"Out of Sight, Out of Mind," written by Ashley Gable and Tom Swyden. Episode 11, season one.
"Prophecy Girl," written by Joss Whedon. Episode 12, season one.
"This is like too much. Like yesterday my life was pop quizzes Today it's rain of toads."
"I know. And everyone thinks it's like a normal day." ("The Harvest")
"I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die." ("Prophecy Girl")
This is where BVS really finds itself in terms of tone, focus, and theme. The characters have fleshed out and become believable complicated and complex. The show has found a way to be exciting and dramatic while being quirky and (in my opinion) genuinely funny. And with "Prophecy Girl," it begins to take on tragic dimensions.
I'd argue if there is an overriding theme to this short season, and if a part of that overarching theme relates to the discussion of this class, it is made clear in the two quotes above: the first between Xander—always a speaker of the truth—and Willow, the second, of course, Buffy. With this in mind:
1. Your reaction to the one and a half episodes we watched today? Do you see the show changing from the first three episodes we watched? If so, how so? If not, why? And what in both episodes jumped out at you? And why?
2. Make a case for the two quotes above as directly addressing the theme of this—Growing up Buffy. Or just simply growing up. What do both quotes speak to in terms of the teen experience that Buffy is taking us through?
3. Looking at these last two episodes: if anything, what is, underneath the horror and teen genre mix, real and true about them in terms of being sixteen years old?
Tomorrow, we'll finish "Prophecy Girl," talk a little, then watch "Halloween" from season two. See you then.
I said on the first day that I had high hopes for later episodes. Though there still is a lot of corniness in the show and some things that I don’t like, I am happy to see my hopes getting fulfilled. The show is a lot more fun to watch for me now and I like how its becoming less individual episodes and the story is becoming more connected. Also its nice that now since we know the characters more, the show is becoming more emotionally stimulating (like that whole scene where Xander asks out Buffy) yet it still retains its humor (“Willow, if come over for dinner later, you can try out my mom’s famous call to the chinese restaurant”). Nothing specifically jumped out to me this time, but this growing overall feeling of emotional investment and attachment to the characters is making this show better and better.
ReplyDeleteThe first quote could relate to growing up because when your a high school kid, real-life, important things like the apocalypse aren’t as important compared to a pop quiz. An adult might disagree, but just do the math. School takes up eight out of our fourteen waking hours, and if you add eating time and homework time to the pile, we only have roughly two hours a day left to ourselves. Thus though adults may say “its just school” a more accurate description in the eyes of a teenager would be “its just my life.”
In my personal experience, the second quote about “I’m sixteen, I don’t want to die,” I have to admit, hasn’t come up very much. Perhaps, however, that’s Buffy’s point. At sixteen, we feel like we are just starting life. We start looking at colleges. We start deciding who we want to be. Buffy not only has been forced into being a slayer, but now, just as she’s coming into adulthood, she discovers she’s fated to be die. This is really heart wrenching, especially since the show did such as great job in creating these characters to be believable and relatable. This scene is also significant because it is the first time Buffy shows her fear of death, which is something that people both young and old always have.
Buffy’s relationship with her mom is very realistic in the way that her mom is a distracted parent. Love issues that come up in the show are just as messy in reality (ignoring the fact that one person is undead). Though Paideia doesn’t really have much of this, the cruel, thorny social ladder of popularity exist in most places. These common teenage themes are very prevalent throughout the show, and both them and the mystical parts complement each other in a way that makes the show both extremly relatable and fun to watch.
1) I think that Buffy has matured in the couple of episodes that we have watched so far. I see the show changing because the plot is not as obvious as Slayer vs Vampires. What really jumped out at me was Cordelia’s ability to be nice to Buffy, and then turn around and be snobby. Now the show incorporates different creatures along with the vampires and that is what is hooking me onto this show.
