the evil Mayor Wilkins (the Season's "Big Bad") but then offers
her services to the mayor who is actually planning his "ascendancy" - assuming his demonic form - at school
graduation. However, the students, led by Buffy, fight the mayor-turned-monster and defeat him, burning down the
school (a second for Buffy). Angel, now "re-ensouled", manages to return in Season 3 from the hell-dimension he has
been confined to but, realising his relationship with Buffy has no future, he eventually leaves for Los Angeles and his
own spin-off series, also produced by Whedon.
Before this climactic end to Season 3, Faith poisons the (now good) Angel which leads her into direct conflict with Buffy.
Buffy has also broken with the Council of Watchers who refuse to help her find a cure for Angel. The cure is a Slayer's
blood and Buffy fights Faith, whom she stabs with her own knife, but Faith throws herself from the building. She goes
into a coma until the middle of season 4 where she tries to exact revenge on Buffy but some semblance of good
reasserts itself in her and she helps Buffy deal with a group of vampires set on massacring a church congregation. She
then leaves for LA where (crossing to Angel) she finds imprisonment and redemption; she reappears at a key moment
in the battle against the "First Evil" near the end of Season 7.
Like Angel, Spike (who was absent for most of Season 3) is also capable of change, not by means of a gypsy curse but
because of a chip put in his brain by a government-sponsored group of scientific demon-hunters called The Initiative
which dominates Season 4. The chip makes it impossible for Spike to harm humans and while he spends the rest of the
season trying to get his vampire powers back, the chip draws him closer to humans and his love of violence makes him
Buffy's ally in the fight against demons. His obsessive hatred for Buffy turns into its opposite. Eventually he even
becomes a semi-detached (but highly unreliable) member of the Scoobies when the Initiative prove to be more sinister
than they at first seemed, and the Scooby Gang end up helping him to evade capture.
A secret experiment in The Initiative, under the direction of Maggie Walsh, Buffy's Professor of Psychology, gives rise to
Adam, a Frankenstein's monster-like combination of human, vampire and other demon parts, powered by a nuclear
power source and directed by a computer brain. Like Frankenstein's monster, he eventually destroys his creators. The
group had been drifting apart in this season and their differences were accentuated by Spike in return for Adam’s
promises to remove his chip. However, joining forces, they manage to defeat Adam. Spike, feeling double-crossed by
Adam, changes sides and is able to survive into the next season. The Initiative also provides love-interest for Buffy in
the form of Riley, ostensibly Maggie Walsh's teaching assistant, in reality, a soldier in The Initiative under Walsh's
control. The Initiative is eventually disbanded by the government who conclude that demons' power cannot be
harnessed to America's military might. Early in the next season, Riley cannot cope with Buffy being more powerful than
he is and eventually leaves on a secret military demon-hunt in Central America.
8
Introduction
Over the series, the Scoobie Gang is enhanced from time to time by the addition of extra members. First there is
Cordelia - cheerleader, socialite, queen bitch and leader of the high school "in-crowd" (the "Cordettes") - who
becomes hostile to Buffy when Buffy insists on hanging out with "losers" such as Willow and Xander. However, when
she in turn is attacked by demons and thrown in with the Scoobies, she becomes one of them. She even starts to date
Xander, which demands more courage on her part than facing demons as she risks being ostracised by Harmony,
second-in-command of the "Cordettes", (and who herself later becomes a vampire, although a highly ineffectual and
comic one, and for a while is Spike's girlfriend). Cordelia, along with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce who had been sent by the
Watchers' Council as a replacement for Giles when they feel his attitude towards Buffy is too paternal, leaves Sunnydale
to join Angel in LA in the spin-off series.
Then there is Oz, laconic lead guitarist of the punk-rock group, "Dingoes Ate My Baby" but who contracts lycanthropy
(ie he becomes a werewolf three nights every month) and submits to being locked up. This does not deter Willow and
they become a couple. However, he leaves Sunnydale to find a cure and when he returns a long time later, Willow is
already involved with Tara, a shy student and apprentice witch. Oz realises he cannot control his condition and leaves
again (a plot line dictated by the actor Seth Green’s decision to take on the role of Scott Evil in Austin Powers – another
example of the narrative in a long-running TV series being driven by such chance factors), leaving Willow and Tara to
continue their relationship, a controversial one for prime-time network television: the affair is conducted at first on a
metaphorical level as witchcraft but is finally made explicit.
Another important character is Anya, who had spent many centuries as a vengeance demon making men suffer for the
way they treat women. However, she loses her power and becomes human and in turn the love-interest for Xander. She
has the same comic function as Cordelia. Both Cordelia and Anya's comedy come from the same source because they
always say what they think, often with embarrassing consequences. In Cordelia's case it was self-centred lack of tact; in
Anya's it is because she has not been human for so long and doesn't quite understand the social norms which
determine what should be said and what avoided.
Dawn is another addition to the Scoobies. In Season 5, it transpires that Buffy has a sister; in fact, she has always had a
sister. It takes a few episodes before the mystery is solved. Dawn is in fact a ball of mystic energy made human by
monks and sent to Buffy who they know will protect her; they also conjure up memories of Dawn, not just for her own
family but for all who come into contact with her. She is "the key" whom the hell-god Glory (the Season's "Big Bad") is
seeking as a way back to her own dimension. She is trapped on earth and forced to share a body with a young doctor,
Ben (though we are unaware of this until well into the season). If she captures the key and carries out a ritual killing, she
will be able to return to her hell-dimension but it will destroy the world.
Meanwhile, Spike, who has been deserted by Drusilla, returns to Sunnydale and gradually falls for Buffy, going as far as
commissioning a robot version of Buffy as a substitute for the real thing which he cannot aspire to. Buffy is horrified by
his advances but after Spike proves his loyalty by refusing to reveal Dawn's identity under torture by Glory, Buffy is
grateful and treats him with respect. Joyce, Buffy's mother, dies in this season and Buffy must now be a substitute
parent to Dawn. Glory is defeated in a final apocalyptic battle (when she transforms into Ben, Giles is able to suffocate
him, thereby killing Glory) but Buffy has to sacrifice her own life to save Dawn and the world.
In Season 6, after Giles returns to England, Buffy is brought back from the dead by Willow's witchcraft (which she has
been developing over the course of the previous three seasons) but Buffy feels she has been dragged out of heaven
where she was happy, back to earth which she now feels is hell. She goes through a difficult period of alienation and
has a brief and very physical affair with Spike but in the end rejects him. She is full of self-disgust and admits to Tara
that, feeling she has come back from the dead "wrong", she used him as a way of being able to feel something.
The "Big Bad" of this season is not some formidable demon or arch-villain but a "troika" of nerds from Sunnydale High
School, Warren, Jonathan and Andrew, who concoct a series of inventions to defeat Buffy. They cannot defeat her, but
the leader of the group, Warren, tries to shoot Buffy; he fails but kills Tara instead. In her grief, Willow calls on her by
now considerable magical powers to avenge Tara but this leads her to lose her mind to such an extent that that she
wishes to destroy the world to put an end to its pain. Giles returns from England to help deal with the situation but it is
Xander, Willow's childhood friend, who brings her back from the brink through a declaration of unconditional love.
Introduction
9
Buffy's rejection of Spike sends him to Africa to find the magic that will change him. We think it is to remove the chip
but the season ends with Spike being given back his soul.
In Season 7, Buffy and the Scoobies fight their most formidable enemy, the First Evil (shortened to "the First"), the evil
force behind all evil. The First can only appear by assuming the form of dead people but has a powerful army of
helpers - "bringers" - who do the dirty work, and monstrous vampires more powerful than any Buffy had so far
encountered. There is also Caleb, a powerful villain who takes the form of a fundamentalist preacher. The Council of
Watchers having been destroyed, Giles assembles all the "potential slayers" (that is, would-be slayers waiting for the
actual Slayer's death to take up their calling) in Sunnydale to prepare for the final conflict. Buffy is aided not only by the
Scoobies and potentials but by the newly-ensouled Spike, and two other characters who have come over from the dark
side: Anya, who had briefly returned to her former trade as vengeance demon after being jilted at the altar by Xander
but is released from her calling and sides with the humans; and Andrew, the nerdiest of the nerd troika. They are joined
by Robin Wood, Principal of the re-opened Sunnydale High School who, it transpires, is the son of a slayer Spike had
killed 30 years before (Fool for Love [5.7]). Before the final climactic battle, Buffy manages to travel back in time to
confront the original patriarchal chiefs who had decreed that there could only be one slayer at a time and, aided by
Willow's magic, manages to transform the potentials into slayers with enough power to defeat the forces of evil.
Sunnydale collapses into the earth in an earthquake and Buffy and the Scoobies, at the cost of some lives, manage to
survive the battle.
What an outline such as the above can't do is give a real flavour of a show which is a mixture of horror, teen movie and
comedy, not to mention a whole host of generic traits (which will be developed in the Chapter 1: Categories). It is
subject to sudden tonal shifts, from horror to romance, from tragedy to high comedy, not only from episode to episode
but within episodes.
Despite being a genre television series, it is capable of dealing with important contemporary issues, especially those
involving young people. For example, the broadcast of one episode was delayed at the time because it dealt with high
school shootings shortly before several students were shot down by fellow students in Columbine High School,
Colorado. Unlike many such shows, it does not go in for the "Very Special Episode" in which issues such as drug
addiction, alcoholism or AIDS are highlighted in an immediated way and out of the normal run of the show, 2 for
example, the famous “Just say No” (to drugs) episode on the BBC’s Grange Hill. Instead, Buffy 3 deals with issues
through metaphor, the central one being that high school is hell-on-earth and teenage life a torment. The show
symbolically presents the struggle of good and evil, desire and duty, in the playing out of battles between the light and
dark sides of human nature.
It is a very rich text from a Media Studies perspective. The multiplicity of categories and genres has already been
referred to. The way in which the show references other texts, both popular and "high" culture, makes it a rich source
of reference for the study of postmodernism, a popular field within Media Studies. Its use of film language is
outstanding, especially for television which lacks the budget of films made for the cinema. Its witty dialogue and its
idiosyncratic language have made it not only one of the most literate shows on television but it has even given rise to
its own "idiolect" – “Buffyspeak “- prompting Michael Adams, a professor of Linguistics, to bring out a dictionary
devoted to the show's language. 4
The way it bestrides both the series - one-off episodes more or less self-contained – and the serial, with "arc episodes"
which continue plot lines over several episodes and resists closure, makes it very fruitful in the study of narrative, as do
its mythic qualities. It also deals with issues of gender and sexuality, the generation gap and other such issues (whether
literally or metaphorically) and so provides a rich seam for the study of representation. With regard to Audience, its sixyear run allowed the younger layers of its audience to grow up with the show and reinterpret it in a new light. It has also
attracted an adult audience (including an academic one of "scholar-fans" – resulting in at least three international
academic conferences). The way that it has gone beyond its original target audience make it a useful text in which to
look at differential decoding, a central aspect in the study of audiences. And from an institutional perspective, the
10
Introduction
series provides a very useful case study of American network television and the institutional constraints involved in
producing such a series.
Buffy has been influential not only on US television, where strong female characters dealing with the supernatural such
as Dead Like Me and Joan of Arcadia are clearly influenced by Buffy, but also in the UK where it became a blueprint
for the revived series of Dr Who. Writer and Executive Producer Russell T. Davies said:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons
and end-of-the world isn’t hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just
genre/niche writers, but every single one of us. 5
The most cogent expression of Buffy’s appeal is perhaps that of Michael Adams:
... it [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] captivates the 14-year-old and the 50-year-old, the political and the literary, the
thoughtful and the vacuous; it is an allegory of American high school and teen social life; it asserts girl power; it is
humor and pathos, death and duty and another day, love and hatred, and is so incredibly complex, complex enough
to represent the experience of living in this world, which, if we're honest, is not what most television is about.. 6
Introduction
11
Notes
Please note that there are several references in this guide to the Slayage website. Some time in December 2006, its
domain name – slayage.tv - was taken over. The editors hope to get it back but have set up a mirror site:
www.slayageonline.com. If the former does not lead to the site, the latter will.
1
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3
4
5
6
12
Whedon, Joss: DVD Commentary to Welcome to the Hellmouth {1.1) (in Season 1 DVD)
Wilcox, Rhonda. Why Buffy Matters, London: IB Tauris, 2005, pp 17-29. It could, however, be argued that the
ending of Wrecked [6.10], when Willow admits to Buffy her magic is out of control and begs for help, has
elements of the “Very Special Episode.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a long title and I have mostly abbreviated it to Buffy, in preference to BtVS which is
widely used in academic writing on the subject.
Adams, Michael. Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon. New York: Oxford University Press. (2003).
Moore, Candace, "John Barrowman Plays Bisexual Time Traveler on New Dr. Who", Afterelton.com
(Retrieved May 19, 2005).
Ibid, p.11
Introduction
Chapter 1: Categories
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLORE MEDIA CATEGORIES IN BUFFY, IN PARTICULAR:
l
l
l
l
l
l
1.1
the media of film, the medium of television and the tendency towards convergence
genre, in particular generic hybridity
genre in Buffy (horror, youth/high-school, etc)
tone
postmodernism
auteurism
Medium and Form
medium of television it is useful to contrast it with film.
Television and film have many features in common and
The table below is adapted from the analysis of the
share a common visual language; indeed, many films
differences between the two media established by John
which have a theatrical release will end up on the small
Ellis in "Visible Fictions" (1982). 1
screen and most will be issued on DVD for domestic
consumption. Nevertheless, there are significant
differences between the two media. To understand the
i.
ii
Screen Size
Framing,
Aspect Ratio
Television
Cinema
Television has a small screen, with a relatively
poor quality of image and detail.
Consequently the viewer is bigger than the
image and looks down at the television set.
The characteristic way of looking is the
glance, with the image frequently in the
background and competing for attention
with other things going on in the room. Most
people watch television most of the time
with the light on, and people usually watch
with family or friends in the familiar
surroundings of the home. Conversation
frequently takes place during programmes,
either about the show or about anything.
The programme is frequently interrupted by
commercial breaks, especially in US
television. There is therefore a distance set
up between viewer and viewed.
Cinema has a large screen, being much
bigger than the individual watching it, which
provides a very large image of high quality
with extensive detail. The size of the screen
and the darkened conditions give rise to a
more concentrated "gaze", with the viewer
looking upwards. This takes place in a public
space where the audience consists of
strangers (apart from people you have gone
to the cinema with) and conversation is
discouraged. The only sound from the
audience that is expected is laughter at
comic moments, perhaps a shriek during a
frightening moment, etc. The film is
uninterrupted from beginning to end: the
only exception being an intermission in a
very long film.These conditions can allow the
spectator to be overwhelmed by the image.
Television is, therefore, often referred to as a
"secondary medium".
Film is therefore often referred to as a
"primary medium".
The relatively small size of the screen has
implications for artistic choices, with the
close-up being used so that expressions and
objects can be clearly seen. Editing tends to
be fast, with the image held on the screen
just long enough for the information value to
be exhausted. The aspect ratio is 1:1.33
(which was the norm for cinema until the
1950s) which makes certain kinds of
composition more difficult. Acting styles
tend to be more restrained, even in very
dramatic moments in, for example, soap
operas. Sound is as important as image.
The large screen allows the director to
emphasise the mise en scene; close-ups are
used more sparingly. Takes tend to be
longer, with the image held on screen long
enough for its aesthetic potential to be
realised. Since the 1950s, films have been
shown on the wide screen (anything from
16:9 to as wide as 2.35:1.) This allows the
director to use the wide screen to emphasise
visual aspects such as composition and
framing
Chapter 1: Categories
13
iii. Single versus
Multiple
Cameras
Multiple cameras are used in the studio.
Lighting has to be versatile so that the
subject is lit simultaneously from different
camera positions. Much of the editing is
done simultaneously with the action which
saves time. Technical crews specialise in fast,
economical programme making. This is
more economical in time and money;
television budgets are so much lower for
every minute shown
The single camera is almost always used,
even when shooting in the studio. Each
camera set up needs to be lit for that
position. This is very expensive as it takes a
long time to set up. Cinema shots are
fragmented and joined together after the
event in editing. Each reel of film has to be
sent to the lab before the previous day's
filming can be viewed. There is a much
higher ratio of footage shot to footage finally
shown; for example, a 90-minute feature
comprising about 8,000 feet of film may have
been edited from 500, 000 feet of film 2 - a
very expensive process.
iv. Film or
Video
Most television is shot on video tape, which
is cheaper and much quicker to work with,
although film has been used for larger
budget projects (for example, Dallas, back in
the 1980s, had a budget of $1,000,000 per
episode)
Film uses a chemical process in which light is
reflected on a roll of film and is subsequently
developed making it slower to work with and
more expensive. However, film is now
frequently edited digitally and the timecodes transferred to film indicating where
the cuts etc are to be made.
v. Length
Television programmes usually last for less
than an hour.
Films are usually about two hours long.
vi. "The Flow"
versus
Discrete
Viewing
Television viewing is less to do with viewing
discrete programmes; rather it consists of a
"flow" of images constantly interrupted by
advertising breaks. TV viewing is therefore
fractured into a sequence of segments
(within the drama, the news and especially
the commercials.)
In the cinema, films are preceded by adverts
and trailers but once the film has started it is
viewed without interruption.
vii. Audience
Reception
Audiences, therefore, glance at the TV
screen ….
… while they gaze at the cinema screen
Has much changed over the twenty-odd years since Ellis
There is still a tendency in television to shoot more
made these observations? It remains true that the
close-ups and for the visuals to be less important than
cinema screen is bigger than the television screen and
the sound. This is partly a function of the economics of
has a higher quality and more detail but there has been
television which has less money than cinema films and
a degree of convergence which is likely to continue as
close-ups involve less time to set up the scene and the
technological developments and falling prices make
lighting. Nevertheless, in modern TV drama, many shows
large screen, HDTV (high definition television) available
are shot in a highly cinematic way, using film rather than
to large numbers of viewers. Modern television screens
video and shot with a single camera. This is more
tend to be widescreen and films, for example, are now
expensive than traditional TV production and it means
frequently shown in their original aspect ratio rather
that the shows have to deliver a large audience from the
than the "panning and scanning" procedures which
start or they will be cancelled by the network.
chop off the ends of a wide-screen film to squeeze it
into the 4:3 ratio adopted by television early in its
And while television is still primarily viewed in a
history. Not only films are affected: it is now routine to
domestic environment, many viewers choose to view
have studio-based television shows made for both
their favourite shows in a way that is not so different
widescreen viewing and the traditional aspect ratio.
from the cinema, in the dark, with a television set
(There is, of course, a conter-tendency: television
capable of high-quality images, and "gazing" as much
programmes can be downloaded to ipods and such like
as "glancing". Of course, this depends on the kind of
to be viewed, time-shifted, on a very small screen. It will
programme being watched. Television is still on in the
be interesting to see how these tendencies affect the
background in many homes and what is happening on
content and style of future programmes).
the screen frequently prevents steady concentration: the
lines of text, scrolling news and the interactivity of
satellite television allowing viewers to click on the button
14
Chapter 1: Categories
to find out more about the programme, enter
effects and hit-parade soundtracks. . . As you're
sitting watching, the living-room TV experience,
with giant plasma screens, HDTV and Dolby
Surround Sound systems, is looking more and
more like a serious improvement on the tatty
old fleapit and sterile multiplex. 3
competitions and even choose different camera
positions. And the sheer number of channels now
available allows far greater temptation for those who
want to channel-hop.
Nevertheless, audiences can adopt different viewing
Joss Whedon has stated that he was striving to achieve
strategies for different programmes and can therefore
"cinematic television" rather than "radio with heads”. 4
view particular shows with a cinematic intensity which is
Like other large-budget American series, such as The
catered for by producers and directors providing a more
X-Files, West Wing and 24, (but unlike American sitcoms
cinematic experience for television viewing. In the USA,
such as Friends which are shot on video tape on
certain programmes - mainly drama, including serial
multiple cameras), Buffy is shot on film before being
drama - are referred to as "event television", "must-see"
transferred to video for broadcasting. Celluloid film is
television or "quality television" (although it is much
more expensive than video and takes longer to edit but
more likely to be applied to programmes, such as The
the finished product is of a higher quality. The first
Sopranos and The West Wing, on the more prestigious -
season, which only had twelve episodes instead of the
and advert-free - cable subscription channels,
twenty-two of the subsequent seasons - it was still "on
particularly Home Box Office.)
trial" by the network - was shot on 16mm film, a cheaper
process which has traditionally been associated with
While much of the consideration of the differences
documentary or low-budget films. From Season Two
between cinema viewing and television viewing is rooted
onwards it was shot on 35mm, the standard for all but
in the technology used and in the way audiences
the largest budget Hollywood blockbusters. The makers
consume television, there are other factors in addition to
of the series have been at great pains to try to emulate
the technological developments referred to above
(if not surpass) the technical standards of cinema film,
affecting the situation in the last 30 years. The first of
with close attention to aspects of mise en scene (see
these was the VCR which enabled audiences to "time-
Chapter 2: Language) such as lighting, costumes, make-
shift" - to choose when they wanted to watch
up etc. There are certain limits, however, brought about
programmes; and using the fast-forward button allowed
constraints in budget and time. For example, the idea of
audiences the ability to skip the adverts. More recently
vampires turning into bats and flying (a standard feature
the DVD came along which allowed fans (and given the
in gothic horror) was abandoned because of costs. 5
cost of a whole series box-set, it would have to be fans
rather than the casual viewer) not only to avoid the
For many of its fans, therefore, Buffy, despite its being
advertisements and watch when they pleased but to
interrupted every 10 minutes or so for an advert break, is
watch the "extras" including the directors' and writers'
consumed in a very different way from the casual,
commentaries. The internet took off as a mass
frequently interrupted "glance" which was held to
phenomenon at the time of Buffy's first broadcast and
differentiate the television audience from the dedicated
that gave a boost to an attitude towards shows which
"gaze" of the cinema audience.
was much more dedicated than casual viewing, with
numerous websites devoted to shows and opportunities
for fan activities which bind audiences to shows in a way
that was not possible before.
According to John Patterson in “The Guardian”, the
technological gap between cinema and television is
narrowing all the time.
. . . television has become infinitely more
cinematic, just as audiences have progressively
become more cine-literate. Gone are the allover lighting and static cameras of the old
made-for-TV movie, to be replaced, often, by
superbly kinetic and inventive film-making, shot
on film, often in wide-screen formats and on
1.2
Genre
1.2.1
The Repertoire of Elements
The word genre means sort, type, kind and genre is one
of the most important way of categorising media texts. It
is a term which is applied to groups of texts with
essential similarities in setting, plot, character types,
themes and style (camera technique, editing, props,
lighting, sound, music etc). These elements are repeated
from text to text and allow audiences to place
programmes and allow producers to attract their target
audiences. Programme makers rely on the audience's
familiarity with these conventions which have been used
repeatedly in the programmes they have watched.
location, using big budgets (Lost's opener, for
example, cost a record-breaking $10m), special
Chapter 1: Categories
15
Genre is a far from precise concept, some generic terms
1.2.2
being established by the industry and others by critics,
Thomas Schatz has suggested in “Hollywood Genres”
Some genres depend on setting and subject matter,
that genres tend to go through four stages of evolution:
such as the western; some on character types and their
occupation, such as the gangster genre. The musical is
recognisable by the formal organisation of the text - the
way the narrative is carried by music; and horror and
thriller are based on the intended effect on audience.
One particular genre, film noir, was labelled as such only
years after it first appeared though some would argue
that film noir is a combination of stylistic and thematic
features which go across different genres (cf. the
comments on semantics and syntax below).
Generic hybridity
an experimental stage, during which its
conventions are isolated and established, a
classic stage, in which the conventions reach
their "equilibrium" and are mutually
understood by artist and audience, an age of
refinement, during which certain formal and
stylistic details embellish the form, and finally a
baroque (or "mannerist," or "self-reflexive")
stage, when the form and its establishments are
accented to the point where they "themselves
become the "substance" or "content" of the
work. 6
Television and film genres overlap to a large extent
except that film is almost wholly fictional (despite the
Several genres, including horror, are well on the way to
recent successful cinematic releases of documentaries
their baroque stage, of which the highly self-reflexive
such as Fahrenheit 9/11, Etre et Avoir/To Be and To
Scream is a good example of this process. One aspect
Have and Supersize Me) whereas television is a mixture
of this stage in a genre's evolution is the way in which
of factual programming and fiction. Almost all film
one genre combines with other genres, a process known
genres have made their way to television: for example,
as generic hybridity (hybrid, a term derived from biology,
The Godfather/The Sopranos (crime/gangster): Saved
being a combination of different elements). The term
by the Bell/ Clueless (also a film)/Cruel Intentions) (teen
can be applied both to texts which have elements of
drama). And indeed Buffy the Vampire Slayer itself
separate genres coexisting (and which are sometimes
started off as a cinema film before the television series
referred to as "hyphenates") and to those where the
was commissioned.
hybrid produces a new generic category - such as
cyberpunk, a hybrid of science fiction and film noir of
One important aspect of genre is that audiences watch a
which Blade Runner is the best known example.
programme with knowledge of other programmes and
films, either ones they have seen or ones they have
Of course, genre films and programmes have always
heard about. This is an aspect of what is known as
been to some degree cross-generic; even during the
intertextuality in that knowledge of the conventions of a
Classic Hollywood Era (from the late 1920s until the
genre sets expectations for the audience. Programme
1950s) there were rarely "pure" horror, western or
makers can therefore use genre to signal to the
gangster films. There were even films that combined
audience what to expect - or they can mislead audiences
western and musical - "the singing cowboy" films.
by introducing unexpected elements. Genre therefore
Indeed, Hollywood has always been keen to attach as
involves a combination of the familiar and the original,
many generic labels to a film as possible in order reach
repetition and innovation. For audiences, part of the
the widest possible audience.
pleasure of genre is in recognising the conventions of
the genre; audiences feel the pleasure of the familiar as
Star Wars is a good example of such generic hybridity:
well as the thrill of the new.
although it is clearly a science fiction film, being set in
the future with space ships and advanced robots, it has
Of course, genres do not remain static: they change and
elements of the western. For example, Luke, Hans and
develop, with new conventions being added and others
Chewbacca go into a saloon which belongs in a western,
discarded. One way of looking at genre is the idea the
with its swing doors and even western character types
"repertoire of elements" - sets of conventions and
(though in this case they are aliens). Joss Whedon's first
expectations shared by the filmmakers and audience
project post-Buffy - Firefly - is another example of a sci-
such as character types, narrative, themes, iconography
fi/western hybrid; the title sequence ends with a shot of
etc. The programme makers will draw on some of the
horses (=western) with a spaceship (=sci-fi) flying over.
conventions of a genre while discarding others. In a
Even a film such as The Untouchables (1987), clearly a
television series, the greater expanse of time will allow
gangster film set mainly in Prohibition-era Chicago, has
more aspects of a genre to be explored than in a film.
elements of the western: the federal agents appear at
one point on horseback against a typical western
16
Chapter 1: Categories
landscape and a soundtrack of neighing horses and a
Princess; the teen/high school drama, such as Saved by
large, heroic score more typical of the western than the
the Bell, Pretty in Pink and Clueless; the fairy tale,
gangster genre. This generic hybridity is typical of what
particularly, "The Gentlemen" in Hush [4.10] and "Der
has become known as postmodernism - one of the
Kindedstod" in Killed by Death [2.18]; martial arts films,
features of Buffy which will be explored later in this
such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; science fiction
chapter.
(especially The Initiative arc in Season 4); and screwball
comedy, a style of comedy popular in the 1940s
The most prominent genres present in Buffy are (gothic)
involving wisecracking women, for example, His Girl
horror, comedy and high school/youth drama; indeed,
Friday. In individual episodes, such as Hush [4.10],
Joss Whedon has summed up Buffy as My So-Called
Primeval [4.21] and The Body [4.16], there are also
Life meets The X-Files. For its horror elements,
elements of the art film, a category of film that is difficult
throughout its seven seasons, the makers of Buffy have
to define precisely but is more experimental than
selected elements from the repertoire of horror and its
mainstream films and which does not adopt the main
various sub-genres. Gothic and vampire in particular are
conventions of the Hollywood of industry.
to be expected from the title but many different types of
horror appear such as slasher (eg, Nightmare on Elm
1.2.3
Street), and zombie and other body-horror genres (eg.
A useful way of looking at generic hybridity is the
The Return of the Living Dead).
semantic/syntactical model developed by Rick Altman in
A Semantic/Syntactical Model of Genre
“Film/Genre”. 7 In the grammar of written language,
Fantasy is another genre which is prominent in Buffy.
semantics concerns the meaning of particular words
Fantasy involves magic and the supernatural and
whereas syntax is concerned about how words combine
overlaps considerably with certain types of horror and
(in words, clauses and sentences) to make meaning.
even science fiction. Indeed, fantasy, horror and science
Altman uses this distinction as an analogy to describe
fiction are sometimes grouped together as “speculative
specific elements in a text, such as character-types,
fiction”. Fantasy is even more loosely coded than horror.
iconography and props characteristic of a particular
Films as different as Edward Scissorhands, Ghost,
genre. These he defines as semantic; and elements that
Groundhog Day, The Indian in the Cupboard, Lord of
work across the whole text, such as narrative structure
the Rings, the Harry Potter films and The Sixth Sense
and theme, which he defines as syntax. If we look at
could reasonably be considered as examples of fantasy.
the western, a well-established genre in both film and
Because they overlap so much, a generic classification is
television, we can identify particular signs - six-guns,
often attributed on the basis of vaguer criteria such as
horses, spurs, wagons, towns, saloons with swing doors,
mood and tone rather than by their use of the
dramatic landscapes, or even the western stars such as
repertoires of elements. The X-Files, for example,
John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. Altman would label
dealing with alien invasions and phenomena
these the semantic elements. But there are also
unexplained by current science, could be considered
elements that work across the text, such as narrative.
science fiction but there are probably more moments of
The narrative in westerns, for example, is frequently
pure horror, in the sense of creating a mixture of dread
based on the conflict between settlers and native
and disgust, than in Buffy. For example, the second
peoples ("Indians") or between different economic
episode of the first season, Squeeze, involves a very
interest groups such as cattle ranchers and small
scary character called Tooms, a100-year-old genetic
farmers. The narrative in the western is typically resolved
mutant who can manipulate his body so that he can
by the arrival of the cavalry at the last minute to save the
squeeze through incredibly tight spaces to attack his
day, or a ritual shoot-out on the main street. The
victims, requiring their livers to sustain him during
narrative can be seen as an aspect of the syntax of the
decades of hibernation. There is little in Buffy that
western.
compares to this in terms of horrifying or terrorising the
audience.
The same process can be seen at work in other
traditional genres, the gangster and the horror film. In
A long-running series has space to indulge in all sorts of
the former, there was frequently a rise-and-fall structure
generic influences. Buffy shares many features with the
showing the gangster rising from the gutter to a position
action genre, such as Bruce Willis vehicles like Die Hard
of power only to end in death and failure. (The Hays
and the Mel Gibson Lethal Weapon films. It also has
Production Code, which the American studios observed
much in common with superhero films, such as
from 1933 until the late 1960s, insisted that crime should
Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Xena the Warrior
not be seen to pay). These narrative structures can
Chapter 1: Categories
17
therefore be seen as syntactical elements, with the
which provides the core of the show. Once More with
semantic ones being, for example, the cars with white-
Feeling, [6.7] is an episode given over to the musical
wall tyres, the flash suits of the gangsters, the gangsters'
genre (the rationale being that a spell causes everyone
"molls", the illegal drinking club or speakeasy (for films
in Sunnydale to break out spontaneously into song and
set during the Prohibition era). In the horror genre, a
dance). Another episode, Spiral [5.20], has elements of
syntactical element might be the elimination of victim
the historical drama as well as the swashbuckler: a group
after victim until the "final girl" - usually the "virtuous"
of mediaeval knights track Buffy and the Scoobies in
one - manages to escape or kill the monster. 8 The
order to kill Dawn. This episode also references another
semantic elements, on the other hand, might include the
famous John Ford western, Stagecoach, as the knights
monster, low-key lighting, the creepy castle, the POV
chase the group who are travelling in a Winnebago
(point-of-view) camerawork, the atmospheric organ
camper, with arrows penetrating the interior, and knights
music etc.
leaping from their horses onto the vehicle as Buffy, up
top, tries to repel the attackers.
Altman argues that genre theory needs to keep the
distinction clearly in mind if it is to come to terms with
The Initiative arc which dominates Season 4 allows the
issues such as generic evolution, and cross-genre
show to employ semantics of science fiction - cold,
hybridisation in particular. To use once again the
gleaming metallic surfaces, secret underground science
example of Star Wars, it is a good example of a generic
labs with scientists in white coats. The headquarters in
hybrid, despite being clearly identifiable as science
which the Initiative is installed resembles the
fiction, as it borrows some elements, both semantic and
underground lair which serves as the HQ of the villain in
syntactical, from the western; indeed, it contains a
Bond films. It also uses the syntax of the genre, the mad
"hommage" (a French term meaning a reference to an
scientists who go too far and exposes themselves and
earlier made in homage to the original) to a classic
the community to danger. In The Initiative story arc,
western, John Ford's The Searchers. Luke Skywalker
there is even an allusion to that earlier horror-sci-fi
leaves the ranch where he lives with his aunt and uncle
hybrid, Frankenstein, since Adam is made from parts of
and when he returns he finds them slaughtered, clearly
humans, demons and monsters. (Goodbye Iowa [4.14]).
an allusion to The Searchers where John Wayne's Ethan
is lured away from his brother's ranch by a group of
1.2.4
Horror
raiding Comanches who slaughter his family. Despite the
As stated above, instances of "pure" genres have always
elements borrowed from the western, the audience
been rare, as producers try to attract as wide an
approaches Star Wars as science fiction rather than
audience as possible, even if this process of
western, because science fiction semantics predominate.
hybridisation has become much more widespread in
recent years. Nevertheless, some genres are more clearly
In most generic hybrids, one of the generic elements
coded than others. If the western is a good example of a
tends to predominate. For example, The Rocky Horror
genre which is easier to define and delineate, horror is
Picture Show (1975) is a hybrid of horror and musical.
an example of one where the boundaries are much
But as Brian Dunbar points out:
looser and overlap with several others. Horror can be
To answer this question [which is it, horror or
musical?], one should take Altman's advice and
examine the syntax or structure of the film as
opposed to the semantics which refer to the
visuals and sound elements of the film. In this
case, a film like The Rocky Horror Picture Show
belongs more properly to the musical since it is
structured around the need to have songs and
dances every so often. In addition, the film does
not set out to scare so fails on this account as
well. 9
loosely defined in terms of the intended effect – a
mixture of fear, revulsion and a sense of the uncanny on the audience. It can include various types of
supernatural drama where the normal rules of nature
don't function, films such as Carrie, The Nightmare on
Elm Street films, Halloween and its sequels, The
Amityville Horror, The Shining, The Exorcist, not to
mention the various films dealing with vampires,
werewolves and other monsters and demons. But it also
includes films where the normal rules governing the
universe prevail but create their effects by showing
Although in Buffy the horror and teen comedy semantics
extremes of human behaviour, films such as The Texas
predominate, the fact that it is a television series rather
Chainsaw Massacre, The Pit and the Pendulum, Straw
than a film provides opportunities to have particular
Dogs and I Spit on Your Grave.
episodes (or even several episodes within a season)
devoted to a particular genre apart from the main ones
18
Chapter 1: Categories
There is no clear dividing line between horror and other
The vampire film, whether we refer to it as a genre or
genres such as thriller and suspense, genres which
sub-genre, is an example of gothic that established its
Alfred Hitchcock is associated with. Two of Hitchcock's
own particular repertoire of elements. Based on legends
most famous films, Psycho and The Birds (the former
about a mediaeval knight, Vlad Dracul, also known as
"natural" and the latter "supernatural") could usefully be
Vlad the Impaler due to the way he dispatched his
categorised as horror. Carol Clover, in "Men, Women
victims, Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula" (1897) was
and Chainsaws" makes the valid point that there is " a
particularly influential in establishing vampire lore. It
tendency to classify a plot as "horror" when it is low
involves a Central European Count in a gloomy gothic
budget and "drama" or "suspense" when it is highly
castle who avoids daylight, doesn't have a reflection in a
produced" 10 For example, Don't Look Now, a film
mirror, can be warded off with garlic and crucifixes, can't
adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story and directed
cross a threshold uninvited and can be destroyed by
by Nicholas Roeg, might easily come into the category
decapitation, running water and a stake through the
of horror, thought its art-film aura would make it less
heart. He has human accomplices (such as servants and
likely to be considered as such.
the fly-eating Renfield), sexy female vampire minions,
and a hypnotic sexual power. Stoker also established a
The term sub-genre is often used when a body of films
model, in Van Helsing, for Dracula's antagonist who
within a genre display similar characteristics. Gothic and
fights vampires with a mixture of spiritual and scientific
vampire films (see below) might be considered sub-
power.
genres of horror, just as is slasher (or stalker) of which
the classic example is Halloween. but it is possibly
There were several vampire films made during the first
easier to define the characteristics of these sub-genres
three decades of the cinema, the most notable being
than the looser category of horror. However, a
Les Vampires, a ten-part silent serial made by French
characteristic of all horror films is the presence of a
director Louis Feuillade and starring Musidora who
monster, whether non-human or human, which ranges
played Irma Vep (an anagram for "vampire") as an evil
from the psychopathic Michael Myers in Halloween and
but sexy creature, the first screen "vamp", a word used
sequels, the vengeful Freddy Kruger in The Nightmare
for a woman who uses her sex appeal to entrap and
on Elm St and sequels, the creature in Alien (a
exploit men, thereby establishing a strong connection
sci-fi/horror hybrid), the chainsaw killers in Texas
between vampires and eroticism. However, the most
Chainsaw Massacre, and a host of others, and a hero or
influential vampire film of the silent era was the German
heroine who has to confront and defeat the monster.
film, Nosferatu - A Symphony of Terror, directed by FW
The narrative is typically resolved by a confrontation,
Murnau in 1921 starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok. It
allowing the audience a sort of catharsis, that purging of
was based on Bram Stoker's novel but the name-change
powerful emotions that allows the audience to cope with
was an unsuccessful attempt to avoid copyright
their fears.
restrictions. Schreck's vermin-like vampire was truly
hideous, with protruding fangs and long prehensile
1.2.5
Gothic and Vampire
fingers. The Master, the "big bad" of the first season of
Gothic is another important element in the horror genre
Buffy, was clearly based on Nosferatu; indeed, the
and its various sub-genres. This refers to narratives of
unaired pilot for the series ends with Buffy, having
terror and suspense usually set in gloomy old castles or
accepted her role as slayer, throwing a knife into an
monasteries (the term gothic referring to the mediaeval
image of the vampire on a poster advertising Murnau's
architecture). In literature, gothic originated in the 18th
film.
century. The term was extended beyond works with a
medieavalised setting but which shared a sinister,
The next significant portrayal of Dracula was by the
grotesque or claustrophobic atmosphere. The best
Hungarian actor, Bela Lugosi, who established a
known example in the 19th century was Mary Shelley's
template for the count which was to be influential in
novel, "Frankenstein" (1818) which included a theme
representing Dracula until the present day (and is the
important in certain science fiction works: the scientist
model for Dracula in the Season 5 episode, Buffy Versus
who "plays God" by attempting to bring the dead back
Dracula [5.1]). His English was heavily accented and sexy;
to life, with fatal consequences. There are several
the image was exotic, suave and sophisticated, an image
important American tales and novels with strong gothic
confirmed by his evening wear, including the famous
elements, particularly works of Edgar Allen Poe such as
cloak. His combination of repulsion and attractiveness
“The Pit and the Pendulum”, several of which have been
(to women) has persisted in subsequent portrayals of the
adapted as horror films.
count.
Chapter 1: Categories
19
Christopher Lee, in the cycle of Dracula films made for
develop and grow in the same way that human
the British production company Hammer Films in the
characters do.
1960s and 70s, was the next major portrayal of Dracula.
