What makes Buffy different??

[rufio]

Soo there is noone else I can talk to about this feeling I have about Buffy. It's the only show that I feel like is a part of me (well besides Angel, but they are like 2 peas in a pod). I've been into it for 10 years now and I'm STILL just as intrigued & obsessed with it. Season 8 definitely helps to keep my love 4 buffy alive There's just something about the characters and the writing and the universe that makes me so excited- like I wish I could be a part of it. And I can always go back and watch an episode I love and just think of the entire series as a whole and appreciate the episode that much more. The level of story telling is beyond anything else I've seen. Or maybe that's just because I don't really give much of anything else a try. Buffy is enough for me. If I want to laugh-watch Pangs. If I want to cry- watch Passion. If I want action-watch a season finale. There's always an episode I feel like watching. So what makes Buffy better or different than any other shows for you??

BTVS 4 EVER <3

[Skytteflickan88]

Well, it's one of my first loves.

There was chocolate, Ally Mcbeal, horseriding and Buffy. They were all there for me when I was bullied so they have a special place in my heart (even tough the chocolate might make my heart stop one day).

Buffy was a show about outsiders and I was a outsider. The adventures, the characters, the humour and monsters helped me. True, I didn't become obssessed with Buffy until after the bullying stopped, but seeing a tiny blonde girl kick the bad guys' asses was great theraphy.

That one of the reasons that I feel in love with the show, but it's only one.

[Secret Scoobie]

I can empathise with you both completely.

Buffy just hits home, and it has so may facets, angles, dimensions, layers and perspectives! It's so easy to immerse yourself in the universe - the happy, the sad, and the heartwrenching. It all means something to me.

I watch other TV shows - (Alot I've just started watching, straight from DVD's) and I find myself thinking "Can't wait til I've finished catching up to this show so I can go back to watching Buffy/Angel in all my spare time!"

I love the other shows I watch (or I wouldn't watch them) which just goes to show how much Buffy has that pull for me.

The hyperdiegesis of the buffyverse allows for such an intense experience. The shows themes, metaphors, and ability to test the boundries makes it a compelling, original and stimulating opportunity.

I'm so passionate about the buffyverse that I don't really know how to word it, what I feel, why I feel it. There is so much emotion and so little consciousness to the attraction that it's become an intrinsic part of my personality.

It's become a part of me. I've become a part of it.

[Greer]

God, I can't agree more with the three of you, and I'm glad that there are other people who feel the same way. It's hard to put into words how much Buffy means to me, and how it makes me feel.

It makes me feel better about my life, in general. It's courageous and brave, and a lot of the time, I just think to myself in my head "If I could just act like Buffy and have the confidence that she has, then I'll be ok. I can be strong like her". It's become so much to me, and it's become a part of who I am every day.

I can't get through a day without listening to some Buffy music or looking at a Buffy picture or thinking about it someway. It's become a major part of my life. Like a lot of people, Buffy helped me through some depression issues, during two different times. It's just the most perfect thing that I've ever experienced or watched.

There are a lot of emotions that I tie into watching Buffy, and if I'm feeling a certain way, then I go to certain episodes:

Crying, or just wanting to feel better: The Gift
Cheer me up? Pangs, god it's funny! Anything with Spike makes me giggle.

Basically, the one thing that comforts me is watching Buffy. I thoroughly feel the emotions that the characters feel, often like I'm a part of it. A lot of the times I think it'd be great to escape into Sunny D, even with all of the vampires.

So, in short, it's one of the most important and touching things in my life. It's hard to put into words how wonderful and supportive the show is. I just love Buffy, forever. <3

[Secret Scoobie]

Mar 11, 2009 20:02:14 GMT -5 Greer said:

It makes me feel better about my life, in general. It's courageous and brave, and a lot of the time, I just think to myself in my head "If I could just act like Buffy and have the confidence that she has, then I'll be ok. I can be strong like her". It's become so much to me, and it's become a part of who I am every day.

Exactly! I'm also so happy that there are people who can understand... no one in my life does.

Mar 11, 2009 20:02:14 GMT -5 Greer said:

I can't get through a day without listening to some Buffy music or looking at a Buffy picture or thinking about it someway.

I feel that way too. Obsessive maybe. But it's important to me. It's important to my life. And this sort of community is a massive help to me. It's a place to feel NORMAL, and accepted.

[Rachster]

I feel that way too. Obsessive maybe. But it's important to me. It's important to my life. And this sort of community is a massive help to me. It's a place to feel NORMAL, and accepted.

I completely agree, i love having some Buffy chat and it's just not the same when the entire time the other person is looking at you thinking "yeah.. she's crazy" it's hard to get unless you feel the same way Buffy's like apart of my life I've watched it since i was little and I've grown up with it, and having this forum is just amazing.

[Secret Scoobie]

^ It's an amazing thing to have a place like this.
;D

I get the rolling eyes and scoffs of "You like BUFFY?".
I hate it... some people try to make you feel stupid because of it.

They don't understand. I pity them. They don't have what I have...what we have.

We're the lucky ones.

[BuffyFanOne]

"We're the lucky ones"
...makes me thing of the first Buffy soundtrack

Anyways, I feel the same as, I am sure, a lot of us feel.

