Week 10 - Che Crawford - Cult TV

I firstly should tell you that I haven’t watched these episodes. This might not be very understandable, but I just hate watching things with demons etc in it. But instead I have read the plot synopsis for each episode, and Buffy as a whole, to better answer these questions :)

Wilcox and Lavery (2002) identify 9 defining characteristics of ‘quality TV’ – can you apply any of these to other television series that you have viewed recently? Are there any other characteristics that you could add to their list?

1. “Quality TV usually has a quality pedigree.”
2. “Quality shows must often undergo a noble struggle against profit mongering networks and non appreciative audiences.”
3. “Quality TV tends to have a large ensemble list.” The core of ‘Buffy’s’ ensemble being five friends, plus many more additional.
4. “Quality TV has a memory.” The characters remember things that have happened in past episodes.
5. “Quality TV creates a new genre by mixing old ones.” In the case of Buffy, it tends to be a mix of daytime soaps, gothic romances, B-grade horror films, and supernatural fantasies.
6. “Quality tv tends to be literary and writer based.” Whelden compared working on Buffy to working on an ongoing novel.
7. “Quality TV is self conscious.” Buffy often refers to other cultural text like Xena, or Pink Floyd.
8. “The subject matter of quality TV tends toward the controversial.” For example, Willow’s turn toward lesbianism.
9. “Quality TV aspires toward ‘realism’.” In Buffy’s case, emotional realism is what comes across, with comments from people on how they can relate to what the characters are going through.

And for me personally, I would add -
10. Quality TV means something. It’s more than just entertainment. The subtext should be filled with morals, metaphors, for sights and so on.

Whedon explained, "We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode." (Shuttleworth, I, 2003).
For example in “Goodbye Iowa,” the boy is playing with a cyborg soldier action figure in the park, shortly before Adam - a genuine cyborg - kills him.

One of my current favourite shows that I think this list applies to is “Fringe.” Fringe is science fiction show that focuses on investigating the unexplained, which are related to the mystery of a parallel universe. It has a large cast, the reception of fringe was originally lukewarm but has since grown, it often refers back to past episodes, and the motivations of the characters feel very real to me. It ticks all the boxes, and I think is fantastic quality TV.

How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

The conflict between good and evil is one of the most common conventional themes in literature, and is sometimes considered to be a universal part of the human condition. The story of Buffy seems to be good (humans) vs bad (demons and vampires). But Buffy deconstructs traditional literary notions by it not being that simple. There are bad humans, and good demons and vampires.

For example, in “The I in Team,” Professor Walsh sets Buffy up to die by trapping her in a sewer with two demons she had previously seen anesthetized in the Initiative's facility. Professor Walsh is later killed by Adam.

Another example would be the character Angel, a vampire who had been cursed with a soul. Angel starts out as a reluctant hero who stayed in the shadows, and ended up a dark, flawed, yet altruistic champion of mankind, seeking to voluntarily atone for his sins.

Buffy has a relationship with Angel, the vampire, the kind of creature that she kills. This in itself breaks down the traditional literary notions of good and evil. Buffy shows us that there is no ‘good’ and ‘evil,' there are just many variations in between. Life is not that simple, and Buffy doesn’t attempt to make so.

This is again reinforced in the spin off that Angel gets called “Angel” that is filled with good demons.

References

Shuttleworth, I. (2003). Bite me, professor. Financial Times, citing interview from The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=1567&img=%3E