It owed much to Lugosi's, in terms of clothing and dark
1.2.6
sexuality, but he also brought something of Max Schrek's
Despite the various generic labels that can be applied to
animal-like intensity to the part. The Hammer films, such
Buffy, the hybrid of horror, youth film and comedy is the
Youth/Teen/High School Drama
as the 1958 film Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher,
most prominent. The horror has been dealt with above
also added some of the elements that have become
but what of youth film? This is a loosely coded genre,
established in the public imagination, including such
defined partly by content and partly by the audience to
conventions as surly Carpathian villagers crossing
which they appeal, teen to early twenties. Adolescence
themselves in fear at the name of Dracula and warning
is a significant stage in human development in every
sceptical travellers to go nowhere near the castle,
culture but only with the post-Second World War
especially after sunset, advice the urban sophisticates
affluence did the teenager come into being, firstly in the
always ignore. The Hammer films also established
USA and then in Europe. Youth cults arose, from rockers,
Christopher Cushing as Dracula's arch-nemesis,
bikers, teddy boys, mods, punks to today's moshers and
Professor Van Helsing. Other actors to attempt the role
goths. The music industry was marked particularly by a
of Dracula include the American actor Frank Langella
new kind of youth music, rock and roll, but the film
and the French actor Louis Jourdain who reprised the
industry wasn't far behind in chasing the new spending
Lugosi's style of portrayal for television in the miniseries
power of adolescents by making films targeted at this
Count Dracula (BBC, 1977) with Jourdain as a very suave,
demographic.
very Gallic vampire in a version very faithful to Bram
Stoker's original novel. Gary Oldman's portrayal in
The rise of the teenager came at a time of decline for
Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula
the Hollywood studios, affected by the extension of
combined elements of Schreck's portrayal with an almost
leisure opportunities and the advent of television and,
1960's hippy image.
although it was some years before films were heavily
marketed towards particular audiences (and only with
A further development in the vampire genre came from
the rise of the multiplex in the 1980s could this tendency
the pen of Anne Rice, American author of the best-
reach maturity), the film industry did attempt to target
selling "Vampire Chronicles". In her novels, Rice creates
films particularly at youth, such as rock and roll films,
vampires who are closer to us, more human, more
where pop stars featured, and films around the theme of
understandable for us than remote Central European
youth rebellion. A classic example of the youth film was
aristocrats. Her vampires are sophisticated and erotic
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) which made a star of its
(Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt star in the film adaptation of
lead actor, James Dean. It was typical of the genre in
Rice's novel “Interview with the Vampire”) and often
that it challenged adult authority, both parental and
successfully masquerade as humans. In the first book of
institutional, such as school authorities, police and
the series, the vampire Louis Lestaat is tormented by
politicians. The high school setting was particularly
guilt, comes to hate being a vampire and refuses to
important in the genre (more so in American films than
feed on humans - an obvious model for Angel in Buffy.
British) and a familiar repertoire of elements was
The Lost Boys also puts a modern spin on the genre and
established for the genre, such as character types (jocks,
involves a group of vampire juvenile delinquents who
nerds and eggheads, cheerleaders and home-coming
terrorise a small Californian town before being
queens, coaches and authoritarian school principals),
destroyed by a group of youths who have learned their
and events (graduation ceremonies and the all-
vampire lore from comic books. Vampires also became
important prom), locations (lockers, classrooms, the gym
popular on the small screen by the 1990s, such as the
and playing fields, cars and school grounds where
Canadian TV series Forever Knight which followed an
students could lounge in the sun - Southern Californian
ancient vampire seeking redemption for his past
was a frequent location for obvious reasons).
misdeeds (which are shown in flashback) by working as a
detective in modern-day Toronto, Nick Knight being
The process of generic hybridity is even more typical of
another obvious forerunner of Angel. Many of these
the youth film than other genres and many of the most
vampire characters provide models for the vampires in
popular youth films are hybrids. One popular sub-genre
Buffy, especially the one who aren't simply one-
is the reworking of classic literary or theatrical texts, such
dimensional models but complex personalities who can
as Clueless which reworks Jane Austen's "Emma", 10
Things I Hate About You, based on Shakespeare's "The
20
Chapter 1: Categories
Taming of the Shrew", and Cruel Intentions, adapted
can exist even in the darkest, most tragic texts, perhaps
from Choderlos de Laclos' novel, "Dangerous
as "comic relief" (eg, The Searchers, "Macbeth") but
Liaisons", which stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. But horror is
also because, even when the main thrust of the whole
perhaps the most frequent hybrid with youth and high
text is to make people laugh, the texts can be organised
school film, with such films as Halloween, Carrie, Friday
in many ways; indeed, because of its sheer diversity, the
13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. More recent
term "mode" is often preferred to genre when dealing
examples are the Scream films, I Know What You Did
with comedy.
Last Summer and The Faculty.
Perhaps the purest comedy, generically speaking, is
Youth films have their equivalents on (mainly US)
where the film's main character is a comedian (and well
television, with a high school setting used in such shows
known in other media such as television or the stage)
as Saved by the Bell, My So-called Life and the
and the film consists largely of opportunities for seeing
television spin-off of Clueless. Buffy uses many of the
the comedian perform gags and stunts without the need
elements of the repertoire of the genre, especially
for a coherent plot, examples such as The Nutty
during the first three seasons which were set in
Professor and other Gerry Lewis films and, more
Sunnydale High School. The character-types are well
recently, many of Jim Carrey's films; and from an earlier
represented, with the cheerleaders, geeks, nerds and
period, the Marx Brothers' films. Films with a more
jocks. Cordelia is the archetypal cheerleader as well as
structured narrative tend to be hybrids such as the
being the queen of the popular social set. Willow is
"teen comedy" (which has its own sub-genre in the
nerdish in the extreme, at least until she starts going out
highly successful films and cycles of films such as There's
with Oz, lead guitarist of a rock band. Xander is also
Something About Mary and the American Pie films).
thought (by Cordelia and her crowd) to be a bit of a
nerd but his most consistent role is that of class-clown.
Comedy is one of the dominant tones throughout Buffy.
Various jocks appear at different times in the show,
(The Body, [5.16], where Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother,
including the member of the successful swimming team
dies of an aneurysm, is exceptional in that comedy is
who expects to be "rewarded" with Buffy who rejects his
more or less limited to a flash-back sequence before
advances and ends up getting the blame by the school
Joyce' death). The humour goes from slapstick to irony,
principal because of the way she dresses. (Go Fish
from dreadful puns, such as in the following exchange
[2.20]). Willow is expected to tutor another sporting jock
from A New Man [4.12]:
(Dopplegangland [3.16]) and, in her role as temporary
relief teacher is expected to let him pass no matter how
weak his grades are.
The settings are also the familiar ones of the genre:
students hanging around lockers between classes
(occasionally finding a corpse in one); the classroom; the
Maggie Walsh:
So, the Slayer.
Buffy:
Yeah. That's me.
Walsh:
We thought you were a myth.
Buffy:
Well, you were myth-taken
playing fields and the gym. There is also the allimportant prom, the homecoming queen, graduation
to the most subtle wit.
ceremony etc. And the narratives deal with peer-group
rivalry, romance, and getting into trouble over school
Buffy frequently dispatches her demon foes with James
work. When the Scoobies leave school, the Sunnydale
Bond-like quips. As she says to one startled vampire:
campus of the University of Southern California plays a
"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Buffy, and
similar role in terms of familiar settings, with the lecture
you're . . . history!" (Never Kill a Boy on the First Date,
theatre, the fraternity and sorority houses and the dorms
[1.5]) She confronts a demon who has been kidnapping
taking the place of the high school settings as more
young people and making them slaves in his hell
adult themes are explored.
dimension. Wielding hammer and sickle, she asks him if
he wants to see her imitation of Gandhi. After smashing
1.2.7
Comedy
the demon's brains in, she says to her bewildered
It is difficult to classify comedy as a genre as it appears
companion, "Well, you know, if he was really pissed off"
in many different genres such as horror and melodrama.
(Anne, [3.1]). Buffy is more of an action-gal than an
Comedy is classified on the basis of its intended effect
intellectual, and much of the show's comedy derives
on its audience but it is even less easy to define than the
from Buffy's lack of scholarship. When Xander asks Buffy
teen/youth/high school genre, not only because comedy
if she's "up for a little reconnaissance", she (thinking he
Chapter 1: Categories
21
is referring to the Renaissance) responds, "You mean
and upper with that nancy-boy accent. You Englishmen
where we all sculpt and paint and stuff?" Buffy,
are always so... (pauses) Bloody hell! Sodding, blimey,
quarrelling with Angel, says, "I don't trust you. You're a
shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I'm English!" Giles
vampire" and when he looks hurt goes on, "Oh, I'm
and Spike assume that, being English, they are father
sorry, was that an offensive term? Should I say 'undead-
and son. Spike examines a suit which he had borrowed
American'?" (When She Was Bad [2.1]). This verbal
and finds a label on the inside of his suit jacket, which
agility extends to the other characters. In the same
says, 'Made with care for Randy' and angrily accuses his
episode, When Buffy (for once) behaves badly, even
"father" of lumbering him with an embarrassing name:
bitchy Cordelia thinks she is going too far and tells her,
"Randy Giles? Why not just call me 'Horny Giles,' or
"Whatever is causing the Joan Collins 'tude, deal with it.
'Desperate-for-a-Shag Giles'? I knew there was a reason I
Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever,
hated you!"
but get over it," thereby showing her familiarity with
both American soap and Californian psycho-speak.
Some characters are present mainly for their comic
function. Xander is full of quick one-liners and self-
In Buffy Versus Dracula [5.1], the prince of darkness
deprecating wit but is too central to the show's different
himself makes an appearance and the Scooby gang are
moods and situations to be as one dimensional as
star struck. Buffy is flattered, "I mean, can you believe
simply a comic character. The main comic characters are
that? Count Famous heard of me." " What about that
Cordelia in the first three seasons and Anya in the last
thing where he turned himself into a bat?" gasps Willow.
four. Cordelia's humour derives from her total self-
"That was awesome!" Xander calls Dracula "the Dark
absorption and complete lack of tact. She is at a history
Master - bator" (a line edited out of the episode when it
lesson on the French Revolution (where the French
appeared on the BBC - see Chapter 6: Institutions) and
Queen, Marie-Antoinette, was supposed to have said
makes fun of him: "And where'd you get that accent,
about the poor who had no bread to eat: "let them eat
Sesame Street? [imitating the Count on Sesame Street]
cake", showing how detached she was from everyday
Vun, two, three -- three victims. Mwa ha ha!" But Xander
problems). Cordelia has her own take on these events:
soon falls under his power, playing the Renfield role and
even starts eating flies. Sending up its own
improbabilities, this episode has the Scoobies track
Dracula to his dark mediaeval castle causing Riley to
remark," I've lived in Sunnydale a couple of years now.
Know what I've never noticed before? A big honking
castle". The straight-laced Giles is trapped by the three
sexy female vampires (like the ones who captured
Jonathan Harper in Bram Stoker's "Dracula") and when
he escapes he is teased:" At least you weren't making
time with the dracu-babes like Giles here", to which
Giles replies: "I was not making time! I, I was, uh, just
about to kill those, uh, loathsome creatures when Riley
interrupted me", to which Riley replies, "You were gonna
nuzzle 'em to death?" Characteristically, Buffy overcomes
Dracula not simply because of her slayer powers but
because of her media literacy: Dracula disappears but
when he reappears she is ready for him: "You think I
don't watch your movies? You always come back," she
says as she stakes him into dust.
The interaction of the English characters frequently
provides comic opportunities. In Tabula Rasa [6.8],
Willow makes a spell that goes wrong and everyone
loses their memory. Giles reassures everyone, "We'll all
get our memory back, and it'll all be right as rain" to
which Spike (not realising he himself is English), retorts,
"Oh, listen to Mary Poppins. He's got his crust all stiff
22
Chapter 1: Categories
Cordelia:
I just don't see why everyone's always picking
on Marie-Antoinette. I can so relate to her. She
worked really hard to look that good, and
people just don't appreciate that kind of effort.
And I know the peasants were all depressed...
Xander:
I think you mean O-pressed.
Cordelia:
Whatever. They were cranky. So they're like,
'Let's lose some heads.' Uh! That's fair? And
Marie-Antoinette cared about them. She was
gonna let them have cake.
Anya arrives at the end of Season 3, just before
Cordelia's departure to the spin-off show, Angel. She
has spent a millennium as a vengeance demon, acting
on women's wishes when they have been badly treated
by men. Much of the humour derives from the fact that,
not having been human for long, she hasn't learned tact
and just blurts out what she feels like. In The Prom [3.20],
for example, she asks Xander to take her to the prom:
Anya:
You know, you can laugh, but I have witnessed a
millennium of treachery and oppression from
the males of the species and I have nothing but
contempt for the whole libidinous lot of them.
Xander:
Then why you talking to me?
Anya (averting her eyes);
I don't have a date for the prom.
Xander:
Well gosh. I wonder why not. It couldn't
possibly have anything to do with your sales
pitch?
Anya:
Men are evil. Will you go with me?
show we're keeping to the original formula. We
take our horror genre seriously. We are not
doing spoof. It's larger than life but we are very
much involved with these characters... The
description I like best is My So-Called Life
meets The X-Files 11
If the comedy and the horror are to be taken seriously, it
will involve rapid transitions in tone between the two.
In The Harsh Light of Day [4.3], she develops her direct
Buffy requires its audience to be able to follow these
approach to relationships:
rapid transitions, what Jim Collins refers to as "tonal
(To Xander): I like you. You're funny, and you're
nicely shaped. And frankly, it's ludicrous to have
these interlocking bodies and not... interlock.
Please remove your clothing now.
variation" (or “shift”) which is a feature of much recent
television drama:
At one moment, the conventions of a genre are
taken 'seriously,' in another scene, they might
be subjected to [a] sort of ambivalent parody . .
These generic and tonal variations occur within
scenes as well as across scenes, sometimes
oscillating on a line by line basis, or across
episodes. 12
The comedy in Buffy ranges widely from verbal comedy,
including subtle wit, to slapstick, which is a boisterous
physical comedy with chases and collisions and practical
jokes characterized by horseplay and physical action. In
The Initiative [4.7], Harmony, once Cordelia's bitchy sidekick in Sunnydale High School, has become a vampire
A good example of tonal shift occurs in The Initiative
and Spike's much put-upon girlfriend. Badly treated
[4.7]. Spike escapes from the Initiative's laboratories and
once again by Spike, she is burning all of his things
tries to track down Buffy to kill her. He reaches her
(including his beloved Sex Pistols records) when she
bedroom in the dorm but there is only Willow whom he
confronts Xander and what follows is pure slapstick.
decides to kill anyway. The tone is one of fear and terror,
Harmony "bitch-slaps" him and he retaliates by kicking
created by the lighting, the non-diegetic music and the
her on the shin, evoking Harmony's indignant shriek:
fact that Spike's face is transformed into its "game"
"Ow! You sissy kicker!" and then there ensues the most
version, indicating he is ready for the kill. There is a cut
'girly' fight ever on Buffy as they paw at each other and
to increase the tension (and a commercial break). When
circle each other in a menacing manner as the
we return, Spike is sitting crestfallen on the edge of the
soundtrack has mock-heroic action-genre music,
bed: he can't "perform". (We, and he, learn later that
slapping without contact, and end up tangled up pulling
the Initiative has inserted a chip in his brain that prevents
each other's hair.
him from harming humans. As he later puts it, 'Spike had
a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the
1.3
Tone
Tone is the attitude adopted toward the subject as
shown in the language and other signs. The tone of any
given text can be serious, humorous, romantic, angry,
bewildered. Which tone is adopted will depend on
purpose and genre; the generic mix of Buffy the
Vampire Slayer is likely to reflect this variety.
Comedy and horror are elements which are difficult to
combine without becoming a spoof. Spoofs are about
making fun of some aspects of a genre and horror
spoofs such as Love at First Bite, The Young
Frankenstein and Carry on Screaming abound. Buffy
has aspects of spoof but Joss Whedon, the main creator
of the series, would deny this as a definition of the show
as a whole.
In the [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] movie, the
director took an action/horror/comedy script
and went only with the comedy. In the television
other puppies anymore'). The tone has changed from
horror or terror to comedy as his inability to bite Willow
is treated as if it is sexual impotence, with Willow playing
the sympathetic woman who tries to make him feel
better.
Spike:
I don't understand. This sort of thing's never
happened to me before.
Willow:
Maybe you were nervous . . . Maybe you're
trying too hard. Doesn't this happen to every
vampire?
Spike:
Not to me, it doesn't!
Willow:
It's me, isn't it?
Spike:
What are you talking about?
Willow:
Well, you came looking for Buffy, then settled.
I... I... You didn't want to bite me. I just
happened to be around.
Chapter 1: Categories
23
Spike:
Piffle!
Willow:
I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink
their teeth into. It's always like, "ooh, you're like
a sister to me," or, "oh, you're such a good
friend."
unlikely pairing) when Andrew says, "Wheelchair fight?",
plunging the scene into slapstick comedy as the pair
cavort around the empty ward. As Carl Wilson puts it:
The moment is gloriously senseless. Yes, it
shows the two are not mature enough to rush
back to the injured girls, as they ought to. And
it sends up the point about how inane people
can be . . . On most programs, with the core
characters in conflict and innocent bystanders
dying, a wheelchair fight would be no-go.
Indeed, the tonal shift would be out of bounds
in most films, literature or theatre. On Buffy, the
shifts are the tone. The first rule of the
Buffyverse is that there are no rules. Horror
slides into humour, psychodrama into the
surreal, pop-culture pastiche into thriller,
domestic verisimilitude into sexual fantasy, from
After a few minutes of this comic banter, the tone shifts
back again as Willow crashes a light on Spike's head and
makes her escape.
Even in one of the darker episodes, Lie to Me [2.7],
there is an example of this tonal variation. A boy called
Billy Ford has a terminal illness and wants to become a
vampire to cheat death. He gathers around him a group
of young people who romanticise about vampires and
second to second, line to line. 13
want to join "the misunderstood", the "lonely ones".
Ford intends to sacrifice these to vampires in return for
his becoming one of them. Xander, Willow and Angel go
to a club where vampire worshipers congregate. The
atmosphere is tense. Angel comments: "I've seen
enough. I've seen this type before. I mean, they're
children making up bedtime stories of friendly vampires
to comfort themselves in the dark... These people don't
know anything about vampires. What they are, how they
live, how they dress..." Then a young man dressed
exactly like Angel comes down the stairs behind him and
looks him up and down before continuing on. Angel
clears his throat and leaves in embarrassment.
In the same episode, Buffy tries to convince the vampireworshipers they are in serious danger from the very
vampires they worship:
I am trying to save you! You are playing in some
serious traffic here! Do you understand that?
You're going to die! And the only hope you
have of surviving this is to get out of this pit
right now, and. . ." [as catches sight of the
"vampire" outfit worn by one of them, the tone
changes to the comic] ... my God, could you
have a dorkier outfit?
1.4
Postmodernism
Tonal shifts are characteristic of postmodernism, a term
that is difficult to define exactly but it is to describe
aspects of the culture in recent times. One of the main
features is its eclecticism - the mixing and matching of
different stylistic elements. Some who use the term
welcome it as liberation from the ideas of and reverence
for "high culture" (for example, opera, ballet, painting,
classic literature, etc) and the disparaging of "low
culture" (television, popular cinema, comics, etc). Others
see postmodernism as a trivialisation of culture by
irresponsible academics caught up in admiration for the
glitter of consumer capitalism and its moral emptiness.
The term is used to describe conditions prevailing in the
last three decades of the twentieth century, especially in
the production of media artefacts, where there is a
superabundance of images and styles - in television, pop
videos, film, advertising, etc - which are readily available
for recycling. The traditionally valued qualities of
coherence, meaning originality and authenticity are
replaced by a random swirl of empty signs to produce a
culture of disposable imitations, superficiality,
"simulacra" (copies without originals), style valued over
In End of Days [7.21], Andrew the super-nerd and Anya,
substance, surface appearance over depth, a mixing and
the ex-vengeance demon, are in a deserted hospital
matching of diverse styles.
looking for medical supplies for the impending
apocalypse. Andrew asks her why she doesn't flee as she
Postmodernism adopts the view that it is no longer
did once before (in Graduation Day Part One [3.21]).
possible to have general theories - referred to as
The tone is serious, almost solemn as Anya replies that,
"grand narratives" or "metanarratives" - which attempt
since then, though, she has gotten to like how
to explain how history and society function (for example,
"amazingly screwed-up" human beings are, to respect
Marxism which explains historical development in terms
their "insane" will to carry on. She has developed as a
of the class struggle). Used in this sociological way, the
character and is about to become heroic (she dies in the
term “postmodernity” is sometimes used, with
final confrontation). They gaze into each others' eyes,
postmodernism applying to stylistic tendencies in
there is a pause, the kind that usually precedes a kiss (an
24
Chapter 1: Categories
cultural products such as film, television, advertising and
expressing the same regret and they approach him
architecture; this is the way it is being used here. As such
seductively, we realise we are in Xander's fantasy as the
postmodernism has a number of distinctive features,
door to his room swings open and we see feathers flying
including:
everywhere! Girls in skimpy nighties and underwear
jump and bounce, flinging pillows at each playfully. The
1.4.1
Intertextuality and Pastiche
pillow fight in slow motion appears to be a hommage to
Intertextuality involves referencing not just different
the anarchic slow-motion pillow-fight in Jean-Vigo's Zero
genres but the way in which specific texts are "quoted"
de Conduite/Zero for Behaviour - albeit involving
in other texts. One aspect of this is generic hybridity (see
rampaging schoolboys in a French boarding-school
Genre above) - an eclectic mixing of styles from different
rather than pubescent slayers-in waiting! (The title of the
times and places, recycling of images, mixing and
episode comes from the misogynistic fundamentalist
matching, and intertextual references. Buffy is very much
preacher Caleb who considers all women dirty, rather
a generic hybrid but it is its intertextuality which is even
than the cavorting slayerettes).
more marked. According to Robert Stam, (using the
analogy of STD prevention), "Any text which has slept
Shakespearian allusions abound, from the first season
with another text has necessarily slept with all the texts
when the head vampire, the Master (based on Murnau's
the other text has slept with
14;"
what David Lavery
refers to as "textually promiscuous” 15, which Buffy
vampire in Nosferatu), echoes Salanio in "The Merchant
of Venice" in asking, "What news on the Rialto" (The
certainly is. Intertextual allusions range widely through
Wish, [3.9]); and the English vampire Drusilla, Spike's
both pop and highbrow culture. For example, in one
paramour, playing a variation on Othello, declares, "We
early episode, Buffy replies to a sceptical Giles," I cannot
can love quite well. If not wisely." (Crush [5.14]). Quoting
believe that you of all people are trying to scully me"
from the same play, Spike declares about the Slayer, "I'll
(The Pack, [1.6]), a reference to Fox Mulder's FBI partner,
chop her into messes" (School Hard [2.3]). When the
Dana Scully, in The X-Files. When Xander dresses as a
Scoobies go off to confront hell-god Glory in the Season
Western hero for a fancy-dress party, he claims to come
5 finale, The Gift [5.22], and Buffy declares, "Everybody
from "the country of Leone. It's in Italy, pretending to be
knows their jobs. Remember, the ritual starts, we all
Montana." - a reference to Sergio Leone's" “spaghetti”
die," “Henry V”'s St. Crispin's Day speech, where Henry
westerns which were set in the USA but actually made in
rallies his troops on the eve of battle ("once more into
Europe (Inca Mummy Girl [2.4]). Principal Snyder tells
the breach, dear friends... we few, we happy few, we
Xander that everything from his mouth is "an airborne
band of brothers"), provides the comic interchange
toxic event" (What's My Line, Part 1, [2.9]), a reference
between Giles and Spike:
to Don DeLillo's novel, "White Noise". Rogue-slayer
Faith is so late in arriving that she "makes Godot seem
punctual", a reference to Samuel Becket's play, "Waiting
for Godot" (Enemies [3.17]). When Tara says, "Things
fall apart, they fall so hard", the Irish poet, WB Yeats's
"Second Coming" is the source (Entropy [6.18]). Ingmar
Bergman's film, The Seventh Seal, which features the
character of Death which plays a game of chess with a
knight, is alluded to in this exchange between the
Scoobies in Killed by Death [2.18]:
Cordelia:
You saw death?
Willow:
Did it have an hourglass?
Xander:
Ooh, if he asks you to play chess, don't even do
it. The guy's, like, a wiz.
Spike:
Well, not exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech,
was it?
Giles:
"We few, we happy few . . ."
Spike:
“ . .. we band of buggered."
Despite the generally negative representation of religion
in Buffy, the Bible is not neglected as a scource of
intertextual allusion, as in Amends [3.10]. Angel has
been returned from the hell-dimension Buffy had sent
him at the end of Season 2 but, in despair at the evil
side of his character, and encouraged by the promptings
of the spirit that is “the First Evil (“Big Bad” of the final
Season 7), he has a death-wish. As he tells Buffy, “It’s not
the demon in me that needs killing, it’s the man.” And,
referring back to his pre-vampire existence as a drunken
In Dirty Girls [7.18], one of the slayers-in-waiting who are
lout in Ireland, he asks, “Am I a thing worth saving? Am I
billeted with Xander in preparation for the final battle
a righteous man.” Buffy answers (echoing the words of
with The First Evil comes into his bedroom to confide
Jesus in “Matthew 25.40): ”Inasmuch as ye have done it
her fears and her regret that she might die without ever
unto the least of these, ... ye have done it to me”), “I
"being with" a man. By the time another one comes in
know everything that you did because you did it to me”.
Chapter 1: Categories
25
Super-hero texts provide another rich source of
occasionally talk directly, or wink, to the audience, this
intertextual reference. When Buffy says, "my spider
direct address breaking the "fourth wall"; however, it
sense is tingling", (I Robot, You Jane, [1.8]) it is clearly a
wasn't significant in non-comic films until the French
reference to Spiderman. In Hush [4.10], a soldier in a
Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) films of the late 1950's/early
secret government underground organisation bemoans
60s and it is to be found even more so in the 1990s and
the fact that he can't reveal his identity to impress girls
later. 17 It can be a risky strategy because there is a pact
but has to "Clark Kent [his] way through the dating
between producers and audience, the latter enacting a
scene and never use this unfair advantage," a reference
"willing suspension of disbelief" (to use the term coined
to Superman's mild-mannered alter ego. The superhero
by the 18th century poet and critic, ST Coleridge) which
references abound, typical of the self-referential process
allows drama to work emotionally on the audience. This
in Buffy which frequently draws attention to its own
is perhaps more necessary in a fantasy genre where that
constructedness.
suspension of disbelief has to take account of a world
where the laws of motion are somewhat different from
Pastiche is a form of intertextuality where one work
those we are used to in our everyday lives. However,
imitates another, paying homage to another writer or
modern audiences (or segments of them) have shown
filmmaker's style (hence the French term "hommage"
themselves prepared to accept the fact that certain texts
which is also used in English to describe such allusions).
draw attention to themselves as texts; indeed, part of
It differs from its stable-mate, parody, in that parody
the pleasure for audiences may be this flexible response
tends to poke fun at the work it is imitating whereas
which allows them to inhabit the world of the text from
pastiche - sometimes referred to as "blank parody" -
the inside, becoming involved and sharing the emotions
expresses admiration for the work being referenced. In
which the drama creates, while simultaneously seeing
postmodernist texts, the hommages are not always there
things from the outside, fully aware that what they are
to make a thematic point: they are there to give pleasure
seeing is not real and enjoying the text's playfulness.
to a section of the audience - the "cineliterate" or "film
buff" viewers – by allowing them to recognise the
Buffy frequently draws attention to its own
references. At the same time, the allusions are usually
constructedness. A minor example of this self-
such that they do not confuse the more "naïve"
referentiality occurs in Once More with Feeling [6.7]
members of the audience. A good example is to be
when Buffy utters the remark, "Dawn's in trouble, it must
found in Goodbye Iowa [4.14] where Giles and the
be Tuesday", drawing attention to itself as a TV show
Scoobies are hiding in Xander's basement. The males
with a particular slot in the schedule, Tuesday being the
are separated from the females by a carefully-placed
evening the show was broadcast in the USA. Another
curtain, a reference to the 1934 film, It Happened One
way it draws attention to its own status as a "superhero"
Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable
TV show is to acknowledge the existence of other
and Claudette Colbert. The function of this reference is
fictional superheroes. Again, this risks interfering with
not thematic: it is simply there for the pleasure of
the "suspension of disbelief" - you don't get references
recognition to the film-buff segment of the audience.
to Eastenders in Coronation Street! - but the
(Just to balance things out, it is followed by a reference
postmodern audience seems to take it in its stride. For
to the Roadrunner cartoon which is showing on
example, in Halloween [2.6], when a spell cast by Ethan
television, leading to an interesting discussion between
Rayne (another English villain) turns everyone into the
Willow and Buffy on genre, about the difference
persona reflecting their Halloween costume, Willow
between cartoon and documentary; a reference which
bemoans the fact that Buffy has dressed up as a terrified,
would be much more recognizable to most of the Buffy
simpering, eighteenth-century noblewoman and wishes
audience than the Capra allusion).
she had picked a Xena the Warrior Princess costume
instead. There are frequent references to Superman,
1.4.2
Self-referentiality and self-reflexiveness
This is when a work of fiction openly refers to and
such as Xander's occasional use of the expletive
"Merciful Zeus"; and Giles is sometimes referred to as
reflects upon its own process of production and its own
Alfred, after Batman's prissy butler. In Enemies [3.17],
fictional status and is one of the features Thomas Schatz
Faith refers to the Scoobies as Buffy's "Superfiends", a
identified 16 as being symptomatic of a genre's
reference to a group of cartoon superheroes; and the
"baroque" phase. It is not a totally new phenomenon.
Scooby Gang itself comes from Scooby-Doo, a Hannah-
Indeed, it can be found in some of the most mainstream
Barbera cartoon series in which a group of friends and
comedies of the 1940s and 1950s such as the Bob Hope-
their dog (Scooby Doo) travel in a van solving strange
Bing Crosby Road to ... films where characters would
mysteries.
26
Chapter 1: Categories
A much bolder example of self-reflexivity takes place in
producers and writers admitted to frequenting and
Normal Again [6.17] 18 where there are two levels of
sometimes contributing to, pushing the self-reflexivity of
reality within the diegesis, a "normal" one where there
the episode to a new level.
are no such things as vampires and demons, and the
Buffyverse, where they are everyday fact of existence.
Later, in a scene set in the Sunnydale of the
The explanation is that Buffy is affected by a demon's
"Buffyverse", Buffy describes her 'nightmare' to Xander:
venom which causes her to hallucinate that she is in a
"They told me that I was sick, I guess crazy, and that
psychiatric hospital where she is being treated for the
Sunnydale and all of this - none of it was real", to which
schizophrenia, which makes her imagine there are such
Xander replies, "Oh, come on. That's ridiculous. What?
things as vampires and demons. In this reality, Buffy still
You think this isn't real just because of all the vampires,
lives with her family in LA, Buffy's mother is still alive and
and demons, and ex-vengeance demons, and the sister
still married to her father Hank, she has no little sister,
that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying
and she making an effort to "get well" by rejecting the
energy...?" It is perhaps another example of the tonal
fantasies about vampires and being a slayer (the
shifts referred to earlier but it also draws attention to the
premise, of course, on which the whole show is based).
episode's fictional status by playing with the absurdity of
When the doctor asks her, "Do you know where you
the whole premise of the series.
are?' and she replies "Sunnydale", the doctor says,
"None of that's real. None of it. You're in a mental
1.5
Auteurism
institution. You've been with us now for six years" (six
In the 1950's, a group of French film critics around the
years being the length of time the show had been
journal, "Les Cahiers du Cinema" (Cinema Notebooks)
running). The sequences in the hospital are given equal
developed the idea that certain directors were the
status as representing the episode's reality, and Buffy's
"auteurs" (authors) of their films whereas others were
return to the world of the Hellmouth is represented as if
simply good craftsmen serving the needs of the script
she has lost the battle and has totally succumbed to her
rather than creative artists. An "auteur" would stamp
illness.
their style on a film, even while working in the highly
controlled conditions of the Hollywood studio system,
The doctor in the psychiatric hospital explains Buffy's
and have a certain consistency of style from film to film,
state of mind to her parents:
as well as exploring similar themes and motifs across
She's . . . created an intricate latticework to
support her primary delusion. In her mind, she's
the central figure in a fantastic world beyond
imagination. . . She's surrounded herself with
friends, most with their own superpowers ...
who are as real to her as you or me. More so,
unfortunately. Together they face ... grand
overblown conflicts against an assortment of
monsters both imaginary and rooted in actual
myth. Every time we think we're getting through
to her, more fanciful enemies magically appear .
. . A magical key. Buffy inserted Dawn into her
delusion, actually rewriting the entire history of
it to accommodate a need for a familial bond.
(To Buffy) Buffy, but that created inconsistencies,
didn't it? . . . Your sister, your friends, all of
those people you created in Sunnydale, they
aren't as comforting as they once were. Are
they? They're coming apart . . . Buffy, you used
to create these grand villains to battle against,
and now what is it? Just ordinary students you
went to high school with. No gods or monsters
... just three pathetic little men ... who like
playing with toys.
different films. This theory had the effect of putting
much emphasis on the film's mise en scene as opposed
to the script; it also allowed people to take film especially popular film for a mass audience such as
Hollywood's product - much more seriously. These
critics (the best known of whom were François Truffaut
and Jean-Luc Godard) used the theory as a way of
getting to make their own films and winning attention
for those films at the expense of an older generation of
filmmakers and as such they were very successful.
The theory itself was exported to Britain and to the USA
and, while it no longer has the same influence it had
among critics and academics, sidelined as it was by the
"death of the author" theory developed by the French
academic Roland Barthes, 19 it was used by the industry
in marketing and passed over to some extent to the
general public. In the 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock was one of
the few directors known to audiences and that was
largely due to his appearances introducing his TV series.
Nowadays, many filmgoers are familiar with the names of
Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola,
The doctor's reference to "three pathetic little men"
Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino etc.,
might well be an allusion to some of the criticisms made
and many films open with the words, "A film by
on the fan sites on the internet, sites which the
[director]", even though the director may have had little
Chapter 1: Categories
27
to do with writing or developing the script. Whereas
Don't give people what they want, give them
what they need. What they want is for Sam and
Diane [in the US sitcom Cheers] to get together.
Don't give it to them. Trust me . . People want
the easy path, a happy resolution, but in the
end, they're more interested in . . . No one's
going to go see the story of [Shakespeare's]
“Othello” going to get a peaceful divorce.
People want the tragedy. They need things to
go wrong, they need the tension. In my
characters there's a core of trust and love that
I'm very committed to. These guys would die
for each other, and it's very beautiful. But at the
same time, you can't keep that safety. Things
have to go wrong, bad things have to
happen. 22
genre is often thought to emphasise what is typical,
general, conventional and average in film, auteurism
emphasises what is unique, distinctive, inventive and
challenging.
One effect of the writings of Godard, Truffaut and others
was to cause the study of popular, particularly
Hollywood, film to be taken more seriously;
nevertheless, it was some time before television was
accorded similar status. However, a number of American
television writers/producers are sometimes referred to as
"TV auteurs", such as such as Steven Bochco (Hill St
Blues, NYPD Blues), Chris Carter (The X-Files), David
Chase (The Sopranos), Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing)
and Joss Whedon. Perhaps the first one to be thought
This statement perhaps explains Whedon's propensity to
of in these terms was the late Gene Roddenbury (Star
kill off sympathetic characters, from Jenny Calendar in
Trek).
Season 2 to Joyce Summers in Season 5 to Tara in
Season 6. David Fury, executive producer/director/writer,
Given that it takes a large number of people to make a
commented:
television series, it may seem perverse to single out an
Losing these characters is what gave the show
its weight. The fact that we were willing to take
characters that we loved, that the fans loved
and, for the purposes of the story, take it to
darker places. 23
individual for auteur status and television is an area
where it has been even more difficult than cinema for
writers or directors to establish an individual presence.
However, if such a term can be applied to television,
Whedon's role would make him a prime candidate. 20
He wrote twenty-three episodes of Buffy and (despite
never having directed before his involvement on the
show) directed twenty-one episodes, including some of
the most original, such as Hush, The Body, Restless and
Once More with Feeling, for which he also wrote the
music. But his influence is not limited to those episodes
where he writes or directs; as he informed an interviewer
for ET Onion on 5 September 2001:
I have control over all the shows. I'm
responsible for all the shows. That means that I
break the stories. I often come up with the
ideas and I certainly break the stories with the
writers so that we all know what's going to
happen. Then once the writers are done, I
rewrite every script . . . Then I oversee
production and edit every show, work with the
composers and sound mixers. Inevitably every
single show has my name on it somewhere and
it is my responsibility to make it good. 21
Just as the theory of auteurism started with critics but
was used in the industry as a marketing tool, so this
"authored" status of a television programme is not
simply a way of looking at the role of an individual within
the collective production practices of a US network
series: it also involves how it is marketed and one way of
differentiating a show from the many that surround it.
The idea of Buffy being an "authored" text could also
be a way of making it stand out from the crowd of
television programmes that jostle for space on the highly
competitive network. 24
1.6
Cult
The term cult can be defined in many different ways but
cult usually involves a strong loyal audience that thinks
intensely about a show, or a film, or a band. Another
characteristic of a cult film or television show is that its
most loyal and involved fans do more than just sit and
watch it: they carry on their fandom to other activities.
If, in the auteur theory, auteur status is conveyed not just
One such activity, particularly in science fiction, is
on directors who happen to be skilful in their craft but
attending Conventions. One of the earliest such shows
on "artists" with a "vision" who explore certain thematic
was Star Trek, but the UK productions, Dr Who and Red
concerns from film to film, what are Whedon's concerns
Dwarf (which could count Andrew and Jonathan from
as expressed through Buffy? One of these is for Buffy to
Season 6’s nerd troika of villains among their fans) had a
be something of a role model in terms of young female
significant following, especially in the UK. In cinema, Star
empowerment. Another might be what David Lavery
Wars had a substantial cult following which created an
calls Whedon's "religion" of narrative:
28
Chapter 1: Categories
audience base for the trilogy of prequels beginning with
The Phantom Menace in 1999.
The Star Wars films were very successful at the box
office but cult films and television shows more typically
have a moderate level of popularity rather than a large
one. Indeed, a degree of obscurity can make shows
more popular with intense fans. Blade Runner, a science
fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, was not particularly
successful at the box office when released in 1982 but its
subsequent cult following led to a “director’s cut” being
released ten years later, followed by a Director’s Cut
DVD and constant rumours of a subsequent release with
restored footage.
The Internet gave a great boost to cult activity and
Buffy’s appearance coincided with the enormous
expansion of the Internet. Online communities not only
debated aspects of the show but took part in other
activities such as writing fan fiction, costume creation,
replica prop and model building, and cult fans would
even create their own productions based on the formats
and characters. (One video which parodied and
pastiched Buffy is Fluffy the English Vampire Slayer and
it even has its own fan site! 25) Thousands of such sites
existed during the show’s first run and many continue
their existence even after the series came to an end.
Buffy conventions 26 were a major feature of fan activity
and continue to draw large attendances after Buffy’s
demise. The Internet also created a direct conduit
between the fans and the producers. Joss Whedon
spoke of how close this connection was:
We have a connection with the Internet fan
base… we sort of worship at the same altar. Me
and my staff are the biggest Buffy nerds alive.
It’s a kind of home to us too … when we could,
we would get together and watch it together as
a bunch of fans. 27
Chapter 1: Categories
29
Notes
1
Ellis, John, Visible Fictions. London: Routledge (1982). The extent to which Ellis’s observations are still valid are
discussed in McQueen, David. Television: A Media Student’s Guide. London: Oxford University Press, 2001,
pp 7-10; and Lacey, Nick, in the picture, issue 40, (Autumn 2000 Keighley); pp 6-7.
2
Bordwell, David and Thomson, Kirstyn. Film Art: An Introduction. Reading, London, Amsterdam: Addison-Wesley,
1979, p.18.
3
Patterson, John, “Move Over Hollywood”, The Guardian (supplement), Saturday May 20, 2006, p 59.
4
Whedonesque web site: http://whedonesque.com/comments/11496 (Retrieved 13 Dec 2006)
5
Lavery D “Emotional Resonance and Rocket Launchers”: Joss Whedon’s Commentaries on the Buffy the Vampire
Slayer DVDs*http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage6/Lavery.htm [10 October 06)
6
Schatz, Thomas Hollywood Genres (Random House, 1981; cited by David Lavery : Coming Heavy in
http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2001-03-03-heavy.shtml (Visted 9/08/06)]
7
Altman, Rick, Film/Genre, (BFI, London, 1999) pp. 207 – 225
8
Clover, Carol, Men. Women and Chainsaws (BFI, London, 1993).
9
Dunbar, Brian, Comedy Films. (2002,Auteur, Leighton Buzzard, p. 77.
10 Clover, op.cit p.5.
11 City of Angels website: http://www.cityofangel.com/council/joss. html [16/10/06]
12 Collins, J, cited in Lisa Parks, “Brave New Buffy: Rethinking ‘TV Violence” , , in Quality Popular Television, ed
Jancovich, and Lyons (London, BFI, 2003), p123
13 Evalu8.Org website: http://www.evalu8.org/staticpage? page=review&siteid=2092 (Retrieved 2 August 2006).
14 Stam, Robert, cited in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer As Quality Television” by David Lavery in Rhonda V Wilcox and
David Lavery, (eds). Fighting the Forces, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, p.xix
15 ibid, p.xxiv
16 Schatz, Thomas cited in Lavery, op.cit
17 South Park and The Simpsons both acknowledge their existence as shows with an audience but animations are
already operating at a considerable distance from ‘reality’ (cf modality in Glossary of Media Terminology –
Appendix 4.)