I started watching Buffy when i was in 5th grade. Now, I was never really an outcast or bullied or anything like that and I think that is because of Buffy.
Watching Buffy as a kid, and as I grew up, I had all of these positive roll models and I saw these people being who they wanted to be, week after week, and i saw that it was ok. They didn't have to hide who they were. Sure, Buffy had secrets but she confided in those around her and they embraced her for it.
Every thing I went through as a kid, and young adult, I have an episode (or season!) of Buffy to turn to and remind myself that I am not alone. There are people all over the world going through what I am going through or worse!

Also, I am fortuneate that I don't even get picked on for watching Buffy... not even the eye rolls My friends and I would always watch Buffy when we were young, every Tuesday...that is until Angel left, then they all stopped watching because they were so devisteted. So, all of my friends know how good Buffy is and understand why I watch it. They even hit me up for a DVD every now and then
I have even found that sooooo many people will own up to watching Buffy once you admit it first! I brought it up in my philosophy class the other day and half the class got into the discussion!

[alycat7]

I honestly don't know what it is about Buffy that grew me in, seeing as I never saw it when in originally aired. But what ever happend, I'm glad it did. I can't see myself going a day thinking about Buffy, or anything Buffy related.

[lindanie]

I don't know what makes Buffy different,but I know Buffy 1-7 makes me different,it's so wonderful that i am hooked by it.

[Secret Scoobie]

^ just 1-7??

[Whedon Fan]

Well Buffy was the first show I started watching...asides from the usual kiddie programmes. It was the first 'big boy' show. I was about 11 when I first started watching Buffy (now 19) and I've never looked back it just has something that a lot of other shows are missing. I don''t even know what it is. It is familiar and the writing is excellant, the cast and relatable charatcers. You root for the bad guy's sometimes becasue they come across as being real people and you either pitty them at times or want Buffy to kick their ass. Best show around and it has yet to be beaten...not that I think it can.

[Secret Scoobie]

^ It's sad that people aren't there for us to turn to, or that its people we have to turn away from sometimes - but it's really a gift that we have this that we can rely on, and that can support us when we need it.

Some people don't understand that.

[Greer]

It really does support me a lot, and it's sad when people don't understand it.

We are so very lucky, and I really mean that. Thank God for Buffy.

[loveisabird]

The think that makes Buffy different is that it has its own way of that you relate to it. I adore the metaphors in the show and the little subtleties. Ive never been a fan of huge shows like.. say CSI because there is nothing there for me to relate to at all.

During school I wasnt out as gay but I was one of the gay folk that people picked on most weeks/days but my friends were also outcasts, so it was like we had our own little scoobie gang, and the show helped me more than anything.

I still get warm and fuzzy everytime I watch it cos it just hits home with me.

[Greer]

Awe, Me, that's great that it helped you feel better about all of those crappy school situations. Buffy always helps me through that stuff!

Warm and fuzzy ftw.

[deathisyourgift]

I spend more time in my life watching and reading and discussing this TV show than I do with planning my future. There's a reason for that: Buffy is more than just a show. It may have started out as just another TV show, albeit a quirky, mixed-genre show with a female protagonist (not a typical TV hit), but it has definitely grown and become more than that to so many people.

I remember watching Buffy and being so entranced by an episode that I would completely ignore everything around me, my mom did not appreciate this. I would not go to the bathroom in between commercial breaks, for fear that I would miss a second or two of the next scene, I would laugh out loud with the jokes, cry along with the pain, my legs would kick along with Buffy's fights, I would get up and argue with the TV when an episode ended in a "To Be Continued" or with a surprise guest or something that was not a neat little end to the episode. This show got under my skin from the beginning. I remember hating having to wait a whole week to see another episode, let alone waiting months for a new season to begin.

Now here's where I get past the "I love Buffy" stage and delve down deep into the "I could not go on without Buffy":

My mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis ten years ago. It's basically a neurological disease that attacks the myelin sheath protecting the neurons that run throughout your body. This disease affects it's victims in various ways, but for Mom, it means having no balance, which leads to a serious decrease in mobility, and depression. It's hard to stay positive and help out, and more than once I got overwhelmed and wanted to leave. During those ten years, Buffy had ended and the DVD's were being released. My family members knew exactly what to get me for bitrhdays: Buffy!! I have had all the DVDs for a while now, and I've watched through the entire series an obscene amount of times. Watching the ups and downs of Buffy's and her friends' and family's lives was like therapy for me. It felt good to focus my emotions towards something other than my own life, and it helped me get over the overwhelming feelings I was having. My mom also watched with me, and still does. I think that Buffy helps her too, because every now and then we'll just sit down and pick a specific episode that we know will make us cry and feel cleansing, or one that will make us laugh and help lighten things up around the house. Most of all, we watch OMWF because it is such an impacting episode for both of us. Buffy has helped me so much, and I think it's helped my Mom as well.

I too have been surprised when I admit that I watch Buffy and a couple other people will speak up and have a moment of recognition when they just proclaim "ME TOO!!" Buffy solidarity, so great.


I just realized that I've probably written a novel here, oh well. Thanks for sitting through my drawn out post.

[Secret Scoobie]

deathisyourgift... that is a beautiful story. You and your mum are very strong and inspiring people, and it makes me s happy to hear of the love you find in Buffy that helps with the battle of everday hardship.

Your courage for coping with what you do, is framed perfectly in your passion for Buffy. You should see yourself in such a strong heroine, and know too that you are an inspiration to others.

*hugs*

[deathisyourgift]

thanks, that really means a bunch from you guys

[Secret Scoobie]

*HUGS*