ReplyDelete2) I think both quotes really speak of coming of age. The first one because an adult might not think of a pop quiz as the end of the world, but if a student has not studied; one low grade could change everything. The second one, too, because no one wants to hear that they are going to die. Teenagers do not usually think about what happens when they have to die. In a lot of cultures, when a girl turns 16, that is the beginning of her life and a lot of exciting things happen after that point.
3) Buffy’s relationship with her mother rings true with some teenagers. Buffy’s mother is kind of distant and does not know anything about her daughter’s life. We see this in “The Witch” and “Angel” episodes; when her mother does not know what Buffy was trying out for (cheerleading) or when she had never met Giles before. I think the show has a great mix of realistic aspects and the whole horror thing.
1-Buffy the Vampire Slayer is starting to become different from the first few episodes. It is becoming more serious. It still has a lot of humor and the situations are outrageously unrealistic, but it has a darker and more serious tone. Whedon showed a girl who was ignored during so much of her life that she disappeared. Death was also expressed in a more real way, as well. In the first episode, when Buffy saw the dead guy in the locker room, she just rolled her eyes and said “Oh, great.” Now, when Willow sees her dead classmates, she talks very seriously about how horrifying it was. They aren’t just dead bodies anymore.
ReplyDelete2-As I’m growing up, I have a tendency to look back and say, “It was so easy then, now it’s so” hard/different/complicated/etc. A teenager may think other people are just going on with their life while he or she is struggling, just as the first quote suggests. The second quote is shorter and harsher. Buffy’s 16, and she doesn’t want to die. Many of us don’t want to die and we are better able to realize that we will. That we can die. Buffy just found out she could die within the next two days, but all of us have that realization of our own life span being limited. It’s scary.
3-In the subtext of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” Whedon explains that false feeling of being alone a person can have. Marcie (the invisible girl), Cordelia and Buffy all express a feeling of being alone. Marcie really was ignored by everyone around her and turned invisible because of it, but both Cordelia and Buffy talk about how, even when popular, they felt lonely. I know I have that unnecessary feeling, and I can only assume other so as well sometimes.
1. I was really surprised by Buffy in these recent episodes. Although it is hard to tell what exactly has spurred this change, it seems like Buffy has really grown up. She is finally assuming responsibility for her powers. While in other episodes she had bemoaned her loss of a social life and the consequences that come with being a Slayer, in the most recent episodes I feel as if she finally has come to terms with what her role as a Slayer really means. At first she pretends as if she doesn't care if the apocalypse comes and the world goes with it but, after speaking to Willow, she truly understands that peoples lives are at stake and she is responsible to protect them.
ReplyDelete2. I think that these two quotes perfectly illustrate what I have said above. When Willow and Xander are talking about the "rain of toads" they were not fully aware of how serious the situation was. At the beginning of the show the issue of vampires was slightly less heavy. Yes, one or two people died but the perception that I got as a viewer was that these three would continue their "vampire-fighting adventures" without too much of a bump in the road. Granted they would get into sticky situations but it was a given that the episode would conclude with Buffy, Xander, and Willow high-fiving as they emitted a sigh of relief over such a close-call. In the most recent episode, as Buffy says, she "doesn't want to die." A couple of students were brutally murdered and Buffy, for the first time, is going into a fight without the accepted fate that she will be successful. Usually Buffy is fearless but now the vampire hunting business is no longer an annoying chore but a life-threatening situation. These two quotes illustrate the transition from being a kid to being an adult, part of this journey requiring the adult to admit that they are struggling and lost.
3. Although the situations are extremely exaggerated, I think that these episodes have shown a lot about how difficult it is to grow up. As we said in class on the first day: growing up is really, really hard. You have to straddle the adult world and the kid world. You aren't a kid anymore but you don't quite have the freedom that an adult has. You have to assume responsibility for your actions because, for the first time, what you do and say is going to have severe consequences in the future. Buffy, in the last episode, realizes that, however old and mature she may act, she is just a kid. She's only 16 years old. I definitely feel like I have had moments like that where I simply have to admit defeat and realize that I am only a kid. But-like in Buffy's case-being a teenager holds immense responsibility and no matter how difficult a situation is, you have to figure it out yourself.