18 For an insightful discussion of this episode, see Thomas, Deborah "Re-reading Buffy: Normal Again", in Close-up,
issue 01 (London, Wallflower Press, 2006), pp 214-234,
19 Barthes, Roland,The Death of the Author," in Image/Music/Text, trans. Stephen Heath, (Glasgow: Fontana-Collins,
1977)
20 Much of this section is based on Lavery, D, "A Religion in Narrative: Joss Whedon and Television Creativity", paper
given by at the Blood, Text and Fears conference in Norwich, England, October 2002;
http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage7/Lavery.htm] (Retrieved 10 October 2006)
21 AV Club website, http://www.avclub.com/content/node/24238 [Retrieved 9 October 2006]
22 Quoted in Lavery, op.cit.
23 Life is the Big Bad – season 6 Overview on season 6 DVD
24 Branston, Gill and Stafford, Roy: The Media Student’s Book, 3rd ed., Oxford: Routledge, 2003, pp 82,83.
25 www.fluffytheslayer.com (Retrieved 28 November 2006)
26 For accounts of Buffy fan activity see: Zweerink, Amanda, and Gatson, Sarah N, “www.buffy.com: Cliques,
Boundaries and Hierarchies in an Internet Community” pp 239 -250 in Wilcox, Rhonda V and Lavery, David (eds)
Fighting the Forces, Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, pp 239 - 250; and in
Thomas, Deborah, “Specialness and Buffy fandom: a person footnote”, in “Reading Buffy”, Close-Up, issue 01,
London: Wallflower Press, 2006, pp 235-241
27 It’s always been about the fans, Season 7 DVD featurette; quoted in, Close-up, op cit., p237.
30
Chapter 1: Categories
Activities
l Consider your own television viewing habits. Are there programmes you watch in darkness while concentrating on
what is on screen? Are there others which you watch with lights on, perhaps while doing other things (chatting,
homework, surfing the web on a laptop)? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
l
l
l
l
l
l
Take a film or a television drama that you know well in an established genre and list the features that belong to the
‘repertoire of elements’. Are there any of the elements of the repertoire that are missing?
Think about the term ‘gothic’ and see if you can identify elements of the gothic in any horror film or TV drama or
in any episode of Buffy not dealt with in this chapter.
Try to find a film or television drama that appears to be a generic hybrid. List the genres you can identify and the
elements that indicate the genres.
Look for films and television programmes (including adverts) which have aspects of intertextualty. What is the effect
on you of this intertextuality? Humour? Pleasure in recognising the intertext? Irritation? Others?
From a film or television drama you know well, see if you can identify sudden shifts in tone. Consider the effect on
you of this shift.
Look again at the characteristics of postmodernism in this chapter and then see if you can identify any features
associated with postmodernism in any film or television programme you know well (including episodes from Buffy
the Vampire Slayer not mentioned in this chapter).
Chapter 1: Categories
31
32
Chapter 1: Categories
Chapter 2: Language
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLORE FILM LANGUAGE IN BUFFY, IN PARTICULAR:
l
l
l
l
l
mise en scene and cinematography
technical and cultural codes, polysemy and anchorage
editing
sound
application to specific sequences
Language is generally thought of as verbal 1 language
but in the study of media, visual language (including
non-verbal language such as gesture, stance and
mannerisms, which are referred to as body language) is
just as or even more important. Film and television share
a common visual language using conventions
established in the early years of cinema and codified
during the Classic Hollywood Era (roughly, the late 1920s
- early 1950s). The main elements of film language are
mise en scene (what is captured on film),
Figure 2.1
cinematography (how it is filmed), editing (how the
footage is selected, joined and re-ordered) and sound.
The light was used in different combinations depending
2.1
Mise en scene and
Cinematography
on the desired effects. Most films would use “high key”
lighting where the fill light is bright enough to soften the
harsh shadows made by the key light and would tend to
Mise en scene refers to the image, to what is in the
connote normality. An alternative combination would
frame, how it is composed. This includes colour, lighting,
give rise to low-key lighting where the fill-light is
the illusion of depth and space. It also covers design
insufficiently bright to soften the shadows made by the
elements such as locations, set design, make-up, and
key light, producing light and dark areas on the face and
props. Performance is also an aspect of mise en scene,
set. This would make the mood and tone of the film
including actors' movement and body language, the
more expressionist. It would often carry connotations of
delivery of dialogue and blocking (the positioning of the
danger, mystery, the threat of the unknown.
actors in relation to objects and other actors).
Some theorists 2 consider mise en scene - what is
Lighting is one of the most important aspects of Buffy’s
captured on film - to include cinematography - how it is
mise en scene. Lighting in film has been based on the
filmed - while others treat it separately. Cinematography
tripartite (or three-point) lighting system developed in
refers to the placement of the camera (camera angle,
the classic era. It involved:
movement and distance), the choice of lens and the way
-
-
key light:
back light:
the main source of light, from
the lenses are adjusted, and the choice of film stock.
the front of the actor(s) and at a
These are essential to the creation of meaning in the
slight angle
film, with long shots used to set the scene (referred to as
from the rear and above, used
establishing shots), close-ups to highlight emotion and
to highlight and differentiate the
medium shots for a variety of purposes.
actor(s) from the background
-
fill light:
low and near to camera, used to
The angle of the camera in relation to the subject is also
soften the shadows created by
important, the convention being that a high-angled shot
the key lighting.
suggests vulnerability and powerlessness and a low-
(See Figure 2.1 below)
angled shot suggests power, threat, nobility etc
(although these conventions must not be used
mechanically: the context has to be taken into account).
Chapter 2: Language
33
The camera also moves, whether by being mounted on
the meaning so that the audience will read the signs in
a little vehicle called a dolly and pushing it along rails to
the way that the makers want (a “preferred meaning” –
produce a smooth movement (a tracking or dolly shot),
see Chapter 4: Audience), a process known as
or on its axis, either sideways - known as a pan (left-to-
anchorage. (This is a metaphor, linked to the way an
right or right-to-left) or up and down which is known as a
anchor limits the way in which the tide can move the
tilt. The camera can be mounted on a vehicle (trucking
position of a stationery ship). In print, anchorage often
shot), on a helicopter (an aerial shot) or on a crane which
takes the form of a caption to tie down the meaning of a
allows the camera to swoop up or down while moving
photograph. In film and TV drama, sound – particularly
forward or back. The camera can also be hand held or
non-diegetic music – often fulfils this function (see
attached to a Steadicam which is camera attached to a
below).
camera operator via a mechanical harness which reduces
or eliminates the unsteadiness of the operator's motion.
It is frequently used on locations where the ground is not
smooth enough for tracks to be laid or where the
director wants to give an impression of excitement, of
being in among the action.
In films made for the cinema, the single camera is almost
always the norm, with the same scene being shot several
times from different camera positions. This is a very
time-consuming process, as the lighting etc has to be
set up for each camera placement. Most television,
including news, game-shows, chat-shows and sitcoms,
tend to favour a multi-camera setup, with the action
being recorded simultaneously by different cameras and
the most appropriate shot being selected at the time for
live broadcast or recorded (on video tape as opposed to
film) for broadcast later. This is much less expensive than
the single-camera setup but does not give the same
look to the programme. Single-camera is also used in
television for one-off drama or mini-series (but not soap).
The expenditure has to be justified by an increase in
audience and advertising revenue which is why many
series, even those with a reasonable audience base, are
pulled before the end of the season to be replaced by
other shows which, the networks hope, will win a bigger
share of the audience.
2.3
Editing: the Continuity System
When shooting has finished, it has to be edited - cut and
joined with other footage - for the film to make sense.
The editor, working with the director, will have a number
of choices to make which is allowed by the footage
taken from different angles etc. In television, the ratio of
unused film to finished film will be lower than in a film
made for the cinema, not only because of the expense
of the film stock which has to be developed but also
because of the time available. An American network
series lasting 22 weeks will have an extremely tight work
schedule as they have to produce the equivalent of
about eight feature films in a year. This pressure on
production is eased by using the same locations
repeatedly, but an expensive series has to look
expensive and this requires considerable skill from the
creative and technical personnel.
Most film and television drama use a set of conventions
which were developed from the early years of film
making. At first, scenes were shot with a static camera
with the actors moving in and out of the space in front of
the camera. As cameras became smaller and more
mobile, shots were taken from different angles and
distances which created the need for a set of rules which
allowed the audience to make sense of the nowfragmented sequence of images. The system that
2.2
Technical and Cultural Codes,
Polysemy and Anchorage
became dominant in Hollywood and eventually in most
filmmaking is called continuity editing, a set of
Mise en scene, cinematography and sound are used in
conventions designed to make the editing "invisible"
film to create meaning, ie they give rise to codes and
and so draw the audience into the drama and helping
conventions which audiences have learned to decode.
the process of "suspension of disbelief" that most
Technical codes refer to meaning created by the
drama depends on.
technical apparatus of filming such as camera angle,
lighting etc. Cultural codes refer to the meaning a
One of the main conventions is the 180° rule (or 180°
culture gives to particular signs, such as colour, clothing,
axis of action), where the camera can be positioned at
objects etc.
various points on one side of an imaginary line drawn
between the main actors in the scene, but could not
Not everyone reads or decodes signs in the same way,
"cross the line" until the main characters had
an idea referred to as polysemy (“poly” = many; “seme”
significantly changed position, for fear of disorienting
= sign). The makers of films and other media texts often
the audience. Another of these conventions is the eye-
seek to limit the scope of polysemy and so “tie down”
line match where a character looks out of the space and
34
Chapter 2: Language
the next shot is of whoever or whatever the character is
become more cinematic in style, in line with the desire
supposed to be looking at. Conversations between two
of Whedon (a former Film Studies student) to get away
characters are filmed observing this convention, with the
from the “radio with pictures” approach he felt
same scene shot from different camera positions, going
dominated much of television.
from one character to another. Typically, the scene
begins with an establishing shot which would be a long
One of the most noticeable aspects of Buffy's mise en
shot to take in both characters and their surroundings.
scene is the way that light and darkness alternate. Night
The camera would then come in closer with a two-shot
has connotations of darkness and evil, when the
(a medium close-up of both characters' heads) followed
vampires and demons come out to play. In the first
by a shot over the shoulder of one character giving a
episode, Welcome to the Hellmouth [1.1], for example,
close up of the other, and then the positions would be
a scene begins with a dissolve from Buffy talking to Giles
reversed so that we have an over-the-shoulder close-up
in the school library ("Come on - this is Sunnydale. How
of the other character. This is followed by a bigger close-
bad an evil can there be?") to a shot of a typical yellow
up of the first character filmed at an angle and filling the
school bus, with its connotations of everyday normality
frame, followed by the same shot of the other character
and security, passing by the entrance to the school. The
from the opposite angle. From time to time there is a re-
camera descends slowly behind some bushes and
establishing shot, a long-shot reminding us of the
seems to sink through the ground into the underground
characters' situation, with the process beginning over
catacombs which provide the lair where the Master, the
again if the length of the scene justifies it.
ancient vampire who is the "Big Bad" of Season 1, is
trapped. It is very gloomy, being lit by ornate candles (a
2.4
Sound
Sound is the other main element of film language and
consists of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic
sound arises directly from the story events (the word
comes from the term diegesis, a word of Greek origin
denoting the world of the story). If the characters can
hear it, it is diegetic sound. It is not necessarily recorded
on the set: it can be added in post-production). Nondiegetic sound is added for atmosphere and mostly
consists of music. (These are critical terms rather than
ones used in the industry where "scource music" is used
for for diegetic music and "background music" for nondiegetic music). Non-diegetic sound is particularly
important in the horror genre where it is used to create
an unsettling atmosphere punctuated by moments of
sheer terror. The famous shower scene in Hitchcock's
Psycho would have been nowhere near as effective
without Bernard Hermann’s score, particularly the
screeching strings which accompany the climax of the
scene, the brutal murder of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh).
A feature of non-diegetic sound frequently used in
action genres is the stinger chord, a strongly accented
chord with a sudden sforzando (increase in volume) used
to register shock or surprise.
typical gothic trapping) whose flickering light illuminates
only briefly what is in shadow. We then see a couple of
vampires, one carrying a flaming torch. The camera pans
from right to the left and back again, not stopping long
enough to allow us to identify the sinister-looking
objects lying around. We hear one of them, Luke,
chanting: "The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake.
The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake, and the
world will bleed." and we cut to a medium close-up on
Luke, revealing his vampiric features. He looks upward as
he chants "Amen!, as the scene fades to black on a
stinger chord.
Another notable segue, this time from darkness to light,
occurs in Hush [4.10] where Buffy and Riley have been
battling against the Gentlemen, fairy-tale monsters who
steal human hearts. The battle takes place in a clock
tower at night and when they succeed in destroying the
Gentleman there is a dissolve to a wide overhead
establishing shot of Sunnydale campus in sunshine,
connoting that the danger of the darkness is over as we
return to the light. In narrative terms this indicates the
return to equilibrium after the disruption caused by the
Gentlemen's arrival (see Chapter 3: Narrative).
Camera angle, with low angled-shots connoting a sense
2.5
Film Language in Buffy
In the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 16 mm
of power and authority, and high-angled shots used to
connote powerlessness and vulnerability, is used
film cameras were used. This is most often used in low-
frequently in Buffy. For example, the title sequence
budget films and documentaries. When a second
which consists of a montage sequence of around fifty
season was commissioned, 16 mm cameras were
seconds of rapid cuts varies from season to season but
replaced by 35 mm cameras which are used by most
always ends on a low-angled shot of Buffy. In Season 4,
films destined for the cinema. This allowed the show to
for example, the sequence ends on a shot of Buffy taken
Chapter 2: Language
35
from Anne [3.1] where she is framed at first from a high
they languish on the floor drinking and listening to rock
angle, perhaps to make clear that she is wielding a
music. Camera angle, then, is used to suggest role
hammer and sickle used for its symbolic value
3
but
then the camera swoops down before settling on a low-
reversal, with the responsible Buffy filmed from a low
angle and the irresponsible adults filmed from high.
angled shot of Buffy preparing for battle and which
suggests that she has regained her power after a period
Buffy also uses editing as an expressionistic device
of uncertainty. In Hush [4.10], a high angled shot is used
while, by and large, sticking to the well established rules
to suggest the powerlessness of the university wicca
of continuity editing. The fact that most films and almost
group that Willow and Tara are attending for the first
all network television drama adhere to this system does
time. The group are sitting in a circle chanting,
not necessarily mean it is rigid and predictable. Within
suggestive of magic; in the dialogue there is an abrupt
the continuity system individual directors and editors can
transition of register, from ""We come together,
achieve subtle and original effects. A director has the
daughters of Gaia, sisters to the moon we walk with the
choice of privileging editing over mise en scene by the
darkness, the wolf at our side through the waterfall of
use of lots of rapid cutting or privileging mise en scene
power to the blackest heart of eternity. . ." to "I think we
and cinematography by using longer takes with variety
should have a bake sale", after which the meeting
being provided by camera movement and constant
descends into bickering and Willow is criticised for the
reframing. In action sequences, including the fight
idea that a wicca group might actually attempt some
scenes in Buffy, editing is to the fore, with rapid cutting
spells. The scene begins with an overhead establishing
giving a sense of energy and dynamism; in quieter
shot taking in the whole circle, the high angle
scenes there tend to be longer takes. The longer takes
suggesting the powerlessness of the group of "wanna
often set up the audience for the surprise of the sudden
blessed-be”s, as Willow later describes them to Buffy.
cut. Editing and cinematography are equally important
in creating meaning and it is by alternating the rhythm
Another episode in which camera angle is used
of editing between fast and slow that a scene can be
expressively is Band Candy [3.6]. In this episode, Mayor
most effective.
Wilkins plans to steal babies and offer them in sacrifice
to a demon to whom he is indebted and, in order to
Unlike a film, which normally has one director and editor,
create a diversion, an accomplice puts a substance into
television is likely to have several different directors,
band candy (a confectionery used to raise funds for the
editors, writers etc. However, the freedom of these
school band) which makes adults behave like
individuals is likely to be limited by the need for a
adolescents. This episode is largely comic in tone,
"house style" with a consistent look from episode to
particularly in the scenes involving Giles and Joyce,
episode. Given Whedon's importance to the show, the
Buffy's mother who end up having sex (twice) on top of a
house style will be one that owes much to film as
police-car, having knocked out a policeman and stolen
opposed to televisual style. Whedon, for example, is
his handcuffs. (Buffy thinks she has got to them in time
fond of the long take and for directors like Max Ophuls
to stop anything happening. It is not until several
(La Ronde) who, according to Whedon, " use the frame
episodes later that Buffy finds out that they had had sex
cinematically". 4
when she, temporarily able to read minds, discovers
their secret, much to Joyce's mortification). Before this
In Hush [4.10], for example, there is a scene where
particular scene, the band candy is beginning to make
Giles's girlfriend, Olivia, gets out of bed and walks
its influence felt and Buffy discovers Giles and Joyce in
downstairs towards the window where she is about to be
her house discussing Buffy's behaviour and what they
terrified by one of the Gentlemen going past the
are going to do about it (dramatic irony in view of what
window. Typically this would be shot with several cuts
follows). The scene starts on a low angle on Buffy, then
with camera positions in the bedroom and then
cutting to a high angled shot of Joyce while the camera
downstairs. By using a single take, however, Whedon
on Giles is level. It then cuts to the same low-angled
creates a fluidity which will be shortly interrupted by very
close-up on Buffy. This is followed by a high angled shot
short takes when she goes to the window and discovers
of both Giles and Joyce sharing the frame. A close of
the Gentlemen.
Giles and Joyce and allow us to see a conspiratorial
smile develop between them, suggesting they are up to
Music is also central to the film language used in Buffy.
something. After a cut to Buffy in close-up, we return to
There is much diegetic music, mainly from the many
a high-angled shot of the couple. Buffy goes and we cut
"indie" bands which play in the Bronze but, as is to
back to the couple, who are framed from a high angle as
expected from a series which aspires to a cinematic
36
Chapter 2: Language
style, and from the horror genre, non-diegetic music is
sense of loss, and continues over the dissolve which
to the fore. A particular use of non-diegetic sound is the
takes Buffy back home, walking sadly in the night. There
first few bars of Neff Herder's title music. It starts with
is a brief interlude while Xander expresses his
organ music and a wolf's howl, connoting gothic and
unconditional love for Anya before we return to the
horror, but quickly segues to rock music, connoting
forlorn Buffy arriving home. There is a close-up of Buffy
youthful energy and modernity and establishing from the
on the right of the frame looking left, followed by a
outset the generic hybridity which will be such an
dissolve (which lasts about 9 seconds) to a close-up of
important feature of the series.
Riley in the helicopter, on the left of the frame looking
right, in a graphic match which for a second has them
Much of the non-diegetic music is typical of the horror
both in the frame, their faces close and facing each
genre, with the sound of the organ and shrieking strings
other. During this dissolve the theme is played once
prominent (as in the example below of the opening
more but slowly and melancholically on a piano, before
sequence of the first episode). A particular technique
the screen fades to black.
involving non-diegetic music is the use of letmotifs.
These are musical themes involving particular characters,
for example, the ominous theme used at the entry of
Darth Vader in Star Wars, and used with variations
throughout the trilogy when he appears. Christophe
2.6
(i)
Specific Sequences
Opening scene of first episode: Welcome to
the Hellmouth
Beck's Buffy-Riley leitmotif in Seasons 4 and 5 is very
Since this is the first scene of the whole series it is worth
effective (and one which Joss Whedon preferred to the
examining in detail to see how film language is used to
Buffy-Angel theme).
5
Buffy and Riley are clearly
create atmosphere. This is achieved through a
attracted to each other from when they first meet but a
combination of mise en scene: the dark building, the
certain awkwardness between them prevents the
unsettling objects in the science room, the
relationship from developing. In Hush, however, the
transformatiom of the girl into into vampire;
couple meet on a street in Sunnydale where the town
cinematography: the camera, constantly moving and
has been struck dumb. They embrace for the first time
reframing, going from long-shot to medium shot to
and the romantic theme swells on the soundtrack. It is
close-up; editing: the series of dissolves, the long take
used on numerous occasions later but with variations.
(another example of Whedon's fondness for the
The relationship is doomed because Riley doesn't think
technique) followed by a sudden cut; and the sound,
Buffy can love him given that she is much more powerful
both diegetic - the sound of breaking glass - and non-
than him, especially after he loses the special power
diegetic - the eerie music on the soundtrack with lots of
Maggie Walsh had implanted in him. In Into the Woods
shrieking string sounds and the general mood of
[5.10], he gives her an ultimatum - to meet him before he
uncertainty.
takes off on a military mission and try and persuade him
to stay, or he goes. She rejects his ultimatum but, after
This scene of approximately 2 minutes and 12 seconds
Xander persuades her to swallow her pride, she runs to
takes place - characteristically - at night. There is what
where the helicopter is taking off. However, she is too
appears to be a point-of-view shot of the front entrance
late: Riley can't hear her cries as her voice is drowned
of Sunnydale High. (POV is a common device in horror;
out by the noise of the helicopter.
in this case, no character's POV is established,
suggesting that the device is used just for its unsettling
The Buffy-Riley leitmotif gets its final airing during this
quality). Later in the many episodes to come we will
scene but the orchestration changes from romance to
often see this building in the bright sunlight but at night
pathos, marking the end of their relationship. The
the shadows give it a sinister air. A series of dissolves
leitmotif is first hinted at discretely during the scene
and tracking shots takes us inside the school building
where Xander is persuading Buffy to go after him. As she
and through the corridors to a science classroom with
gets nearer the rendezvous place, whole bars of the
close-ups on a table where a number of sinister-looking
theme can be heard. Buffy is too late and, although
objects add to the sense of unease. This atmosphere of
Buffy shouts at him as the helicopter taking him away
tension is suddenly increased by the violent sound of a
ascends, the noise of the helicopter drowns out her
window breaking. We see a leather-jacketed arm
voice and he leaves. Here the theme becomes much
violently entering the frame to smash the window and
more pronounced but, unlike in its original airing where
we cut to a smug young man accompanied by a pretty,
it is lush and romantic, here it is orchestrated in a much
blonde, anxious-looking student ("Are you sure this is a
more poignant way, anchoring both Buffy and Riley's
good idea?"). Clearly they are sneaking into school for a
Chapter 2: Language
37
"make-out" session. The frame goes black, filled by the
with an alternation between the two main genres -
young man's jacket as he leads the girl into the building.
gothic horror and high school/youth - as well as
There is a cut to a corridor in the building and we follow
introducing us to the main characters. (Not all the shots
the young couple through the shadows. The shot
in the sequence are described below).
continues uncut for one minute and, by camera
movement, reframing and blocking, a whole variety of
The sequence starts with the sound of a wolf howling
shots, from long-shot to close-up, is achieved. They stop
and an organ playing, both having connotations of the
and there is a two-shot in close-up which allows us to
horror genre, especially in its gothic form. A number of
see the contrast between the smugness of the boy and
rapid images are flashed onto the screen, including
the anxiety of the girl. As they are about to kiss, they are
upside-down gothic lettering, to be replaced by the
startled by a noise. Once again we hear the high-pitched
word "Buffy" against the background of a full moon,
strings. The man teases her about the sound's possible
which also has connotations of horror. However, the
supernatural origin. In reply to her "maybe it's
word "Buffy" is in a modern, almost hand-written font, in
something . .", he replies, "Maybe it's some THING!"
contrast to the gothic font used for "The Vampire
and his fingers enter the frame showing a "creepy"
Slayer" which immediately follows. This keys us once
gesture. The camera follows him to the right, in medium
again into the gothic horror and high school/youth
shot, as he checks the corridor and assures her they are
genres.
alone. She walks in front of him into close-up, allowing
the anxiety clearly to register on the young woman's
The moon gives way to diabolic imagery from an ancient
face as she asks him if he's sure. She is looking out of
book, followed by a close-up of such a tome with the
the frame as she says "ok" and seems to be turning
title "Vampyr" (note the ancient spelling) held in
back to face the boy and resume their embrace but
someone's hands. Just as we have a quick close-up of a
when she turns towards him she is transformed into a
crucifix - the religious symbol signifying good and
hideous vampire. (Traditional vampire films emphasise
protection against evil - being taken out of its box, there
the vampire's fangs; Buffy adds a feature involving the
is a rapid segue with the organ music being replaced by
complete transformation of the face - known as the
raucous rock music, with drums and guitar to the fore.
"game" look - when the vampire is ready to kill.) The
Again, the combination of rock music and organ music
shock of the transformation is accentuated by the cut, all
anchors the generic hybridity, the organ music relating
the more noticeable in that it is the first for a minute.
to horror while the rock music connotes youth. This
She sinks her fangs into his neck and she drags him
segue takes place over a rapid montage of demonic
down, out of the frame where she completes the kill.
images, with slam zooms (ie extremely fast zooms) of
There is a sudden fade to black before the credit
eyes and fangs, a close up of a vampire's face, a crucifix,
sequence fills the screen.
a leather-bound book, another vampire with a hideous
grin. Then there is a cut to Buffy fighting a vampire in
The opening sequence, therefore, sets up the
medium shot, followed by a cut to a long shot of the
atmosphere of the horror and high-school genres (which
fight which allows us to see it is in a graveyard at night,
will dominate the first three Seasons) as well as indicate
and another cut to an example of Buffy's martial arts
that there will be surprises in store. If Whedon's mission
acrobatics. This is followed by a close-up of the vampire
statement about gender role-reversal applies to the
Darla (whom we encountered in the opening sequence),
diminutive blond victim turning the tables on the
a cut to the iron gate of the graveyard with some sort of
monster, it also applies to the gender relationships
gargoyle carved into it, a shot of Buffy in medium close-
between female vampire and male victim.
up and another one of her seeming to fall backwards. All
these shots have been crammed into the first three
(ii)
Title sequence
6
seconds of the sequence.
The title sequence of the first episode consists of a rapid
montage which lasts about 48 seconds and has
The horror shots of this sequence alternate with high-
approximately 65 shots, giving an average length of shot
school shots. We see a close-up showing the trainer-clad
per second around 0.7 and, given that some of the shots
feet of several students in a gym and then we cut to
are a bit longer, such as the ones introducing the main
Buffy practising her cheer-leader routines. This is
characters, many of the shots are so short - half a dozen
followed by a shot of the front of Sunnydale High in
frames (the PAL system used in Europe runs at 25 frames
bright sunshine, followed by a close-up of Buffy smiling,
per second) that their effect is almost subliminal. The
perhaps in class. This is followed by a close-up of a
sequence prepares us for the hybrid nature of the series
green-eyed kitten (cats have traditionally been
38
Chapter 2: Language
associated with witchcraft) as Sarah Michelle Gellar's
angle medium close-up of Buffy, her crucifix prominently
name appears on screen. There is a low-angle shot on
displayed, the angle again connoting power and
Buffy, connoting her power and authority, followed by a
authority. The words "Created by Joss Whedon" appear
shot of her once again fighting demons, followed by a
and the sequence ends with fade out.
shot of a demon made to look even more sinister by the
low angle key lighting. Then we have a shot where the
This rapid montage of shots gives a good idea of the
only thing showing in the black frame is the key-lit face
content and style of the episode: fast-paced, full of
of Buffy, followed by one that seems to come from the
action, with both work (fighting demons) and leisure
bottom of the stairs leading to a cellar, with Willow's
represented, and the alternation of day and night, high
face appearing behind the slightly-open door. Then we
school and graveyard.
see a couple of tarantulas - often used in horror because
the combination of the crawling and the hairy texture is
(iii)
very effective in giving the audience "the wiggins" -
This scene begins with a dissolve from a wide shot of
crawling over some books. Then there is a big close-up
Sunnydale to a close-up of the clock on the tower where
of Buffy from a low angle. Similar images are repeated
the Gentlemen are holed up. The gothic lettering, with a
throughout the sequence.
spider’s web-like design, has connotations of the
Hush: The Gentlemen at work
macabre and this is anchored by screeching violins. We
The shots where the characters, and the actors who play
cut to long-shot taking in the whole tower, the slow
them, are introduced are slightly longer than the other
tracking shot from a low angle suggesting the power
clips. There are a couple of shots of Xander with the
and danger that lies within it. The frame is canted (a
name of the actor, Nicholas Brendon, on screen. We are
“Dutch angle”) connoting that something is wrong. We
introduced to an anxious-looking Willow behind a
cut to a medium close-up of a door in the tower but we
computer. Just as the book represents tradition so the
see only the bottom half. It swings open, the creaking
computer symbolises modernity, and Willow's skill with
sound connoting menace, and then we see one of the
the computer often combines with Giles's learned tomes
Gentlemen but only from the knees down. He is floating
as they try to solve problems to aid Buffy in her duties.
about two feet above the ground, quickly followed by
The actress's name, Alison Hannigan, appears on screen
another of the Gentlemen, followed by another creature
and continues as we cut to a close-up of a smiling
but who is walking on the ground though crouching low.
Willow. There are four shots of Cordelia with the name
We cut to a lateral tracking shot which allows us to see
of the actress, Charisma Carpenter, on screen, the first
two of the Gentlemen (there are five in total) and their
three close-ups of her in class and the last at night
minions, whose arms rotate manically, in contrast the
dancing in The Bronze night-club, one of the key
Gentlemen’s smooth, stately movement. They are
settings for the series. We then see an action shot of
wearing straightjackets, very grubby-looking
Buffy landing from the ceiling, and a close up of Angel
straightjackets, but with the arms untied, suggesting
who seems only to be lit by backlighting. A close-up of
madness and mayhem unleashed.
Giles in dark surroundings, the light shining on his
glasses (an important prop in his early characterisation)
This is followed by a wide shot of four Gentlemen
with the name of the actor, "Anthony Stewart Head as
flanked by two of their minions. The Gentlemen’s shiny
Giles" on screen (the name of the character as well as
shaven heads appear skeletal and they are grinning
the actor perhaps suggesting a certain status for the
diabolically through metallic teeth, connoting a ferocity
character and actor), a cut to a shot from behind Giles
behind their civilised air. We can now see their clothing.
showing him in close up turning round to face the
They are dressed in pin-stripe suits like City gentlemen
camera, again the light being very noticeable on his
and are carrying what at first appears to be typical City
glasses, a shot of the Master, the Big Bad of the first
briefcases but are actually doctors’ bags with the
season, then a cut to a guillotine, Buffy with a cross-bow
medical instruments for removing hearts. Not only their
(in addition to her wooden stakes, a key item in her
attire but also the fact that they are floating above the
armoury), another action shot of Buffy, a return to the
ground gives them a haughty, patriarchal air, in contrast
upside down and gothic lettering from the start of the
to their crazed minions who do most of the dirty work
sequence intercut with Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow in
and whose arms almost drag along the ground.
the library (another key location of the first three
seasons) getting ready to go out and confront evil. The
We cut to a shot of the Gentlemen from behind heading
scene ends with a repeat of the words "Buffy" and
through the main street of Sunnydale, suggesting the
"Slayer" with the camera tilting up to accentuate the low
terror in wait for the sleeping citizens. We then cut to a
Chapter 2: Language
39
long shot of the outside of a house, the battered Citroen
frantic, preparing us for the incision he is about to effect.
car telling us it’s Giles’s place. We cut inside to see Giles,
In the final moments of this grisly surgery the non-
asleep, and Olivia, awake, in bed. In a long take of 32
diegetic music combines with the diegetic squelching
seconds we see Olivia put on her dressing gown and go
sound, indicating that the incision is being made.
downstairs. The atmosphere of tension is anchored by
the continuation of the non-diegetic music, string
The sound stops as we cut back to inside the clock
instruments but played at a lower volume, which allows
tower where a close-up of a jar between the hands of
us to hear the diegetic sounds. We cut to a close-up of
one of the gentlemen indicates that the operation has
Olivia allowing us to detect the anxiety on her face. She
been successful and it is placed alongside another five.
opens the curtains and we see Olivia’s point-of-view shot
The camera pans across and tilts up to reveal one of the
– one of the Gentlemen floating by in the depth of the
Gentlemen in medium close-up looking very pleased
frame. There is a cut to Olivia who seems to be trying to
and proud of his night’s work, then we cut to his four
make sense of what she has seen and a sudden cut to a
colleagues, again from a low angle, applauding politely
big close-up of one of the Gentlemen floating by,
and grinning inanely. We then cut back to the first
grinning diabolically outside the window. We cut to a
Gentleman gesturing modestly, as if to say “it was
close up showing the terror in Olivia’s expression, the
nothing really”, the excessive politeness and formality,
shock being anchored by a stinger chord followed by a
contrasting with the grisly deed just accomplished and
number of high-pitched violin notes in quick succession
reinforcing the horror of the act.
as Olivia recoils in horror. Here the move from long takes
to very short takes emphasises the shock.
(iv)
A cut then takes us to the exterior of the student hall of
was also the final few seconds of the end of the previous
residence where Buffy and Willow live. A wide tracking
episode and so viewers were to some extent prepared
shot emphasises the white picket fence, frequently used
for it. The mise en scene and cinematography are used
in American films as a symbol of suburban normality,
expressively to underline the pathos of Joyce’s death
safety and ordinariness – a normality which is about to
and Buffy’s reaction to its discovery. It begins with a
be shattered. One of the gentlemen comes into the
medium close-up of Buffy coming in the front door and
frame but only the middle third of his body is shown,
discovering flowers which had been sent to her mother.
emphasising his white, bony, veiny hands twitching in
A close up gives us Buffy’s point of view of the writing on
anticipation of the work they are about to perform. He
the card and then back to Buffy for her comment,
is joined by one of his colleagues as they float through
“there’s still a couple of guys getting it right”. There is a
the gate towards the building.
cut to a mid-shot of Buffy from another angle and as she
The Body
The first scene takes place at the start of the teaser but
approaches the foot of the stairs and shouts up to her
After following the Gentlemen inside the building (and
mother, we see into the living room where Joyce is
at one point we are tricked into thinking that it’s Buffy
sprawled across the couch. The shot is in shallow focus
and Willow’s bedroom they are heading for), we stop at
so we can’t quite work out yet that she is dead. We see
a bedroom door where one of the minions knocks on
it before Buffy does which makes it more effective as we
the door. Inside a young man gets out of bed and goes
can anticipate Buffy’s shock before it happens.
to the door which opens to reveal, in medium close-up,
the terrifying faces of two Gentlemen. We cut to a
Buffy then discovers her mother and we cut from a
reaction shot of the terrified young man an then cut
medium close-up of Buffy and her eyeline match leads
back to the doorway through which two of the minions
us to Buffy’s point-of-view shot of her mother and we can
enter the room and drag the young man (who, of course,
see from her open, fixed eyes that she is dead, even if
cannot shout out as he has lost his voice like everyone
Buffy is not yet prepared to accept it. The teaser ends
else in town). The two Gentlemen then float into the
on a medium close-up of an even more alarmed Buffy
room, framed at a low angle to emphasise their power
saying “Mom? Mom? Mommy?” (the latter expression,
and the danger they represent, and by the end of the
being more child-like, stressing her fear and inviting
shot they are hovering right above the petrified student.
greater sympathy for her) before we cut to the credit
One of the Gentlemen opens his bag to remove a
sequence.
scalpel, and we cut back to the terrified victim trying to
struggle free, and then back to another low-angled shot
After the credit sequence we go to a short scene from
of the other Gentleman as he politely accepts the
earlier in the season, Christmas dinner at Joyce’s with
scalpel. The music on the soundtrack becomes more
Giles and the Scoobies present, a scene that could
40
Chapter 2: Language
temporarily lull us into the feeling that things might work
conversation between Dawn and a boy in her art class
out all right. (This scene is the only one in the episode
who sympathises with her recent emotional problems.
where the tone is at all humorous; in the rest of the
The Art room has glass walls and so we are able to see
episode it is sad and full of pathos). A sharp cut from a
Buffy’s entry in the background. At first we can’t see her
smiling Joyce to a close-up of her clearly dead
clearly but when she crosses from right to left behind
expression takes us back to reality. Buffy’s panic at
Dawn (who is in close-up), there is a rack-focus where
finding her mother like this is expressed through the
Dawn goes out of focus and Buffy into focus, which
hand-held camerawork as she rushes around, phones an
allows us to see the dread in Buffy’s expression at having
ambulance and tries to administer mouth-to-mouth
to break the news to Dawn. The camera cuts back to
resuscitation. This is one very long take lasting 2 minutes
close-ups of Dawn and her friend before a cut to Buffy,
24 seconds and is mostly in medium shot or medium
again in the depth of the frame, entering the classroom,
close-up. The take ends with a big close-up of the
and back to Dawn and her friend. Dawn has not yet seen
keypad on the phone as she dials Giles’s number. As she
Buffy and carries on her conversation (in shot/reverse-
phones Giles her actions become more mechanical,
shot) about “crucial stuff” going on in her life.
suggesting a sense of numbness from the shock, and
this is expressed in the camerawork which becomes
Buffy gradually comes closer to where Dawn is but Dawn
more slow and steady.
still hasn’t seen her, the delay increasing the viewer’s
sympathy for Buffy in the task she has to carry out. There
There is another shot which temporarily misleads us
is a close-up with Dawn smiling and Buffy out of focus, in
where Joyce is shown responding to the paramedics’
the middle pane of the glass wall, a frame within a
treatment; she speaks to Buffy and we cut to an
frame, as she says “Dawn”. We cut to a close-up of the
ambulance where a paramedic says” it’s a miracle”,
surprised Dawn, followed by medium close-ups of Buffy
making us think she’s somehow survived, followed by a
trying to decide how to begin. There is a cutaway to the
cut to a hospital bed, where Joyce says to Buffy. “thank
student’s drawing, followed by a medium close-up of the
God you found me in t…” before an abrupt cut to a
art teacher whose expression indicates that she realises
close-up of Buffy, showing that it had been the
it must be something serious. A number of reaction
dramatisation of Buffy’s wishful thinking. Joyce is well
shots, Dawn’s and her classmates’, occur before Dawn
and truly dead and has been for some time.
leaves the room with Buffy.
The role of silence is particularly effective in this scene
Buffy and Dawn are at first in medium shot then the
and elsewhere in the episode which is particularly
camera gets closer, framing them together in a two-shot
unusual in that there is no non-diegetic sound
as Buffy is still trying to find the right words for her
throughout the whole episode. There is, instead, a very
bewildered sister. There are occasional cutaways to other
effective use of diegetic sound and, indeed, total silence
students in the vicinity and Dawn’s bemused classmates.
on occasions. In the opening sequence, when the
A shot/reverse-shot sequence of close-ups allows us to
paramedics leave after examining Joyce and while Buffy
see both Buffy’s pain and Dawn’s bewilderment (with
is waiting for Giles to arrive, she throws up and then
further cutaways to the now more-concerned classmates)
goes to the window. The lack of non-diegetic music
and then Buffy finally tells Dawn about their mother’s
makes us all the more aware of the diegetic sounds,
death. We don’t hear the actual words because it is shot
including the delicate tinkle of wind chimes. She looks
from the back of the classroom and we can’t hear the
out the door and we hear signs of life in the distance.
words from behind the glass walls. This more effectively
There is a big close-up of Buffy, her face seemingly
conveys Dawn’s shock at the news than if we were to
devoid of colour (this effect intensified by over-exposing
hear her actual words, silence once again connoting the
the shot), as we hear the faint sounds of the distant
shock and feeling of numbness; we only hear, faintly,
traffic and a far-off musical instrument playing. This
Dawn’s muffled cries and the occasional “no!” as she
uncanny atmosphere is emphasised when the spell is
takes in what happens as she collapses. The scene ends
broken by Giles’s sudden arrival. The use of diegetic
on close-ups and medium close-ups of her classmates
sound in this scene effectively conveys the sense of
and teacher reacting to what has happened, with a
numbness and unreality which Buffy feels.
close-up of the drawing Dawn had been working on.
Another scene from The Body where film language is
Complete silence is very unusual in film, and in even the
used effectively is where Buffy goes to break the bad
quietest scenes there will be some ambient sound,
news to Dawn. Buffy’s entry is preceded by a
however sleight. Total silence on the soundrack is very
Chapter 2: Language
41
rare and disquieting.. A scene where silence is used
effectively in The Body is the one where Xander and
Anya are going to meet Willow and Tara in the dorm,
before going together to the hospital. We see Willow, in
shock, trying to find the most appropriate thing to wear.
We then cut to Xander and Anya heading towards the
hall of residence and on the soundtrack the silence is
total, without even the far off ambient sounds Buffy
hears in the earlier sequence. It is through this silence
that Xander’s feeling of numbness at the news of Joyce’s
death is expressed.
42
Chapter 2: Language
Notes
1
This study does not dwell in any great detail on the language of the script which is dealt with in depth in Michael
Adams’ Slayer Slang: A Buffy Lexicon (opus cit).
2
For example, Kawin, B (1992), How Movies Work, Berkley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press;
cited in Lacey, N, An Introduction to Film, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, p 6.
3
See Chapter 4, Representation.
4
Whedon, Joss, Commentary to Season 4 DVD - episode 4. 10: Hush
5
Ibid.
