Amy (my wife) and I are working our way through Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Neither of us have watched it before and we’ve both been very impressed with the quality of the writing, characters, acting, production and story arc.
I’ve also been identifying many themes, story devices, character types and situations that HP and BTVS have in common:
- The books/seasons take place over the course of the school year
- Much of the action takes place within the school environment
- Time spent in and the importance of a library
- The reliance on tomes rather than technology for information
- The magic/supernatural setting is not the point of the stories but the arena in which issues are explored
- A supporting character is a werewolf and the issue of the person vs. the monster is explored
- Self-sacrificial death of the hero securing a great victory
- The isolating nature of power
- The corrupting influence of power
- The responsibilities of leadership
- Death
- A dark character who is difficult to place and the story pivots around that character’s loyalties
- Learning to rely on friends
- Self-respect
- The main character goes through many refining trials and has one particularly dark year
- Evil done with the best of intentions
The list goes on…
I’ve been particularly impressed with the Spike/Snape character importance. I can think of only a couple of other characters that so easily shift from demon to misundestood angel. They are both dark characters with unclear (to us) ultimate motives. James Marsters, the actor who brilliantly portrays Spike in BTVS has listed his favourite Harry Potter character as “Snape. Snape. Snape.” So, I think it possible that he has made the connection himself.
The series also has the best exploration/ study of grief that I have ever seen.
I found the Buffy series to really mature around the season 5 mark (Like Star Trek: Next Gen). But it was only possible to get that maturity because of the journey we’d gone on with the characters.
Although there is much that is different between HP and BTVS, particularly more adult themes and characters who are witches (wicca) and overtly homosexual, most of the ground is familiar and extremely fecund for the watcher who is interested in myth and the age-old eternal questions.
If you are a Christian who rejected the Buffy series when it came out you might find it worth giving it a chance like many of us have with Harry Potter. Both series are a gift for connecting pop-culture to issues of eternal consequence. At least it’ll be easier than with worn-out plots of CSI and its ubiquitous clones.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to hear you are enjoying Buffy so much! And yes, the parallels are striking.
It has always amazed me how Joss Whedon, who is a self-professed atheist, continually produces stories that speak so eloquently to the power of redemption and faith.
Speaking of redemption: if this is your first go-round with Buffy, I assume you have not seen Angel, the series as well. When you get to the spin-off point (Season 4 of Buffy), it would definitely be worth a look. Take the power of redemption as portrayed in Buffy, and turn it up to 11, and you’ve got Angel
Also, if you can handle a little sci-fi, Firefly and Serenity are all about faith. Not faith in God per se, but faith in something.
“O Lord, thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in thee.”
Great comments, Eric. Your mention of how Whedon, with his self professed atheism, still manages to explore all these deep spiritual themes, especially on redemption & faith brought to mind St. Augustine’s quote from The Confessions. That there is something in the human heart & in the imagination that draws us to these themes despite any self professed disbelief on our part. A couple of quotations from St. Paul, in which he…gasps!!…quotes pagan philosophers & poets would also be appropriate.
Glad you’re getting so much out of Buffy, Matthew, & all the parallels & themes you’ve managed to spot. When I watched the show I watched, I guess, mainly on a surface level, although most of the time the themes are so overt that one can’t help but see them, even if only passively, which is how TV operates most of the time.
I only faithfully watched the first 3 seasons of Buffy, after that the show kind of got away from me or I got away from the show. I’ve only seen bits & pieces of the following seasons & none of the last season. Not seen much of Angel nor Firefly although we have the DVD’s for that. My wife liked it back in the day.
Totally random comment: my review of the new book Faith and Choice in the Work of Joss Whedon by K. Dale Koontz will be running in the next issue of the scholarly journal Mythlore.
I hope you’ll try Joss Whedon’s series Firefly and its companion film Serenity!
I am a big Joss Whedon fan, but Buffy is probably my least favorite of his stories- I never really could get into the characters. However, “Serenity” is a masterpiece, “Firefly” is fun, and while I haven’t seen all of “Angel,” I’m completely in love with what I’ve seen so far- largely because of the way he deals with themes of redemption, faith, the nature of evil, the soul, etc.