1. I enjoy these two episodes, but I do find them less funny. There are still clever one-liners, but overall they're more serious. They also show us that there's more sides to the characters than we've seen. We see Cordelia show a kinder side, and we see that even with good friends like Willow and Xander, Buffy still sometimes feels left out. When Xander and Willow are laughing at some inside joke or making dinner plans without Buffy, it shows more of her character, the separation caused by being the slayer. She'll never be quite as close to them as they are to each other. There are still funny parts, but overall these episodes are darker. They seem to tackle more serious themes. The part where we see Xander sad because he's been rejected and Buffy because she's going to die is also interesting, because they both seem so sad, but their reasons are so different and are on completely different levels.
ReplyDelete2. The first quote illustrates the idea that even when it seems like the apocalypse is going on in your life, other people continue as if nothing is happening. The only difference is in these characters' case, it's the actual apocalypse whereas in real life it's more likely to be personal drama. It shows how everything can be so important to you, but so small to other people. I think it says something about how alone you can be when you're a teen. The second quote is more about the innocence that still exists when you're only 16. There are times when you feel very grown up, but you still expect your whole life to be ahead of you. You feel like there's more living to be done, and you just fundamentally don't want to die.
3. What I said above about how everything may feel so big and important to you and be no big deal to other people definitely applies to being 16. Xander's crushed because Buffy rejected him and Buffy's crushed because she's going to die, two extremely different things. But they're both so upset, their individual problems seem so great to them. Xander's problem isn't as important, but it seems to him like his life is over. Also I think the ideas discussed by Buffy and Cordelia about feeling alone and invisible, even in a crowd are real teenager emotions. Everyone feels lonely at some point and I think it's easy to feel like Marcy, that you're invisible that no one really cares. I think these episodes say something about the loneliness that you can experience when you're about our age.
1.In these two episodes we’ve really gotten a sense of how Buffy really feels about being an outcast in High School because of her secret of being a Vampire Slayer. People at school think she’s absolutely weird, and she can do nothing about it. There are a few scenes where they show her facial responses to Cordelia commenting on her and you defiantly see sad emotions shown in her expression. This was also the first time Cordelia has been nice to Buffy and we as well get a sense of how Cordelia feels in High School being the popular girl and that she knows her “friends” don’t really care about her. As we’ve watched these episodes the subplots of the individual characters have really come into play and its really fitting in well with the whole other aspect of the horror genre of the show,
ReplyDelete2.The first quote relates to what every teenager thinks at some point. Most of our days are the same; school, quizzes, tests, etc. but then the next day might turn out to be totally different and extremely overwhelming. Even though Xander is referring to Vampire Slaying over School, this can defiantly relate to how things become very sudden and stressful for teenagers. The second quote pretty much relates to the first one. Nobody wants to die at the age of 16 and we don’t quite think about what it would be like if we were to die because of the future ahead of us, but I also took this as once your 16 and more specifically a 16 year old girl we do sometimes over-exaggerate things and it is like the end of the world to us; feeling like we are dying (if that makes sense)
3. Something that I find extremely real in reality is the different emotion teens go through while growing up. Buffy, as well as most of the other students are madly trying to fit in and aside from that, Willow, Xander, and of course Buffy are struggling with relationships and how they cope with their feelings.
I thought the second episode was more exciting than the first. The first one wasn’t too exciting, because as always you know Buffy would win and everything would be all happy in the end. But the first episode was more about feeling ignored and alone than the actual fighting. I thought it was interesting how Cordelia realizes that people agree with everything she says because they want to be popular. I think the show isn’t changing too much because it is still about fighting evil and the characters’ high school lives. The characters are developing into who they are, but that’s a given with the show maturing.
ReplyDeleteThe first quote relates to growing up because as you grow up things begin to become more and more important. In real life it’s obviously not an apocalypse, but life isn’t just fun and games anymore. The second quote puts into perspective how even though Buffy is mature and saves the world, she’s just as old as me.
