What Would Buffy Do?

[andrew_jorgensen]

Avedon Carol links to an article explicating the spiritual messages of Buffy. Some excerpts:

Not so long ago, Ken Kuykendall stood before a group of Mormon teens in an Atlanta suburb, dressed in starched white shirt and dark tie. He was there, he said, to talk about serious things.

Then Kuykendall literally ripped off his shirt to reveal a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" T-shirt and carefully laid out the moral values of the popular television show, featuring a sassy blonde in a micro-mini skirt who goes one-on-one with the world's nastiest demons.

The Mormon leader told his gum-chewing audience that Buffy was not too unlike them. For the most part, she was a spoiled, rich teenager in southern California who loved nothing more than shopping and shmoozing and clubbing in a place called Sunnydale. That is, until she discovered that dark forces were everywhere and only she had the supernatural powers to thwart them.

"The safety of the world routinely rests on her attractive, usually bare shoulders," Kuykendall told his startled audience. Time and again she had to sacrifice her own desires to save humanity and the planet.

And that is what Jesus Christ wants us to do, too, Kuykendall told the teens.

[ . . . ]

Still, the show depicts a world where evil never goes unpunished and doing good is its own reward.

"It's a medieval morality play -- only with skimpier clothes, wittier dialogue and cutting-edge music," says [religion scholar Jana] Riess, author of the just published What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide.

[ . . . ]

The characters explore notions about sin and forgiveness, friendship and failure, redemption and self-worth -- lightened up by puns and sarcasm and playfulness. And that's spiritual, too.

"I know every slayer comes with an expiration date, but I want mine to be a long time from now. Like a Cheeto," Buffy says in one episode.

Riess argues that the show, created by an avowed atheist, also abounds in Buddhist parallels.

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

And just what are these Buddhist parallels? Any examples there? Quotables for ye olde website??

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

dedalus7 had a good one on LJ today. I haven't been on the board much lately, but thought Iheard that manwitch and lunasea had written a lot recently about Buddhism in Buffy--or was that just in Angel?

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I've read a lot of Buddhist parallels on Angel, and the good ones are part of my site. But I'm always eager to hear more.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! I hope you'll add Dedalus' thoughts, too--they fit with this.

I bought this book a week or so ago

[ann1962]

Just finished reading it a few days ago. A very fast read which means I will go back and read it again. Will post a review in the next few days.

I have to say I keep thinking of the necklaces that some people where WWJD. Just googled and found this. Not a necklace or bracelet. I am not sure this was the meaning initially of this phrase. http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/prod.aspx?p=landoverbaptist.3948982

There's...

[anneth.livejournal.com]

an essay in Buffy and Philosophy about the 'what would Buffy do?' idea and whether or not it's an appropriate question for solving a moral dillema. The author decides that the question should rather be, 'what would Buffy think of what you're thinking about doing?' because what Buffy thinks about something and what she does about it aren't always the same thing.