6
For an even more detailed analysis of the title sequence, throughout the whole seven series, see Kociemba, David,
“Actually, it explains a lot”: Reading the Opening Title Sequences of Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
htttp://www.slayageonline.com/essays/slayage22/Kociemba.htm (retrieved 20 November, 2006)
Activities
Deconstruct another scene from Buffy – no more than 5 minutes – and pay particular attention to:
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Cinematography: camera angle, camera distance, camera movement (tracking, Steadicam shots, panning tilting.
Mise en scene
Look at setting, set design, make-up, colour, props and costumes; blocking of the actors within the frame; lighting
- light/dark contrasts. How does the lighting express mood?
Editing: How is the overall feel and mood of a film affected by the editing (eg pace, rhthm, transitions). Joss
Whedon has expressed his liking for long takes. Is this a feature of the sequence you have chosen?
Chapter 2: Language
43
44
Chapter 2: Language
Chapter 3: Narrative
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLAIN AND APPLY TO BUFFY
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l
l
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diegesis, plot and story, and chronology
narrative structure – equilibrium and disruption
series and serial, hybrid long-form narrative and narrative arc
the four-act structure
the narrative theories of Propp (Narrative Functions) and Campbell (the Monomyth and the Hero’s
Journey)
The narrative theories of Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions) and Bathes (Narrative Codes)
Narrative is about story telling and involves a chain of
their presumed causal reactions, chronological order,
events in a cause-and-effect relationship occurring in
duration and frequency whereas plot is the way these
time and space. In film and television drama, the
events are presented to the audience. To make sense of
director, scriptwriter, cinematographer and editor make
the narrative, we often need information about what has
careful decisions which will affect how events and
happened before the start of the film. In literature and
characters are presented; stories are therefore highly
the theatre this is called exposition; in film, as well as
constructed events. A number of scholars have
exposition, the term back-story is often used. The story
investigated stories and how they work (a field of study
is the totality of the narrative, all the events leading up
known as "narratology") and have derived theories of
to where the narrative begins, including any necessary
narrative to make sense of stories and the hold they
exposition. The word plot is often used just as an
have had over the human imagination since time
alternative to story but there is an important distinction:
immemorial.
the plot is the selected version of events as presented to
the viewer in a certain order whereas the story is the full
3.1
Diegesis
sequence of events as we imagine them to have taken
This is a term used to denote the world created by the
place in their natural order and duration. The story can
story as it emerges from season to season. The diegetic
be thought of then as the "raw material" of events which
world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, therefore, consists of
the viewer reconstructs as the finished product of the
the fictional Sunnydale (and the other settings of the
plot. (Another set of terms more widely used in film and
show). It has similarities to the everyday world we live in,
media studies in recent years, devised by a group of
with recognisable characters and locations, but it has its
scholars known as the Russian Formalists, is fabula,
own rules, laws, mythology and logic which have
which corresponds to story and sjuzet which
become known as the "Buffyverse". However, the
corresponds to plot).
audience's view of the Buffyverse is different to that
afforded the characters, as we have access to trailers,
The distinction can be very important in certain kinds of
teasers ("Recently on Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), and
narratives which involve keeping the audience ignorant
titles - not only the credits but indications that we are
about certain events till near the end when all is
going into a flashback, eg "China, 1900". The term used
revealed, such as the identity of the murderer in a
to describe these aspects that are external to the story
detective story. David Bordwell, in "Film Art", uses the
but shape how we view the story, is non-diegetic. The
following diagram to explain the distinction:
most influential non-diegetic element is music; not the
music which is supposed to be created from within the
story, such as the sound of the bands in the Bronze
which is clearly diegetic, ie coming from the world of the
story, but the music which is external to the story, and is
there to create or anchor a particular mood or
atmosphere, such as suspense or romance.
3.2
Plot and Story
Story consists of all the events we see and hear, plus all
those we infer or assume to have occurred, arranged in
Chapter 3: Narrative
45
A murder has been committed. That is, we
know the effect but not the causes - the
killer, the motive, perhaps also the method. The
mystery tale depends strongly on curiosity, our
desire to know events that have occurred
before the plot action begins. It is the
detective's job to disclose, at the end, the
missing causes-to name the killer, explain the
motive, and reveal the method. That is, in the
detective film the climax of the plot line (the
action that we see) is a revelation of prior
incidents in the story (events which we do not
see). 1
Kalderash tribe: he is given a soul which gives him a
conscience so that he feels remorse for all the evil
deeds he has done. The final flashback takes place in
Los Angeles in 1996 where Angel, living like a tramp and
feeding off rats, is given a chance to regain his dignity.
The (non-evil) demon Whistler shows him Buffy being
briefed by her first watcher (an event from the 1992 film
which preceded the series but not the actual footage),
telling him she will need his help. Thus, by the use of
flashbacks, we are brought up to date with Angel's past just at the time when, having lost his soul after his night
of bliss with Buffy, he is again evil and dangerous.
Bordwell and Thomson's description of how, in the
narrative, information is withheld has a certain similarity
In that episode the use of flashback is fairly conventional
to Barthes' hermeneutic/enigma code which will be
but in Fool for Love [5.7] there is a much more
considered later in this chapter.
innovative way of presenting flashback. Buffy is trying to
come to terms with her fate as slayer and by this time
3.3
Chronology
The distinction between plot and story is particularly
marked when the plot is presented to us out of its
normal chronological order. The simplest form of story
telling is to begin at the beginning and go on until you
reach the end but, as far back as the ancient world,
storytellers have noticed that interesting effects could be
achieved by deviating from chronological order. The
classical epic typically began in medias res (in the middle
of things); for example, Homer's "Odyssey" begins half
way through the hero's journey home from the Trojan
War, goes back to describe his earlier adventures and
then follows his story through to the end. The advantage
of this technique is that it allows us to make causal
connections, often ironic ones, between widely
separated events. This shifting of chronology is known as
analepsis but more commonly in film as flashback. The
purpose of flashback is frequently for exposition or back
story, giving us background information about characters
and events.
Spike, having had a chip put in his brain by the Initiative,
is no longer a threat to humans. Buffy is paying him to
tell his story which includes the killing of two slayers, so
that she can better prepare herself for the trials to come.
In this flashback, we learn that, before he was a vampire,
Spike was a very different character as a human. He is
awkward and rather pathetic, without Spike's confidence
and swagger. (The irony in the transition from present to
past is in Spike's words: "I've always been bad.") His
nickname "William the Bloody", far from being a
reference to his nocturnal activities, is actually a short
form of "William the Bloody ... Awful Poet". He is deeply
unhappy due to his unrequited love. As he says to
Cecily, his muse, "I know I'm a bad poet but I'm a good
man." She responds by telling him "You're beneath me"
– ironically, the same words used by Buffy at the end of
this episode. He bumps into Drusilla who follows him
and "sires" him, not entirely against his will as he is so
miserable with his life. In subsequent flashbacks we see
him undergo the transition that will lead him to his
persona as Spike, killer of two slayers. The first killing
takes place during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900
Buffy is mostly arranged in chronological order but
occasionally flashback is used to tell us something about
the characters' past and, since the major characters who
and this gives him the power and confidence to stand
up to Angelus, up till then the acknowledged leader of
the "family".
have much of a past are vampires, it is with the
characters of Angel and Spike that it is used most
tellingly. For example, in Becoming Part 1 [2. 21], we
learn in flashback about Angel's past. After the
"Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" sequence and
before the title sequence, we are in Galway, Ireland, in
1753, where the vampire Darla "sires" Angel. The
episode is punctuated with a number of other
flashbacks, such as, in London in 1860, when Angel
tortures, torments and finally sires Drusilla; another one
where he receives the gypsy curse for killing a girl of the
46
Chapter 3: Narrative
His second killing of a slayer takes place on a train in
New York in 1970. His recounting of the incident to Buffy
involves him trading blows in an alley with Buffy in order
to demonstrate the moves in the earlier fight, intercut
back and forth several times, with match cuts giving the
impression that the two time periods are fused into one.
The innovative aspect is that, at the climax of the fight
with the second slayer, Spike continues to address Buffy
from within the flashback ( an "hommage" to Quentin
Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs where Mr Orange [Tim Roth]
praying mantis in the form of a substitute teacher :
also narrates from within a flashback).
Teacher's Pet (1.4); a grotesque demon which is invisible
This is a risky strategy and one which would not have
Killed by Death (2.18), a demon which passes on a
been attempted on network television ten or twenty
contamination to Buffy which makes her hear people's
years earlier as it risks breaking the illusion of reality on
thoughts (Earshot, [3.18]). The rest of the narrative
which even fantasy genres depend. However, by this
concerns how this state of disruption is dealt with.
time audiences were more open to this and other self-
Occasionally the disruption will not be a result of
to adults but preys on children :"Der Kindestod" in
reflexive techniques (cf Postmodernism in Chapter One:
supernatural activity as in Ted [2.11] where a robot
Categories). But, while Reservoir Dogs was an "indie"
programmed by a dead scientist attempts to seduce and
(independent) film whose audience would be open to
to kill Buffy's mother. Whatever the problem that has
stylistic innovation, indeed would expect it, Buffy was
resulted from the disruption, the hero, Buffy, will attempt
prime-time network television, traditionally a much more
to repair it, ie deal with the problem (the demon or
conservative medium, both thematically and stylistically.
whatever is causing the disruption). This culminates in a
This suggests both a shift in audience sensibility in
resolution, a critical point when the agent of the
general and also that a significant segment of Buffy's
disruption is confronted by the slayer, leading to a return
audience had a lot in common with the more avant-
to equilibrium,where a new equilibrium is established
garde audience for independent cinema (cf Chapter 5:
but not necessarily a return to the former one.
Audience).
3.4.1
3.4
Narrative Structure: Equilibrium
and Disruption (Todorov)
The most basic pattern is that a narrative will have a
beginning, a middle and an end - but not necessarily in
that order, as the renowned French film director, JeanLuc Godard, has pointed out and the examples of
flashback described above confirm. However, in addition
to this basic shape, it is possible to see more complex
structures and how they hook their audiences into the
diegesis. Bulgarian narratologist Tvetan Todorov
observed 2 that most popular narratives have a basic
shape, a causal transformation with a clear pattern:
1
A state of equilibrium at the start
2
A disruption of the equilibrium by some
action (and an awareness of the protagonist
that the disruption has taken place)
3
An attempt to repair or deal with the
disruptive force culminating in a resolution
4
A return to a state of equilibrium (which might
well be different from the initial equilibrium)
The narrative usually starts with a situation of equilibrium
where things are normal, the story not yet properly
started. In the earlier seasons of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, this often takes place in the grounds of
Sunnydale High where Buffy, Xander and Willow are
chatting, joking and planning social events, sometimes
interrupted by Cordelia and the "Cordettes" (Cordelia's
followers) making sarcastic comments. Then an event
occurs which sets off the story, an event which disrupts
this equilibrium. It will probably be to do with the action
of a vampire or other demon, (such as a virgin-devouring
Todorov and an episode of Buffy: Inca
Mummy Girl (2.4)
Inca Mummy Girl is a good example of the
"standalone" episode (see below)which conforms to
Todorov's model.
(i)
EQUILIBRIUM
The episode begins, as they often do, in the grounds of
Sunnydale High where Willow, Xander and Buffy are
chatting about a student exchange programme. Buffy is
going to have a male foreign student staying at her
house for two weeks. Later they are on a school trip to
Sunnydale Museum of Natural History where there is an
exhibition of Inca artefacts. A 500-year-old mummy has a
cursed seal on a tomb warning anyone against
interfering with the tomb.
(ii)
DISRUPTION (AND AWARENESS THAT
THERE HAS BEEN A DISRUPTION)
When everyone leaves, dim-witted student Rodney tries
to take the seal. It breaks, and the mummy arises, grabs
him, kisses him, causing his flesh to atrophy.
When they realise Rodney is missing, Buffy, Giles, Xander
and Willow go to the museum to look for clues and find
his remains. Giles tries to decipher what's left of the seal
but they are ancient pictograms.
It transpires that the killing was done by Ampata, a 500year old mummy, transformed into a beautiful 16-yearold Peruvian girl who also kills Buffy's exchange student
and takes his place. Only by kissing the life out of
people can she survive. Xander falls for her and takes
her to the dance where Ampata is starting to turn back
Chapter 3: Narrative
47
into a mummy. In the meantime, Buffy discovers the
adaptation of the literary classics such as Middlemarch,
disintegrated remains of the exchange student in
Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House.
Ampata's trunk and she and Giles realise she is the
mummy and realise that Xander is in danger.
Both the serial and the series usually have narrative
closure - whether at the end of an episode or the end of
(iii)
RESOLUTION
a whole serial - where the central disruption is resolved
Ampata must quickly kiss someone or it will be too late
and loose ends are tied up. Soap operas, however, are
but she declines to kiss Xander as she has fallen for him,
serial narratives that resist narrative closure and, while
She runs away from Xander to the museum to try to
some episodes are dominated by particular characters
break the seal that Giles is about to restore. Buffy arrives
and problems, they normally have several plot lines
in time to save Giles before Ampata kisses him, but gets
running simultaneously, each lasting only a few minutes
thrown into the tomb. When Willow tries to help, Xander
before the switch to one of the other plots, with abrupt
intervenes and offers his own life instead. Buffy escapes
transitions from one to the other. It also uses the
from the tomb just in time to pull the now-mummified
convention of the cliff-hanger, usually from whatever plot
Ampata off Xander as Ampata - literally - falls to pieces.
line is dominating the programme at the time. Some of
these narrative strands are related to others: some are
(iv)
RETURN TO EQUILIBRIUM
not. While individual narrative strands can eventually
Next day in Sunnydale High Xander and Buffy discuss
reach closure, other ones are continually opening up.
the events. Buffy has some sympathy for Ampata who
The plots are potentially never-ending (though the
was only 16 - the same age as Buffy - when she was
example of Eldorado and Brookside show that soaps do
chosen for human sacrifice to defend her people. Buffy
sometimes come to an end).
refers back to the prophesy of her own death (1.12
Prophesy Girl) "when I wasn't exactly obsessed with
doing the right thing." Xander reminds her that she did
the right thing in the end - she gave up her life, to which
Buffy replies "I had you to bring me back".
The narrative is complete: it has achieved closure as
there are no loose ends and no consequences. It does,
however, develop one of the longer narrative arcs (see
below): Oz, lead guitarist with the band, "Dingoes Ate
My Baby", notices Willow for the first time, leading to a
romance that will last until near the end of Season 4.
3.6
Hybrid Long-form Narrative
Most US TV drama series, especially if strongly genrebased, have tended to sacrifice longer-term narrative
development in favour of strong one-off episodes with a
mixture of the regular cast and guest stars (who rarely
reappear in later episodes). Most episodes don't,
therefore, have to appear in any particular order.
However, since the mid-1980s, the networks have been
developing hybrid narrative structures, combining
elements of the series, serial and soap. This
development has been largely as a result of the
networks trying to achieve greater audience involvement
3.5
Long-form Television: Series and
Serial
and make continued viewing more likely by learning
from the narrative strategies of day-time soap. In soap,
Todorov's model best fits single, complete narratives
the plot lines tend to be based on character
such as feature films. Television allows for longer forms
development and relationships and it is this element
of narrative, such as the series and the serial, which
which television series began to employ, especially in
dominate the television schedules and where Todorov's
Buffy.
model has to be modified. A series consists of a number
of self-contained narratives, with the disruption being
resolved by the end of the individual episode. The serial,
on the other hand, even where it consists of many
episodes and has numerous sub-plots, normally deals
with a central, overarching narrative which runs through
all the episodes. (The term narrative arc is used to
denote a longer-term linear development of the
narrative.) Care is taken to shape the narrative so that
that each episode ends on an exciting event or cliffhanger. The disruption is resolved by final episode.
Examples include Murder One, 24 and the television
48
Chapter 3: Narrative
As Sue Turnbull observes: 3
Buffy is a hybrid long-form drama series. In
other words, Buffy combines the episodic
narrative structure of the television series
(featuring a regular cast of characters engaged
in a different adventure/problem every week
with little or no ongoing development of the
characters - such as in the A-Team [NBC, 19831987] or The Rockford Files [NBC, 1974-1980]),
with the ongoing narrative of the never-ending
soap. ... While each episode of a new hybrid
drama series might deal with one or two finite
stories ... beginning and ending in that
episode, attention would also be given to the
ongoing characters and their relationships
across the episodes. Thus in Hill Street Blues
(MTM/NBC, 1981-1989) the policemen on the
street would address a different crime every
week, while romance and conflict waxed and
waned between the regular cast of characters
across episodes and even across seasons. Buffy,
in common with many popular TV drama series
then and since, makes good use of this hybrid
narrative structure, marrying the high-school
serial drama of unfolding relationships as in
Beverley Hills 90210 (US, 1999-2000), to the
'monster of the week' scenario employed by
the early X-Files (Fox TV, 1993-2003).
Drusilla and was such a success as a character that he
became an integral part of the long-term development
of the show. He combined (and competed) in Season 2
as "Big Bad" with Angelus. By the third season, the
affable Mayor Wilkins III, actually preparing his
"ascension" to the state of demon, took over. In Season
4 it was Adam, a hybrid of human, robot and demon,
created by the Initiative, a shadowy government agency
headed by Buffy's psychology professor, Maggie Walsh,
which was undertaking experiments to harness demon
power for military ends. In Season 5, it was the "hellgod", Glory, banished from her own dimension by her
fellow gods because of her disruptive nature. Season 6's
"Big Bad" was reduced to a trio of geeky fan-boys from
Buffy takes the process of narrative hybrid further than
Sunnydale High - Warren, Jonathan and Andrew - whose
most, with narrative arcs continuing across episodes and
knowledge of scientific gadgets gave them a dangerous
across seasons. As each season reaches its climax, the
power. And in the final season, the First Evil - the source
standalone episodes give way to "arc episodes" (that is,
of all subsequent evil - came close to defeating Buffy
episodes dominated by the main conflict with the "Big
and destroying the world (again).
Bad" of the particular season), usually ending in a
seasonal climax where evil is defeated and the problems
Some of the narrative arcs, however, go beyond a single
are resolved. Even where the episodes are "standalone",
season. Events and characters can carry over in to later
"monster-of-the-week" episodes, developments of plot
seasons. Buffy's temporary death at the end of Season 1
and character take place. The show, therefore, while
gave rise to a replacement slayer, Kendra, whose death
operating mainly as a series, becomes more serial-like as
in turn brought the rogue-slayer Faith, who becomes a
the season gets into its stride, becoming more or less a
major player in Season 3, returns in Season 4 and (after
serial for the last few episodes of each season. In the
turning up in the spin-off show Angel), returns to play a
case of the seventh and final season, dominated by the
major role in the final season, 7. Buffy's mysterious sister,
struggle against “The First Evil”, the serial aspect was
Dawn, who suddenly turns up at the start of season 5,
dominant from early on.
was referred to by Faith as far back as Season 3.
Arcs are not necessarily consecutive episodes. The story
Many of these cross-season arcs are to do with
arc may reach a point where, although closure has not
relationships. Buffy's relationship with Angel continues
been achieved, it is left unresolved for the moment, thus
from the first to the end of the third season, although he
allowing a standalone, non-arc episode to be inserted,
makes intermittent appearances until the final season.
perhaps in order to feature a character not involved in
Buffy's relationship with Spike starts in Season Two when
the arc or to introduce a lighter mood during a dark
he is determined to kill her, having tasted Slayer blood
story arc. For example, Season 2 becomes very much a
almost a century before. They form a truce in order to
serial in that the last few episodes are dominated by the
defeat Angelus at the end of the season as he is jealous
Angelus (evil Angel) arc, with Passion [2.17], Killed by
of Angelus's relationship with Drusilla. He makes the
Death [2.18], I Only Have Eyes for You [2.19] and
occasional appearance in Season 3 but becomes a
Becoming, Parts 1 and 2 [2.21 and 2.22]. But positioned
regular from Season 4 onwards. His relationship with
between I Only Have Eyes For You and the two-part
Buffy changes from arch enemy to reluctant ally. After he
finale, Becoming, is the standalone episode Go Fish
becomes harmless to humans, having had a chip is
[2.20 ] which has virtually nothing to do with the Angelus
implanted in his brain by the Initiative in Season 4, he
arc.
frequently fights on Buffy's side, undergoing torture for
her and goes into battle with her against Glory in the
3.7
Narrative Arcs in Buffy
The seasonal narrative arcs tend to be dominated by the
struggle against a particular villain. In Season One it was
The Master, a hideous vampire who resembled Count
Orlick in Nosferatu; in Season Two, the English punk-
Season 5 climax. In Season 6, after she returns from the
dead, they briefly become lovers. Likewise, Willow and
Xander's relationship, Xander's relationships with
Cordelia and Anya, and Willow's with Oz and Tara are
cross-season relationships.
vampire Spike came rolling into Sunnydale with girlfriend
Chapter 3: Narrative
49
The central relationship in Buffy is that between Slayer
typically, 60 pages of screenplay; then the screenplay has
and Watcher, between Buffy and Giles. That relationship
one final act, the resolution, where the problem
develops throughout the whole seven seasons. In
established at plot point A is resolved. Kirstin
Season One Giles is the fussy overprotective father
Thompson 6 finds a four-act structure, based on four
figure, constantly reminding Buffy that her duty lies in
more or less equal parts - setup, complicating action,
slaying and patrolling rather than cheer-leading and
development and climax/epilogue - more useful, being
hanging out in the Bronze. In Season 3 he is sacked by
more solidly based on character motivation.
the Watchers' Council for being over-paternal towards
Buffy. In Season 6 he feels he must leave her so that she
While such dramatic segmentations may operate in
can fully develop but he is always available to come back
cinema film, a crucial commercial reality of television -
when needed. He returns at the end of Season 6 to help
the advert break - determines a different sort of four-Act
deal with the Dark Willow, and in the final season he is
structure. Television drama of one hour's duration is
there to help fight "The First Evil".
typically divided into four acts, each separated by an
advert-break. The writers are forced, by the commercial
Such narrative development, where the audience is
structure of network television, to break the action at
required to remember plot lines from earlier seasons,
certain intervals and put in something important - a
could have had he effect of reducing the potential
cliffhanger or twist in the story - at each commercial
number of viewers. However, the advantages of
break to keep the viewers from flipping channels. (NB
developing the ongoing relationships between
the timings refer to the original US broadcast: in the UK,
characters probably outweigh the disadvantages in that
the timing of advert breaks is totally different. And in the
viewer involvement and loyalty is maximised. Although
US there is usually an extra, short comercial break just
the television networks seek to attract the greatest
before the credits).
number of viewers in order to deliver them to their
advertisers, it is not simply a question of numbers. Some
Jane Espenon, one of the main writers in Buffy,
demographics (for example, viewers in their twenties
describes these moments as follows:
and thirties) have considerable spending power, and
advertisers have a much more carefully targeted
demographic for their products. Furthermore, a loyal fan
base is more likely to buy ancillary products (books,
posters etc and especially DVDs) than a bigger but more
casual, less committed audience. (This will be further
developed in Chapters 5 and 6: Audience and
Institutions). Narrative arcs may cause problems when it
comes to syndication, where the broadcasters find it
more convenient to show episodes in more or less any
order; but in a series which is trying to attract a more
homogeneous (albeit smaller) audience to deliver to its
advertisers, the narrative arc is a way of hooking that
audience, making them less casual and more dedicated
viewers.
These are big moments right before the
commercial. They are the most crucial points of
the story. They are tent poles that hold up the
story. They have to be big and suspenseful and
generally Acts 2 and 3 have to turn the story. So
you have to think where the story is going and
then it turns. 7
If the amount of screen time within a 60-minute slot
tends to be 43 or 44 minutes, the rest being for adverts
and trailers, this suggests a commercial break about
every ten minutes or so. In reality, there is a degree of
variation as to the exact point when the break comes but
it still requires considerable care from the writers to
avoid a distribution of commercial breaks that is too
uneven, while allowing for a strong narrative hook to
keep viewers watching after the break.
3.8
The Four-Act Structure
4
Many mainstream feature films are constructed around
The first act will begin with a "teaser" to hook the
a three-act structure of set-up, conflict, and resolution,
audience from the start. This is a mini-act of between
a structure that is reinforced in Hollywood by the
one and five minutes which occurs before the main plot
influence of screenwriting manuals such as "The
gets under way. It includes a title sequence consisting of
Screenwriter's Workbook" by Syd Field. 5 The idea is
a montage of short clips from previous episodes
that a typical film moves to major plot point A, about 30
("Recently on [title]) " and a "lead-in" or prologue which
pages into the typical 120 page script (on average, one
introduces some of the plot lines that will dominate the
page of a screenplay represents one minute of screen
episode. This is usually followed - though sometimes it is
time): the set-up. After the first major plot point, we are
preceded by - the title sequence which is likely to last
in the act commonly referred to as the conflict until plot
less than a minute and to have very fast cutting, with
point B, the climax of the film, this act representing,
each shot lasting less than a second on average,
50
Chapter 3: Narrative
involving the main characters and with the names of the
not to let on that this process doesn't normally involve
actors on the screen. The credits will continue into the
memory loss.
teaser or even into the first Act. The episode will
sometimes end with a "tag" of one or two minutes
The following examples show how Buffy follows the four-
(although it occasionally extends to five minutes) before
Act structure to a large degree but also shows
the end credits. It is a sort of epilogue used to show the
considerable variation.
effects or aftermath of the episode, (and indicate a
return to equilibrium as in the Todorov model as
(i)
described above) and occasionally to extend one of the
The episode begins with a voice-over spoken by Giles
ongoing narrative arcs, not necessarily the main one of
(Anthony Stewart Head): "In every generation there is a
the episode.
Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires,
SCHOOL HARD [2.3]
the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the
A typical breakdown of the four-Act Structure might be
Slayer." This was done regularly in the early seasons to
as follows:
establish the overall premise of the show. Later series
2-5 minutes (including the title sequence
Teaser
and lead-in/prologue)
Act One:
10 minutes
Act Two:
10 minutes
Act Three:
10 minutes
Act Four:
10 minutes
Tag:
1-2 minutes
Obviously, the greater the length of time taken by the
teaser and the tag, the shorter the acts will be. The third
and fourth acts are frequently shorter than the first two
and might even be thought of as a third act broken in
the middle, without any other logic than the need for a
commercial break.
3.8.1
4-Act Structure in Buffy
This pattern is generally followed in Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, although there is considerable variation. The
"Previously on" montage is not always there, and
sometimes the order of events within the teaser
changes. It will be clear from the examples below that
the writers attempt to build in a cliffhanger or dramatic
event, even where the final two acts are fairly short. Tags
were typical of the early seasons of Buffy, often being
set in the grounds of Sunnydale High where the
sunshine and palm trees suggest that the immediate
danger is over. For example, in Out of Mind, Out of
Sight (1.11) Marcie, a girl who has become invisible
because no-one notices her, attempts to cut up Cordelia
but Buffy comes to the rescue. In the tag, it is the next
day in school and they discuss how twisted Marcie had
become. Cordelia joins them and is pleasant for a while
until her friends arrive, after which she reverts to her
normal bitchy self. We cut to an FBI building where learn
that Marcie is being trained to be a secret agent, her
ability to be invisible making her an ideal assassin.
Another example is the tag in The Pack (1.6) where
Xander claims not to remember his bad behaviour when
under the influence of a hyena spirit and Giles promises
dropped this, presumably because the premise had
been solidly established. The teaser dispenses with the
"Previously on" feature to go straight into a prologue
concerning Buffy and a school delinquent, Sheila, being
given an punishment by the unsympathetic school
principal Snyder who forces them to decorate the school
for a parents' evening. This is followed by the arrival of
Spike, the new vampire villain who was to become a
major character for the remaining seasons. The short
title sequence follows and we are straight into the first
act.
Act 1 lasts about eleven and a half minutes, giving us the
first commercial break at about 16 minutes into the
episode. The Act ends on a dramatic high point: Spike's
first meeting with Buffy and a threat to kill her the
following Saturday. The second Act ends with Spike and
his gang breaking into the school during the parents'
evening, with Spike declaring that he couldn't wait till
Saturday. The next two Acts (arguably, one act of about
15 minutes with a dramatic break in the middle) follow.
At the end of Act 3, Sheila, now a vampire, is about to
strike Buffy with an axe. Act 4 resumes with the action as
it was at the end of Act 3. Frequently, acts end on a fade
out with the same scene resumed in the next act with a
fade-in (a practice carried on in the DVD version despite
the fact that this is no longer needed for a commercial
break). Buffy defeats Shelia and organizes the defence of
the students and parents and Spike is forced to retreat,
having lost a good number of his gang members. This is
the resolution in Todorov's terms. The return equilibrium
consists of exchanges by groups of characters and the
post-confrontation shots of police patrol cars with
flashing lights typical of many a police-procedural film.
Joyce, having been disappointed by Buffy's negative
school report, recognises another side of her daughter,
her courage and leadership qualities. (Joyce does not
yet know Buffy is the Slayer). The act ends comically with
Willow and Cordelia, still in hiding not having realised
Chapter 3: Narrative
51
the battle is over, with Cordelia praying but in her usual
outwitted Spike, managing to lead the group - apart
egotistical way.
from Ford - out of danger. She returns once the
vampires have left to see Ford's corpse. Acts 3 and 4
There is a tag of about two minutes involving Spike and
together last about 14 minutes and, again, are like one
"The Anointed One" (or the "Annoying One" as Spike
act with a break in the middle.
calls him), the child-vampire who becomes the leader of
the Sunnydale vampires due to his being the last link
The episode ends with a tag of just over two minutes
with the Master of Season One. The Annointed One
where Buffy and Giles discuss how difficult life can be as
tries to reprimand Spike for his impatience which led to
you get older and face moral choices - a conversation by
their defeat but, with the memorable lines, "From now
Ford's grave and which is interrupted by Buffy almost
on, we're gonna have a little less ritual and a little more
casually "spiking" the vampire that Ford has become.
fun around here," he hoists The Anointed One up to
The scene is very much a return to equilibrium.
expose him to the sunlight and destroys him, ending
with the invitation to Drusilla: "Let's see what's on TV."
(iii)
This tag serves less as a summing up of the episode
The teaser begins with a "Previously on" montage of
itself as than as a prologue to the rest of the Season,
just over a minute which shows how Faith is becoming a
suggesting that Spike will be the Season's "Big Bad" but
bad influence on Buffy, introduces the new Watcher,
one who, with his wit, his punk-rock style and his
Wesley Wyndham-Price, with whom the Watchers'
swaggering bravado, will be a villain more in touch with
Council has replaced Giles, and shows us Faith
a younger audience than the ancient Master of the
accidentally killing a human being. The lead-in takes
previous season.
place before the title sequence and involves Buffy
CONSEQUENCES [3.15]
having a nightmare about the dead man. Following the
(ii)
LIE TO ME [2.7]
The "Previously on " sequence is omitted from the
title sequence we go straight into Act One, with the
credits continuing on the screen. The Act lasts just over
teaser, in this case perhaps because it has a particularly
six minutes taking us to the first commercial break at
strong prologue. It is a very spooky sequence which
about ten minutes into the episode. It ends with the
starts by showing Drusilla singing sinister lullabies and
major villain of Season 3, Mayor Wilkins, being cheered
menacing a young boy until Angel intervenes. Given his
up at the prospect of Buffy being charged with first-
guilt at having "sired" Drusilla he gives her the chance
degree murder.
to get out of town. Meanwhile, Buffy is spying on them
from a rooftop and her angle of vision makes it look as if
The second Act, a little longer at just under 12 minutes,
they are embracing. This prologue is followed by the
ends with Giles and Buffy concerned about losing Faith
title sequence of about 47 seconds and then we are
to the dark side and keeping the news about the killing
straight into Act 1. The teaser and first Act take us to the
from the Watchers' Council in London. We then realise
first break after about thirteen and a half minutes.
that Wesley has been listening and he does in fact
phone the Council. The third Act is just over 7 minutes
The episode involves the arrival in Sunnydale of Billy
long and ends with Wyndham-Price and the Council's
Fordham ("Ford") a former school friend of Buffy from
henchmen capturing Faith to take her back to London
LA who, it turns out, has a terminal illness and is
for an investigation. The final Act shows Faith's escape
prepared to sacrifice Buffy as well as a group of young
but before she disappears she spikes a vampire who was
and naïve vampire worshippers to Spike in return for
about to sink his teeth into Buffy, suggesting Faith may
being made immortal as a vampire. Buffy's jealousy at
not be totally lost. This Act lasts not much more than 5
what she thinks she has observed between Angel and
minutes and, with the previous Act being short, Acts 3
Drusilla in the prologue makes her more amenable to
and 4 could be once again considered, as one act split
the attentions of Ford. The Act ends with Ford lip-
into two to accommodate the commercial break.
synching to a television version of Dracula, showing his
total devotion to the vampire cause.
The episode ends with a tag where Buffy and Giles
discuss Faith's situation and ends with Faith arriving at
The second Act lasts about 12 minutes, ending with Ford
Mayor Wilkins' office to apply for the job vacated by
making a deal with Spike to deliver Buffy to him. The
vampire henchman Trick whom she has just killed. She
third Act ends on a cliffhanger - Buffy and the young
has clearly crossed the line and subsequent episodes of
people in the vampire club waiting for Spike and his
the season show her further descent into evil until she
gang to arrive. The final Act ends with Buffy, having
eventually achieves repentance and redemption, first of
52
Chapter 3: Narrative
all in Angel and finally at the end of the seventh and
they have to talk but being unable to do so. These all
final season of the Buffy.
relate to ongoing narrative arcs. The narrative resumes
where it left off at the start of the following episode.
(iv)
HUSH [4.10]
In the teaser to this episode there is no "Previously on . .
It can be seen, then, from the episodes above, that Buffy
." It goes straight into a Lead-in or Prologue. The first
adheres to the standard pattern of the four-act structure
part involves Buffy falling asleep at her Psychology
for US TV drama - though the last two are often one act
lecture and dreaming that Riley is kissing her in front of
split in the middle - and that it tends to end each act on
the class. The sun goes down and she hears a little
a high point before the commercial break. However,
blonde-haired girl (a younger Buffy?) singing a nursery
within the strict boundaries enforced by the commercial
rhyme about the evil Gentlemen who come to town and
break, it uses considerable variation in the pattern,
take people's hearts. The dream ends with one of these
especially with teaser and tag.
hideous creatures touching her on the shoulder. She
wakens up, chats to Willow, then to Riley. Buffy and Riley
are attracted to each other but haven't been able to get
together and as they are about to kiss, they start to
"babble". This sequence lasts almost five minutes and is
followed by a 50 second title sequence with over 50
cuts. Act 1 begins with a conversation between Giles
and Buffy about her dream of the Gentlemen, Spike has
been staying with Giles and complains that Giles has run
out of Weetabix, and Anya and Xander discuss their
relationship. Giles wants Xander to take in Spike for a
few days. Willow goes to her university wicca group and
meets a shy student called Tara. And Olivia, Giles's
friend, arrives. We see Riley and his friend Parker in the
Initiative's underground complex. By the end of Act 1,
we have had scenes from all the major arcs of the
season. Firstly the Gentlemen story, which is resolved at
3.9
Propp and Narrative Functions
A more elaborate analysis of narrative structure than the
one analysed by Todorov has been associated with the
work Vladimir Propp whose study of Russian folk tales
("The Morphology of the Folk Tale", published in
English in 1968) led him to discover a common
underlying "deep structure" which ran through the
stories irrespective of variations in plot and character. He
called these narrative building blocks "functions", of
which he uncovered 31. Not all of the functions
appeared in every tale but they always appeared in a
certain order.
Propp 8 groups his 31 functions into six groups:
1
Preparation:
actions of the villain who prepares
the end of the episode, the Initiative arc which will
his evil plan (for example, the villain
dominate Season 4 plus four arcs based on relationships:
gets finds information about the
Buffy/Riley, Xander/Anya, Willow/Tara (just beginning);
princess to enable him to kidnap
Giles/Olivia (an arc that is stopped in its tracks as Olivia
her).
is so freaked out by her experiences she doesn't come
back). The Act ends with a commercial break after about
2
Complication: Actions which lead to a loss or a lack
that must be put right (the princess
14 minutes including the teaser).
is captured).
The second Act lasts just under 12 minutes and ends
with the Gentlemen about to cut out the heart of a
3
Transference: The hero begins the quest
4
The struggle: Hero and Villain Fight
5
Return:
The hero has to get back unscathed
6
Recognition:
The hero is rewarded, the villain
student. The third Act lasts just over 8 minutes and ends
with Buffy and Riley facing each other in the tower as
they confront the Gentleman; and the fourth Act lasts
just about five and a half minutes, with Buffy's scream
putting an end to the Gentlemen. These two Acts,
lasting about thirteen and a half minutes, are, once
again, like a third Act with a commercial break in the
punished.
middle. The tag, which lasts about three minutes, begins
with a dissolve from the previous scene to an
Another aspect of Propp's schema was his delineation of
establishing shot of a sunny UCLA Sunnydale campus,
character-types, which Propp referred to as "spheres of
indicating a restoration of equilibrium, followed by three
action". This approach allows us to see characters not
scenes, one seeming to end the Giles-Olivia
just as individuals which have their specific
relationship, another suggesting one between Willow
characteristics as they are in real life, but according to
and Tara is about to begin, and Riley and Buffy agreeing
Chapter 3: Narrative
53
what role or purpose they have in the narrative. Propp
villain has a sphere of action involving evil deeds (in the
identified seven of these functions:
case of Buffy, feeding on humans or threatening the
destruction of the world). The villain confronts the
1
The hero
2
The villain
3
The donor (or provider)
4
The helper
5
The princess (or sought for person)
6
The dispatcher
heroine, opposing and fighting her and providing a
focus for the action.
The helpers are people who aid the hero in many ways,
often making up for some lack in the hero. The Scooby
gang are clearly the main helpers, especially Willow, with
(There is a seventh sphere of action - the false hero - but
this would seem to have a less widespread application
to film and television than the other six).
Narratives are frequently constructed around these roles,
and one role may be fulfilled by more than one character
(and one character can play more than one role). A
good example is the original Star Wars trilogy: 9
her witchcraft and her computer wizardry, and the everdependable Xander. As far as the princess-and-herfather is concerned, it is a little more complicated. In the
absence of Buffy's father, Hank, Joyce Summers plays
the roles of both mother and father. Buffy, in her other
role as schoolgirl and daughter, as opposed to her
super-heroine persona, might be considered as the
princess, ie the person to be protected and sought after.
1
The hero
=
Luke Skywalker
And, of course, Giles's relationship to Buffy becomes
2
The villain
=
Darth Vader
more and more paternal, something that caused the
3
The donor
=
Obi Wan Kenobi
Watchers' Council to sack him as Watcher (Helpless,
4
The helper
=
Han Solo
[3.12]). Giles is not only donor but the dispatcher who
5
The Princess
=
Princess Leia
sends Buffy out on her quests, but as donor, it is he who
6
The dispatcher
=
R2-D2
frequently gives her the advantage over her opponents
with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the demon world.
Propp's findings were used decades after his original
Clearly, then, these roles can be fluid in terms of which
research and applied to completely different kinds of
character actually fills them: the roles themselves,
narratives, especially Hollywood films, such as North by
however, are there. Propp, therefore, allows us to see
Northwest, Sunset Boulevard and Kiss Me Deadly, as
character functions as essential components of narrative
well as to television series such as The A-Team. Some
structure.
writers have disputed the idea that these models have
any value in film analysis and can only work by severely
distorting the text to "squeeze" into the shape of the
model but they have the value of making the analysis of
narrative 'strange' and allow us to see them as
constructions. Texts are so fully constructed to pull us
into the narrative and relate to characters as individuals
that it is difficult to stand back and see what is really
going on. And Propp can be usefully employed,
especially in narratives with a fairy-tale element such as
Star Wars, Pretty Woman and, of course, Buffy, to see
how the texts actually work.