I think every character’s problems are true in 16 year olds. Marcie feels like she has no friends, Coredlia feels like she has fake friends, Xander likes someone who doesn’t like him, Buffy feels bad because the cool kids pick on her and call her weird, and Willow likes someone who likes someone else. All of those are real and true, and many people will probably face at least one of those problems in their teenage lives.
So far “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” is the “scariest” episode we’ve watched. I think the more psychological aspect of is scarier than a vampire. I enjoyed what we saw of “Prophecy Girl” more. The show feels more structured than it did in the first few episodes. Also the themes are more serious, with Buffy’s impending death and all. The idea presented in “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” of being unnoticed by everyone is very scary. I can relate to the scene when Marcie’s teacher didn’t call on her in class. I remember feeling invisible to one of my teachers in seventh grade. He didn’t call on me, and I felt horrible. I thought he had something against me, but it was just in my head. I like the development of Cordelia’s character in these later episodes. She has become a more sympathetic and complex character.
ReplyDeleteThese two quotations show that growing up is not all fun and games. As they grow up the students are increasingly exposed to the harsh realities of the world. Kids go through life thinking they can’t die and that they are invincible. Buffy, although she faces death every time she fights a vampire, still has a little bit of this feeling. But in this last episode she feels her mortality. This is hard for her, but she comes to grips with it.
I think the reality of feeling alone comes through the genre. We can see that all the students feel alone at some point. Buffy and Cordelia talk about their experiences, and Willow and Xander both feel alone in that neither of them have a boyfriend/girlfriend, and they both like someone who doesn’t like them in the same way.
1. these episodes show a subtle change in the theme we talked a bit about today of Buffy always wins. yes, it's true, she's the hero and, so far, has always beaten the bad guys whatever the costs, but these episodes showed a new angle. in these episodes, we see Buffy scared. the strong and powerful super evil-slayer is shaken by an invisible opponent and then finds out she is destined to die. through these new emotions and realizations, we see Buffy both mature and revert to her superficial high school self. we watch as she utilizes her senses and hones her skill when fighting the invisible girl, and then see her breakdown when she yells "i quit" and "i dont wanna die" which are very reasonable arguments for a 16 year old girl.
ReplyDelete2. "This is like too much. Like yesterday my life was pop quizzes Today it's rain of toads."
"I know. And everyone thinks it's like a normal day." ("The Harvest") -- this quote is one that makes me feel particularly bad for Buffy. she has such responsibility to literally to save the world. i totally get her grief on how she didn't ask to become the slayer and the "why me" whining. also, i cant even imagine how frustrating it must be that she is doing all of this work and putting her life on the line daily, and no one knows. she's just the weird girl whose really strong and is always around when trouble strikes. i think this is a common anguish among teenagers (although in most cases, the subjects may be a bit more petty).
"I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die." ("Prophecy Girl") -- this part just breaks my heart a little bit. it's when we get to see the true child who Buffy really is instead of the tough super woman who she is required to be. i think it's so interesting that amidst all of the yelling and book throwing, she can boil it all down and admit to those with her that she really does want to live. she really is scared of what life has in store for her.
3. i think that there is definitely truth and realness in the teens, beneath all of the drama of the show. one thing which i think is particularly realistic is their relationships with each other. both Xander and Willow, stuck in the "friend zone," now what says high school more clearly than that. loving while watching who you love, loving somebody else, even if it's just a young puppy love can be so painful. also, their interactions with each other where they hide their feelings or get tongue tied or just simply avoid telling the truth; this to me screams true high school experience.
1) These are definitely the start of the more entertaining episodes within the series. The main idea of the characters has been set, which allows for them to grow now that we know who they really are. I think the largest change thus far has been Cordelia’s character. Finally she has opened up to someone, Buffy, and expressed how she feels about popularity, being able to feel alone when immersed in a crowd. Even feeling like her friends don’t know the true her. This change in Cordelia shows that she wants to gain real friends, possibly Buffy, Xander, and Willow. This was probably the part that shocked me the most, or did when I first watched it, though Buffy proclaiming that she doesn’t want to die at sixteen was also something that stuck with me.
