Opposing Buffy: Power, Responsibility and the Narrative Function of the Big Bad in Buffy Vampire Slayer By Joseph Lipsett B.A Film Studies, Carleton University A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Film Studies Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario April 25, 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Abstract Despite its seemingly frivolous exterior,Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a significant cultural text that has become one of the most studied television shows in history. One area sorely lacking in critical analysis is an examination of the season-long villains. This study approaches these Big Bads as narrative functions, each of whom forces Buffy to recognize the responsibilities of her dual roles as the Slayer and as the normal girl: as the Slayer she is responsible for the safety of the world and its inhabitants, in contrast to her responsibilities as Buffy when she must save her friends and their relationships. Each Big Bad affects this duality and their accompanying responsibilities. After consideration of the archaic evils who bookend the series, the Master and the First, the argument turns to the institutional villains from seasons three and four, the Mayor and the Initiative. The final two chapters consider the personalized villains - the friends and loves gone bad: Faith and Dark Willow in the former, Angelus and Spike in the latter. This thesis questions the narrative function of season-long villains and their effect on the show’s heroine in the hopes of contributing to a new critical direction forBuffy academics. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I must thank two very dedicated men, Jonathan Hough and Kevin Johns, who have suffered through brainstorming sessions, first, second and third drafts and sudden doubts supported me unconditionally, while critically whipping this thesis into something readable. They truly encompass the possibilities of e-mail and embody the best characteristics of good friends. It seems a little obvious to thank my thesis supervisor, Andre Loiselle, but poor Andre more than deserves his kudos. Not only has he been forced to read through constant drafts about characters and a series that he despises, he supported my last minute decision to scrap a year’s worth of work in favour of examining all the possibilities that a Buffy offers. Perhaps one day he’ll agree with me thatBuffy is a fine, fine little show. No Masters student can survive without their colleagues: Angie Chiang, Murray Leeder, Jeremy Marron, Sonya Poweska and Amy Ratelle, all of whom have provided a net of emotional support, snarky cynicism and fun conversations. Without these five, school would have been a great deal less interesting and first year papers would have been unbearable to grade. Additionally, students are nothing without their professors. I can state unconditionally that the professors in Carleton University’s Film Department have shaped and molded me from a raw beginning to the academic I am today, which is to say.. .they gave it their best shot. Thanks to Jose Sanchez Mosquera, Andre Loiselle, Chris Faulkner, Mark Langer, Charles O’Brien, Laura Marks, Tom McSorley, Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano and George McKnight. Finally, I’d like to thank the person who has done more for me than anyone else, Tim Campbell. He’s put up with my erratic behaviour, sudden mood swings, junk food cravings and constant whining for almost two years as I’ve struggled through a degree that’s attributable to him in more than a few ways. Even though I’m sure he’s wanted to kill me on more than a few occasions, he’s always been there when I needed him and for that I’ll always love him. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Introduction: Staking a Claim: Exposing the Narrative Function of the Big Bad 1 Chapter 1: “It’s About Power” or “You have Fruit Punch Mouth”: Archaic Evil as Big Bad Bookends 25 Chapter 2: “Down Here I’m the One in Control”: Institutional Villains as Elements of Transition 55 Chapter 3: “.. .In My Dream She Does It For A Guy” Friends and Doubles as Personalized Big Bads 85 Chapter 4: “Every Slayer Has A Death Wish”: The Influence of Buffy’s ‘Bad Boys’ 129 Conclusion: “NewsFlash, Hairdo. It’s Not Always About You”: Glory as Representative Big Bad 161 Works Cited 179 Appendixes: A - M 182 Characters 198 Plot 202 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Introduction: Staking a Claim: Exposing the Narrative Function of the Big Bad To a great many academics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer requires no introduction. These are the people who have become well-versed in all mattersBuffy over the course of its seven seasons. To the uninitiated, the show invariably invokes a few questions: What’s so great about it? Why are so many people obsessed with it? And, finally, what kind of academic essay can possibly be written about it? The first two questions can be answered in one response, which is that Buffy is far more complex, intelligent and witty than most people give it credit for. Admittedly it is not a show for everyone, but those who are willing to invest the time to get to know the principal characters and invest in the dramatic arcs will recognize that the show is about more than its unapologetically genre-based, Valley girl-speak title. Roz Kaveney explains her interest in the series in the introductory essay of Reading the Vampire Slaver: Sitting with friends watching and rewatching the shows on video made it clear that they were complex texts, the conceptual and verbal wit of the surface, the sheer loopy romanticism of the emotional plots and visceral excitement of the actions plots, the range of cultural references high and pop, sustaining deep readings of the show’s underlying implied discussion of feminism, religion, politics and so on. (3) The suggestion that Buffy is worthy of academic investigation is not an isolated phenomenon. Since its 1997 debut,Buffy has become the most academically studied one- hour television show in history (Battis, 12), with numerous books, journal articles, conferences around the globe and its own online journal, Slayage. In 2000, “the show won the Viewers for Quality Television ‘Founders Award,’ given annually to a series that ‘has made a significant contribution to quality television without receiving due Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 criticism’” (Wilcox & Lavery, xx), perhaps referring to the show’s lack of award recognition from the Emmys and Golden Globes.1 The show has a basic premise: Buffy Summers is a newly relocated girl who has, along with her divorced mother, Joyce, moved to Sunnydale, California. All Buffy wants to do is make friends and fit in, but she is no ordinary teen. As librarian Giles, her officially imposed ‘Watcher,’ informs her in the pilot episode, she is the Slayer, destined to fight vampires, demons and the forces of evil (“Welcome to the Hellmouth,” 1.01). Therein lies the central dichotomy of the show: Buffy’s desires to be a normal girl are put in conflict with her responsibility to use her powers to protect innocent people from the monsters that inhabit her town. These innocents include the individuals who share her secret: Giles and her best friends, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, and all the students at Sunnydale High and UC Sunnydale (rich bitch cheerleader Cordelia, outspoken ex-demon Anya, quiet witch Tara, etc).2 The off-putting title reinforces this duality.