3.9.1
Propp and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Applied to Buffy, the hero is actually a heroine, Buffy
herself. The hero acts in a sphere of action - what he or
she does. Buffy's role is to fight evil, going out on patrol
(mainly in graveyards), in response to the promptings of
the donor. The villain's function is carried out by the
various vampires and demons which disrupt the life of
Sunnydale in each episode or across an entire season,
such as The Master in the first season, Mayor Wilkins in
the third season or the hell-god Glory in Season 5; or
across several seasons, such as Spike. For Propp, the
54
Chapter 3: Narrative
3.10
The Monomyth and the Hero's
Journey
As we have seen above, many writers on film have found
in Propp a useful analytical tool for at least some
narratives. Joseph Campbell, also a scholar of
mythology, working independently of Propp, came to
conclusions which were very similar to Propp's. In his
1949 book, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" 10 ,
Campbell identifies common strains in the mythology of
all world religions and cultures and concludes that all are
different manifestations of one "monomyth", a universal
story with roots in the universal human experience. Joss
Whedon, Buffy's creator, stated that "the show is
designed to...work on the mythic structure of a hero's
journey..." 11
Campbell identified certain archetypes (a term coined
by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung) - patterns of
personality that are the shared heritage of the human
race, and as such, part of the universal language of
storytelling, and these are to be found in Buffy. As in
Propp's "spheres of action", the archetypes can be
fulfilled by different characters at different times. These
include the Hero, the Mentor, (an Old Man or Woman -
following Angel into the spin-off series, Angel, where
and if this is not an accurate description of Giles, it
she transcends her earlier limitations.
corresponds with the Scoobies view of him at times); the
Threshold Guardian, the Herald, the Shapeshifter, the
Another important archetype is the Shadow,
Shadow and the Trickster.
representing "the energy of the dark side ... the
repressed monsters of our hidden world". 13 In Buffy,
Buffy's role as hero has been discussed above in relation
the shadows are the vampires and demons, dedicated to
to Propp. As for the Mentor, Giles clearly plays this role
death and destruction and the defeat of the hero. The
in relation to Buffy. The hero-mentor relationship is
dramatic function of the shadow is to challenge the hero
common in mythology and in some respects it stands for
and provide a worthy opponent, so bringing out the
the bond between parent and child. The function of the
best in the hero. Some shadows may be redeemed and
mentor is to prepare the hero to face the unknown. They
turned into positive forces, as demonstrated by the
may give advice or some talisman or piece of
narrative arcs of Angel and Spike who start off evil but
equipment; for example, in Star Wars, Obi wan Kenobi
eventually become good. Shadows can be humanised
gives Luke the light sabre which belonged to his (Luke's)
by making them vulnerable. Even from the start, long
father. Giles's gift is his scholarship - his unrivalled
before his "hero's journey" from evil to fighting on the
knowledge of the dark world contained within his
side of good, Spike's vulnerability is love. In Surprise
weighty tomes. However, given that the same function
[2.25], the Judge, a demon which detects humanity
can be carried out by different characters, Angel
wherever he finds it and burns it out, is brought back to
sometimes plays this role in the early episodes, his gift
life. The Judge notices this "weakness" in Spike's
or talisman being a crucifix to protect Buffy. Giles also
attitude to Drusilla. "You two stink of humanity. You
functions as herald, the herald's function being to issue
share affection and jealousy" he accuses. Even the
challenges and announce the coming of significant
powerful hell-god, Glory, has her vanity and absurd self-
changes. Giles issues Buffy with her first Call to
centredness. And shadows are not always out-and-out
Adventure in the first episode and continues to do so
villains: even Giles, the stable, reliable mentor, is
throughout the show. From time to time, Angel also
revealed as a dabbler in the black arts in his youth, as we
functions as a herald figure, coming out of the shadows
learn in The Dark Age [2.6].
and using his special knowledge to warn Buffy of
The Shapeshifter is a common archetype in mythology
dangers to come.
and the most obvious examples in Buffy are vampires
Once the hero sets out on the journey, she finds there
who literally change shape, their faces taking on a
are powerful Threshold Guardians placed to keep the
monstrous appearance when going in for the kill. But
unworthy from entering various places. Threshold
Shapeshifters are often ambiguous characters whose
guardians can pose problems for the hero but are not
intentions are never entirely clear and may appear as an
necessarily villains and certainly not the main villains;
ally, an enemy or swing back and forth between the two.
they can be overcome, by-passed or even turned into
One form the shapeshifter takes is the femme fatale, a
12
woman whose allure can lead the hero to his downfall,
allies. Christopher Vogler
points out that the
threshold is frequently a bar or watering hole of some
an idea going back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
sort (as in the western-style bar in Tatoine in Star Wars).
Eden. They frequently appear in thriller and especially in
The dark noisy crowded world of the Bronze contrasts
film noir, such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep,
with the daylight world of Sunnydale High School and a
and the neo-noirs such as the Linda Fiorentino character
perfect hunting ground not only for vampires but the
in The Last Seduction, shape-shifting women whose
social monsters that inhabit the teenage world. In
loyalty and motives are in doubt. In Buffy, with its
episode one, Buffy encounters Cordelia and her coterie
reversal of gender expectations, it is no surprise that we
and is confronted with a choice: rescue Willow and
have an “homme fatale,” whose shape shifting between
sacrifice her social status (her "cool") or ignore her
his evil side Angelus and his good side Angel represents
calling and embrace the normal life of a high school
a major problem for Buffy. Faith, the rogue slayer, might
student. Cordelia here functions as a threshold guardian
also represent an aspect of shapeshifting, fighting on the
standing in the way of the heroine's passage, but not
side of both good and evil, and also represents Buffy's
necessarily an out-and-out villain. And in the course of
shadow, what Buffy might have been if circumstances
the series she gains redemption, becoming a semi-
had been different.
detached member of the Scooby gang and eventually
Chapter 3: Narrative
55
Finally there is the Trickster. Tricksters are primarily
Campbell's observations form the basis of Christopher
clowns and comical sidekicks whose dramatic function is
Vogler’s "The Writer's Journey" 16 Vogler, a story
comic relief. According to Denise Yagel, “They cut big
analyst working for Disney, reworked and made more
egos down to size and bring audiences down to
accessible Campbell's ideas, applying them to popular
earth.”14
films - and his account of the theory is a lot more
Xander is prime candidate, with his ever-ready
quips and put-downs, especially to those in authority.
readable than Campbell's. His version of the Hero's
(And note his indignation at being passed over for the
Journey is as follows:
class-clown award in The Prom [3.20]). But Xander, like
the others, can aspire to the role of hero, as in the end
of Season 6 where it is he - by expressing unconditional
love for Willow - brings back her humanity before her
1
2
power and strength of a Buffy, an Angel or (later) a
Willow - can identify with more easily. But Xander is not
the sole provider of humour. Buffy, Willow and Giles
provide their share of laughter. A major source of
comedy in the early seasons is Cordelia whose self-
some problem.
3
the tactless one who will blurt out what she thinks, no
become human after centuries as a vengeance demon
Special World where
6
what's special about the Special World.
7
for a central battle of confrontation with the forces
of failure, defeat, or death.
Here they endure the SUPREME ORDEAL, the
central crisis of the story in which the hero faces his
Like Propp, Campbell's schema involves the stages of a
Departure, Separation:
Crossing a second threshold. they APPROACH THE
INMOST CAVE, that phase when the hero prepares
8
journey: 15
they encounter TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES situations and people that help the hero discover
which requires tact and not always telling the truth.
The Journey
CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD at which time the
hero commits to the adventure and enters the
and hasn't yet learned the rules of social behaviour
3.10.1
are encouraged by a MENTOR, who is source of
reassurance, experience, or wisdom, to
5
matter the occasion, is taken over by Anya. Anya's
comedy comes from the fact that she has only recently
They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL,
hesitating or expressing fear, but
4
centredness and lack of tact provide a constant stream
comedy. After her departure to Angel, her function as
They receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE, when the
hero is challenged to undertake a quest or solve
grief at the loss of Tara causes her to plunge the world
into chaos. And it is a hero the audience - lacking in the
Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD
(or "World of the Common Day")
or her greatest fear and tastes death.
9
They take possession of their REWARD, the
World of the Common Day
moment in which the hero is reborn in some sense
Call to Adventure
and enjoys the benefits of having confronted fear
Refusal of the Call
and death, and
Supernatural Aid
10
are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary
Crossing the First Threshold
World. where the hero commits to finishing the
Belly of the Whale
adventure and leaves, or is chased out of, the
Special World
Descent, Initiation,
Penetration
11
They cross the third threshold, experience a
Road of Trials
RESURRECTION, and are transformed by the
Meeting With the Goddess
experience. a climactic test that purifies, redeems,
Woman as Temptress
and transforms the hero on the threshold of home.
Atonement with the Father
12
They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure
Apotheosis
to benefit the Ordinary World, where the hero
The Ultimate Boon
comes home and shares what has been gained on
the quest, which benefits friends, family, community
Return
Refusal of the Return
and the world. 17
The Magic Flight
Rescue from Within
Vogler has used this model to analyse not only the
Crossing the Threshold
product of his employer, Disney, where it might seem
Return
most suitable, such as The Wizard of Oz, but to films as
Master of Two Worlds
diverse as Beverly Hills Cop, Four Weddings and a
Funeral and Pulp Fiction.
56
Chapter 3: Narrative
Applied to Buffy the Vampire Slayer the journey might
RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR
look something like this for Season 1:
The Master's plans are defeated and the End of the
THE ORDINARY WORLD
Buffy is introduced as a normal school girl.
THE CALL TO ADVENTURE
She is the chosen one. Giles presents her with a book on
vampires.
REFUSAL OF THE CALL
Buffy runs off when the above happens, she just wants a
normal life.
THE MEETING WITH THE MENTOR
Giles is clearly her mentor but that function is shared in
the early episodes with Angel. She (reluctantly) accepts
her role.
CROSSING THE FIRST THRESHOLD
Buffy saves Willow and Xander in the cemetery.
TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES
She confronts more vampires. Willow and Xander form
the core of what will be known as the Scooby Gang, an
essential back-up which will ensure Buffy's survival on
many occasions.
APPROACHING THE INMOST CAVE
The secret of the Hellmouth and the Master's plans to
escape are discovered. A plan is drawn up, weapons are
brought out. Buffy goes to rescue Xander's friend, but
this is a trap for her. In the confrontation in the cemetery
Buffy is nearly killed by Luke, a particularly powerful
vampire.
THE REWARD
The reward is probably friendship; Buffy is different from
the other two slayers we later come into contact with
(Kendra and Faith) in that her friends are very important
to her and frequently allow her to survive.
THE ROAD BACK
The trap mentioned above is in the sewers where the
Master and other vampires live. The vampires and the
recently "vamped" Jesse (Xander's friend) chase them
out.
RESURRECTION
The showdown at The Bronze where Luke is destroyed.
World postponed. Buffy has saved the world and it won't
be for the last time.
Many episodes of Buffy contain within themselves a
hero's journey. According to ‘Rattletrap” on “The
Annotated Buffy” website: “each season contains a
longer adaptation of the journey and the entire series
constitutes a journey.” 18 The idea of crossing a
threshold is reinforced frequently in the Summers' house
stairwell where pictures of thresholds are frequently
shown. 19 There is particular emphasis on the ideas of
resurrection and redemption throughout the seven
seasons of the show. Buffy's resurrection occurs twice.
The first time is in the final episode of Season One,
Prophecy Girl [1.12], where Buffy momentarily forgets
her inner strength, is bitten by the Master and thrown
into a pool of water where she drowns. She is found by
Xander in time to be resuscitated and refinds her
strength which she uses to destroy the Master. The
second occasion occurs at the end of Season Five,
when she sacrifices herself to save her sister Dawn and
the world. Willow brings her back from the dead with
magic at the start of Season 6.
Seasons 2, 3 and 4 might be said to correspond to the
Descent, Initiation and Penetration stages in Campbell,
where Buffy moves beyond the narrow world of the high
school and into the town, and eventually in Season 4
into the new, more adult world of the Sunnydale
Campus of the University of California. In the second
season, the plot takes its severest turn with
Surpise"/"Innocence", a two-part episode [2.13 and
2.14] where Angel "shape-shifts" back into his evil
persona Angelus whose evil drives the confused Buffy
into a process of self-examination, culminating in I Only
Have Eyes for You [2.19] where she accepts what has
happened and her duty to fix it - by sending Angel to
hell to save the world. This is followed by her exile from
Sunnydale at the end of the Season but she soon returns
in Season 3 to make peace with her mother and friends,
a key component of her hero's journey. In Season 3,
called to action by the death of Kendra, Faith arrives in
Sunnydale. Faith also embodies archetypes of both
shapeshifter, in her move from good to evil, and Buffy's
shadow. The temporary swapping of bodies in Who Are
You [4.16] is a significant event for Faith which starts her
on the long road to redemption.
In the Season 3 finale, Graduation Day Part 2 [3.22]
Buffy confronts and defeats a father-figure in the form of
Mayor Wilkins III, a common occurrence in the hero's
Chapter 3: Narrative
57
journey though it usually occurs at a later stage. In the
literal, before resurrection or rebirth; Buffy's is literal: she
next stage of her journey she confronts the shadowy
sacrifices herself to save Dawn and the world in the
government organisation known as The Initiative.
climax to the season.
Frequently along the hero's journey, a perceived threat
turns out to be a competitor but one that shares a
In the Return stage which might correspond to Season 6,
common goal; in this case a common interest in demon
the hero has to reintegrate into the Ordinary World.
hunting but using different methods. The Initiative gives
Buffy, forcibly returned to life by Willow's magic, is
birth to the powerful figure of Adam, demonstrating that
completely disoriented. She confides to Spike, and later,
the journey is becoming increasingly difficult, and only in
under the influence of a spell in the musical episode,
reuniting with friends and allies can she continue her
Once More with Feeling [6.7], to her horrified friends,
journey by defeating Adam. The season ends, not with
that she has been wrenched out of heaven to a world
the usual climax - that was the penultimate episode,
that feels like hell. Heroes are often reluctant to come
Primeval [4.21] - but with an evening of video watching
back to the World of the Common Day and find it
(Restless, [4.22]) that provokes dreams in the main
difficult to readjust as they have become so accustomed
characters. Vogler points out that there is a stage before
to the journey. 22 In Season 6, the "Big Bad" is a group
the final battle where the hero and his allies gather
of fanboy nerds and the main focus is Buffy's attempts at
round the campfire to review recent events: "having
reintegration. She has to deal with commonplace
crossed the abyss of life and death... [these scenes] allow
matters - finding a job, paying the bills, fixing the
us to catch our breath after an exciting battle or
plumbing and looking after Dawn. In the climax to
ordeal." 20 The celebratory meal and story telling
Season 7 which is also the climax to the whole seven
prepares them for the battles to come. The Summers
seasons, Buffy's Elixir is not only the realisation that she
living room where the gang meet to have night of video-
has saved the world (about which she must be a bit
watching perhaps represents the modern equivalent of
blasé by now) but the realisation that she is no longer on
the campfire and their dreams finally serve to reinforce
her own as slayer, that every girl with the potential to be
the group and help them to prepare for the next stage.
a slayer can now become one. The pattern of the hero's
journey then recurs frequently throughout the whole
The climax of the hero's journey occurs in Season 5,
seven seasons of the show's existence.
Buffy's Supreme Ordeal. Before that she receives 'the
ultimate boon", some kind of reward for her efforts up
till now. In Buffy's case the reward is the arrival of a
mystically-created younger sister, symbolically named
Dawn, creation of a new life in the middle of the journey.
Her main adversary is the most powerful yet, the hellgod, Glory, the embodiment of a "mother-figure,
recalling the countless spoiled, arrogant and evil
goddesses of ancient mythology" 21 In much mythology,
this meeting with a female adversary comes much
earlier, with the battle with the father-figure being kept
until the ultimate conflict but, as we have come to
expect in Buffy, there is a gender reversal.
Another experience common on this stage of the
journey is a Reversal of Fortune. Buffy loses her
boyfriend, Riley, who can't cope with fact that she is
stronger than him, and two months later she loses her
mother due to a brain aneurysm. Glory's capture of
Dawn drives her into a state of catatonia which Willow
manages to get her out of. The Hero often finds herself
inadequate to the task and has to rely on allies, as she
does in the final confrontation with Glory where Willow's
witchcraft, Xander's skill as a building worker and Spike's
fighting abilities augment her own power. All heroes
experience some sort of death, either metaphorical or
58
Chapter 3: Narrative
3.11 Levi-Strauss and Binary
Oppositions
Claude Levi-Strauss 23 , a French anthropologist who
also studied mythology, developed another influential
set of ideas on narrative. For Levi-Strauss narrative is an
essential property of the human brain and operates as
an essential social function in human societies and the
function of narratives is to resolve conflict. His theories
have been carried over into the analysis of fictional
dramas, particularly the use of "binary oppositions" to
create meaning. For Levi-Strauss, one of the ways in
which human beings understand the world is through
dividing it up into opposites such as land/sea;
male/female; adult/child; town/country; good/bad;
us/them; public/private. We define things in terms of
what they are not as well as what they are. 'Man' means
'not woman', ‘not boy' etc.
Oppositions in traditional narrative, as we have seen in
relation to Propp and Campbell, are usually structured in
terms of the opposition between heroes and villains,
representing good and evil. There are clear binary
oppositions running through Buffy such as Good vs Evil
and Humans vs Demons. In specific seasons there are
oppositions such as Season 4's Initiative arc where the
opposition might be expressed in terms of Humanity
(i)
versus Technology. These oppositions are embedded in
The narrative poses questions - enigmas - to the
The Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code
the very iconography of the shows, for example, Light
audience (hermeneutics means “interpretation ”) which
versus Darkness. In the opening episode of Season 1, for
is thereby made eager and will be in suspense to see
example, there is the opposition between the bright
their resolution - so we keep watching. It explains the
sunny world of Sunnydale High contrasts and the ruins
narrative by controlling what, and how much,
and sewers beneath the surface which is the domain of
information is given to the audience. This works by
the Master and his vampire minions.
constantly giving the audience puzzles to keep them
"hooked" to the narrative, to make the audience "active
As Buffy develops over the various seasons, the show
readers" and to provide pleasure by avoiding a
adopts a more complex attitude to the simple
premature ending to the story. These enigmas which are
opposition between good and evil, a change
threaded through the narrative will be both minor - who
foreshadowed by Giles's ironic words to Buffy at end of
is this new character? - and major - how will the hero
Lie to Me [2.7]: "... it's terribly simple. The good guys
overcome all odds to win? (In the way that it delays
are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily
answers to enigmas, revealing things bit by bit only to
distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and we
set up a new enigma, it has been described as "narrative
always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies
striptease"). This code can operate anywhere in the
and everybody lives happily ever after." Not all demons
narrative, but especially in the early sequences where we
are evil, something it takes Riley a while to learn. Some
are trying to make sense of the world of the narrative.
are capable of the journey from evil to good, either by
When the main dramatic questions have been answered
the intervention of magic (the gypsy curse that gives
by the end of the narrative, it is referred to as narrative
Angel a soul) or by the power of love through which
closure. In the mainstream classical narratives of
Spike eventually gains a soul.
Hollywood films, enigmas tend not to be left unsolved
(unless to prepare the way for a sequel). In television
This ambivalence extends to Buffy herself. Frequently in
serial drama, however, there will be some unresolved
narratives, the hero operates as someone who can
narratives to make us keen to watch the next episodes.
understand both sides of the opposition, and has some
In the serial it will relate to the main plot; in the series it
of the other side's qualities. Buffy is strong, not weak;
will relate to ongoing narrative arcs.
powerful, not helpless, and in her associations with
vampires Angel and Spike, she has a strong contact with
In the opening episode of the first season, Welcome to
the other side of the opposition. When Dracula himself
the Hellmouth, the code is activated from the start. The
confronts her, he tells her: "Your power is rooted in
night shot of Sunnydale High right away causes the
darkness" (Buffy Versus Dracula [5.1]).
audience to wonder what is about to happen (although
our knowledge of the genre – see Cultural Code below -
3.12 Barthes' Narrative Codes
The theories and models of narrative referred to above
tend to deal with "macro-narratives" - longer-term
structures that operate with individual episodes, whole
seasons and the whole seven series. These are more
effective in locating a deep structure to a film's narrative
but are not particularly effective in analysing how we
make sense of specific moments in the narrative. Roland
Barthes suggested that readers make use (mostly
unconsciously) of five different codes to make sense of a
text. The codes are outlined below using the English
translation of the Codes as Roland Barthes set them out
in “S/Z” 24 , with more familiar terminology beside it
where appropriate.
Proairetic and hermeneutic codes are two of the codes
Roland Barthes identified as explaining how narrative
functions; they explain how readers and audiences are
kept involved in the narrative.
prepares us for something supernatural). When the
young couple break into the school we wonder who they
are and what they are doing there. Even if we know that
something untoward is going to happen, we don’t know
what it is or who is going to do it. And when it becomes
clear that no-one apart from the couple is in the building
and we expect one of them to do something, our
traditional expectations of the genre make us think it will
be the boy rather than the girl who turns out to be the
vampire: Joss Whedon consciously attemps to
undermine our expectations with regard to genre
throughout the series.
The above operates at the “micro” level of the text,
applied to a particular stage in the narrative. The
hermeneutic/enigma code is also activated at the
“macro” level, covering the whole story, when we
wonder who such and such a character is, what they will
do and whether they will turn out to be good or evil. It
Chapter 3: Narrative
59
operates over a wider expanse of narrative when we
Xander walks in and sees blood on Spike's lips and Anya
wonder how Buffy will manage to overcome the “Big
lying apparently dead beside him. The proairetic/action
Bad” of the season. Will she manage to defeat Angelus
code prepares us for Xander's reaction as he attacks
at the end of Season 2 and prevent the world being
Spike and starts to beat him, only to stop when Anya
swallowed up? Will they manage to overcome the
stops him by indicating she is unharmed.
apparently overwhelming power of Glory at the end of
Season 5? Will Buffy return from the dead in Season 6?
(iii)
The Semic Code (Code of Signs)
And how will she manage to overcome the seemingly
Signs tell us about character and depict the atmosphere
overpowering forces battling on behalf of “The First
of the drama. It corresponds with what we would refer to
Evil” in Season 7? The hermenetic/enigma code hooks
as description in a novel – the significant details that
us into the narrative, especially before the commercial
give us an idea of a character, location or situation, how
breaks and at the end of some of the more serial-like
authors breath life into their fictions, by using adjectives,
episodes where some plot-lines have not achieved
adverbs verbs and nouns etc. In filmed drama the
closure.
equivalent is mise en scene, cinematography and sound.
It is to do with the process of going from denotation (the
(ii)
The Proairetic (Action) Code
While the Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code keeps us
literal or primary meaning) to connotation (ideas or
feelings invoked in addition to its literal or primary
guessing what will happen next, the Proairetic (Action)
meaning). In Hush [4.10] for example, the very low key
Code gives us clues and indications about what is about
lighting, creates an air of fear - as do the fixed grin, the
to happen (proairetic meaning to “choose before”). We
metallic teeth and the veiny hands of the Gentlemen.
know from our experiences, both of life and from
watching films and TV drama, that certain actions will
Through the semic code we see how character is
lead to other actions. We see actions and infer their
constructed. For example, the way Spike is constructed
meaning. During an argument, a woman pulls a suitcase
on his first appearance in the series, School Hard [2.4], is
from a cupboard and begins to pack: she is about to
a good example of the semic code in operation. Just
leave. In a western, the sherrif takes down his six-gun
before the credit-sequence we see a shot of the
and straps it on: there will be a gunfight. A close up of a
“Welcome to Sunnydale” sign – representing small-town
foot on the car's accelerator suggests the car is about to
America, picket fences, apple pie - and then a car
accelerate. A simple action can simplify matters for us
crashing into it , suggesting recklessness on his part.
and provide a narrative shorthand for the audience.
There is a cut to the car door and then Spike is filmed
from the feet upwards, leading to sense of anticipation
This can be seen in the 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth/ El
that the character will be formidable is some respect.
Laberinto del Fauno, a film set in Spain in 1944 involving
There is raucous rock music on the soundtrack (heavy
a military post of the fascist army that was victorious in
metal sometimes has connotations of the diabolic, and
the Civil War but a group of guerrillas carry on the
even the names of some of the bands eg Black
struggle in the mountains. One of them is captured by a
Sabbath). We see Spike’s boots – boots have heavier,
brutal and sadistic officer. The action of unbuttoning his
more powerful connotations than shoes, especially
shirt (in preparation for strenuous activity) warns the
when they are used as weapons, and, as he steps on the
audience that he is about to torture the captive, an
ground, a heavy drumbeat mimics his movements (an
impression reinforced by a shot of his grisly instruments
example of Mickey Mousing where diegetic music is
of torture. Later in the film, the woman who runs his
closely synched to the action) reinforcing the
household, who is sympathetic to the guerrillas, is
connotations of Spike as a ‘heavy’. As he walks away
captured and it only takes a shot of the officer’s hand on
from the car, the camera tilts up, allowing us to see what
the button of his shirt to tell us she too is about to
becomes his trademark long leather coat, which, again,
undergo torture (though in fact she manages to escape).
can carry connotations of streetwise toughness.
These two codes run in a linear way throughout the
The camera continues to tilt up until we see Spike at first
narrative and are like the "twin engines" of narrative
in half-profile. He has a cigarette in his mouth and we
momentum, keeping us involved in the narrative through
can see his peroxide-blond Billy Idol-style hair and
enigma and causing us to anticipate actions.
leathers (though he claims in Season 7 that Billy Idol got
For example, in Hush [4.10], Spike has been drinking
blood from a cup while Anya is lying asleep on the
couch. This causes his "game" look to be activated as
60
Chapter 3: Narrative
the style from him!) and, as he turns towards the camera,
we can see his “game“ face. He lights the cigarette,
inhales deeply and says “Home, sweet home” with a
sarcastic grin on his face. These signs combine to
the others, there is no difference between what she
construct an image of Spike which is tough, cool, stylish
thinks and what she says:
and mocking. The low camera angle reinforces his sense
CORDELIA (in voice-over): Whatever. I wonder
when I can go. _
CORDELIA: Whatever. Can I go?
of power.
This image is taken into the post-credit sequence when
Spike goes into a meeting of vampires preparing for a
We are first introduced to Tara in Hush (4.10) as she sits
massacre on St Vigeous Day. He swaggers in and
in the university wicca group. Her lack of confidence is
establishes himself as leader, mocks one of leading
signalled by her nervous stuttering when she tries to
vampires who had claimed to have been present at the
make an intervention in discussion and her tendency to
Crucifiction, and when the outraged vampire (whom
hide behind her long hair, and is further signalled by her
Spike refers to as a “nancy-boy”) attacks him from
lowering her head and her apologetic eye movements.
behind, Spike smashes him with his elbow without
turning round and without breaking his stride, adding
Through the semic code, therefore, the audience – by
“Who do you kill for fun around here?” – the “fun”
reading aspects of gesture, expression, clothing and
being as important as the kill. All these traits build a
speech etc - derives a sense of a ‘rounded’ character
picture very different from the pompous archaic vampire
and can accept (albeit suspending their ‘disbelief’) that
from Season One, the Master.
the characters are authentic and ‘real’.
He tells the leader of the vampires, a child-vampire
(iv)
called “the Annointed One” (whom he later refers to as
This code draws on the audience’s knowledge of the
the “Annoying One”) that he will sort out their Slayer
outside world - background information viewers need to
problem by killing the Slayer. He informs them he’s
know to understand what is going on. For example, in
The Referential/Cultural Code
already killed a couple of slayers. “I don’t like to brag”
the film Casablanca, there is a flashback to Paris in 1940.
he adds, followed by a beat before he bursts out
The referential/cultural code is activated in that it
laughing, saying, “Who am kidding. I love to brag.” All
depends for effect on the knowlege of the audience that
these signs reinforce the constructions of the previous
Paris is about to be occupied by the German Army,
scene and add up to a picture of Spike that is tough,
leading to panic and a mass exodus - a very dangerous
violent, skilful in the fight, mocking, swaggering, and
place to be.
fun-loving.
In a fantasy genre, much of the audience’s knowledge is
Following this exchange, we see Drusilla for the first
about the codes and genres of film and television. This
time and the other side of Spike comes into play. He
depends on the (even unconscious) familiarity of the
immediately loses his frightening “game” look and
audience with conventions such as how a low camera
becomes the tender lover, the “fool for love”. ( “I may
angle can confer power, charisma, a sense of danger etc
be love’s bitch” as he admits in alter episode, - Lover’s
on the subject; how a fade-out followed by a fade-in
Walk [3.8] - “but at least I’m man enough to admit it”).
suggests some time has passed between the events on
When Drusilla says she is cold, Spike takes off his coat
either side of this technical code. The producers of a
and wraps it around her and they babble in lovers’ baby-
drama operating within a particular genre can rely on the
talk. Meanwhile the semic code is being activated to
audience’s knowledge of some of the conventions of the
construct Drusilla as a Goth “princess”, with her pale
genre. They are able to use what the audience know
complexion, her black nail-varnish, her feline
about horror to change certain aspects (eg that the
movements, spooky airs, and slightly deranged voice.
attacker is likely to be male) in order to create surprise
when something different happens.
Another example of this code is from Earshot [3.18],
Buffy has contracted a substance from a demon which
Given the density of intertextual allusion in Buffy, this
allows her to read minds. She first realises this as she is
code is likely to be activated frequently to make
sitting in the library with Giles, the scoobies and Lesley
complete sense of any given episode.
Wyndham-Price and she realises she can read Xander's
thoughts - all about naked girls and naked Buffy. They all
realise with horror that she is reading their thoughts and
try to hide them. Cordelia, however, is so self-centred
and indifferent to how others feel about her that, unlike
Chapter 3: Narrative
61
(v)
The Symbolic Code
This is the code which reveals the binary oppositions in
the narrative e.g. right versus wrong, good versus evil,
light versus darkness, youth versus age, innocence
versus experience, individuality versus conformity, which
are the deeper structures of the narrative. This code is
frequently activated in Buffy, especially the
light/darkness opposition (see the section on LeviStrauss above).
Barthes was concerned about laying bare what remained
hidden in “bourgeois” fiction, texts which tended to
keep their processes of construction hidden. The codes
can overlap: the same sign can be semic,
referential/cultural and symbolic at the same time.They
can be used as a problem-solving device, directing the
user’s attention in investigating the inner workings of a
film or TV text, as a means of making it “strange” and
making us aware of texts as constructions.
62
Chapter 3: Narrative
Notes
1
Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw Hill, 1993, 69.
2
Todorov, Tristan, The Poetics of Prose, Oxford: Blackwell, 1977), p. 111.
3
Turnbull, Sue “Not just another Buffy paper’: Towards an Aesthetics of Television’
http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage13_14/Turnbull.htm (Retrieved 11 October 2006)
4
TV Tropes, cf http://www.gottapost.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnArc. (Retrieved 7 October 2006).
5
Field, Syd, Screenplay, London: Dell, 1979.
6
Thompson, Kristin, Storytelling in the New Hollywood, London and Cambridge Massachsets: Harvard University
Press, 2001.
7
City of Angel, http://www.cityofangel.com/behindTheScenes/bts/dragonCon7.html (Retrieved 28 December 2006)
8
Adapted from Lacey, Nick, Narrative and Genre, pp 46-53
9
Turner, G, Film As Social Practice, 3rd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p 82.
10 Campbell, Joseph, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, 2nd ed. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973
11 Whedon, Joss, on National Public Radio, quoted in Amazon review of Golden, Christopher, et al, The Monster
Book, http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Book-Christopher-Golden/dp/product-description/0671042599
(Retrieved 27 December, 2006)
12 Vogler, Christopher, The Writer’s Journey, London: Boxtree, 1996, pp 162-3.
13 Ibid, p.83.
14 The Hero’s Journey; www.gsgis.K12.Va.US/facultyweb/kcrow/webpages/The%20 Hero%20weblink.doc
(retrieved 5 Oct 2006). This article is also a useful summary of The Hero’s Journey.
15 Ibid., p16,
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid. pp 16-31.
18 Rattletrap, The Annotated Buffy, http://www.justinleader.com/annotatedbuffy/slayersjourney.html
(Retrieved 11 October 2006)
19 Wilcox, Rhonda, Pain as Bright as Steel: the Monomyth and Light as Pain. Quoted in The Media Education Journal,
Issue 35 Spring 2004), Aberdeen, Association for Media Education in Scotland, p.12
20 Vogler , opus cit., pp. 204/5.
21 Rattletrap, Season 5, opus cit http://www.justinleader.com/annotatedbuffy/slayersjourney.html
(Retrieved 11 October, 2006.
22 Rattletrap, opus.cit. (Retrieved 11 October, 2006)
23 Summarised in Turner, G. Opus cit, pp 83,84.
24 Barthes, Roland. Image/Music/Text, (trans. Stephen Heath). Glasgow: Fontana-Collins, 1977.
Activities
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Consider the use of flashback in any film or TV drama you are familiar with. What reaction does the use of
flashback have on your response/ Why do you think the narrative is structured in this way?
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Apply Todorov’s equilibrium-disruption-return-to-equilibrium model to a fairy tale you are familiar with, and then
to a recent blockbuster. Does the model fit the story and the film? Does the structure keep you involved in the
story and the film?
Apply Propp’s functions to a film of your choice. (If you can’t think of one, try Pretty Woman). Does it fit? Does it
help you understand how the narratiuve works?
Apply Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” structure to a film or tv drama. (one possibility is the wizard of oz}.
Look at a sequence in a sequence from Buffy and apply Barthes codes, especially the hermeneutic/enigma code,
the proairetic/action code, and the semic code. Do the application of the codes help you understand how the
narrative works?
Look at an episode of Buffy and see if you can work out the four-Act structure. If you are watching on DVD you will
not have advert breaks to guide you but the breaks are often noticeable by a long fade. (If you are watching on UK
TV, the advert breaks will be different from the original US broadcast.
Chapter 3: Narrative
63
64
Chapter 3: Narrative
Chapter 4: Representation
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLORE REPRESENTATION IN BUFFY, IN PARTICULAR:
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gender
sexuality
social class
Englishness
race
religion
Buffy and metaphor
Everything we know (or think we know) about the world –
cheerleader stereotype in the film and the first episode
apart from what we experience directly – is mediated;
of the TV show, Buffy progresses to being a strong
that is, it comes to us through the media (including
independent woman. However, she maintains her
books). When we study media texts, it is important to
"female" characteristics and challenges the typical
remember that everything we see or hear is a
representation of the successful female in a man's world
representation (or re-presentation) of the authors’ or
who adopts "masculine" characteristics. The show
producers’ ideas and attitudes about how the world and
depicts a number of models of traditional gender
society function, codified into a series of signs and
representation but challenges them by offering
symbols which is decoded by the audience. This is
alternatives to established depictions of characters of
important when we experience the factual media such as
each gender in other central characters. Xander's two
news, documentary and current affairs where these
closest friends, Buffy and Willow, are female which is
media often claim to represent a direct view of reality, a
itself a departure from conventional representations of
“window on the world”. One of the functions of Media
male social behaviour. He is clearly no match for them
Studies it to go beyond surface appearance and attempt
either in power (Buffy) or intellect (Willow) but he seems
to examine the underlying reality (or realities) by
totally comfortable with this (except occasionally for
demonstrating that all texts are constructed.
comic effect as in The Zeppo [3.13] where, goaded by
his Cordelia, his ex, he feels the need to assert his
However, representation has an important role in
masculinity).
fictional texts. Fictional characters can be seen as
individual creations but they often have a
Giles could be seen as representing patriarchal power
representational function in that individuals can be seen
(that is the traditional dominance of the male in power
as representative of the groups they belong to – in terms
structures) and, indeed, in the early episodes he is very
of gender, nationality, ethnicity, generation, occupation
much the authority figure. However, as Buffy gains more
etc. Our perception of particular groups in society can
confidence in her power, he becomes more of an equal
be affected by the way they are frequently represented
with other members of the gang rather than the sole
in fiction. This is particularly the case where a dramatic
fount of authority and wisdom. He has his own "crisis of
shorthand known as stereotyping is involved.
masculinity" in Season 4 when he is made redundant as
Stereotypes are not always negative but powerless
Watcher as he has been sacked by the Watchers'
groups in society have always suffered from a narrow
Council (for having over-paternal feelings for Buffy) and
and highly selective way they are represented.
from his job as school librarian as the school has burnt
Representation, then, is central to ideological and
down. (This crisis is alluded to metaphorically when he is
political attitudes reflected in texts, even ones which
turned, temporarily, into a monster by Ethan Rayne, an
operate in fantasy genres, such as Buffy.
English villain from Giles’s past (A New Man [4.12]). His
4.1
when Buffy's power is inadequate to deal with Dark
patriarchal power is reasserted near the end of Season 6
Gender
Joss Whedon has stated that the essential idea behind
Willow's destructive magic. However, the force which he
Buffy was to reverse the horror movie convention of the
brings across the Atlantic in order to deal with the crisis
powerless woman.
1
Both Whedon and many of the
commentators on the show referred to it as explicitly
was created by a coven of "white" witches. By Season 7,
Giles is almost marginalised as Buffy has to assert her
feminist. Starting as the air-brained shallow teen
Chapter 4: Representation
65
own authority in the face of her ultimate test against
out, he because of his working-class background and
"The First Evil".
she because of her rich background (although this
proves temporary as her father loses his wealth after
The villains in Buffy are frequently portrayed as
being convicted of tax evasion at the end of Season 3).
misogynist. Warren, the leader of the nerdy "troika"
Xander's working-class family is portrayed as the family
which provides the main opposition in Season 6, has a
from hell. Significantly, he is the only one of the
history of sexual violence against women and, enraged
Scoobies not to go to university, becoming a manual
by Buffy thwarting his plans, he attempts to kill her
worker in the building trade. Class differences
using a gun. He only wounds her but one of the shots
occasionally make an appearance with the differences
kills Tara. In the final season Caleb, The First's chief
between the students and the residents in the town
henchman, plays a misogynist fundamentalist preacher.
highlighted (for example, the bar manager who hates
Soon after his first appearance in the season, he tells a
students and poisons their beer (Beer Bad [4.7]). Like
young woman whom he has picked up in a truck as she
Xander, Faith, the Slayer brought into action by Kendra's
flees her pursuers: “You were born dirty, born without a
death, is from a working-class background, her Boston
soul. Born with that gaping maw wants to open up, suck
accent and her "trailer trash" demeanor differentiating
out a man's marrow. Makes me puke to think too hard
her from the other characters. This is a source of conflict
on it.” (Dirty Girls, [7.18])
between her and Buffy and, despite Faith's scorn, she
occasionally betrays a jealousy about Buffy's more
4.2
Sexuality
Buffy was one of the first mainstream network shows for
a youthful audience to portray gay characters
sympathetically with the Willow-Tara relationship which
developed in Season 4. Willow had previously been
romantically involved with a male character, Oz, guitarist
with the punk band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, but after Oz
leaves Sunnydale she begins a romantic relationship with
female and fellow witch, Tara Maclay, which eventually
privileged upbringing.
In general, class is not portrayed as a permanent
characteristic, nor necessarily a barrier to relationship
(unlike in John Hughes' celebrated teen-pic, Pretty in
Pink and the Buffy-influenced UPN series, Veronica
Mars). Ideas of working class solidarity are absent; it is
seen as something to be overcome rather than identified
with.
leads Willow to come out as a lesbian. In the early
stages of the relationship it was portrayed
4.4
Englishness
metaphorically as witchcraft, no doubt to appease
The two main English characters come from "posh",
nervous network executives who feared a negative
upper/upper middle class backgrounds but when they
reaction from fans and sponsors. In fact, Buffy fans
adopt 'tougher" identities - Spike when he becomes a
proved to be tolerant in matters of sexuality and many
vampire, Giles when he (briefly) becomes a juvenile
considered it the most positive portrayal of a lesbian
delinquent (in Band Candy 5.) - their accents go down a
relationship on network television at the time. However,
few pegs on the social register. The English working
the relationship ended in tragedy when a bullet from
class is thus associated with toughness and violence. 2
Warren meant for Buffy killed Tara. Tara's death, which
The other English characters are shown either as posh
ended what many considered the most positive portrayal
twits (Leslie Wyndham-Price, who replaces Giles as
of a lesbian relationship on television at the time, was
Watcher when giles is sacked by the Watcher’s Council)
equally controversial and some fans criticised what they
or posh villains (Ethan Rayne and rogue-Watcher,
viewed as a clichéd resolution, arguing that lesbian
Gwendolyn Post).
relationships in film and television are often "punished"
by death (the "dead lesbian cliché" – see chapter 5Audience).
(Other aspects of sexuality are dealt with below under
Metaphor.)
4.5
Race
The under-representation of non-white characters in
Buffy has been widely commented on, including from
within the text; one of the few recurring black characters
in Season 3, Mr Trick, an African-American vampire in the
service of the evil Mayor Wilkins comments on
4.3
Social Class
Sunnydale's racial monotony: "I mean, admittedly, it's
Most of the characters in Buffy come from middle-class
not a haven for the brothers ... you know, strictly the
backgrounds. Buffy's mother runs an art gallery; Willow's
Caucasian persuasion here in the 'Dale, but ... you know,
is a university professor. Only Xander and Cordelia stand
you just gotta stand up and salute that death rate"
(Faith, Hope and Trick [3..3]).
66
Chapter 4: Representation
Black characters, such as the west Indian slayer Kendra
realise (either at the time of viewing or later when it
and Initiative soldier Forrest, don't tend to last too long'
"dawns on" them) that there is another meaning in
and Olivia, Giles's black English girlfriend, doesn't hang
operation.
around after her close brush with monsters in Hush
[4.10]. By Season 7, however, there was a much wider
The writers, directors and producers of the series have
racial representation from the potential slayers and,
been quite open about the metaphoric intentions of the
especially, school principal Robin Wood, a positive role
series. Joss Whedon and the Buffy team have frequently
model who manages to survive till the end of the
pointed out that the forces of darkness that embattle the
season.