ReplyDelete2) For the first quote from the Harvest, this first of all shows immaturity on Xander’s part just by looking at the speech and the overall use of words. Though besides that, it describes the classic struggle of a teenager. When you are younger, you see everything one sided, your way, but as you start to grow up, your world changes immensely and you see things the way they truly are. You begin to understand the hardship of adults and the amount of work they do, which tends to be hidden from you as a child. The next quote displays how young Buffy is. She is only sixteen years old and hasn’t become an adult at 18, been able to vote, turn 21 and be able to drink etc. She hasn’t been able to experience much of life yet, it isn’t fair that she would have to be taken away from it so soon. Also, although she is only sixteen, she already has these enormous responsibilities to carry, ones that most adults don’t even have to handle. This already takes away much of her youth and teenage experiences since she has to deal with these responsibilities instead.
3) I find that all of the characters really exhibit major issues that appear around the age of sixteen. So far the show has brought up Buffy and Amy’s issues with their mothers, though both totally different situations, one having a mother who is completely overbearing, and one mother being a little too submissive. The most recent issue that has been brought up was Marci’s problem with being ignored and lacking popularity. I think it can be a common issue for people to have trouble socially, struggling to make friends and be seen.
1. In these two episodes the characters start to become more real and they start to come out of their stereotypes more. The writers are more settled in to the show and everything flows better. In "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" Cordelia shows her insecurities and we learn more about her character. She branches out and we can understand her strive for popularity a little bit more. The moment that really stuck out to me was when Cordelia said that people spent so much time agreeing with her that they never really listened to what she was saying. Cordelia usually says things that are completely superficial and self-involved, but in this episode she does show that she has other sides beside the popular, egotistical front that she puts on. Also as the series continues Buffy is forced to become more serious as she discovers more about her role as the slayer. In "The Prophecy" Buffy finds out that she is most likely going to die when she faces the master. The moment that stuck out to me in "The Prophecy" was Willow's growth. Earlier in the show she would have taken Xander's desperate invite with open arms, but she has grown to stand up for herself. She won't play second fiddle to Buffy. Each character is growing along with the story itself. Layers are being added and I am excited to see how season one is finished off and how the second season begins.
ReplyDelete2. In Buffy's quote we see her fully recognize what she has been grappling with all season. She wants to be a normal girl who doesn't have to worry about dying before graduation or prom. In the beginning Buffy says that she doesn't want to be the slayer anymore because she wants a normal life and more of a social life. She dances around the fact that she doesn't want to die, but here she really hits the nail on the head. Most girls have an entire life ahead of them, Buffy mentions this to her mother when they are talking about the dance where Buffy's mom met Buffy's dad. Buffy looks back at her mother as a young woman and sees someone with a future and she can't see that for herself. She has to face the fact that she doesn't know how long she will live. The odds are against her in the way that once she loses she dies. Buffy only has to lose once to lose everything. Death is a a hard concept for anyone to have to grapple with, especially for a teenager.
3. Everything about the themes that run through this show is an exaggeration on real life situations. In "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," the feeling of being invisible is very relatable. Granted, in real life people don't really become invisible, but it is not uncommon for teenagers to feel that way at times. That episode expressed a lot of ideas that ring true about popularity and high school life. It showed that even people like Cordelia feel insecure and alone even when they are surrounded by people who say that they love them. Marcie was completely ignored and it drove her crazy. Many teenagers across the globe can understand the feeling of being invisible, as if no one really cares about them. I really liked this episode because it balanced the natural and the supernatural really well.
