>From the link provided in the article Julia posted: You have to click on the book icon at the right side of this site to get this excerpt [WWBD]- http://www.slayage.tv/ "(2) Buffy has never shied away from exploring themes of darkness and ambiguity. Even the premise of the show�which rests on the delicate balance of power between good and evil, vampires and the Slayer who hunts them�points to the pervasive nature of darkness. One of the series� most compelling messages is that this darkness is not simply an external force to be easily staked, dusted, or otherwise conquered. It is an ongoing inner reality for every person. �Particularly today, the vampire serves as our reflection,� argues literary critic William Patrick Day in Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture. �After all, when one stands next to Dracula and looks in the mirror one sees only oneself.� It�s an astute observation; on Buffy, the vampire serves as a stand-in or a metaphor for some of the darkest impulses and animalistic tendencies of human nature. Particularly in the last three seasons of the show, Buffy�s focus on evil moves from the monster without to the monster within. "(3) How do we deal with the darkness inside ourselves? What happens when we become our own worst enemies, as the Scoobies do in the deeply noir sixth season? How can we acknowledge and respect our own darkness without plunging ourselves into its abyss? In this final section, we�ve been exploring how Buffy can teach us lessons about saving the world. But unless we acknowledge our ability�and often, our hidden desire�to do harm, we�re unlikely to do much good. We will not save the world unless we know fundamentally that we are saving it not only from external threats but from the monsters inside ourselves....
"....(27) In the end Buffy�s greatest battle is not with demons or vampires, but with herself, with the inner darkness she cannot completely slay. It will always be with her, just as our own demons will continue to pursue us. What we will do is our choice: give the darkness license to damage ourselves and others, or respect and control the shadow�s power...." I was surprised by the many scholarly articles etc. in the 'Recommended' section (click on it down on the left-hand side column) -- here is one by a British barrister (and professor of law): http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2003/issue2/bradney2.html [a very long but interesting article] Choosing Laws, Choosing Families: Images of Law, Love and Authority in �Buffy the Vampire Slayer� "...In �Normal Again�, in series [season] six, the strength of the commitment to chosen rather than biological family is underlined. Having been drugged, Buffy experiences two alternative worlds. In one world she is a patient, who is hospitalised because of her delusions about the existence of both vampires and the friends (the Scooby Gang) who support her. In this world her parents are still married. Buffy is told by her doctors and her parents that she can return to live with her parents if she gives up her delusions. The other world is the world of BtVS. Forced to make a choice between the two worlds, and having been told by her mother that she has �people that love� her and that she must �believe in yourself�, Buffy chooses the world of BtVS and her friends, her chosen family, rather than that of her biological family (�Normal Again� Episode 117, Series Six, Act Four). "Series four to six does not romanticise the chosen family, portraying it as a perfectly functioning system in antithesis to the imperfections of the biological bond. On the contrary, recurrent themes of series four to six are the failure of people to live up to their obligations to each other, the secrets they keep and the damage that both these things does to them as individuals and to the group as a whole. However, an equally recurrent theme is the attempts that Buffy and the others make to rectify their mistakes and make amends for their errors, with their chosen family, �a family founded, not primarily on blood, self-interest or patriarchal control, but instead on love, mutual responsibility and a mission to serve and save others in need�, being the ideal that they try to live up to (Locklin, 2002, 10).... "....The contrast between the view of law articulated in series one to three of BtVS and that put forward in series four to six can be analysed in a number of different ways. At the most superficial level it can be seen as a movement from a very simple command theory of law, the Council�s law, where law is seen simply as a set of legal rules which have black and white application, to the more sophisticated theory of law arrived at by Buffy and the others, where, alongside legal rules, there exist a set of Dworkinian legal principles which have weight rather than simple black and white application in regulating conduct (Dworkin, 1977, pp24-27). Moreover, the new law reflects the Weberian taxonomy of authority in that it involves a shift from a form of authority that is simply sanctified by tradition to one that is legitimated by an appeal to rationality, illustrated by the continual discussions that Buffy, Giles and the Scooby Gang have about how to proceed.... "....The more sophisticated view of law put forward in the later series of BtVS acknowledges the real world lives of its viewers in two significant ways. First, it reflects the fact that law in any system, whether it be state law or non-state law, is rarely straightforward. What the law commands is usually a difficult and uncertain matter. Secondly and more importantly, the series stresses the fact that for all of us obeying law, choosing to make a law our own as a model for behaviour, is precisely that, a matter of choice. Moreover, it is a choice that we make both personally and individually and, at the same time, in the context of the intimate relationships that we have...." And even certain Christian papers have hesitantly praised it: <waves to William ;) > http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/136/31.0.html "Don't Let Your Kids Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer But you can tape it and watch after they go to bed. ....Grace, redemption, and agape The show's handling of complex themes works on a grander scale as well. Entire seasons work around a central point, and long-term character arcs chronicle particular struggles. This is what makes the show tick: Realistic characters who grow, learn, and face the ramifications of their actions and ghosts of their past. Problems and temptations don't vanish each week when the music swells...." Debbi who is supposed to be reading medical articles right now! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/
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