Slayer and her friends are metaphors for the personal
demons people face: fear, isolation, rejection and the
4.6
Religion
Buffy makes heavy use of religious symbolism, but often
takes a negative view of religion. Whedon has referred
to himself as an “angry atheist” 3 , and, in What’s My
Line Part 1 [2.9], Buffy says, “Note to self: religion freaky”. In another episode she answers the question
"Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal
savior?" with "You know, I meant to and then I just got
really busy" (The Freshman, [4.1]). Nevertheless, many
Christians have seen positive messages in Buffy,
especially in the way that it deals with the theme of
redemption. 4
idea that personal growth is often achieved through
suffering. Indeed, Buffy as metaphor is one of the
features that has attracted many viewers to the show
beyond its core teen-to-thirty audience. The idea of
vampires and demons representing various problems
and dangers in life has a considerable appeal,
particularly when developed over the various seasons in
Buffy in the way that different seasons represent
different phases in the journey through life. (cf Campbell,
Monomyth: The Hero's Journey etc in Chapter 3:
Narrative)
One of the most persistent metaphors in the series is
"high school as hell". It has been said of the show's
4.7
Buffy and Metaphor
In addition to the more straightforward representational
creator, Joss Whedon, that if he had experienced one
happy day at high school, the show would never have
strategies employed in Buffy, the series uses more
seen the light of day. Buffy took the high-school
indirect methods of representation in the form of
metaphor and took it a step further, transforming the
metaphor. Traditionally, metaphor has been applied to
seemingly life-and-death struggles into actual life and
the written and spoken word and is the figure of speech
death struggles. The vampires and other demons are
in which one thing, idea or action is referred to by a
metaphors for the troubles of adolescents, the “beast”
word or expression normally denoting another thing,
which teenagers have to confront becoming literal
idea or action, so as to suggest some common quality
monsters which the main characters wrestle with.
shared by the two. However, the idea of metaphor can
be extended to the visual media, where, to put it
Sex is one of the main concerns in the show and the
crudely, one thing can "stand for" something else. In
central relationship during the first three seasons of the
verbal language, it is usually clear that the "one thing" is
show is between Buffy and Angel, a reformed vampire
only there as a way of shedding new light on what it
with a soul who is dedicated to atoning for his past
stands for. In the visual media, this is less clear in that
misdeeds and has become the nice, sensitive boyfriend
the image is both itself, its primary meaning, and the
of adolescent fantasy. Buffy makes the decision to sleep
"thing it stands for". Metaphors in film and television,
with him but, unknown to both of them, he has been
therefore, are not always as apparent as they usually are
cursed in that, should he find one moment of true bliss,
in verbal language. This opens up the possibility for an
he will lose his soul. He reverts to being the cruel, evil
image to be read on different levels (cf differential
"Angelus" whom Buffy eventually has to kill (though
readings in Postmodernism in Chapter 1: Categories and
death is not always permanent in Buffy). In many ways,
Chapter 5: Audience). In Buffy, therefore, some viewers
Buffy flies in the face of the traditional representation of
will be aware of the literal meaning and not of the
sexuality in the horror genre where only the virginal
metaphorical meaning - or will realise later on there is
"final girl" escapes the clutches of the monster, the "bad
another level of meaning in operation. For example, in
girls" being the first to suffer (for example, in
the metaphor witchcraft-as-drug-addiction example
Halloween). It does, however, show that sex has
developed below, some viewers will read simply that
consequences and is not to be taken lightly. Angel's
Willow is getting into deep trouble by her dependence
transformation might be seen as a metaphor for the boy
on witchcraft and ever more powerful spells; others will
who, appearing to be charming, sleeps with a girl, then
Chapter 4: Representation
67
turns on her afterwards, bragging to his friends and
female body parts, with the final piece to be the head of
calling her "easy", as Angelus does at one point. The
Cordelia. In Season Four, the chief of the shadowy
show might therefore be said to address, metaphorically,
government organisation, "The Initiative", is secretly
the fears and doubts that accompany the decision to
creating a human-demon-robot hybrid, Adam, from
have sex. In this case it is not fear of pregnancy or of a
body parts of demons. Mary Shelley's original novel
sexually-transmitted disease but the creation of a
might be seen as a metaphor for the way that industrial
monster.
capitalism created a "monster" in the form of a powerful
but alienated working class which threatened to
The behaviour of adolescent boys is also represented in
overthrow its masters but, more recently, the
The Pack [2.6], where the hapless Xander gets in with a
"Frankenstein's monster" idea is frequently seen as a
gang of bullies who are possessed by the spirit of
metaphor for the dangers of scientists "playing god". It
hyenas. This allows the episode to explore
can also be seen as a reflection on the way in which
metaphorically the tendency of adolescent boys to
"military-industrial complex" creates weapons of mass
indulge in cruel, boorish, pack-like behaviour. The
destruction, recklessly disregarding the possible effects
connection between what we think of as hyena
on humanity. But, in the context of Buffy's teenage
behaviour - the vicious pack mentality, the cruel
protagonists, the Frankenstein myth can also be seen as
taunting laugh - is cleverly played out in this episode.
reflecting the feeling of loss of control adults feel as
The idea of adolescence turning boys overnight into
their offsping grow up and want their independence as
monsters is referred to ironically by Giles "It's
they become "monsters" (ie teenagers), who rebel
devastating. He [Xander]'s turned into a sixteen-year-old
against parental authority, begin looking for
boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him." The idea of the
companionship in the opposite sex.
changes wrought by puberty is further developed when
Oz, the cool, sensitive, taciturn lead-guitarist of
"Dingoes Ate My Baby", turns into a werewolf for three
nights every month. "Lycanthropy" (the state of being a
werewolf) can be seen as a metaphor for the physical
changes to the body and also the idea that there is a
creature inside us that makes us do things we wish we
didn't do or that we can't help doing.
The series explores other issues metaphorically. The winat-all-costs mentality in sports (including school sports) is
dealt with in Go Fish [2.20] The school swim team are
working wonders, winning matches and medals, all for
the glory of the coach and the school. Their winning
ways seem to entitle them to whatever girl they want
and when Buffy injures a swimming "jock" who thinks he
is entitled to her, it is she who gets the blame by
"provoking" him with a low-cut blouse. It turns out that
the success of the swimming team is due the
performance-enhancing DNA which the coach has been
giving them, which has the unfortunate effect of turning
them into fish-like monsters (itself a metaphor for the
dangerous side-effects of steroid abuse in sport).
The monster created by the mad scientist is a theme
that has appeared in literature since the eighteenth
century, its most famous manifestation being Mary
Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein", and the Frankenstein
motif has been used on a number of occasions in Buffy,
for example in No Assembly Required [3.14] where
Darryl Epps is brought back to life by his brother who
wants a mate so he tries to assemble one from various
68
Chapter 4: Representation
The theme of conflict between the generations is
developed metaphorically in a number of ways
throughout the whole series. For two seasons, Joyce
Summers is well meaning but blind in the face of her
daughter's nocturnal activities. As Buffy tells her when
she refuses to accept Buffy’s status as Slayer: “Open
your eyes, Mom. What do you think has been going on
for the past two years? The fights, the weird occurrences.
How many times have you washed blood out of my
clothing, and you still haven't figured it out?” This
ignorance provides the basis for much of the comedy in
Buffy. In Harvest [1.12], Buffy has, literally to save the
world (it won't be the last time) but her mother wants
her to stay at home. "If you don't go out it'll be the end
of the world? Everything's life and death to a sixteenyear-old" (another example of the dramatic irony to be
found frequently in the show). When Buffy finally has to
tell her mother the real state of affairs in Sunnydale and
that she is the Slayer, it is perhaps a kind of "coming
out" metaphor, admitting to a shocked parent that you
are gay. (Joyce says, in Becoming Part 2 (2.22) "Have
you tried not being a slayer?" - although the gay issue is
itself dealt with metaphorically before it becomes literal
in the Willow-Tara relationship). But Joyce can't fully
come to terms with her daughter's life being devoted to
slaying vampires. She tells Buffy: "You belong at an oldfashioned college with keg-parties and boys, not here
with Hellmouths and vampires" to which Buffy replies,
"not really seeing the difference." The irony of course is
that rich college boys in their "frat (fraternity) houses"
are shown as owing their wealth to an evil snake god, to
whom they sacrifice virgins in the frat house basement;
perhaps another metaphor for capitalism and the
themselves from that episode's monsters. The spell
measures greed will drive people to. As Xander remarks
Willow and Tara do in Who Are You [4.20] when Buffy
(alluding to F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"): "I
and Faith switched bodies is presented as thinly veiled
guess the rich really are different".
sex. (As Xander says excitedly in Restless [4.22],
"Sometimes when I think of them doing 'spells', I do a
Inter-generational conflict is dealt with metaphorically
'spell'" – though, admittedly, he ‘says’ it in Willow’s
elsewhere in the series. In Ted [2.11], Joyce starts going
dream.) Eventually they "come out" and the metaphor is
out with a complete control freak who frequently
no longer necessary. This allows witchcraft to shift its
criticises Buffy and is determined to change her ways.
metaphorical terms where Willow's increased use of and
This sets Buffy against him, a conflict which eventually
reliance on witchcraft coming to stand for drug
leads to Buffy "killing" him but we discover he is in fact
addiction. Willow's skill in the black arts is something
a robot, an effective metaphor for the cold automaton
that Buffy comes increasingly to rely on to help her fight
who is a "stickler for the rules." The fact that he was
the demons. However, she begins to use it for
programmed in the 1950s, frequently seen as a
inappropriate purposes, such as altering people's
backward, repressive period, can be seen as particularly
memory when she has a problem with personal
significant. Adolescence is also dealt with metaphorically
relationships. For example, Tara's love song to Willow in
in the case of Dawn, Buffy's mysterious little sister who
the musical episode, Once More With Feeling, [6.7],
appears at the start of Season 5. She is, in fact, an orb of
"I'm Under Your Spell", is sung twice, the first time in the
pure energy, put into human form by monks so that
conventional romantic way but in the second Tara
Buffy would protect it with her life. But she has no
recognizes that Willow has actually altered her memory,
knowledge of this at first, memories having been
which leads to a (temporary) break-up. This addiction to
implanted of a 'normal' childhood, so when she finds out
magic has similarities to drug addiction in the way that
accidentally who - or rather what - she is, she reacts
she lies to her friends, becomes irresponsible (for
badly, cutting herself and attempting to burn down the
example in Wrecked [6.10], almost leading to Dawn's
house. This could be seen metaphorically as the angst
death in a car accident), and going out on the town with
many adolescents go through when confronting the
fellow witch Amy where she tries to drown her sorrows in
problems of growing up. As television critic Joyce
magic. Like drug addicts she needs a stronger and
Millman observes, 5 "The fact that Dawn is 'negative
stronger dose which she gets from her "fixer", Rack.
space' is a breathtaking metaphor for an adolescent's
After Tara's death, her grief, combined with her
lack of self-esteem." The idea of the lack of self-esteem
witchcraft, almost cause her to destroy the world. She
in teenage girls is also explored in Out of Mind, Out of
then (in Season 7) goes to England where she learns to
Sight [1.11] where an unpopular girl ends up being
control her powers under the tutelage of Giles and a
literally invisible - and at the end is whisked off to the
coven of witches, clearly analogous to "going into
FBI to become a government assassin.
rehab", and treating her addiction.
Another inter-generational conflict dealt with
Some commentators 6 have seen Buffy as a politically
metaphorically, this time through witchcraft (or "wicca"),
radical series in the way that it represents institutions,
is the episode entitled The Witch ([1.3] where a former
and metaphor is frequently the means by which this is
cheerleader, and mother of a student, Amy, switches
conveyed. Indeed, it could be seen to follow a left-wing
bodies with her daughter so she can fulfil her desire to
tradition of associating capitalist exploiters as
become a high school cheerleader again and then cast
“bloodsuckers” and vampires as exploiters of the
spells on rival potential cheerleaders, including Buffy, to
helpless peasantry. 7 In Anne, [3.1], for example,
eliminate the competition. This can be read as a
teenagers are being kidnapped into an underground
metaphori for parents who push their own aspirations
hell-dimension, where they are worked until old age only
onto their children in order to achieve glory or reclaim
days later (time goes much faster in this dimension) and
past glory.
spat out onto the street when they can no longer work.
This can be seen as a metaphor for the way capitalism
Witchcraft is later used, firstly as a metaphor for
exploits its workers. According to Karl Marx, however,
lesbianism and then as a metaphor for drug addiction. In
capitalism, by creating the workforce, creates its own
Season Four, Willow begins a lesbian relationship with
grave-digger, as the workers revolt against their
Tara, also a witch, but at first this is treated entirely
conditions to establish their own individuality. In this
metaphorically. They first meet in Hush [4.10] where they
episode, Buffy, in denial of her slayer duties, moved from
hold hands to summon up the power to protect
Sunnydale to start a new life in another town but, finding
Chapter 4: Representation
69
herself in this hell dimension, she leads her fellow
workers in revolt against the demonic slave drivers to
overthrow the system. Significantly, she does so wielding
a hammer and sickle (the hammer standing for the
industrial worker and the sickle for the peasant),
originally the symbol of revolutionary socialism.
In the following episode,"Dead Man's Party" [3.2], she
returns to Sunnydale where she is given a welcomehome party during which her friends confront her about
how she is running away from her problems.
Appropriately at this point, a group of zombies gatecrash the party, having been summoned by a magic
mask from Joyce's gallery which is hanging on the wall.
Buffy deals with the zombies and is reconciled with her
friends. The zombies are perhaps metaphors for the way
in which problems, if not confronted, have a way of
resurfacing to cause even greater problems. As Xander
tells Buffy at the party: "You can't just bury stuff, Buffy.
It'll come right back up to get you."
70
Chapter 4: Representation
Notes
1
Whedon, Joss: Commentary on Season 1 DVD
2
For a discussion of Englishness in Buffy, see Hills, Laura: “Blood Sausage, Bangers and Mash: British English and
Britishness in Buffy”, Media Education Journal 35, Aberdeen: Association for Media Education in Scotland, Spring
2004, pp 15-18.
3
Lavery, D, "A Religion in Narrative: Joss Whedon and Television Creativity", paper given by at the Blood, Text and
Fears conference in Norwich, England, October 2002; http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage7/Lavery.htm]
(Retrieved 10 October 2006)
4
For a concise analysis of religion in Buffy, especially Christianity, see Erickson, Gregory, Sometimes You Need a
Story: American Christianity, Vampires and Buffy http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2001-04-23-buffy.shtml
(Retrieved 10 October, 2006).
5
Millman, Joyce, Salon.com, “The Death of Buffy’s Mom”, (Retrieved March 12, 2001).
http://salon.com/ent/col/mill/2001/03/12/buffy_mom/index.html (Retrieved 11 October, 2006)
6
(For example, “Encyclopédie Buffy” http://encyclobuffy.free.fr/62-Trotskiste.htm (Retrieved 8 October 2006)
7
South, James B. (ed), Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, New York:
Open Court Press, 2003, pp257, 258.
Activities
l Joyce Summers and Giles are represented in a positive way but it has been argued that these are exceptional, that
adults are generally portrayed in a negative way. Consider the representation of adults in Buffy as a whole, for
example, school principals, teachers (high school and university), the police, civic leaders.
l
Buffy could be seen as an example of the “dumb blonde” stereotype – she occasionally doesn’t seem all that
bright – but the stereotype is constantly undermined by her power, integrity and resourcefulness. Consider,
however, another blonde character, Harmony. At first, she is Cordelia’s sidekick in the “Cordettes” at Sunnydale
High School but she really comes into her own from Season 4 onwards after she becomes a vampire. Look at some
of the following episodes and consider how Harmony is portrayed in terms of the “dumb blonde” stereotype. How
do you feel about this representation?
The Harsh Light of Day [4.3]
The Initiative [4.7]
The Real Me [5.2]
Crush [5.14]
l
l
The representation of Englishness has been dealt with in this study guide by means of Giles and Spike but Angel is
Irish. Consider the representation of Irishness in Becoming Part One [2.21]. Do you see any similarities with other
representations of Irishness (particularly in the UK media)?
Consider the Initiative, the vampire-hunting secret government installation in Season 4. How does it represent the
‘military-industrial complex’?
Chapter 4: Representation
71
72
Chapter 4: Representation
Chapter 5: Audience
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLORE AUDIENCE IN BUFFY, IN PARTICULAR:
l
l
l
l
l
target audience
uses and gratifications
differential reading (coding and decoding)
differential decoding and postmodernism
mode of address
To arrive at a comprehensive analysis of a media text,
referred to earlier. It would also appear to be fairly
the Key Aspects must be applied in an integrated way.
tolerant audience in matters of sexual attitudes
This is particularly the case with Audience and Institution
(although this was not so obvious to the producers when
in US network television as the whole system depends
they were introducing a lesbian relationship, beginning
on the industry delivering an audience to television
in Hush [4.10] involving one of the core characters,
programmes which are financed not by the audience
Willow).
directly paying for the programme (apart from the
relatively small percentage represented by subscription
Buffy often addresses its audience as "hip" as well as
TV) but by the audience buying the products advertised.
mainstream; it is therefore more open to more
This transaction takes place within an institutional
unorthodox stylistic features - but not excessively as the
framework which includes the production companies,
show must avoid alienating a significant segment of the
the broadcasters (which may be part of the same
audience which is younger and has more mainstream
organisations), the polling organizations such as Neilson,
tastes. Episodes such as Hush [4.10], with more than half
the advertising agencies and the manufacturers of the
its running time without dialogue, and Restless [4.22],
goods being advertised, as well as the regulatory
the final episode of Season 4, consisting of surrealist
machinery being set up by both industry and the federal
dream-sequences, are balanced by more orthodox
government. Despite this close integration of Audience
narratives.
and Institution, Audience is dealt with in a separate
chapter from Institutions in order to isolate and focus on
An “indie” sensibility overlaps with a “hip” sensibility, as
particular aspects of Audience.
audiences feel as if they are being addressed in a
different way from the mainstream. Clearly, WB, UPN
5.1
Target Audience
Producers try to target a wide audience but at the same
time look to attract niche audiences which is a more
effective way of delivering audiences to advertisers. (This
will be developed in the next chapter: Institutions). The
main audience targeted by Buffy was the 16-32
audience. (One study 1 puts the average viewer age at
29.) Ratings also tended to be higher in the larger urban
centres, not least because the WB and UPN, the
networks on which Buffy was shown, lacked affiliates in
some of the smaller markets. It was targeted at the
more affluent sections of the demographic, a particularly
desirable demographic from the point of view of
advertisers. It is an audience whose members tend to
have certain characteristics in common and this is
reflected in the content and style of the show. The
audience is "inscribed in the text", that is, the content
and style of the series gives indications as to the
audiences being targeted. It would seem to be a very
media-literate audience, as suggested by the density of
and Fox are not “independents”, but in order to attract
that particular market, the show frequently addresses its
audience in those terms. It does so partly in terms of its
(diegetic) music, featuring un-signed, up-and-coming
indie/alternative bands, as well as more established,
'cult' bands such as The Breeders. Indeed, the credit
music is supplied by one such band, Nerf Herder.
The use of cult bands also raises the the whole idea of
Buffy as a "cult" show. This term has many different
meanings but the central one refers to a media product
where the audience has a less casual, more intense
relationship with it, and whose engagement with it
continues after the episode, or indeed the whole show,
has ended. This is reflected, for example, in the
thousands of websites devoted to Buffy (which the
producers and writers admitted to visiting and indeed
participating in) with their message boards, fan fiction,
trivia and, frequently, sophisticated reflection and
analysis. There is an economic rationale to such a fan
intertextual allusions to both pop and classical culture
Chapter 5: Audience
73
base as its “cult” end is more likely to buy the spin-off
centre stage every time there is a major crime of
products such as DVDs, CDs, books, posters and
violence involving young people. For example, the film
mouse-mats etc.
Child's Play 3 was blamed for influencing the child-killers
of the toddler Jamie Bulger despite there being no
Another area of attraction for such an audience is the
proof that they had actually seen the film. A related idea
witty and articulate scripts with their original take on
is the inoculation model which suggests that long-term
language, “Buffyspeak”, and the show also attracted a
exposure to media messages makes audiences immune
considerable audience in the universities, not just among
to them. For example, repeated exposure to screen
students but also their teachers: there have been a
violence would desensitise the audience so that they
number of international conferences attracting scholars
would no longer be shocked by it. Studies of the effects
from a wide range of disciplines and not limited to
of viewing violent images on audiences have tended to
media and cultural studies specialists. This has led to the
be inconclusive and people are likely to take from them
establishment of an online academic journal,
“Slayage”.2
whatever corresponds most with their belief system.
Despite Buffy’s audience being to some degree a niche
These theories view audiences as essentially passive
audience, it is not a homogeneous one and, as
receivers of media messages. Later theories tended to
discussed earlier, Buffy is a cross-generic text,
stress that audiences have a much more active
suggesting attempts to reach different layers of
engagement with the text, an approach summed up in
audience. Although the core audience (as far as the
James Halloran's phrase: "We must get away from the
producers are concerned) is the 16-32 demographic, at
habit of thinking in terms of what the media do to
the younger end of that spectrum there is a teen
people and substitute for it the idea of what people do
audience (which overlaps with a smaller but significant
to the media.' 3 What audiences do with the media, it
pre-teen audience). From the point of view of advertisers
was argued 4 , was dependent on what they wanted
this is a less lucrative group but not only do they provide
from it. Four types of need have been identified:
demand for the spin-off merchandise, they also grow up
with the show (which ran for 6 years) and would become
(i)
Personal identity
more affluent and able to buy both the products
By comparing our own lives and values with roles and
advertised on the show with their own money. This end
values represented in the media (both fiction and non-
of the demographic would be attracted to the (girl-
fiction), we discover and reinforce our sense of personal
centred) teen-fiction, concerned with relationships,
identity. In fictional media, it is more likely that we relate
crushes, school cliques etc.
more in this respect to realist genres, such as soaps and
other forms of drama, rather than fantasy genres.
The fact that the series is consciously attempting to
However, a rich text such as Buffy continually presents
convey a feminist perspective suggests a majority
moral dilemmas inviting us to empathise with fictional
female audience. Despite this, another layer of the
characters by putting ourselves in their position. 5
audience is those interested in the horror genre, the
Personal identity also includes the feeling of belonging
gothic and martial arts elements of Buffy, which is likely
to a group and the more active fans can do so by
to include more males than females. The presence of
interacting with other fans on websites, chat rooms, etc.
attractive young women is another point of attraction for
and going to fan Conventions.
male viewers – although this is likely to operate across
the genders for a show where even the geeks and nerds
are generally played by attractive young actors of both
genders.
(ii)
Social interaction and the need for
companionship
Soap audiences are frequently accused of being unable
to differentiate between fictional characters and real-life
5.2
What Audiences Get from Texts Uses and Gratifications
Uses and gratifications theory was an attempt to show
audiences actively engaging with texts rather than as
passive recipients of media messages, The "hypodermic
syringe" model, for example, assumed that audiences
were easily influenced by the media to the extent of
some members of audiences behaving in a violent way
because of seeing violent images. This theory takes
74
Chapter 5: Audience
ones. This is nonsense of course but audiences do find
satisfaction in identifying with characters. For example,
elderly people living on their own may find a sense of
companionship with a soap character (or even real-life
celebrity). Many Buffy fans have a strong sense of
identity with the characters and, thanks to the internet,
frequently engaged with Buffy's producers about the
fate of the characters, for example, the decision to kill
off Tara near the end of Season 6 which removed one of
the few lesbian role models on prime-time TV. Another
dismissal of much popular media as "mere"
aspect of the need for social interaction provided by the
entertainment and "escapist" and suggests that
media is the common ground that can be shared in
entertainment responds to real needs in society, the
conversation about television shows. Since the
image of "something better" ... that our day-to-day lives
proliferation of TV channels in recent years which has
don't provide'. Using the example of one of the most
fragmented audiences, this is thought to be less
spectacular (and non-realist) genres - the musical - he
prominent than in the days of the BBC and ITV duopoly
argues that entertainment offers a utopian vision of the
in the UK but occasionally an 'event' TV show can touch
world, "what utopia would feel like" rather than how it
a wider audience (eg Big Brother, The X-Factor). In the
could be achieved. The musical responds to real
USA this kind of show is referred to as "water-cooler" TV
inadequacies in most people's lives such as scarcity,
but the internet also provides this function. The
exhaustion, dreariness, manipulation, and fragmentation
thousands of sites devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer
by suggesting utopian visions of abundance, energy,
are involved in typical fan activities including fan-fiction
intensity, transparency and community.
where the fans can indulge in their fantasies by placing
the characters in new situations and forming new
Which of these "utopian solutions" to the alienated life
relationships – see Cult programmes in Chapter 1
might be present in Buffy? The display of abundance is
Categories.
not to the forefront. Certainly, most of the characters
come from comfortable middle-class backgrounds but
(iii)
The need for information
poverty and hardship are never far away, whether it is the
The media are a massive source of information,
spoilt Cordelia in Season 3 having to become a "name-
especially with the development of the Internet. While
tag person" and take a job in a clothes shop when her
fictional genres are also capable of providing (often
father is declared bankrupt due to tax default, or Buffy
highly disputed) information (eg the BBC/HBO
being unable to pay her way after her mother's death
production, Rome), Buffy is unlikely to be a significant
and having to take a "Mac-job" in a fast-food restaurant.
means of satisfying this particular need (with the
Despite the rich variety of expensive designer clothing
possible exception of apprentice witches).
available to Buffy and the other female characters, it is
not (unlike, say, the 1980s American daytime soap,
(iv)
The need for entertainment
Dallas) one of the main attractions for the audience and
The media - especially the fictional media - satisfy a
so this "solution" does not play a major role in the
need for diversion, including the desire for fantasy and
audience's needs and pleasures in Buffy.
escape from the everyday constraints in our lives, and
the need for catharsis – the purging of strong emotion.
Certainly, there is plenty of energy and intensity - of
excitement and emotion - on display in Buffy to
This particular need in the "Uses and Gratifications"
counteract the dreariness and monotony of everyday life.
approach is addressed by Richard Dyer, in his essay,
Likewise, the transparency in the relationships between
"Entertainment and Utopia" 6 . He rejects the frequent
the Scooby gang are in contrast to the political
Reality
Utopian soloution
Scarcity
Poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth,
Abundance
Elimination of poverty, equal distribution of wealth,
Exhaustion
Work as a grind, alienated labour, pressures of urban
life.
Energy
Work and play synonymous; able to counteract
exhaustion,
Dreariness
Monotony, predictability of everyday life.
Intensity
Excitement, drama, authenticity.
Manipulation
Advertising, political manipulation, restrictive
gender roles
Transparency
Open, spontaneous, honest and sincere
communications and relationships
Fragmentation
Mobility, family breakdown,
legislation against collective action (anti-union laws),
Community
All together in one place, sense of belonging,
communal interests, collective activity.
Above is a summary of Dyer’s categories [Table 5.1]
Chapter 5: Audience
75
manipulation which takes place in society, especially in
executive producers who may put a different spin on
those layers of society who wield the power – big
particular sequences and episodes, even in a television
business, senior politicians etc. This manipulation is most
text with a strong “authorial voice” such as Joss
prominent in Seasons 3 and 4 when Buffy confronts the
Whedon’s in Buffy. And not only the creative personnel
evil Mayor Wilkins and his witting or unwitting henchmen
but the executives of the network where a show is
in Sunnydale, such as the police or school principal
broadcast, not to mention the sponsors who pay for the
Snyder. Or when Buffy has to deal with the secret
advertising slots. Nevertheless, there are certain
government organisation, The Initiative, led by the
dominant messages which are articulated through films,
autocratic and devious psychology professor, Maggie
television programmes etc. On a fairly simple level, the
Walsh, which is a front for the "military-industrial
text of Buffy is encoded so that the audience is invited
complex" which plays such an important role in
to support Buffy and the Scoobies against the villains.
American life. The sense of community is emphasised
For example, the audience is invited to approve of the
particularly in Primeval, [4.21] the penultimate episode
defeat of Glory at the end of season 5, even if it means
of Season 4 (in effect, the season's climax). In order to
killing Ben, the human with whom Glory shares a body.
defeat Adam, the "Frankenstein-monster" hybrid of
demon and android, the Scoobies have to overcome
But there are more general ideological stances adopted
their differences that have been exploited in order to
by Buffy which go beyond supporting the heroes against
fragment the group. Only by combining their strengths
the villains. There is a strong pro-feminist element (with
can they summon the power to defeat Adam and bring
villains often being represented as misogynists), a pro-
back their sense of community, their "sense of
tolerance stance on matters of sexual preference and a
belonging". And it is through the audience's
strong sense that acts have consequences and people
identification with the characters that this sense of
have to take responsibility for their actions. However, not
gratification is gained.
all viewers would see Buffy in a positive light. For
example, Concerned Women of America 7 , and other
5.3
Differential Reading/Coding and
Decoding
Following a shift from focusing on what texts do to
audiences to examining what audiences do to texts,
ideas of “differential decoding” were developed – how
different sections of the audience deal differently with
the same text according to their background (age,
gender, class etc). The text is encoded in a certain way
to promote a “preferred reading” – how the producers
expect the audience to interpret a text. The idea of a
preferred reading works better with texts such as adverts
where the intended effect on the audience is to buy the
product); and with non-fiction texts, such as news and
current affairs where the dominant ideas of society tend
to be expressed. However, ideas, attitudes and
ideologies are also to be found on fictional texts.
Of course, audiences do not always decode the text in
the way that was intended. When the audience resists a
reading intended by the producers, it is referred to as an
“oppositional reading”. However, audience members
may accept some parts of the message encoded in the
text but oppose others, this is referred to as “negotiated
reading”
The idea of preferred, oppositional and negotiated
reading is more complex in fictional texts where there
are multiple voices competing to create meaning. There
are inputs from the writers, the directors, the actors, the
76
Chapter 5: Audience
fundamentalist groups, have campaigned against the
use of the occult in shows such as Buffy (and even
Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Harry Potter). Buffy also
topped the Parent Television Council’s list of worst
shows. 8 This is not only because Buffy deals with the
occult but because some of its critics see it as
encouraging teenage sex (Buffy has sex with Angel on
her 17th birthday; Willow sleeps with Oz on the eve of
the climactic battle at the end of Season 3) and this has
brought the wrath of such groups down on the heads of
the show’s producers.
Such opponents are unlikely to be regular viewers of the
show but it is among the show’s fans that we frequently
find negotiated readings – generally favourable but
disapproving of particular episodes and story arcs. Some
viewers were hostile to the relationship between Willow
and Tara, and the producers were wary at first of making
the relationship too explicit. (This wariness is also
encoded in the text, as in Buffy and Xander’s
conversation about what Willow and Tara were up to in
Once More With Feeling [6.10], and their concern that
Dawn would realise the nature of the relationship. In
fact, Dawn finds it “kind of romantic”, to which Buffy and
Xander react in unison, “no it’s not!”) Well before
Season 6, however, the nature of the relationship is
presented in a more matter-of-fact way and it was clear
that it met with the general acceptance of the audience.
An oppositional reading arose, however, by the way the
5.4
relationship ended – in Tara’s death by gunshot wound
Mode of Address
This refers to how a media text addresses its audience
in Seeing Red [6.19] – but from the opposite direction.
and establishes a relationship with it. Television drama,
Many lesbians saw Tara and Willow as role models,
like film, employs an indirect, impersonal mode of
particularly in a TV show on a major network (see the
address - the text does not "talk to us" directly, we just
section on sexuality in Chapter Four: Representations),
"eavesdrop" on the characters and action. The whole
and responded vociferously. 9 The producers defended
continuity editing system (see Chapter 2: Language) is
this development (on, for example, the chat rooms
designed to draw us into the action; for example, in a
where they would often intervene) on the grounds that
shot/reverse-shot, we see things from the perspective of
the death of Tara was clearly for narrative considerations
one character and then the other. The technique of
- in order to push the (now very powerful wiccan) Willow
eyeline match, where we see a close-up of a character
to the limit, where she comes close to destroying the
looking off-screen, followed by a shot of what the
world in the season's climax. Whedon had always
character sees, situates us in the position of the
opposed the idea that the narrative should always serve
character. The use of the POV (point-of-view shot – a
progressive attitudes to social questions (as in "don't do
technique frequently used in thriller and horror genres)
drugs" episodes to be found in many teen shows) and
also pulls us into the perspective of one of the
argued that the narrative itself was paramount. Indeed,
characters, often the killer or monster.
Buffy has a record of killing off popular characters such
as Jenny Calendar and Joyce Summers in order to
A more direct device occasionally used to draw us into
advance the narrative
the action is the voice-over, where one of the characters
talk directly to us (or else we overhear their thoughts
5.3.1
Differential Decoding and the Postmodern
directly, as in a theatrical soliloquy). In Passions, [2.17],
Text
Angel, having reverted to his evil alter ego, Angelus,
Not all differential decoding is as a result of different
becomes once again the vicious killer he was before the
sections of the audience having different ideological
gypsy curse, and by the end of the episode he has killed
positions. It also results from different textual
Giles's girlfriend, Jenny Calender. Angel's voice-over
competencies exercised by different members of the
conveys to the audience the dark tone of the episode:
audience. As developed in Chapter Two: Catgories,
Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping ... waiting...
And though unwanted...unbidden ... it will stir
open its jaws, and howl.
Buffy also has aspects of an artistic style know as
postmodernism, one of the features of which is a high
degree of intertextuality. Intertextuality often involves
another feature of postmodern texts - how the same text
This is continued near the end when Angelus, unseen,
can be appreciated in different ways by different
observes Giles’s grief at Jenny’s death:
audiences: the mainstream audience which reads the
If we could live without passion, maybe we'd
know some kind of peace. But we would be
hollow… Empty rooms, shuttered and dank...
Without passion, we'd be truly dead.
film in a straightforward way and the"cineliterate" (or
"smart" or "film buff") audience which recognises the
intertextual references.
What knowledge the audience brings to the text will
However, a direct address to the camera ("breaking the
vary, what the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called
fourth wall") is rarely used in film or TV drama (and only
“cultural capital”
10
- accumulated cultural knowledge.
occasionally in comedy). The exception is the musical
However, it is not always the viewer with the “highest”
genre where, when the characters break into song, they
form of cultural capital (in terms of the status of high art
adopt the position of performing directly for the
in relation to popular art). The younger and less
audience. In the musical episode, Once More with
educated members of the audience may not pick up all
Feeling [6.7], for example, Xander and Anya directly
the classical cultural allusions while the older, formally
address the camera as they sing their "retro-pastiche"
more educated members of the audience might miss
number, "I'll Never Tell"; and at the resolution of the
some of the pop-cultural references which the show
episode when Buffy enters the Bronze to take on Sweet,
frequently alludes to.
the singing and dancing demon, she sings the following
verses:
Chapter 5: Audience
77
Life's a show and we all play our parts_
And when the music starts
We open up our hearts
It's all right if some things come out wrong
We'll sing a happy song_
And you can sing along
And when she sings the last line, at the word “you”, she
directly faces the camera, and therefore the audience.
78
Chapter 5: Audience
Notes
1 Ono, Kent, “To be a Vampire on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Race and (“other”) Socially Marginalising Positions on
Horror Television” in R.H. Elyce (ed) Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of ScienceFiction and Fantasy
Television. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000; cited in Branston, Gill and Roy Stafford, The Media Studies
Book, Oxford; Routledge, 2003, p 85.
2 Slayage: An On-Line Journal of Buffy Studies; http://www.slayage.tv/
3 Cited in O'Sullivan et al, Studying the Media, 1998: London, Arnold, p.129.
4 J Blumler and Katz, E (eds) The Uses of Mass Communication, cited in Studying the Media, Tim O’Sullivan, Brian
Dutton and Philip Rayner, second edition, 1998, London, Arnold
5 Riess, Jana,What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide,New York: Jossey-Bass/Wiley 2004
6 Dyer, Richard, ‘Entertainment and Utopia’, in Only Entertainment. Dyer Richard, London: Routledge, 1992
pp. 17-34.
7 http://www.cwfa.org/familyvoice/2001-11/06-12.asp (Retrieved 22 November 2006).
8 Slayage: The International Journal of Buffy Studiers: http://www.slayage.com/articles/000080.html (Retrieved 20
November 2006).
9 For example, Black Robert A, “It's Not Homophobia, But_That Doesn't Make It Right: Creative Freedom,
Responsibility _and the Death of Tara “: http://www.dykesvision.com/en/articles/homophobia.html (Retrieved 24
November 2006).
10 Bourdieu, Pierre, The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Translated by Lauretta C. Clough, Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1996.
Activities
l Can you think of two contrasting films or TV shows, one which is clearly targeted at a well-defined audience, and
another with a wider appeal. Show how the audienxce is ‘inscribed in the text in each example.
l
l
l
Choose a film or TV programme which you particularly like and try to apply the “Uses and Gratifications” model
(cf. Chapter 5, pp 63) to it.
Look at the adverts in a television programme you are fond of and try to see if there is any obvious connection
between target audience and products being advertised.
Look at an episode of Buffy and see to what extent an audience (or audiences) is “inscribed in the text”, ie look
for particular features that would suggest a particular audience are being targeted by the episode.
Chapter 5: Audience
79
80
Chapter 5: Audience
Chapter 6: Institutions
THIS CHAPTER AIMS TO EXPLORE INSTITUTIONS IN BUFFY, IN PARTICULAR:
l
l
l
l
l
l
US network television, film and television, the “Big Three” and the newer networks
Neilsen ratings and “the sweeps’
broadcasting and “narrowcasting”
Buffy’s defection to UPN
institutional constraints (external and internal)
institutional constraints in the UK
At the end of each episode of Buffy, the following companies are credited:
Mutant Enemy, Inc.
Josh Whedon's own production company;
subcontracted by Fox to make the series
Kazui Enterprises
Both these companies have some interest in the
"intellectual property" that is Buffy, deriving from the
original 1992 film which Fran Kazui directed
Sandollar Television
20th Century Fox Television
Part of a large multimedia corporation (see later);
producer of television shows, also (since mid-1980s) a
television network
WB Television
TV network, also part of massive multimedia
conglomerate. Buffy went out on WB for the first 5
seasons. A rival to Fox both in production and as a
network; also a competitor of ...
UPN
. . . another TV network and part of a major multimedia
company. When contract for Buffy was up for renewal
at the end of Seasons 5, UPN outbid WB and broadcast
the final two seasons.
Table 6.1
In order to make sense of these bodies, it is necessary to
6.1
understand the structure of US television which is very
In contrast to the stability it achieved from the 1950s
different from the UK model.
onwards, American television has been in a considerable
Of course, media institutions are not limited to the
media industries. Institutions are constituted by a whole
network of relationships, regulatory bodies, professional
codes of practice etc. But how media practitioners are
controlled is central to the idea of institutions, whether it
be "internal controls" - where the front-line media
practitioners are constrained in what they do by
executives and managers, representing the company or
organisation that employs them; or external controls where the control is exerted by bodies outwith the
media organisation, such as censorship bodies, sponsors
and advertisers, polling organisations such as Neilsen
(see below), trade unions (especially in relation to health
and safety issues), regulatory bodies such as the Federal
Communications Commission, and the law courts.
US Network Television
1
state of flux in recent years. In the 1950s, when television
took over from cinema as the major source of
entertainment, three major companies - often referred to
as "The Big Three" - dominated the market. These are
ABC (American Broadcasting Network), NBC (National
Broadcasting Company) and CBS (Columbia
Broadcasting System). These were essentially
"wholesalers" for programmes made by production
companies. For example Desilu Productions was a
production company which produced the most popular
sitcom of the 1950s, I Love Lucy. It was shown on the
CBS network. The same production company produced
Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek in the 1960s which was
shown on the NBC network.
The networks derive their income from selling
advertising slots. Unlike the UK system where there is a
mixture of state-funded broadcasting (the BBC) and
Chapter 6: Institutions
81
commercial stations, American TV has always been
programmes to the television networks from the, by
overwhelmingly commercial The programmes are "paid
now, underused studio facilities.
for" by the public buying the products of the companies
which supplied the income for the advertising - at the
The Paramount Case was a response to a monopolistic
cost to the public that the programmes are constantly
situation in the film industry. However, a similar
interrupted by advertising on a scale far greater than we
monopolistic situation developed in the television
are used to in the UK. There are parts of US television
industry. By 1970, the Big Three networks had financial
which don't fit this pattern, such as cable (funded by
interests in and syndication rights to 98% of their
subscription or advertising – though the adverts don’t
programming and independent producers were
interrupt the programmes - or a mixture), and a small
practically shut out of the market. According to Jennifer
public broadcasting sector (funded by federal grants,
Holt:
commercial and private sponsorship) but - while the
cable sector in particular is growing in importance - the
main networks still dominate the airwaves.
6.2
Film and Television
. . the networks' power was such that there was
nothing to challenge their control over the
industry. Programme suppliers, mainly
consisting of the Hollywood studios, were
furious over the terms extracted by the
networks for airing their products. 2
As television was becoming established in the USA, the
film industry was still the dominant form of mass
This led to pressure on the regulatory body, the Federal
entertainment. However, this situation was soon to
Communications Commission [FCC] to introduce the
change. Changes in lifestyle, with a post-war "baby-
Financial Interest and Syndication ("Fin Sync") and the
boom" and mass migration to the suburbs, led to many
Prime Time Access Rule [PTAR]. These rules, designed to
people finding other leisure pursuits, (cinemas tended to
increase diversity in programming and promote the
be in city centres) and a gradual decline in cinema
growth of independent stations, prohibited the networks
attendance. Things got worse for Hollywood when, in
from producing their own prime-time programming, a
1948, the US Justice Department led an action against
situation not unlike that in the film industry post-1948
the monopolistic practices of the film industry, the so-
where the film companies were not allowed to own
called "Paramount Case". Five film "studios" (referred to
cinemas.
as the "Big Five") - Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox,
Paramount, MGM and RKO - dominated the industry.