I think that the show has started a cycle of two kinds of episodes. The first being episodes that continue the vampire slaying plot with The Master and his whole crew. The second type would be the episodes with other supernatural forces that really just deal with typical High School issues. Out of Sight, Out of Mind is obviously about being invisible, people not noticing you and not having friends to rely on. In the episode with the anointed one we start to see the emotional effect of the slaying on Buffy and Willow. It makes the show more real, seeing Buffy scared of what’s about to happen and for the first time you’re not sure that she’s going to win.
ReplyDeleteThe first quote shows how Buffy is going through so much practically alone. Nobody knows that she is saving the world on a daily basis and protecting them from all sorts of demons. Her life, and Xander, Willow and Giles lives, are all being threatened and it’s not just a fun time for them anymore. The second quote shows how Buffy is given a huge responsibility and treated like a grown women with her slaying duties, but she’s still a kid. She’s not ready to bear that burden and shouldn’t have to.
Each character is going through some problem that most high school kids go through at some point. Insecurities and crushes and all sorts of annoyingly awful problems that are completely real for a lot of people. The show expresses this under a lens of humorous, supernatural horror that masks the potency of the show.
The episodes we watched today were definitely more interesting and engaging than the previous episodes, at least for me. While with the other episodes, the devices or plots they used I had seen in various forms before in other shows, but here the material feels different and fresh, and it was easier for me to get into these episodes than the previous ones. I see it changing from something more predictable and done before to something that was daring to go somewhere that could potentially have been a total failure, narrative wise, for example having a villain be someone you couldn’t even see, and these risks I think paid off. That episode stuck out for me because you didn’t see who the villain was, but there was still so much suspense and fear for what the villain was going to do.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are growing up, every decision feels like it’s going to determine the rest of your life, and you feel very alone while making these decisions and that no one could ever understand you. In Xander and Willow’s conversation, they feel very isolated because they know what they know and that just going on with life like the rest of their classmates is stupid and trivial. That’s where teen angst comes from, and that’s why teen angst is so frustrating to me. Teens seem to wrap themselves up in the idea that no one understands them, but pretty much every other teen is feeling that way too, they are not special. Like Cordelia tells Buffy that she feels so alone regardless of her popularity, and Buffy is kind of taken aback that anyone could possibly have the same feelings that she’s dealing with. The way Buffy presents the angst of the teen experience however is pushed to a whole other level that it’s comical and easier to examine because there’s a distance between whatever the viewer may be going through and these monster-filled scenarios the characters are dealing with.
I think the relationship between Buffy and Cordelia that has been developing is interesting. Because in most teen movies, the antagonist is clear. It’s usually the jock or the popular girl, and you are required to hate them and side with the geek or the underdog or the less popular girl. In reality, it’s hard to truly hate someone like that, and giving Cordelia some dimension and refusing to rob her of a sympathetic side is very different for the teen genre, and it rings more true in my opinion.
1. I found both of the episodes extremely touching in very different ways. In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" we see Buffy's empathy for Marcie, whom she still wants to help after her crimes, up until the whole why so serious-esque crazy moment. She also feels for Cordelia, remembering being like her, and appreciating that her life isn't perfect either, and is also often in danger. Both characters are not so nice to Buffy but she is the Slayer, and she tries to save them anyways, recognizing her duty. It seems like a big leap from the earlier episodes as she settles into her role. But in "Prophecy Girl" the sacrifice is too great and she remembers why she didn't want the job in the first place--her inevitable grisly death. Her confrontation of Giles and Angel is my favorite scene in the entire series. Her unstable laugh, her complete and total honesty that she just does not want to die is the beautiful honesty of her character and how vulnerable she is, even with all her strength.
ReplyDelete2. The first quote pretty well demonstrates the feeling when something big happens, like an adolescent landmark. Or in this case, the discovery of the supernatural. But growing up is all about a loss of innocence, however painful that may be. And when you come to a realization that just rocks your entire world, you don't understand how no one else seems to notice, and that it all goes on. It's unreal. The second quote is something I'm assuming people faced with an unpleasant death feel, but you could get a little more vague with it. It's not just the death part Buffy has an issue with. It's missing out. Nobody of any age wants to be killed, but when you're 16 you have your whole life ahead of you and you don't want to lose it. Buffy basically already has and she's sick of losing everything she loves and she's sick of having to be okay with it and she's sick of accepting it.