Joss also has a new series coming out Feb. 13th (I believe) called “Dollhouse.” I’m excited to see what he’s got up his sleeve.
Thanks for pointing out reasons that Buffy is a good story. I never thought to look at it deeply and haven’t watched every episode, but I always enjoyed it when it was on TV.
My brother made me watch Firefly/Serenity kicking and streaming, but I enjoyed it even more than Buffy. Unfortunately, that series was never allowed to grow to its potential. Maybe, like what would have happened to Rowling if her series was pulled after Chamber.
I’m looking forward to Dollhouse. It looks to be a different type of Scifiction than what’s typical. Although I’m worried Whedon is having similar problems with the network in pre-production with Firefly, and I’m worried Fox is trying to micromanage too much of Dollhouse which lead to Firefly’s early death too.
Oh yes. I’m a very keen fan of Firefly/Serenity. I think it one of the best things I have ever seen. My brother, who is a Joss Whedon appreciator, put me onto Firefly a number of years ago and I haven’t looked back. I’ve got all the Official Companions to Firefly and Serenity, all the comics, the roleplaying game, other collections of essays and I even know (geek alert) that Jane’s knife from the series is a Rough Rider Patrick Henry Liberty Bowie.
It’s funny how Whedon, who identifies himself as an absurdist, comes up with the stories he does. I also love the Shepherd Book character in Firefly. Not the typical portrayal of a man-of-the-cloth that one expects to get from an athiest and absurdist.
I’m kicking myself we didn’t make this connection sooner.
Buffy had me hooked right from the get-go. As a pastor I was blown away by the issues being dealt with and the imaginative way they were explored. Chock-a-block full of sermon illustrations.
So when I did use an illustration about Angel in a sermon, I discovered another connection between HP and BTVS: Harry-haters and Buffy-haters are often the same people. After the sermon I was baled up by a young adult who ripped into me for encouraging people to watch something so full of the occult.
And there was no talking sense to him.
When I asked him what he watched it was CSI and all those clones. Apparently realistic murder, sexual perversions and serial killers are OK for Christians to watch, but don’t go near magic and vampires.
Let this be a warning to you all!
You were there from the outset. I remember.
What do you think is the deal with the opposition? It seems like some sort of spirit of fear that some Christians have when they think their souls are in peril if they watched or read some imaginative work.
I remember a quote from George MacDonald that said something like the fearful or negative mind will only see fear and negativity but the open and aware mind will see goodeness and God everywhere.
Found it:
You have piqued my interest in Buffy. I may try renting the first bit to see if I’ll like it.
I whole-heartedly agree with the others singing the praises of Firefly. That is certainly one of my favorite series of all time, and may be my favorite. Whedon is a genius. I also am a huge, huge fan of his web series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and I am fairly surprised no one has mentioned it. I don’t even really like musicals, but this web series was so brilliant and cheesy in a way you just have to love. Check it out.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog
Also, in comparing pieces to Potter, I couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between Travolta’s character in Swordfish and Dumbledore. Travolta even says that his goal is the greatest good, rather than greater, and it is hard to argue that he isn’t achieving a greater good in each of his actions. But it is also hard to argue that he isn’t evil and wrong because of the extent he goes to, beyond where Dumbledore went. Still, if the excuse works for Dumbledore, where do you draw the line? For me, Dumbledore’s excuse doesn’t work at all. Wrong is wrong whether the motive is right or not.
Ginevra,
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is great fun with really witty writing. “So make the bad horse gleeful, or he’ll make you his mare”. I have posted with links to it before.
I found the early seasons of Buffy to be fun but not as meaty as the later seasons. Like the show had to earn cred with the money before Whedon was allowed to fully explore his vision for the series.
Interesting comments about Swordfish. But, I’m firmly in the Dumbledore was good camp. Kind of like Denethor’s vs. Aragorn’s take on Gandalf. Though I do realise that you aren’t saying Dumbledore was evil.