This system lasted more or less till the 1980s, a time of
These film companies operated a system known as
deregulation in line with the "free market" ideology
"vertical integration": they not only owned the means of
dominant at that time. However, it was also the start of a
film production but also distribution and exhibition - the
period of relative decline of the audience for network
very profitable cinemas. (Another three studios - the
television which had become increasingly fragmented by
"Little Three" - United Artists, Universal and Columbia -
cable, home video and, later, the Internet. Until then, the
produced and distributed films but did not own cinemas;
networks were restricted in their ability to produce
however, they were very much in league with the Big
programmes themselves. The loosening of restrictions
Five as part of the monopolistic system). The studios
meant that the networks could make own their own
were forced to sell their profitable cinemas and this
programmes and show them in prime time, and the
furthered the decline as television became increasingly
production companies (often owned by large multimedia
strong.
corporations) feared they would not have an outlet for
their programmes and so they set up new networks -
Not surprisingly, the film industry was initially hostile to
chiefly, Fox in the 1980s and WB and UPN in the mid-
television. However, the film companies realised that
1990s. Networks making programmes and production
their back catalogue of films was a very valuable asset
companies setting up networks was part of a process
when sold to television. Columbia was the first studio to
which led to the situation today where a few giant
sell broadcasting rights in the programmes to the Big
multimedia companies dominate the market, both in
Three TV networks, who then provided them to their
production and exhibition, a situation which goes
"affiliates" - the retail outlets that then showed the
beyond the vertical integration of the 1940s film industry
programmes to the audiences. Soon, Hollywood came
to become a vertical and horizontal integration.
to realise the importance of television as a market and
not only for their back-products: they began to join the
ranks of the production companies supplying
82
Chapter 6: Institutions
6.3
The "Big Three" and the newer networks
The traditional Big Three networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, and the newer networks, Fox, WB and UPN, are part of large
media conglomerates which represent some of the biggest companies in the world with interests all over the globe 3 see Table 6.2
Resulted from a merger of Warner (the successor to the
historic Hollywood studio. Warner Bros.), Time (with
interests in publishing) and the internet company AOL.
Owns multiplex cinemas, magazines, internet services,
theme parks and merchandise shops, cable, film and
television production. The first four seasons of Buffy
was broadcast on the WB Television network.
2003 revenues: $39.6 billion
As well as the famous cartoons and theme parks,
Disney owns Touchstone, Miramax and Buena Vista
films, a number of publishers, basketball and football
teams, as well as the ABC network (one of the "Big
Three"). Recently acquired the Pixar animation
company.
2003 revenues: $28.4 billion
Blockbuster Videos, UCI cinemas, MTV and VHI are
among Viacom's interests. It also owns Paramount
(which owns UPN which showed the final 2 series of
Buffy). It broke US rules controlling media ownership
when it bought the CBS network but its allies in the
senate had the rules changed. It has recently swallowed
up Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio.
2003 revenues: $26.6 billion
News Corporation was originally based in newspaper
publishing (in the UK, owning The Times, The Sun and
The News of the World, as well as The New York
Times). Now has a controlling interest in Sky Television
in the UK as well as 20th Century Fox Films and Fox TV,
now one of the largest in the USA. Produces Buffy.
2003 revenues: $17.5 billion
Its interests include the NBC network, Universal Pictures
and Universal Studios leisure parks.
2003 revenues: $39.6 billion (although not limited to the
media and entertainment business)
Table 6.2
(The sixth Hollywood "major" is Sony. The Japanese
13% of the viewing population. For example, during
owned company recently swallowed up MGM, once the
"Prime Time" (8 -11 pm) in November 2000, NBC was
largest film studio in Hollywood, and also owns Sony
watched by 13.87 million households, ABC by 13.86
Pictures and Columbia Tristar. It is one of the world's
million and CBS by 11.89 million.
largest producers of consumer electronics and a major in
music production. It is a producer ot television shows for
The newer networks are smaller than the old, with
the major networks but does not itself control a major
around 80 - 120 affiliates - although Fox has grown
US TV network).
enough to be considered part of a "Big Four". In order
to find a market in a system dominated by the Big Three,
Each of the three older networks owns between 12 and
the new networks tried to establish niche audiences
15 stations and each has about 200 other stations to
which were not well provided for by the traditional
which they supply programmes - their "affiliates". Their
networks. For example, Fox targeted a male audience
revenues come mainly from the advertising that
with programmes such as Married with Children and
dominates the programmes. Each has between 9% and
American football, and teens and twenties with shows
Chapter 6: Institutions
83
such as Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, The
representing 32% of the people in this age group. On
Simpsons, Ally McBeal, and The X-Files. It also targeted
the basis of these figures, NBC, the network which
African-Americans in its early days, less so when it
broadcast Friends, was able to charge almost $0.5
expanded its range and audience. WB and UPN also
million for a 30-second slot (rising to $2.1 million for the
targeted African-Americans and youth - especially young
final episode on May 6, 2004.)
women. WB broadcast shows such as Dawson's Creek,
Roswell and, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. UPN
However, the Neilsen ratings system is heavily criticised,
targeted young men (the network was best known for its
especially by producers, writers and actors who feel their
wrestling) but was eager to increase its share of the
shows are under-represented - which could, of course,
wider youth (especially twenty-something) audience, one
lead to cancellation by the network. The system fails to
of the reasons they acquired Buffy from Fox in 2001 for
take account of "time-shifting", where people record
the final two seasons (see below) when the contract with
programmes viewing later (and indeed watch more than
WB came up for renegotiation.
once for shows with an particularly committed audience).
The system will be under even more pressure with the
6.4
The Economics of US Network TV:
Nielsen Ratings
In order to determine the ratings on which advertising
rates depend, specialist companies were established,
the most important of which is Neilson Media Research
which goes back to the days of commercial radio.
Neilsen data indicate how many viewers watch and
which demographic they fall into. Neilsen records
viewing behaviour through the "people meters" it
installs in 25,000 households (about .02% of the
households in the USA. 4) Neilson ratings are used by
networks to determine whether they will continue to
broadcast programmes and what advertising rates will
be. As such, they are an extremely powerful force in us
television.
The Neilsen ratings system is a combination of ratings
increasing popularity of advices such as Tivo boxes
which allow not only time-shifting but also enable
viewers to skip the adverts much more efficiently than
using the fast-forward button on a VCR. Advertisers may
in the future have to consider other ways of getting their
products to their audience (such as product placement,
highly developed in the film industry, where products
appear in the shows themselves - for example, the
Apple laptop computers used by Willow in her research).
The Neilsen system is hardly an exact science, but it is a
powerful force in determining the programming, as a
shift in a percentage point represents millions of dollars.
However, for the time being, in the absence of a more
reliable system, the industry behaves as if it the Neilsen
ratings accurately measure how many viewers the
networks deliver to the advertisers.
and share of the audience. It is currently estimated that
there are some 109.6 million households with at least
6.4
The "Sweeps"
one TV set (there are few with none) in the USA. A
The "people-meters" are not the only measuring
ratings point represents 1% of all households (or
devices used to gauge the size of the audience. Four
1,096,000) for the 2004/5 season. Share is the percentage
times a year - November, February, May and July - there
of TV sets tuned into a specific programme. For
are the "sweeps" where selected viewers in designated
example, a programme rated at 9.2/15 means that
market areas (DMAs) are asked to fill in diaries
10,083,000 households are watching it, and 15% of all
accounting for a week's TV viewing. (They are called
television sets on at that time were tuned into this
sweeps because of the way the data is collected, starting
programme.
in the northeastern USA and "sweeping" systematically
across the rest of the country). Ratings established
Of course, (as will be further developed below) the total
during the sweeps help set advertising rates for the next
number of viewers is not all that the advertisers are
three months and can determine whether a show will live
interested in; they wish to appeal to particular
or die. During the sweeps, the local stations and
demographics such as age-group, gender, social class
networks make an effort to produce their best material
etc. so that specific products can be targeted at
and series frequently feature special episodes and
particular demographics, and the Neilsen statistics take
gimmicks, expensive mini-series and award shows etc to
these into account. Therefore when Friends, one of the
attract a higher share of the audience.
most popular shows of the late 1990's/early 2000s,
The "Sweeps" and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
gained a rating of 11.8/32 in the 18-49 age bracket on
6.4.1
Thursday 31 October 2002, it would be interpreted that
If we look at various episodes over the seven series of
11.8% of those aged between 18 and 49 were watching,
Buffy, we can see that some of the stronger episodes
84
Chapter 6: Institutions
(particularly the ones written and directed by Joss
Whedon) appear during the sweep months. For
6.5
Broadcasting and
"Narrowcasting"
example, Lie to Me, The Dark Age and What's My Line
The term broadcasting suggests transmitting
Parts 1 and 2, some of the strongest episodes of Season
programmes to as wide an audience as possible. In US
2, all appeared in November 1997, while Passion, with
television, with its domination by commercial networks,
the evil Angelus in full flight, appeared in February, with
and a miniscule public service broadcasting service,
the season finale, Becoming Parts 1 and 2, and
broadcasters sell broadcast time to sponsors - the
Graduation Day Parts 1 and 2, the Season 3 finale,
advertisers - to whom they deliver audiences who then
appearing in May. In Season 4, the early part of the
buy the goods which pays for the advertising. However,
season is dominated by one-off episodes but The
as has been suggested above, the size of the audience
Initiative [4.7], which develops the main story arc of the
is not the only factor which determines profitability as
season, first appeared on November 16 1999. Hush
lower ratings do not necessarily command smaller
[4.10], one of the most admired episodes which was
revenues. Instead of targeting a large but
largely without dialogue, was first aired in December
heterogeneous audience, some channels - especially the
1999. In Season 5, Fool for Love (5.7), we learn Spike's
newer ones - target their audience more narrowly (a
back-story - not someone who's "always been bad" as
practice referred to as "narrowcasting" as opposed to
he boasts to Buffy but as the wimpish and effete William,
broadcasting), hoping to deliver a more homogeneous
pathetic poet and unsuccessful lover, broadcast on
demographic to the advertisers. (Narrowcasting is more
November 14 2000. The Body (5.16) was one of the
often used about an even narrower focus on a particlar
outstanding episodes of Season 5, where Buffy and her
target audience, eg a dedicated channel to cater for a
friends are devastated by the loss of Buffy's mother to
particular interest, but it is also useful in a wider context
an aneurism, an episode, where there is no non-diegetic
to make the distiction between programmes that try to
sound, in which the supernatural is almost absent and
target a much wider audience).
which was shot in an almost art-film style; it appeared on
27 February 2001. These are the kinds of episodes that
MTV (Music Television) prospered by delivering a
the producers like to showcase and attract the attention
smaller, more youthful audience but one with a higher
not only of the viewing public but those who nominate
disposable income, with companies advertising, for
TV shows for the Emmy awards, US TV's equivalent of
example, music, cosmetics and electronic goods etc.,
the Oscars; indeed, Hush was the only episode of Buffy
paying higher advertising rates than for a larger but less
to receive an Emmy nomination for best programme in
focused audience. The sixteen to thirty-four market
its category.
(Buffy's core audience) is considered particularly
lucrative for the advertisers. 5 For example, in 1995,
The programmes that receive the highest ratings in US
Murder She Wrote, a show whose appeal is to the over-
television are one-off events such as the Superbowl and
60s, had significantly higher viewing figures than the
the Oscars but among the regular programmes to
Superman series, Lois and Clark (aka The New
achieve high Neilsen ratings were/are ER, Friends, Will
Adventures of Superman), ranking ninth in the overall
and Grace, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Frasier and
rankings to the latter's sixty-fourth. Despite this, ABC
The X-Files and the various CSI shows which regularly
could charge advertisers $132, 000 for a thirty- second
attracted between 17 and 18 million viewers. Buffy did
spot on Lois and Clark, while CBS could only charge
not reach those levels, the highest ratings being
$116,000 for the same time on Murder She Wrote. 6
between 4 and 5 million, apart from seasons' finales
which occasionally hit the 7 million mark. However,
During the period when the film industry was dominated
advertising (and, of course, foreign sales) is not the only
by vertical integration, the studio made the films (with
source of revenue. Ancillary products, especially DVDs,
thousands of salaried workers and its own stars under
represent a growing revenue stream for production
long contracts) which it distributed itself and showed in
companies, and a show with a loyal following is a reliable
its own cinemas. With the arrival of vertical integration to
market for these. A smaller but more committed
television, it might be expected that the media
audience will often result in much higher sales of DVDs
corporations would produce programmes to show on its
and other merchandising than shows on the main
own networks. This happens to some degree as a
networks with much bigger audiences.
multimedia corporation will attempt to combine its
diverse arms in order to maximise profits - a process
known as synergy. Disney/ABC do so to greater extent
than the others.
Chapter 6: Institutions 85
However, there are counter-forces operating on these
is its very difference from the mainstream networks;
companies and they do not always go down this road.
something its audiences seem to respond to.
Despite the setting up the new networks as a way of
Interestingly, Joss Whedon's scifi/western hybrid series,
ensuring an outlet for their programmes, the networks
Firefly (2003), was not only made by Fox but was shown
did not in fact restrict themselves to their own product:
on the Fox network. It lasted only 14 episodes before it
they sold programmes to each other. For example,
was pulled from the schedules and many commentators
Buffy, a programme owned by Fox, was shown on the
suggested that part of its lack of success was because
WB network for the first five seasons, after which it
Fox did not promote it effectively enough. (They also
moved to UPN for the final two seasons. This practice of
scheduled on a Friday evening which is considered the
selling to rival networks might seem to contradict the
graveyard slot of US TV.) Perhaps it would have fared
monopolistic synergistic strategies which deregulation
better with a niche audience on one of the smaller
allowed networks to pursue by allowing them also to be
networks. Arguably, Buffy would not have survived much
producers. However, one of the reasons they sell to
beyond its first season on the Fox network.
others is fear of litigation from actors and producers
claiming that the networks are selling programmes
within their own group of companies at bargain rates,
which has the effect of limiting the financial return the
creative personnel might expect. According to Jennifer
Holt:
Buffy's Defection to UPN
In 2001, Fox shocked the television industry by moving
Buffy between networks in 2001. Early that year, when it
was time to negotiate a new deal, Fox asked WB for $2
million per episode, a considerable hike on what was
The threat of these lawsuits has given
conglomerates serious pause before engaging
in 'sweetheart deals', throwing an enormous
wrench into even the best-laid synergist plans. 7
Fox, producers of Buffy, have been under particular
scrutiny. Steven Bochco, celebrated TV auteur (Hill St
Blues, NYPD Blues) sued Fox for what he saw as a cutrate deal for syndicated episodes of NYPD Blues to one
its cable channels. David Duchovny, star of The X-Files,
also sued Fox in 1999, accusing them of cheating him
out of $25 million by negotiating a cut-price deal with
one of its affiliated companies, a case which was settled
out of court for $20 million. 8 Disney, which now owns
the ABC network, also came under fire for selling rights
to its animated features to ABC at well below the going
rate.
paid before. WB were prepared to pay no more than
$1.6, claiming they would lose money on the series.
Fox's demands were based on the fact that, while Buffy
was only WB's third highest rated series, it was its
biggest revenue-generator, with 30-second advertising
spots worth $100,000 each. Fox was also attempting to
recoup the ever-increasing production costs. When a
show is successful, it puts the main actors in a very
advantageous position when it comes to renegotiating
fees; it also had increasing production values as the
show developed, adding significantly to the costs.
UPN came in unexpectedly with an offer of $2.3 million
an episode for a 44-episode deal (ie two seasons). WB
responded with a statement in which they called the
deal "an inauspicious decision for the television for the
television industry by taking one of their programmes off
Another reason for the networks selling their product to
other networks is that they may not have the right niche
audience in their schedule. For example, Buffy's
audience might not be big enough for the show to
appear on the much bigger Fox network whereas both
WB and UPN developed a niche market which was a
perfect match for the programme. For Fox themselves to
have shown Buffy, they might have had to remove an
existing and profitable prime-time programme as well as
incurring the expense of promoting the show. No doubt,
Fox found it more lucrative to sell to WB and, later, UPN,
especially as the video/DVD rights and rights to further
syndication remain with Fox. As the smaller networks
often target "niche" audiences, they frequently seek
shows which are different from the mainstream. The
show can do this because part of its unique selling point
86
6.6
Chapter 6: Institutions
a non-affiliated network and placing it on a network in
which they have a vested interest." 9 This was a
reference to rumours circulating that Fox were
considering making a significant investment in UPN. If
they were, it came to nothing. Many commentators
expected this defection to have a radical effect on the
way the networks operated by selling shows to each
other. At one point in the negotiations, Fox suggested
they were prepared to run the show on their own
network, which could have had the effect of Fox
establishing a "vertical integration" by running
programmes they themselves had made.
One of the interesting aspects of the situation is
that UPN seemed to have been prepared to
make a loss on the deal, not behaviour normally
to be expected from a television network. There
is, however, a certain logic in UPN's behaviour.
As suggested above, WB and UPN had similar
marketing strategies, both targeting niche
markets not well catered for elsewhere.
However, there was one important difference:
while WB targeted adolescent (and older)
females, UPN (with, for example, its wrestling
and various "freak" shows) targeted young
males. It was a station with little critical status
and even where there was perceived to be
"quality" product on the UPN schedules, it was
compromised by the UPN label. The acquisition
of Buffy, even at a loss, could establish the
network, not only among young women, a
majority among Buffy fans, but established
them as a "quality" network which could attract
that desirable and relatively affluent
demographic that had a significant disposable
income. Buffy had given the WB a 'hip' or 'cool'
image by showing Buffy in 1997. It gave access
to a certain audience which advertisers found
attractive. UPN also used Buffy to establish a
cooler image. According to James Poniewozik:
"The fact is, for UPN, "Buffy" is a bargain at any
price, even if the network is never able to
recoup the hefty price tag off the show itself. It
guarantees a big influx of a key demographic:
namely, people who otherwise would never
watch UPN. 10
comes to the mass media there is an important
distinction: creative people in the media do not have the
same independence. Literature is largely an individual
pursuit but media production involves a complex
division of labour and access to expensive equipment.
Novelists are more or less autonomous when it comes to
deciding what they will write although they may have to
accept limitations on their freedom if they are going to
get the work published but, when it comes to media
production, which involves an outlay of large sums of
money, programme makers have a number of constraints
placed on them.
(i)
External controls
Some of these are constraints are external to the
organisations and individuals who make the
programmes. For example, libel laws prevent
programme makers from airing what they like, as do
copyright laws. Health and safety regulations also put
restrictions on what a production company can do,
particularly if there is a strong union organisation
defending their members' interests. But most media
industries in the majority countries have a codes of
practice and guidelines which affect the content of the
media we consume. Among these is the process of
Part of UPN's strategy was to bring Angel, the Buffy
spin-off, to UPN. In the event, Angel remained with the
WB and the rumour that WB would boycott Fox
products proved unfounded.
WB had a niche youth audience, especially young
women and one of reasons UPN was willing to outbid
WB for series was they wanted to broaden their
network's appeal to this demographic. Before then,
UPN’s appeal was to a youth audience but its appeal
was mainly to young men, particularly with shows such as
wrestling, giving UPN an image as a “low-quality”
network. In repositioning themselves towards the
'quality' youth market, UPN were following a strategy
which MTV has shown to be successful over 20 years. But
the youth market is notoriously fickle and the viewers
grow up very quickly and look for other things. Perhaps
Buffy's ability to grow up with its audience (especially
after the move from high school to college at the end of
Season 3) and to move into young adult territory in later
seasons has been the key to its success in this area.
classification, of declaring specific programmes to be
unsuitable for a particular age groups.
The various classification systems have a significant
influence on the content of programmes. Most Buffy
episodes broadcast in the USA are classified as TV14 which cautions parents that it's unsuitable for under-14s.
The show was labelled with "DSLV warnings" (D for
suggestive dialogue, S for sex, L for strong language
and V for violence). 11 Despite attacks on the show from
various lobbies over its sexual content and its dark
themes, this was not a major problem as both Whedon
and WB saw the target audience as being in the 16-plus
range. However, when the programme was broadcast in
the UK, the mismatch between content and the
audience it was deemed to be aimed at by both the
BBC and Sky resulted in unforeseen problems (see UK
Reception below).
(ii)
Internal controls
Given that American TV is mostly financed by advertising
revenues, it follows that advertisers can therefore exert
great influence on the content of shows, either directly,
6.7
Institutional Controls
by threatening to withdraw their sponsorship if the
The media depends on creative and well-trained
shows contain material which is deemed to be offensive
individuals and in the case of drama it depends on
or objectionable; or indirectly, by network executives
imagination and craft. The same could be said, of
anticipating objections and over-riding the creative
course, about writing poetry or a novel but when it
personnel. For example, in Season 6, Buffy gets a job in
Chapter 6: Institutionsr
87
a branch of "Doublemeat Palace", a fastfood chain no
The opposition to postponement was based largely on
doubt based on McDonalds and the like. This narrative
the nature of the portrayal of violence on TV, what might
strand was dropped after a few episodes, some
be called a problem of modality, a semiotic term
commentators attributing it to the desire not to offend
relating to the level of realism in a given text. Whereas
fast-food advertisers (though this strand was not
Earshot was of a higher level of modality, with its
particularly popular with audiences). This was confirmed
psychologically realistic would-be suicide, Graduation
in an interview Whedon gave to the Force9 website:
The only time the network got their knickers in
a twist was when Buffy worked at the Double
Meat Palace and we made fun of fast food. The
advertisers were unhappy so we said sure. It
wasn’t like we were trying to make a big
statement about it. 12
Day was clearly fantasy with students, at a prearranged
signal from Buffy, throwing off their academic robes to
reveal axes, cross-bows and flame-throwers to use in the
fight against the Mayor, who is transformed into a giant
serpent, and his demonic allies.
The postponement caused many fans to send a
barrage of letters and emails, and many
protests were posted on the web. The episode
did air on the previous Monday in parts of
Canada, including Ottawa and Toronto. WB
doesn’t air in Canada where it was broadcast,
allowing fans to capture the episode on tape.
Some digitized the episode and made it
available over the internet. Joss Whedon
actually encouraged the distribution of the
bootlegs, saying it was nice that people cared
about the show, for which he got into “big
trouble” with the WB but when it was finally
aired it received very good ratings which
pacified the network’s executives. 15
The DVD Commentaries make clear that the programme
makers are always conscious of internal constraints. The
frequently refer to how surprised they were “to get away
with” this or that language or gesture, such as the
Willow-Tara relationship over almost three seasons to
such things as the hand gestures in Hush [4.10] , Buffy’s
misunderstood one, what Whedon refers to in the DVD
Commentary as the “infamous ... why-did-they-let us
away-with that’ gesture.”; and Anya’s naughty “let’shave-sex” hand-gesture ( “the network’s reaction was
very much like Giles’ [one of horror] but they let us keep
it because it was so damned funny”). 13
(iii)
Institutional Constraints in the UK
16
Network executives are frequently nervous about how
Buffy first aired in the UK in January 1998 on Sky
what they broadcast will be received by the public and
(satellite) and in December of that year on the BBC
sponsors and will intervene if they think it might harm
(terrestrial). Both these broadcasters with rights to show
ratings, as demonstrated by the “Columbine” affair. On
Buffy saw the show as being targeted for a younger
20 April 1999, in Littleton, Colorado, two disaffected
audience – perhaps similar to that other popular show
students with an arsenal of weapons opened fire in their
dealing with witchcraft, Tina the Teenage Witch - and
school, Columbine High School, and killed 12 of their
therefore scheduled the show for an early evening slot,
fellow students and one teacher. Ironically, the episode
earlier than in the USA when it would air at 8pm and
of Buffy that was due to air just after the incident was
9pm. Given some of the adult content, this caused
Earshot [3.18], which involved an attempt to murder the
problems for UK broadcasters. In the UK, there is the
student body and a suicidal student with a high-velocity
recognised convention of the "nine o'clock watershed" -
rifle. The producers decided to pull the episode until the
that programmes with "adult" content be shown after
autumn and the creative personnel were in agreement
9pm. This caused both Sky and the BBC to cut offending
with that decision. However, when the producers
scenes, which caused a strong reaction from UK fans
decided to delay another episode, the Season 3 finale,
who petitioned the two broadcasters who eventually
Graduation Day Part 2, which involves the burning down
agreed to show uncut versions late at night. When the
of Sunnydale High School in a battle against the evil
sseries came out on DVD they were classified as 15 by
Mayor Wilkins, Joss Whedon and the other creative
the VSC (Video Standards Council) which gives
personnel were less supportive of the decision, feeling
certificates to videos in the UK in terms of sexual content
that the message of the show was generally anti-
and violence. Unlike VHS videos – where several boxed
violence. Indeed, for Lisa Parks, rather than encoraging
sets are required to cover a season - DVDs were at first
violence, “Buffy has become an important pedagocical
sold as a complete season and so the whole set has to
tool, providing opportunities for adult and teen viewers
have the same certification. Despite some individual VHS
alike to unravel and discuss the complex meanings of
videos being classified as 12, the boxed set DVDs are all
violence [providing] crucial opportunities for humanities
classified as 15 and so, potentially, limited sales to a
scholars to to begin intervening in and redirecting public
small but significant segment of its audience.
debates on tv violence.” 14
88
Chapter 6: Institutions
Notes
1
Much of this chapter is based on Jancovich, Mark and James Lyons (eds) , Quality Popular Television, London :
BFI, 2003.
2
Ibid p14.
3
List of United States over-the-air television networks, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_over-theair_television_networks (Retrieved 7 November 2006).
4
Butler, op. cit.
5
Jancovic, opus cit. p. 149.
6
Ibid p 149.
7
Ibid p 24
8
Ibid p24
9
The Buffy Library: http://www.cesnur.org/2001/buffy_april01.htm
10 Ibid. (Retrieved 18 October 2006]. In 2006 there were merger talks between WB and UPN.
11 History.Com (The History Channel) : http://www.historychannel.com/ncta/ (Retrieved 18 October 2006.
12 http://www.phase9.tv/moviefeatures/buffythevampireslayerq&a-josswhedon.shtml (Retrieved 23 December 2006)
13 Season 4 DVD Commentary
14 Jancovic, opus cit., p 119.
15 Science Fiction Weekly interview, http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue128/interview.html (Retrieved 18 October 2006).
16 Journal of Cult Media: http://www.cult-media.com/issue1/Ahill.htm. (Retrieved 28 November 2005).
Activities
l Summarise briefly the structure of US network television from the post-World War 2 period until the 1980s.
l
Why did Fox and, later, others, establish new networks in the 1980s/90?
l
What marketing strategy did the new networks employ and how did this affect shows like Buffy.
l
Can you think of any incidents in Buffy (other than the ones mentioned in this chapter) where there might have
been a conflict between the creative personnel and the studio executives?
Chapter 6: Institutions
89
90
Chapter 6: Institutions
Appendix 1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON OVERVIEW
Summaries of individual episodes can be found online at;
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_plot_summary
and in more detail at Buffyworld: www.buffyworld.com (which also has complete scripts)
Season One
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One had only 12 episodes as it was was a mid-season replacement series. It follows on
from the film which ends with Buffy burning down the gym school in her school in LA. Buffy is now aware that she is the
Slayer but wants to keep it quiet when she moves with her mother (who is oblivious of her daughter's powers) from LA
to the small Southern California town of Sunnydale. Her Watcher, the librarian at Sunnydale High School, Rupert Giles,
is aware of her identity but she is at first reluctant to get involved; however, when a corpse is found in someone's locker
she embraces her calling. She meets Xander and Willow, the core of what will become her gang of helpers (later to be
known as “The Scooby Gang”). The school, they discover, is located on a "Hellmouth", a portal to a whole variety of
supernatural beings strange events. These demons can be seen as metaphors for the trials and tribulations of being a
teenager; for example, a girl ignored by her peers in a very competitive social environment literally becomes invisible.
The main narrative arc of the season is the struggle against the ancient and powerful vampire called the Master who is
trapped underground and looking for a way back to the surface but most of the episodes are one-off series episodes
where Buffy and gang confront a range of monsters and demons which they will have dealt with by the end of the
episode. They are guided in their task by Giles's weighty tomes on dealing with the supernatural but Willow's skill on
the computer also comes in handy. Buffy discovers another ally in Angel, a vampire who has had his soul restored by
gypsies wishing to inflict a torment of guilt on him for his past misdeeds out of revenge for killing one of theirs. Buffy
falls in love with him. In the climactic battle with the Master she dies momentarily but is revived by Xander and is able
to destroy the Master when he escapes from his lair.
Season Two
Season 2 (which, like the following five seasons, consists of 22 episodes) is also composed mainly of standalone
episodes but an important narrative arc in the relationship between Buffy and Angel. A new, younger vampire - Spike arrives on the scene with girlfriend Drusilla and become Buffy's main foe in the earlier part of the season. He is joined in
the role of "Big bad" by Angel who loses his soul and reverts to his former evil state after making love with Buffy for the
first time: the gypsy curse ensured that this would happen if he achieved one moment of human bliss. Angel (now
called Angelus) joins with Spike and Drusilla, who try to kill Buffy and her friends. Some new characters are introduced
in this season. These include Oz, bass player for the rock Band "Dingoes Ate My Baby" and Willow's love interest;
Kendra, a West Indian Slayer, because of Buffy's brief "death" at the hands of the Master; Jenny Calendar, Giles's loveinterest, a computing teacher who is actually a descendant of the Gypsies responsible for Angelus's curse (and who is
murdered by Angelus); and Ethan Rayne, an English evil warlock who was a colleague of Giles in his youth when they
both dabbled in the black arts. Angel(us) attempts destroy the world by the use of an ancient statue that can suck all
living things into hell. Buffy hopes Willow can do a spell to restore Angel's soul but is prepared to kill him. She finds an
unexpected ally in Spike who is prepared to work with her against Angel because of jealousy over Angelus's overtures
to Drusilla. He leaves town with Drusilla. The particulars of the ritual dictate that, once Angel opens the portal, the only
way to close it is by killing him. The gang hopes to either kill Angel or restore his soul before he can perform the ritual:
however, while Willow succeeds in restoring his soul, she is too late as before she does so he performs the ritual,
meaning he must be killed Even though it is clear that his souls is restored and the evil Angelus is replaced by the
good Angel, Buffy still must kill him to save the world in a tragic ending to the season. Buffy, who has had to reveal her
Slayer identity to her mother, is expelled from school and decides to leave Sunnydale for good.
Appendix 1
91
Season Three
The season opens with Buffy working as a waitress in LA and she has to confront a group of demons who entice young
homeless people into an underground hell dimension where they are exploited and when no longer able to work (time
goes faster in this dimension which ages them prematurely) are thrown back onto the streets. She solves this problem
and decides to go home to Sunnydale. Angel has also been suffering in a hell dimension where time runs much faster
which causes his suffering to last much longer than normal time. He manages to return to Sunnydale without knowing
why or how but he is able to help Buffy deal with the season's new "Big Bad", the evil Mayor Richard Wilkins III. Faith,
another Slayer, is “called” after Kendra’s death at the end of the previous season. She has had an unhappy, deprived
"trailer-trash" childhood in Boston which causes her to be very unstable; and she is very fond of violence for its own
sake. She accidentally kills one of the mayor's assistants, and is won over to the "dark side". She becomes the mayor's
chief enforcer and he develops a paternal relationship with her: no doubt this substituted for the father she never had.
The Mayor, it turns out , is a demon who plans to "ascend" from human into pure demon. In a fight with Faith, Buffy
puts her into a coma where she remains until the middle of Season 4. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Giles's replacement as
watcher, also arrives in Season 3. (The Council of Watchers, feeling that Giles has grown too emotionally attached to
Buffy, sack him). Wyndam-Price is presented as a bit of a buffoon until he moves to LA to join the spin-off show, Angel
(see below). During the mayor's high school graduation address he turns into a giant reptile. Buffy and the student
body battle with him and his vampire minions. Buffy manages to blow him up but in doing so destroys Sunnydale High
School. Angel goes off to LA to fight evil (in the spin-off show, Angel) having realised there is no future for him and
Buffy.
Season Four
The characters, having left home and gone to university, have to deal deal with more grown-up issues over the next
four seasons. While Buffy and Willow start university at UC Sunnydale, Xander takes a trip around the America but soon
returns. The major narrative arc of the season concerns The Initiative, a top-secret military installation called manned
primarily by under-cover military personnel who double as teachers and students. Maggie Walsh is a psychology
professor but is secretly the head of the Initiative. Riley Finn is a teaching assistant but also an officer in the Initiative.
He and Buffy are attracted to each other but it takes some time for each to learn the other's secret identity. At first, the
Initiative appears to be a demon-fighting organization but it becomes clear that it wants to harness the demon powers
for military uses. One of their main experiments is Adam, a hybrid of demon and robot. Buffy works with the Initiative
for a while but Maggie Walsh, partly through jealousy at Buffy's influence over Riley, tries to get her killed but it is Adam
who kills Maggie Walsh and hatches a plan to create a hybrid race of demon/cyborg creatures like him. Riley gradually
realises the kind of organisation he is involved in and the harm it has been inflicting on him and his comrades. In
Season 4 Spike returns to Sunnydale as a regular character. He is captured by the Initiative who implant a microchip in
his brain which prevents him from doing harm to human beings. He manages to escape the Initiative but is deprived of
his power to harm humans. However, his violent urges find an outlet in fighting demons and he forms an alliance with
Buffy and the Scoobies. He can't be trusted though and it is not until season 5 that, through love of Buffy, he comes
over unambiguously to her side. Of the other characters, Anya - a former vengeance demon who is accidentally made
human - develops a relationship with Xander and becomes a regular character. Another new character is Tara, a shy
lesbian witch with whom Willow has a relationship which lasts until Tara's death near the end of Season 6. She replaces
Oz in Willow's affections. Oz decides to leave to see if he can find a cure for his lyncanthropy (he becomes a werewolf
for several nights every month). Another character from the previous season, Faith, also returns in this season as she
comes out of her Buffy-induced coma. She leaves Sunnydale and turns up in Angel where she seeks redemption and
ends up in prison. (She will return to Sunnydale for the final season). The season arc ends with the Scoobies - having
grown apart - combining to defeat Adam, the sum of their parts being superior to their individual powers. However,
there is a sort of coda in the final episode, Restless, which is a dream sequence involving the four main characters and
is very much a surrealist "art movie", though relating to previous and subsequent narrative arcs.
Season Five
The big surprise at the end of the first episode of Season 1 is that Buffy has a sister who previously never existed. At
first, Dawn's origins are kept mysterious, both to the audience and to the characters. Eventually it is revealed that the
fourteen-year-old is "The Key", created by a group of monks who fashioned the girl from a ball of mystical energy
and gave Buffy and all those around her a lifetime worth of completely convincing false memories. All of this was to
92
Appendix 1
protect the Key from the evil Glory, a powerful exiled hell-God, expelled from her own dimension as a disruptive
influence who has to shares her body with a human (a young doctor called Ben) and feeds off the mental energy of
humans. The primary action of Season Five revolves around Glory's efforts to locate the Key which will allow her return
to her own dimension, and Buffy and her friend's struggle to discover Glory's true plans and to protect the innocent
Dawn. The season also details Dawn's struggle to accept what she is, as well as Spike's ongoing unrequited love for
Buffy. A dramatic highlight of the fifth season was also the unexpected death of Buffy's mother (from completely natural
causes) in an episode - The Body - which won the series its widest critical acclaim. Glory eventually discovers the Key's
new form, and determines to sacrifice the girl in a ritual which would bring down the walls that separate different
dimensions, resulting in absolute chaos and torment for every living thing. In a similar conflict to the one in season two,
it is revealed that once the ritual is performed, the only way to save the world would be to kill Dawn. However, once the
ritual has begun, Buffy realizes that she and Dawn share the same essence, and rather than let her sister die, Buffy
throws herself into the vortex and sacrifices her own life. Season Five ends with the world safe, Dawn completely mortal
and human, and Buffy dead and buried.
Season Six
This is the first season after Buffy's move from WBTV to UPN. It begins with Buffy being resurrected through Willow
using a powerful spell. (In the show's mythology, magic cannot normally bring back the dead but, because Buffy's death
was not "natural", it is possible.) Wilow has convinced the others that she must have been suffering torment in a Hell
dimension, but Buffy later confides to Spike she was in fact at peace " in heaven", something which, under the force of
the “dancing demon" in the musical episode, Once More with Feeling, she reveals to her horrified friends the truth of
her situation). The season deals largely with her alienation and unhappiness at being brought back and having to deal
with day-to-day reality, with loneliness, with having to earn money (her mother's medical bills having exhausted
whatever savings they had) and with being a surrogate mother to Dawn. The "Big Bad' in this season is not some
powerful demon like the Master or Hell-god like Glory: it is the troika of pathetic nerds from high school, Warren (who
had managed to create a robot girlfriend in the previous season), Jonathan (a loner who almost killed himself at high
school but for Buffy's intervention) and Andrew (pathetic brother of one of Season 3's minor villains). Comically
inadequate they may be but they also prove, through their geeky genius, to be a real danger to Buffy and strive to be
her "arch nemesis-es". A key narrative arc involves Willow and her growing addiction to magic. This arc merges into
the season's climax, when Willow's lover Tara is killed by Warren with a bullet destined for Buffy, and Willow goes on
the rampage, using her, by now, very powerful mastery of witchcraft. She takes revenge on Warren by flaying him to
death and takes on Buffy and the Scoobies who are trying to prevent her from killing Jonathan and Andrew. Finding
her grief intolerable, she seeks to end sadness in the world by destroying it . Giles returns from England (he had left in
the middle of the season to allow Buffy to be more independent) with power developed by a coven of "white" witches
but he seems no match for her. In the end, it is Xander, who had been previously wallowing in self-pity at his own
inadequacies, who saves the day by giving Willow unconditional love and forgiveness which gets through to her in time
to stop her destroy the world.
Another major arc in Season 6 also involved Spike's love for Buffy. It is unrequited love, despite the fact that she and
Spike have a passionate and violent sexual affair. But she admits she was only using him to make her feel something,
still suffering as she is from the trauma of being wrenched out of heaven. Spike can't handle her rejection, even going
as far as attempted rape to win her back. He leaves Sunnydale, seemingly to have his chip removed so he can be his
former self but what actually happens is that, after going through torment, his chip remains but his own human soul is
restored to him.
Season Seven
The final season returns to its roots with Sunnydale High School having been rebuilt (above the Hellmouth) where Dawn
is a student and Buffy gets a job as a student counsellor. The season revolves around the "First Evil", the evil that
underpins all other evil. It had previously appeared in Season 3 attempting to convince Angel - driven to near-despair
by pangs of conscience at his evil deeds – to destroy himself. The "First"can’t harm Buffy or the others directly but has
agents known as "bringers" who attempt to kill all potential slayers so that Buffy, when she is killed, will have no
successor. The First also empowers Caleb, a mysogynistic fundamentalist preacher who at first appears too strong for
Buffy but eventually she is able to overcome him. The First manages to sow fear and confusion by the ability to take on
Appendix 1
93
the appearance of any person who has died (including Buffy who has already "died" twice). For example, she takes the
form of the dead mother of the new high school principal, Robin Wood, who had been the slayer killed by Spike in New
York in 1977.
After the bringers wipe out the Watchers' Council and several potential slayers, Giles gathers the remainder at Buffy's
house in Sunnydale to train them for the battles to come. The season also highlights the spiritual struggles of (the now
re-ensouled) Spike who - like Angel - has to learn to live with remorse for his past deeds. It becomes clear as the
season progresses that the First Evil has been gathering beneath the Hellmouth an army of ferocious, vampire offshoots
known as Turok-Han, far more powerful and violent than the normal ex-human variety. The season ends with a climactic
battle within the Hellmouth itself. With the aid of a sacred scythe, Willow invokes a magical spell which results in every
girl in the world with the potential to become a slayer being able to be a slayer. Buffy's small army of potentilals are
now endowed with full Slayer power and form a powerful army. This includes Faith who, having resisted bringers'
attempts to kill her in prison, comes back to Sunnydale to help Buffy. Her redemption is complete. They manage to
contain the army of vampires (not without losing Anya who has - unlike at the end of Season 3 - stayed to fight with the
"stupid" humans). They hold off the vampire hordes long enough for a powerful amulet worn by Spike to destroy all of
the creatures in the Hellmouth, which kills Spike in the process, and causes an earthquake which destroys the entire
town of Sunnydale, leaving nothing but an empty crater where the town (abandoned by its citizens earlier in the series)
and the Hellmouth used to be. The show ends its run with the Hellmouth closed, and Buffy no longer the only "Chosen
One." Giles informs him that a new Hellmouth has opened up - in Cleveland.