3. I'm just a little younger than 16, and from then to 23 I find Buffy incredibly relatable. When someone dies or you end up in a tough situation or you just have to face facts a little earlier than most it feels incredibly unfair. This is supposed to be the time of our lives but we're not exactly care free. Life is full of so much pain and you wish you were even younger so you didn't know about all of it because it's impossible to forget. I don't think about my demon killing responsibilities but I understand what it's like to feel cheated out of your golden years, your childhood. Growing up can be great, but it's hard to be so when it's forced upon you.
1. I really enjoyed Out of Sight, Out of Mind: it was eerie and disturbing, but really captivating at the same time. Like I said in my last post, it’s interesting to watch Buffy and the gang deal with problems other than vampires. We didn’t get too far into Prophecy Girl, but what I’ve seen of it so far gives me the impression that something big is about to happen, which is exciting but also scary. The show is clearly getting more complicated as the gang starts to deal with more dangerous people/monsters. It has become less about surviving as a teenager and more about surviving period. In the first episode we watched today I was surprised by how creepy they made Marci out to be: she really was terrifying with her flute playing and scalpels. In the second episode it was Buffy finding out about her impending doom that really stuck with me, and how terrified she (who is scared of nothing) was to learn about it.
ReplyDelete2. The first exchange, between Xander and Willow, is reminiscent of the “nobody understands what I’m going through” attitude that many teenagers have. Willow and Xander have just experienced a huge change in their lives, which has impacted them greatly. But at the same time nobody can relate to them: things seem perfectly normal to everyone else – no one understands. Buffy’s quote has to do with the fear of losing her innocence and youth. Like she says, Buffy is only sixteen years old with a long life left to live: it’s frightening to her, as it is to every other teenager, to think about death. The possibility of dying young and not getting to live her life to the fullest is terrifying.
3. Looking past the vampires, loonies, and monsters, and even past the cliché drama that comes with being in high school, Buffy, Xander, and Willow are true sixteen year olds. Underneath everything they’re just trying to figure themselves out: find their place in society and grow to be comfortable with who they are. To them, like most sixteen year olds, everything is a huge deal: Buffy takes her drama with Angel just as seriously as she takes the apocalypse. They all have very sixteen-year-old attitudes and it’s clear they also have a lot of growing up to do.
The show has seemed to adopt an increasingly serious tone throughout the episodes we have watched. Although more serious in a purely dramatic sense, especially in regards to the conclusion of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, the subject matter of the episodes has taken on a markedly morbid tone, detracting from the previous state of the series that was nearly comedic. The world of Buffy has become vastly less idyllic as the series has progressed, and the themes concern not only coming of age but the ultimate nature of life itself. Buffy’s proclamation that she does not want to die in “Prophecy Girl” serves as a prominent example of this, as she is now dealing with issues spanning far beyond conformity and the social Hierarchy of Sunnydale High School.
ReplyDeleteWhile obviously facing problems pertaining to issues rarely encountered by High School students, Buffy and Xander display both the inevitability and suddenness of growing up. While initially concerned with the typical societal struggles faced by high school students, Buffy slowly discovers that she must take an increased amount of control over her life in order to avoid a seemingly inevitable fate. And although still a teenage girl, Buffy is forced to overcome the naivety of her childhood in order to ensure both her safety and that of those around her, as she quickly learns that others will not be responsible for her wellbeing for much longer.
Buffy certainly captures the immense stress of being a sixteen year old, as well as the overbearing desire to conform and ascend the social hierarchy so that one will be remembered, respected or, in some cases, nearly revered (an example being Cordelia). Although to an excessive degree, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” captures this perfectly, and exhibits many of the most prominent anxieties of any teenage individual.
1) In regards to the first episode, I find it to be a pretty decent dramatization of a relatable truth. I can't count the number of times that I find myself being ignored in either conversation, or even existence. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the sole owner of that feeling, as the episode demonstrates showing that even popular Cordelia can feel that way. That part definitely "jumped out at me", even though it was hardly the climax of the episode. I definitely enjoyed the "torture" scene, as who doesn't love some good old face mutilation, but Cordelia's first statement that makes her seem like a real person, about feeling lonely, is definitely a big jump in the series. I like seeing a round quality to her character. Watching Prophecy Girl now, after finishing the series and knowing what's going to happen, really has lost its dramatic effect. We haven't finished yet, so I won't elaborate any more on that thought, but it's great seeing Buffy's first legitimate refusal of the call (Hero's Journey!). A part that jumped out at me there was probably when she and her mom were talking, just the pure obliviousness of Buffy's situation to Joyce gives a lot of feeling to the situation of Buffy's life. She is stuck- completely stuck.
ReplyDeleteThe show definitely has reached a point of maturity by this part. The characters are defined, the tone and plot are both set, and the situation is dire. The first episodes were random and scattered. Basically, the purpose is now known.
2) "This is like too much. Like yesterday my life was pop quizzes Today it's rain of toads." -Xander
"I know. And everyone thinks it's like a normal day." -Willow
If you want to look at this symbolically, this demonstrates the time in every person's life when s/he realizes the responsibility of life. The pop quizzes represent school, which is usually the only responsibility of a child. The apocalypse represents the other mush of responsibilities that adults face. However, life goes on nonetheless.
"I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die." -Buffy ("Prophecy Girl")
Sixteen is a weird age. I, being 16, personally feel like a kid, still. I feel like I shouldn't be engaging in adult activities, I almost always feel like others view me as a child. However, once again, sixteen is when it's legal to work. Sixteen is when it's legal to drop out of school. It's when the responsibilities hit you. Out of context, this quote basically is cry of fear for the onslaught of responsibility that is nye.
3) For "Out of Mind", I feel like I described that in number one, but a simple reiteration: Loneliness is a common emotion for teens, and that feeling can be extremely powerful. For Prophecy Girl, on the other hand, it describes the prophecy that all teens face: you have to grow up. Growing up can feel like dying, and although it's not in the literal sense, growing up creates a death to one's youth. 16 certainly feels to young for this.
1. The two episodes we watched seem darker and more serious than the ones before. The harrowing occurrence of a girl being ignored so much that she becomes physically invisible is one that can really resonate in the real world where people are often looked over and disregarded. High school in particular is a time when it’s easy to feel alone, as we learn that even Cordelia with her gaggle of friends still experiences loneliness. In these two episodes, the emotions of these characters really begin to develop: Xander deals with the sting of rejection and for once loses his humor for sadness and hurt; Willow copes with the distressing image of dead bodies draped over the couch as the reality of death hits too close to home; Cordelia reveals the less positive underbelly of popularity which is the vacant admiration of fake friends who don’t ever really listen; and Buffy faces her own mortality and the knowledge that this time, she cannot win. There is a much darker and bleak aura about these episodes, with less optimism or hope for the protagonists to truly defeat all evils.
ReplyDelete2. "This is like too much. Like yesterday my life was pop quizzes Today it's rain of toads."
"I know. And everyone thinks it's like a normal day." This is the awakening in a teenager’s life where they realize that the world is full of a slew of dangers and responsibilities and it can seem like there’s nobody who sympathizes with you and understands.
"I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die."
This is Buffy’s first expression of true fear and terror at her job. The toll her job takes on her is clearly evident as it puts her in a truly life threatening situation. She is only sixteen but her duty as slayer asks the ultimate price: death.
3. The show takes extremely relevant teenage issues and mixes them in the same vat as vampires, demons, and other such evils. Under the gurgling surface of monsters, there are very real concerns for a normal sixteen year old; the sudden onset of responsibilities, the cruelty of social standings, the relationships between family and friends, and feelings of love.