94
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
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Ellis, John, Visible Fictions. London, Routledge, 1972.
European Journal of Cultural Studies, Special Issue, The Vampire Spike in Text and Fandom: Unsettling Oppositions
in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Volume 8, No 3 London: Sage Publications, August 2005.
Field, Syd, Screenplay London. Dell, 1979.
Golden, Christopher and Holder, Nancy. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Watcher's Guide. New York: Pocket Books,
1998.
Hills, Matthew. Reading the (Teen/Star/Vampire/Cult) Romance: Buffy, Reading Formations and the Rising Stakes of
Generic Hybridity.in Parks, Lisa and Levine, Elana (eds), Red Noise: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Critical Television
Studies. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005.
Jancovich, Mark and Lyons, James (eds). Quality Popular Television, London: BFI, 2003.
Kaveney, Roz (ed.), Reading the Vampire Slayer (2nd ed), London and New York: IB Tauris, 2004.
Kawin, B, How Movies Work, Berkley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1992.
Lacey, Nick, An Introduction to Film, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Lacey, Nick. in the picture, issue 40 (West Yorks, Autumn 2000)
Lacey, Nick. Narrative and Genre, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000
McQueen, David. Television: A Media Student’s Guide. London: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Miller, Toby (ed.), Television Studies, London: BFI, 2003.
O’Sullivan, Tim; Dutton, Brian; and Philip Rayner (eds) Studying the Media. London, Arnold, 1998.
Parks, Lisa, “Brave New Buffy: Rethinking ‘TV Violence”, in Quality Popular Television Jancovich, Mark and Lyons,
James. (eds) London: BFI, 2003, p 123.
Appendix 2
95
Parks, Lisa, and Levine, Elana (eds). Red Noise: Critical Writings on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Durham: Duke UP,
2005.
Patterson, John), “Move Over Hollywood”, The Guardian, London: May 20, 2006
Riess, Jana. What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide, Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2004
South, James B. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, New York: Open
Court Press, 2003
Thomas, Deborah, "Reading Buffy" in Close-up, issue 01. London: Wallflower Press, 2006. pp 214-234.
Thompson, Kristin. Storytelling in the New Hollywood, London and Cambridge Massachsets, Harvard University
Press, 2001.
Todorov,Tristran, The Poetics of Prose, Oxford: Blackwell, 1977.
Turnbull, Sue and Stranieri, Vyvyan, Bite Me: Narrative Structures and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Victoria: Australian
Centre for the Moving Image, 2003.
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey, London, Boxtree, 1996.
Wilcox, Rhonda V and Lavery, David (eds) Fighting the Forces, Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford: Rowman
and Littlefield, 2002.
Wilcox, Rhonda. Why Buffy Matters London: IB Tauris, 2005.
Websites
There are thousands of websites devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The following are particularly useful:
www.slayage.com
http://angelicslayer.com
www.buffyworld.com
www.buffyguide.com
Like many Buffy-related sites, these are now legacy sites, no longer being updated, but they are very useful for
episode guides, summaries and transcripts, reviews, etc.
www.slayage.tv
www.watcherjunior.tv
Slayage is an academic journal rather than a fan-site, and is edited by David Lavery and Rhonda Wilcox, authors and
editors of Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As well as a vast collection of academic
articles, some complex and forbidding, especially for secondary school students, others more accessible, it has an
episode guide with all writers and directors catalogued. It is also the focus for the various academic conferences
that have been held in the last few years, news of new Buffy books and other events, and regular links to
recommended essays from other publications.
WatcherJunior is an undergraduate version of Slayage.
http://davidlavery.net
This is the website of one of the main Buffy scholars, David Lavery, who moved in 2006 from Tennessee University to
take up the Chair of Film and Television Studies at Brunel University in London. There is a section on Joss Whedon,
Wonderboy by Lavery, which is to be published by IB Tauris in 2007.
96
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Films and Television Programmes
Referred To
(i)
1
Feature Films
10 Things I Hate About You (Gil Junger, USA, 1999)
The Adventures of the Road Runner (Chuck Jones,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Chris
Columbus, USA, 2001)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA, 1940)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (Jim Gillespie, USA,
1997)
Maurice Noble, Warner Bros, 1962)
I Spit on Your Grave (Meir Zarchi, USA, 1978)
Alien ( Ridley Scott, USA, 1979)
The Indian in the Cupboard (Frank Oz, USA, 1995)
American Pie (Paul Weitz, USA, 1999)
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA, 1934)
The Amityville Horror (Stuart Rosenberg, USA, 1979)
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, USA, 1955)
Beverly Hills Cop (Martin Brest, USA, 1984)
The Last Seduction (John Dahl, USA, 1994)
The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, USA, 1946)
Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson. New Zealand/USA,
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1963)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, USA, 1982)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fran Rubel Kuzui, USA, 1992)
Carrie (Brian De Palma, USA, 1976)
Carry on Screaming (Gerald Thomas, UK, 1966)
Casablanca (Michael Curtis, USA, 1942)
Child's Play (Tom Holland, USA, 1988)
Clueless (Amy Heckerling, USA, 1995)
2001)
The Vampires (Les Vampires) (Louis Feuillade, France,
1915)
La Ronde (Max Ophuls, France, 1950)
The Lost Boys (Clive Gordon, USA, 2002)
Love at First Bite (Stan Dragoti USA, 1979)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, USA, 1941)
The Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, USA, 1984)
North by Northwest (Afred Hitchcock, USA, 1959)
Nosferatu - A Symphony of Terror (FW Murnau,
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, China, 2000)
Germany, 1921)
Cruel Intentions (Roger Kumble, USA, 1999)
The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, USA, 1963)
Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, USA, 1978)
Pan’s Labyrinth/ (El Laberinto del Faun ) (Guillermo del
Don't Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, UK, 1973)
Dracula (Terence Fisher, UK, 1958)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, USA, 1990)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, USA, 1973)
The Faculty (Robert Rodriguez, 1998)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moor, USA, 2004)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, UK, 1994)
Frankenstein (James Whale, USA, 1931)
Friday 13th, (Sean S. Cunningham, USA, 1980)
Ghost (Jerry Zucker, USA, 1990)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1972)
Groundhog Day (Harry Ramis, USA, 1993)
Halloween (John Carpenter, USA, 1978)
Toro, Spain/USA, 2006)
The Pit and the Pendulum (Roger Corman, USA, 1961)
Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, USA, 1986)
Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, USA, 1990)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1960)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, USA, 1994)
Rebel Without a Cause (Nicolas Ray, USA, 1955)
Reservoir Dogs (Quenton Tarantino, USA, 1992)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, USA,
1975)
Scream (Wes Craven, USA, 1996)
The Searchers (John Ford, USA, 1956)
The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet) (Ingmar
Bergman, Sweden, 1957)
Appendix 3 97
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1980)
Grange Hill (BBC, 1978 –)
The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, USA, 1999)
Hill Street Blues (MTM/NBC, 1981-1989)
Stagecoach (John Ford, USA, 1939)
I Love Lucy (Desilu Productions, USA, 1951-1957)
Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, USA, 1971)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Warner
Sunset Blvd (Billy Wilder, USA, 1950)
Bros. Television, USA, 1993-1997)
Supersize Me (Morgan Spurlock, USA, 2004)
Married with Children (Columbia Pictures TV, USA, 1987-
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, USA, 1974)
There's Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter
1997)
Melrose Place (Fox Television, USA, 1992-1997)
Farrelly, 1998)
Middlemarch (BBC, UK, 1994)
To Be and To Have /Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert,
Murder One (20th Century Fox TV/ABC, 1995),
France, 2002)
Untouchables (Brian de Palma, USA, 1987)
The wizard of Oz (victor fleming, USA, 1939)
Murder, She Wrote (USA, Universal TV, 1984-1996)
My So-Called Life (ABC Productions, USA, 1994-1995)
NYPD Blues (20th Century Fox Television, USA, 1993-
Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, USA, 1974)
2005)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de
Pride and Prejudice (BBC, UK, 1991)
Rochefort) (Jacques Demy, France, 1967)
Zero for Behaviour (Zéro de Conduite) (Jean Vigo,
France, 1933)
The Rockford Files (NBC, USA, 1974-1980)
Roswell (20th Century Fox TV, USA, 1999-2002)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Warner Bros. TV, USA, 1996
(ii)
Television Programmes
– 2003)
24 (20th Century Fox TV, 2001 -)
Saved by the Bell (NBC, USA, 1989-1993)
Ally McBeal (20th Century Fox TV, 1997 -2002)
Scooby-Doo (Warner Bros TV, 1969-)
The A-Team (NBC, 1983-1987)
The Simpsons (20th Century Fox TV, USA, 1989-)
Angel (20th Century Fox TV, USA, 1999-2004)
The Sopranos (Home Box Office, USA, 1999 -)
Beverley Hills 90210 (Spelling Television, USA, 1999-2000)
Star Trek (Desilu Productions Inc; Paramount Television
((1966-1969)
Big Brother (Canel 4/Endemol, UK, 2000 -)
Veronica Mars (Warner Bros. TV, USA, 2004)
Bleak House (BBC, UK, 2005)
The West Wing (Warner Bros. TV, USA, 1999-2006)
Brookside (Channel 4/Mersey TV, 1982 – 2003)
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire (ABC, US, 1999 – 2002)
Coronation Street (Granada, UK, 1960 -)
Will and Grace (NBC, USA, 1998 – 2006)
Count Dracula (BBC, UK, 1977)
Xena the Warrior Princess (Universal TV, 1995 – 2001)
CSI (CBS, USA, 2000 -)
X-Factor (Thames Television, UK, 2004)
Dawson's Creek (Columbia Tristar TV, USA, (1998-2003)
1
EastEnders (BBC, UK, 1985 -)
Eldorado (BBC, UK, 1992-1993)
ER (Warner Brothers, USA, 1994 -)
Firefly (20th Century Fox TV, USA, 2002-2004)
Films are referenced by the name of the
director, the main country involved in finance
and production and the year. This does not
necessarily support the view that the director
is always the main “author” of a film.
Television programmes are referenced by the
Forever Knight (Paragon Entertainment Corp. USA, 1992)
main production company and the year. The
Frasier (Paramount Television, USA, 1993 – 2004)
main source for both is the Internet Movie
Data Base (www.imdb.com).
Friends (Warner Brothers TV, USA, 1994-2004
98
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Glossary of Media Studies Terminology
1
180° system
The continuity approach to editing dictates that the camera should stay on one side of the
action to ensure consistent left-right spatial relations between objects from shot to shot.
The 180° line is the same as the axis of action. See also continuity editing, screen direction.
academy ratio
The standardized shape of the film frame established by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences. In the original ratio, the frame was 1 1/3 times as wide as it was high
(1.33:1); later the width was normalized at 1.85 times the height (1.85:1). Joss Whedon
claims to have designed Buffy’s mise en scene for Academy ratio but the (European) DVDs
were in 16:9 widescreen format.
action code
One of Barthes’ narrative codes, it governs how actions are sequenced, eg the putting on
of a gun belt in a western suggesting preparing for action; the packing of a suitcase
suggesting leaving. Also known as the proairetic code.
aesthetic
Relates to the idea of form and beauty in a work of art, the way the text creates
appreciation in the audience.
allegory
A story with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or more obvious
meaning.
ambient sound
Background sound that you tend not to notice. If there was absolutely no sound the
audiuence would notice so ambient sounds, eg of the city or of the coutryside are placed
on the soundtrack at low volume.
ambivalence
Co-existence in one person of different emotional attitudes towards the same person or
situation.
anachrony
A term used to denote a discrepancy between the order in which events of the story occur
and the order in which they are presented to us in the plot. Anachronies take two basic
forms: ‘flashback’ or ‘analepsis’, and ‘flashforward’ or ‘prolepsis’.
analepsis
See anachrony
anchorage/anchoring
A term used by Roland Barthes (1915-1980) to describe the interaction of words and visual
texts. A photograph, according to Barthes is polysemic (i.e., open to a range of possible
meanings). Text is added, perhaps in the form of a caption or an advertising slogan, to
"anchor" the meaning, to lead the reader towards the preferred reading of the visual text.
More broadly, anchorage of an image's meaning can occur not only through words, but,
for example, through the juxtaposition of two images; by non-diegetic music in film
anchoring a particular mood or tone.
angle of framing
The position of the frame in relation to the subject it shows: above it, looking down (a high
angle); horizontal, on the same level (a straight-on angle); looking up (a low angle). Also
called camera angle.
archetype
A character type or pattern of action, which recurs, related to universal myths, eg the hero,
the quest.
art film narration
Art film narration departs from classical narration in that events and actions do not always
have an obvious cause or motivation, with a loosening of the cause-and-effect chain and
an emphasis on psychology rather than action. It is a style of narration that draws attention
to itself, unlike the “invisible style favoured by classic Hollywood. Art cinema favours style
over story, ambiguity over clarity, open endings over closure, cineliterate over popular
audience. Examples of directors whose output is classified as art film include Fellini, Bunuel
and Bergman. Although there are occasional elements of art film narration in Buffy,
Restless [4.22] is the only episode totally dominated by this style.
auteur
A filmmaker (usually a director) whose films show a personal vision or style; it originated in
the French New Wave movement in the late 1950s/early 1960’s and was used to
distinguished ordinary “craftsmen” directors from those who had a more original vision.
More recently used to refer to creative producers and writers in television such as Whedon.
avant garde
Innovative, experimental work which breaks mainstream conventions.
Appendix 4
99
axis of action
In the continuity editing system, the imaginary line that passes from side to side through
the main actors, defining the spatial relations of all the elements of the scene as being to
the right or left. The camera is not supposed to cross the axis at a cut and thus reverse
those spatial relations. Also called the 180° line. (See also 180° system.)
backlighting
Illumination cast onto the figures in the scene from the side opposite the camera, usually
creating a thin outline of highlighting on those figures.
binary oppositions
The theory that you cannot understand good if you don’t understand evil, eg heroes and
villains.
camera angle
See angle of framing.
canted framing
A view in which the frame is not level; either the right or left side is lower than the other,
causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an upright position. (Also known as
Dutch angle or framing).
catharsis
The effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama (according to Aristotle ‘s
Poetics (4th century BC). Tragedy had the effect of arousing pity and fear in such a way as
to lead to a “cleansing of the emotions. This has been interpteted as an explanation to the
puzzle of why audiences experience pleasure or relief in viewing the disturbing events
enacted in tragedies and, by extension, horror.
categories
A key aspect of Media Studies – how producers and audiences categorise texts in terms of
medium, purpose, form, genre, tone, style etc.
cinematography
A general term for all the manipulations of the film strip by the camera in the shooting
phase and by the laboratory in the developing phase.
classic narrative
or classic Hollywood
narrative
The dominant narrative mode found in mainstream film which uses traditional narrative
structure (equilibrium, disruption, return to equilibrium), a goal-driven protagonist and
continuity editing to give clarity.
cliché
The predictable treatment of any element of a media text, eg happy ending of most
blockbusters.
cliff-hanger
An ending that creates suspense, often used in a ‘soap’ to make the audience watch the
next episode.
climax
The point in the narrative where conflicts/enigmas are resolved.
close-up
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large; most commonly a
person's head seen from the neck up, or an object of a comparable size that fills most of
the screen.
closure
The degree to which the ending of a narrative film reveals the effects of all the causal
events and resolves (or "closes off") all lines of action. In a closed narrative, there are no
enigmas left for the audience.
codes
Systems of signs which can be analysed in terms of denotation and connotation.
connotation
The meaning associated with a sign, eg a red rose could be associated with love; (in
contrast to denotation which is the primary or literal meaning).
consumption
How audiences access media texts, eg films may be viewed in cinemas, on video, on DVD,
on cable, on satellite etc.
context
External aspects of a text which shape its style and meaning, eg the audience, social and
institutional contexts.
continuity editing
A system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. Continuity editing
relies on matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot. For
specific techniques of continuity editing, see axis of action, crosscutting, cut-in,
establishing shot, eyeline match, match on action, reestablishing shot, screen direction,
shot/reverse shot.
contrast
In cinematography, the difference between the brightest and darkest areas within the
frame.
convention
Established ways of treating genre, codes, narrative or representations.
100
Appendix 4
crane shot
A shot taken from a special device called a crane, which resembles a huge mechanical
arm. The crane carries the camera and the cinematographer, and can move in virtually any
direction.
crosscutting
Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places,
usually simultaneously.
cult
A text which has an avid following by a (relatively small) group of people who engage with
the text in a more intense way that an average audience, for example, on web-sites and
attend conventions etc.
cultural codes
Sign systems that are shared by members of a culture, eg dress, gestures, linguistics.
culture
The shared ideas and practices of any social group.
cut
1.
2.
cut-in
An instantaneous shift from a distant framing to a closer view of some portion of the same
space.
decoding
The processes by which media audiences interpret meaning in a media text.
deep focus
A use of the camera lens and lighting that keeps both the close and distant planes being
photographed in sharp focus.
deep space
An arrangement of mise-en-scene elements so that there is a considerable distance
between the plane closest to the camera and the one farthest away. Any or all of these
planes may be in focus. (See shallow space.)
demographics
The social characteristics of an audience, eg social class, age, gender.
denotation
The description of a sign, eg the dictionary definition (as opposed to connotation).
dialogue overlap
In editing a scene, arranging the cut so that a bit of dialogue coming from shot A is heard
under a shot that shows another character on another element in the scene. Aka
overlapping sound.
diegesis
In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesis includes events that are
presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown onscreen. See also diegetic
sound, nondiegetic insert, nondiegetic sound.
diegesis, diegetic,
The 'world' of a text, as indicated not only by what can be seen, or by sounds generated
from on-screen actions and objects (eg footsteps, explosions) but also by off-screen
sounds that belong to the world being depicted (eg birdsong, church bells). The diegesis
of a film or series can follow different rules to the ‘normal’ world. For example, the
diegesis of Buffy (“the Buffyverse”) has its own rules that don’t apply to our world.
diegetic sound
(external and
internal); nondiegetic sound
External diegetic sound is represented as coming from a physical source within the story
space that we assume characters in the scene also hear. Internal diegetic sound is
represented as coming from the mind of a character within the story space. Although we
and the character can hear it, we assume that the other characters cannot. Non-diegetic
sound is typically music or sound effects not generated in the filmic world but added to
indicate characters' state of mind or to generate audience response, eg mood music or a
narrator's commentary.
In filmmaking, the joining of two strips of film together with a splice.
In the finished film, an instantaneous change from one framing to another. See also
jump cut.
Other non-diegetic elements are titles (“China 1905”), titles and credits.
direct address
Making the audience feel they are participating in what is happening, eg newscasters use
direct address as if they are speaking directly to the viewer. Not normally used in a fictional
text (“breaking the fourth wall”) but occasionally used for certain effects.
discourse
Systematic ways of presenting representations so as to express particular ideologies or
myths, eg nationalistic discourses in sports coverage; the discourse of the countryside as
natural, peaceful, beautiful etc.
dissolve
A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the
second image gradually appears; for a moment the two images blend in superimposition.
Appendix 4
101
distance of framing
The apparent distance of the frame from the mise-en-scene elements. Also called camera
distance and shot scale. See also close-up, extreme close-up, extreme long shot, medium
close-up, medium shot, plan américain.
distribution
One of the three branches of the film industry; the process of supplying the finished film to
the places where it will be shown. See also exhibition, production.
dolly
A camera support with wheels, used in making tracking shots.
dominant decoding
When a reader interprets a text in the preferred way, eg they interpret the text the way the
maker wants them to
dominant ideology
When the beliefs of the majority or powerful groups in society dominate.
dramatic irony
See irony.
dumbing-down
The idea that media is becoming more trivial, eg entertainment has replaced information,
soft news is replacing hard news.
Dutch angle
See canted framing.
editing
1.
ellipsis
In a narrative film, the shortening of plot duration achieved by omitting intervals of story
duration. See also elliptical editing, viewing time.
elliptical editing
Shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an ellipsis in plot and story duration.
encoding
The process by which media producers construct meanings in a text.
enigma
A question posed in a text.
enigmatic code
Structuring a narrative to pose a question, eg minor enigma (who is this character), major
enigma (will they live happily ever after); also known as the hermeneutic code
escapism
The audience’s use of media to escape from the pressures and limitations of everyday life.
establishing shot
A shot, usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among the
important figures, objects, and setting in a scene.
exhibition
One of the three branches of the film industry; the process of showing the finished film to
audiences. See also distribution, production.
exposure
The adjustment of the camera mechanism in order to control how much light strikes each
frame of film passing through the aperture.
extreme close-up
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small
object or a part of the body.
extreme long shot
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or
crowd of people will fill the screen.
eyeline match
In continuity editing, a cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows
a person looking off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing
what he or she sees. If the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the
looker is offscreen right.
fade
1.
2.
fill light
Illumination from a source less bright than the key light, used to soften deep shadows in a
scene. See also three-point lighting.
film noir
Literally, dark film, a term applied by French critics to a type of American film made in the
1940s and 1950s, usually in the detective or thriller genres, with low-key lighting and a
sombre mood. It used low-key lighting, shadows etc to reflect the dark side of human
nature.
film stock
The strip of material upon which a series of still photographs is registered; it consists of a
clear base coated on one side with a light-sensitive emulsion.
102
Appendix 4
In filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes. 2. In the finished film,
the set of techniques that governs the relations among shots.
Fade-in: A dark screen that gradually brightens as a shot appears.
2. Fade-out: A shot gradually darkens as the screen goes black. Occasionally fadeouts brighten to pure white or to a colour.
filter
A piece of glass or gelatin placed in front of the camera or printer lens to alter the quality
or quantity of light striking the film in the aperture.
flashback
An alteration of story order in which the plot moves back to show events that have taken
place earlier than the one already shown. (cf prolepsis, analepsis and anachrony).
focal length
The distance from the center of the lens to the point at which the light rays meet in sharp
focus. The focal length determines the perspective relations of the space represented on
the flat screen. See also normal lens, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens.
focus
The degree to which light rays coming from the same part of an object through different
parts of the lens reconverge at the same point on the film frame, creating sharp outlines
and distinct textures.
font
The design/style of characters in the typeface.
form
The general system of relationships among the parts of a film.
frame
A single image on the strip of film. When a series of frames is projected onto a screen in
quick succession, an illusion of movement is created.
framing
The use of the edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be visible
onscreen.
freeze frame
A shot composed of a single frame that is reprinted a number of times on the fstrip; when
projected, it gives the illusion of a still photograph.
frontal lighting
Illumination directed into the scene from a position near the camera.
genre
A set of conventions or common practices which guide the production, marketing,
identification and interpretation of texts (eg musical, romantic comedy,gangster, soap,
gameshow, quiz show).
goal-driven
protagonist
The protagonist is the central character who embodies the central conflict in a drama. He
or she will have a conscious want or goal which is difficult to achieve. The goal driven
protagonist is one of the characteristics of Hollywood cinema. Buffy’s goal is to protect
humanity from vampires and demons.
graphic match
Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements
(e.g., color, shape).
hand-held camera
The use of the camera operator's body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or
using a harness.
height of framing
The distance of the camera above the ground, regardless of the angle of framing.
hermeneutic code
See enigmatic code.
high-key lighting
Illumination that creates comparatively little contrast between the light and dark areas of
the shot. Shadows are fairly transparent and brightened by fill light.
hip
Aware of the latest trends in music, media. Fashion etc. (Often used in quotation marks to
indicate its colloquial register).
hooks
Ways of getting the attention of the viewer so they will watch or continue to watch, eg
trailers, cliff hangers.
icon
An icon is a type of sign that has a close resemblance to what it represents, eg a
photograph or a portrait. Also, someone idolised by others, eg pop star, politician.
iconography
The use of a well-known cultural symbol or complex of symbols in an artistic
representation. In films, iconography can involve a star’s persona, the shootout (in a
western), the use of archetypal characters and situations, and such stylistic features as
lighting, settings, costuming, props, and so on.
identify
When a viewer becomes emotionally involved with a character or what is happening.
ideology
A relatively coherent system of values, beliefs, or ideas shared by some social group and
often taken for granted as natural or inherently true. See dominant and oppositional
ideologies.
Appendix 4
103
image
i.
a visual representation
ii.
the general impression of a person, event, object or organisation which has been
specially constructed for the mass media, eg the image of the Prime Minister
constructed by ‘spin doctors’.
index
A type of sign that links or gives evidence, eg smoke – fire; sweat – effort or state of mind;
mercury rising in a thermometer – rising temperature.
indie
A contraction of the word independent, “indie” is used to refer to production which is
independent of mainstream commercial culture. The term was originally used about
popular music (where it was characterized by a do-it-yourself approach) and spread to
other cultural forms, including film. It overlaps with avant garde and cult, and the indie
sector is often seen as a new source of talent to refresh the mainstream. (Like “hip”, often
used with quotation marks to indicate its colloquial register).
institutions
How the production of media output is organised, financed, and controlled and how these
shape media texts. A Key Aspect of Media Studies.
integration
The links between each key aspect.
intellectual montage
The juxtaposition of a series of images to create an abstract idea not present in any one
image.
interpretation
The viewer's activity of analyzing the implicit and symptomatic meanings suggested in a
film. See also meaning.
intertextuality
The way in which media texts gain their meanings by referring to other media texts that
the producers assume that the reader will be familiar with and recognise. Another feature
typical of postmodernism.
irony
A contrast or an incongruity between what is said or written and what is really meant, or
between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. Two kinds of irony
are: 1) verbal irony, in which a writer or speaker says one thing and means something
entirely different (a form of wit used frequently on Buffy; and 2) dramatic irony in which a
reader or audience member perceives something that a character in the story does not.
For example, in Fool for Love Spike boasts to Buffy, I’ve always been bad”. Then there is a
flashback to spike in his pre-vampire days in nineteenth century England where spike, far
from being ‘bad”, is shown as a weak, effeminate, foppish failed poet.
jump cut
An elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot. Either the figures seem
to change instantly against a constant background, or the background changes instantly
while the figures remain constant. See also ellipsis.
juxtaposition
The side by side positioning of an article/item in relation to others which gives added or
contrasting meaning.
key light
In the three-point lighting system, the brightest illumination coming into the scene. See
also backlighting, fill light, three-point lighting.
language
Key aspect of Media Studies – how the media create meanings through the use of codes
(technical/cultural codes).
lens
A shaped piece of transparent material (usually glass) with either or both sides curved to
gather and focus light rays. Most camera and projector lenses place a series of lenses
within a metal tube to form a compound lens.
linearity
In a narrative, the clear motivation of a series of causes and effects that progress without
significant digressions, delays, or irrelevant actions.
long shot
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would
appear nearly the height of the screen.
long take
A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot (a
trope favoured by Joss Whedon and frequently used in Buffy.)
long-form
narrative/drama
A (relatively recent) term used to describe both television serials and series, as well as mini
series, sitcoms and soaps.
low-key lighting
Illumination that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot, with
deep shadows and little fill light. Used to connote evil in eg film noir.
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mainstream
Media products aimed at a mass audience, usually implying unadventurous in style,
avoiding experimentation. Most of Hollywood’s product is likely to be mainstream as
opposed to the independent (“indie”) sector which tends to be more adventurous.
major
International media company which is part of a larger conglomerate, eg Warner Brothers is
part of Time-Warner: Fox is part of News International.
match on action
A continuity cut which places two different framings of the same action together at the
same moment in the gesture, making it seem to continue uninterrupted. For example, a
shot shows someone starting to move then the next shot shows them finishing the
movement – the viewer follows the action and does not notice the cut.
meaning
1. Referential meaning: Allusion to particular items of knowledge outside the text that the
viewer is expected to recognize. 2. Explicit meaning: Significance presented overtly, usually
in language and often near the text’s beginning or end. 3. Implicit meaning: Significance
left tacit, for the viewer to discover upon analysis or reflection. 4. Symptomatic meaning:
Significance that the text divulges, often against its will, by virtue of its historical or social
context.
media construct
A text constructed from signs and codes chosen by a maker to create preferred reading.
medium close-up
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is fairly large; a human figure seen from
the chest up would fill most of the screen.
medium long shot
A framing at a distance that makes an object about four or five feet high appear to fill
most of the screen vertically. See also plan américain, the special term for a medium long
shot depicting human figures.
medium shot
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is of moderate size; a human figure seen
from the waist up would fill most of the screen.
merchandising
Products which are based on films, eg T-shirts, toys etc.
Mickey Mousing
A film technique in which music is composed to sync up with various occurring events in
the film. The term comes from the early and mid-production Walt Disney films, where the
music almost completely works to mimic the animated motions of the characters.
miniseries (in the UK,
usually mini-series)
A television drama running over several episodes – typically three – each episode lasting
about 2 hours. Eg Angels Over America.
mise en scene
Literally ‘putting together the scene’; All the elements placed in front of the camera to be
photographed: the settings and props, lighting, costumes and make-up, and figure
behaviour. .In textual analysis, how we read the actions of the creative personnel in a film
crew who visualise a script. For some, cinematic mise en scene encompasses both the
staging of the action and the way that it is photographed (cinematography).
modality
Modality refers to how close to reality the producer intends a particular text to be. For
example, the makers of Tom and Jerry obviously intended their animation to be some
distance from realistic - to have 'low modality'. Some documentary makers, on the other
hand - especially observational documentaries - would like to persuade us that they are
capturing a version of reality - ie 'high modality'. Each text will include clues as to how high
or low the modality is. 'Modality markers' might include whether there is music on a
soundtrack, whether the editing is stylised, or shots are long and static. While Buffy’s
modality in generally of low modality, many episodes and sequences are of high modality.
mode of address
How the text speaks to its audience, eg direct or indirect.
montage
1. Transitional sequences of rapidly edited images, used to suggest the lapse of time or
the passing of events. Often employs dissolves and multiple exposures. (Sometimes
referred to as “American montage”) In Europe, montage means the art of editing. 2. An
approach to editing developed by the Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s; it emphasises
dynamic, often discontinuous, relationships between shots and the juxtaposition of images
to create ideas not present in either one by itself. See also discontinuity editing,
intellectual montage.
montage sequence
A segment of a film that summarizes a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief
symbolic or typical images. Frequently dissolves, fades, superimpositions, and wipes are
used to link the images in a montage sequence.
motif
An element in a film that is repeated in a significant way.
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motivation
The justification given in the film for the presence of an element. This may be an appeal to
the viewer's knowledge of the real world, to genre conventions, to narrative causality, or to
a stylistic pattern within the film. Motivation is the reason for the use of a specific code, eg
to aid understanding,
myth
The stories a culture tells about itself, eg representation of Scotland as a romantic land
peopled by brave warriors in kilts.
narration
The process through which the plot conveys or withholds story information. The narration
can be more or less restricted to character knowledge and more or less deep in presenting
characters' mental perceptions and thoughts.
narrative
How texts are organized (for example, plot and story). A key aspect of Media Studies
narrative arc
This term is used to refer to the long-term narrative developments to be found in longform drama, especially in the American TV series, especially ones where the basic series
format can also have a strong serial aspect creating a hybrid of serial and series. Whereas
the individual episodes might be self contained, resolved and closed by the end of the
episode, there are arc elements, narrative trajectories that work themselves out over longer
periods, such as the whole season or over several seasons. The X-Files is a good example,
with its disruption which Mulder and Scully set about dealing with by the end of the show,
and the narrative strands working themselves out over several episodes or several seasons
- the government cover-up, cancer man etc. Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses narrative arcs
with standalone monster-of-the-week episodes dominating early on, and a gradual "big
bad" narrative arc becoming more dominant as the season progresses so that by the end
the series has virtually become a serial. Some arcs, especially relationship ones, last
several seasons.
narrative codes
various rules used to construct narratives, eg enigmatic, action, semic etc (cf Barthes’
Codes)
narrative form
A type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to each other through a series of
causally related events taking place in time and space.
narrative structure
A recurring structure which is the basis of many different texts, eg classic narrative, the
quest; equilibrium/disruption
narrowcast(ing)
As the term suggests, an alternative to 'broadcast', in which a particular text, or whole
channel, is targeted at a narrow niche audience.
negotiated reading/
meaning
See preferred reading
non-resolution
When the end of the narrative is left open for the audience to decide what happened.
oppositional
decoding
When a reader interprets a text in a different way from the preferred reading.
over-exposure
This is where an excess of light has been allowed to hit the film, resulting in a pale,
washed-out look of the shot.
pan
A camera movement with the camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it
produces a mobile framing that scans the space horizontally.
parallel editing
When a film sequence cuts from one location to another to show events happening
simultaneously.
patriarchy,
patriarchal
Originally, rule by a patriarch, the oldest male of the family in some primitive cultures. By
extension, male rule, male dominance.
persona
From the Latin, “mask.”, the constructed image of a ‘star’; the actor’s public image, based
on his or her previous roles, and often incorporating elements from their actual
personalities as well.
plan américain
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is moderately small; the human figure
seen from the shins to the head would fill most of the screen. This is sometimes referred to
as a medium long shot, especially when human figures are not shown.
plan-séquence
French term for a scene handled in a single shot, usually a long take.
(see long take).
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plot
In a narrative film, all the events that are directly presented to us, including their causal
relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Opposed to story,
which is the viewer's imaginary construction of all the events in the narrative. See also
duration, ellipsis, frequency, order, viewing time.
point-of-view shot
(POV shot)
A shot taken with the camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be,
(showing what the character would see; usually cut in before or after a shot of the character
looking.
polysemic
Literally ‘many-signed’, an image in which there are several possible meanings de-pending
on the ways in which its constituent signs are read.
popular culture
Media texts enjoyed by a mass audience rather than an elite.
postmodernism
A style in arts and media which mixes high popular culture with different genre and
historical periods, eg Blade Runner, Twin Peaks and Buffy all have aspects of a
postmodernist style.
postsynchronization
The process of adding sound to images after they have been shot and assembled. This can
include dubbing of voices, as well as inserting diegetic music or sound effects. It is the
opposite of direct sound.
preferred reading/
meaning
How the maker(s) wants the audience to read the text. Related to the idea that texts
contain messages which support mainstream ideology. An oppositional reading is where
sections of the audience read the text in a way which opposes how they are meant to read
it; and a negotiated reading is where the audience accepts some aspects of the producers’
message and not others.
proairetic (code)
See action code.
product placement
The use of brand name products in a film or programme – companies pay for this sort of
advertising. Willow’s use of Apple Macs would appear to be an example of product
placement.
production
One of the three branches of the film industry; the process of creating the film. See also
distribution, exhibition.
prolepsis
See anachrony
public service
broadcasting
(PSB) broadcasting system whose primary aim is to serve the public.
punk-rock, punkrocker
A loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music, popular in the late 1970s and early
1980s. Typical punk bands were The Clash, Sham 69 and Spike’s favourite, The Sex Pistols
quest
A common narrative structure in which a hero(ine) searches for something or someone.
racking focus
Shifting the area of sharp focus from one plane to another during a shot; the effect on the
screen is called rack-focus.
rate
In shooting, the number of frames exposed per second; in projection, the number of
frames thrown on the screen per second. If the two are the same, the speed of the action
will appear normal, while a disparity will create slow or fast motion. The standard rate in
sound cinema is 24 frames per second for both shooting and projection but 25 on video
(30 in the USA).
re-establishing shot
A return to a view of an entire space after a series of closer shots following the establishing
shot.
referential code
Providing references in a narrative to general knowledge, eg references to history,
geography, entertainment, politics etc; aka cultural code.
reframing
Short panning or tilting movements to adjust for the figures' movements, keeping them
onscreen or centered.
representation
How media texts represent people, places, and events – a key aspect of Media Studies.
resolution
The outcome of a narrative conflict.
rhythm
The perceived rate and regularity of sounds, series of shots, and movements within the
shots. Rhythmic factors include beat (or pulse), accent (or stress), and tempo (or pace).
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scene
A segment in a narrative film that takes place in one time and space or that uses
crosscutting to show two or more simultaneous actions.
self-referentiality
self-reflexiveness
The tendency of a work of art to become self-conscious, to call attention to itself as
construct, to its conventions, structive and meaning. A feature of postmodernism.
segue
To move without interruption from one song (in music) or one scene (in film). Pronounced
seg-way.
sequence
Term commonly used for a moderately large segment of film, involving one complete
stretch of action. In a narrative film, often equivalent to a scene.
serial
Continuing storylines over a number of episodes – soaps are ‘unending serials’.
series
A set of episodes with the same characters and settings but with a complete story every
episode.
shallow focus
A restricted depth of field, which keeps only one plane in sharp focus; the opposite of
deep focus.
shot
1. In shooting, one uninterrupted run of the camera to expose a series of frames. Also
called a take. 2. In the finished film, one uninterrupted image with a single static or mobile
framing.
shot/reverse shot
Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation
situation. In continuity editing, characters in one framing usually look left, in the other
framing, right. Over-the-shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse-shot editing.
sign
Word, object, image or sound which communicate meaning.
signified
The concept associated with the signifier, eg BBC equals quality.
signifier
The physical form of the sign, eg BBC.
sjuzet
See fabula.
soap
A serial that focuses on the lives of ordinary people in realistic settings and uses multiple
storylines and cliff hangers.
soft lighting
Illumination that avoids harsh bright and dark areas, creating a gradual transition from
highlights to shadows.
sound bridge
1. At the beginning of one scene, the sound from the previous scene carries over briefly
before the sound from the new scene begins. 2. At the end of one scene, the sound from
the next scene is heard, leading into that scene.
special effects
A general term for various photographic manipulations that create fictitious spatial
relations in the shot, such as superimposition, matte shots, and rear projection.
stereotype
Representations of people, places or events in an instantly recognizable way, eg Scots with
red hair wearing kilts.
stinger chord
A strongly accented chord with a sudden sforzando (increase in volume) used to register
shock or surprise.
story
In a narrative film, all the events that we see and hear, plus all those that we infer or
assume to have occurred, arranged in their presumed causal relations, chronological order,
duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Opposed to plot, which is the film's actual
presentation of events in the story. See also duration, ellipsis, frequency, order, space,
viewing time.
storyline
One story in a narrative, eg soaps usually have several storylines at any one time.
style
The repeated and salient uses of film techniques characteristic of a single film or a group
of films (for example, a filmmaker's work or a national movement).
symbol
A type of sign which is significant to a social group, eg the cross is a symbol of Christianity.
symbolic code
Textual elements that carry ideological or mythical meaning, eg kilted warriors in
Braveheart.
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take
In filmmaking, the shot produced by one uninterrupted run of the camera. One shot in the
final film may be chosen from among several takes of the same action.
target audience
The main group or groups of individuals at whom the product is aimed.
teaser
A strategy for attracting the audience’s attention in serial drama by giving the audience a
glimpse of what it can expect as the episode continues.
technical codes
Sign systems in the language of the medium, eg a fade in may connote a beginning, sans
serif font may connote modernity.
technique
Any aspect of the film medium that can be chosen and manipulated in making a film.
technology
How media products are created and distributed to the audience and how technology
shapes the production process and its products. Key aspect of Media Studies
text
The film, programme, piece of popular music, newspaper, magazine etc, when the product
is an object of study.
three-point lighting
A common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene; from behind the
subjects (backlighting), from one bright source (key light), and from a less bright source
balancing the key light (fill light).
tie-ins
Promotional campaigns tied to specific texts, eg food chains who tie-in to a blockbuster
film.
tilt
A camera movement with the camera body swiveling upward or downward on a stationary
support. It produces a mobile framing that scans the space vertically.
tonal shift (variation)
A sudden shift in tone, eg from tragic to comic. Another feature typical of postmodernism.
tracking shot
A mobile framing that travels through space forward, backward, or laterally. See also crane
shot, pan, and tilt.
tripartite lighting
A common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene: from behind the
subjects (backlighting), from one bright source (key light), and from a less bright source
balancing the key light (fill light). Also known as three-point lighting.
trope
In literature, a word or expression used in a figurative sense; used more generally in film
and TV drama as an obvious stylistic device.
utopia(n)
Imaginary place with perfect society; ideal state of things. (Cf dystopian).
whip pan
An extremely fast movement of the camera from side to side, which briefly causes the
image to blur into a set of indistinct horizontal streaks. Often an imperceptible cut will join
two whip pans to create a trick transition between scenes.
wide-angle lens
A lens of short focal length that affects a scene's perspective by distorting straight lines
near the edges of the frame and by exaggerating the distance between foreground and
background planes. In 35mm filming, a wide-angle lens is 30mm or less.
zapping
Use remote control to flick through channels.
zoom lens
A lens with a focal length that can be changed during a shot. A shift toward the telephoto
range enlarges the image and flattens its planes together, giving an impression of
magnifying the scene's space, while a shift toward the wide-angle range does the
opposite.
1
The Glossary was synthesised from a number of sources including Baldick, Chris, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Literary Terms, Oxford and New York, OUP, 1990; Screenonline:
www.screenonline.org.uk/education/glossary.html; the Glossary compiled by the Higher Still Development unit of
the Scottish Qualifications Authority (www.sqa.ord.uk) in the late 1990s.
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