Post by ptnewell on Jun 1, 2009 12:19:40 GMT -5
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is sometimes called a fusion between the super-hero, horror, and soap opera genres. That much is unremarkable. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced more human characters with soap opera elements into their new group, the Fantastic Four, in 1961, a strong horror sensibility was already present (in fact the company was publishing nothing else at the time). Here I’ll compare BtVS with other super-hero stories.
Story-telling Depth: Perhaps the biggest advantage of any continuing medium (series of novels, comics, television series) over single-shot events is the depth of the back story. Novelists often write a larger unpublished back story to embed their characters in, creating an untold depth that readers can sense. The Lord of the Rings is perhaps an extreme example, in which Tolkien took the back story to volumes of material. Since there are roughly 2-3 comics equivalent per hour-long television episode told at the same depth, or perhaps 40 (22-page) comics to a Buffy Season, we have in BtVS and AtS a world of about 12x40 or a little less than 500 comics depth. Nothing like that exists in the comic medium. A few characters have kept their books longer than that, but under a wide variety of writers, editors, etc., with personality transplants. (The personality of, say, Batman in 1965 is completely different from 1995 Batman, a few hundred issues later.) In terms of a universe closely edited and imagined by a single individual with good cohesion, there is little if anything like the Buffyverse in the world of super-heroes.
To see the richness such depth adds to a story, consider a simple scene like the one from S7 when Buffy walks downstairs to find Faith hitting it off with Spike. A viewer familiar with the deep Buffyverse history has an immediate resonance for the emotional undertones involved. No movie or novel can have such depth.
Inventiveness: Creativity is prized by most super-hero readers, as is the case in the broader science fiction realm. Although the Buffyverse may seem imaginative by the standards of most television, it is not particularly creative super-hero material. Standard tropes, such as the mutability of evil and frequent death and resurrection are common. Faith is the standard “evil twin” version most super-heroes acquire (say Sinestro, to Green Lantern, or Venom to Spider-Man). Characters in the super-hero genre flip-flop between good and evil primarily for two reasons. One is because villains become more popular (early examples include Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, later Rogue or Emma Frost) and thus have to become better behaved to be tolerable. Spike is such an example, with his villainy limited first by a chip, later by love of Buffy, finally by a soul. Super-powered characters also flip so that heroes can fight one another (say Angelus/Buffy). When Whedon uses well known comic book conventions (say demon blood has unique effects in “Earshot” or “I Will Remember You”) he often quotes the comic precedent (Oz points out the analogy to Red Kryptonite). When Whedon does try to invent fairly distinctive villains, such as the First Evil, the results are often vague and unsatisfying.
Realism: In super hero stories realism is nearly always secondary to a sense of wonder. Still, most readers would prefer a plausible seeming world that ideally required only a single initial suspension of disbelief. The Buffyverse is unusually natural seeming, at least if one does not deliberately pick at protruding threads. The rules for creating powered characters are fairly simple (Slayers are Chosen upon a death; vampires in predictable ways), and much to be preferred to bizarre accidents (say bitten by a radioactive spider), with each new character involved in an unpredictable coincidence. It may be worth writing up someday the ways in which the Buffyverse cannot work (there are many), but the surface plausibility is excellent. I would argue that even, say, The Dark Knight is less plausible, in that it requires believing an ordinary human with training can do superhuman feats.
Dialog: A few comic writers have used language as skillfully as in BtVS and AtS, notably James Robinson’s Starman and Brian Michael Bendis (in a variety of works). Few if any have managed to create as many highly distinctive and consistent voices. A recurring problem with writers is that it is hard to keep the characters from sounding the same. It is hard to imagine mistaking the way Willow talks for Anya, or Xander for Spike, or either for Giles. A standard way to differentiate characters is to give verbal tics (Wolverines “Bub”). Although such tics do exist in the Buffyverse (“Five by Five”) they play only a minor role. The characters really just seem to think and thus talk differently.
The Jimmy Olsen Factor: There is a strong tendency for the friends or acquaintances of super-heroes to acquire powers themselves. Thus Jimmy Olsen became Elastic Lad (among much else), Lana Lang The Insect Queen, etc. When the eccentric Steve Ditko was plotting as well as drawing the first few years of Spider-Man, he repeatedly clashed with scripter and editor Stan Lee. Ditko’s position was that to be realistic, all other super-powered beings should be unrelated to the hero. Stan Lee insisted that a story about characters with no emotional connection was dull. Ditko won some of the early fights, but Stan Lee absolutely insisted that when the Green Goblin’s identity was revealed in (ASM 39) that it be Norman Osborne, the father of Peter Parker's best friend. Ditko left instead and John Romita took over. In general, the Buffyverse seems to do a reasonable balancing job between these imperatives (emotional connectedness and realism). Although Willow gains powers, Giles, Dawn, and Xander do not, and Anya only briefly regains hers. Probably the biggest exception to a generally natural feel is Cordy’s various one-time only powers (floats one time, etc.).
Characterization: Which brings us to the main reason the Buffyverse is probably so beloved. Traditionally characterization is a weak point of the super hero realm, with often only a few well defined characters. Sometimes only the hero seems 3-D, and not always even that. (I would say that Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man has less than a handful of well defined characters, and that is unusually good.) Unfortunately, in comics the changing of writers and characters often leads to major changes in personality. The Buffyverse has easily a score of well defined characters, who may evolve but largely maintain personality integrity. It surely helps that each character comes with a real world actor who imbues a reality a comic sketch never can.
(Patrick Newell, June 2009)
Story-telling Depth: Perhaps the biggest advantage of any continuing medium (series of novels, comics, television series) over single-shot events is the depth of the back story. Novelists often write a larger unpublished back story to embed their characters in, creating an untold depth that readers can sense. The Lord of the Rings is perhaps an extreme example, in which Tolkien took the back story to volumes of material. Since there are roughly 2-3 comics equivalent per hour-long television episode told at the same depth, or perhaps 40 (22-page) comics to a Buffy Season, we have in BtVS and AtS a world of about 12x40 or a little less than 500 comics depth. Nothing like that exists in the comic medium. A few characters have kept their books longer than that, but under a wide variety of writers, editors, etc., with personality transplants. (The personality of, say, Batman in 1965 is completely different from 1995 Batman, a few hundred issues later.) In terms of a universe closely edited and imagined by a single individual with good cohesion, there is little if anything like the Buffyverse in the world of super-heroes.
To see the richness such depth adds to a story, consider a simple scene like the one from S7 when Buffy walks downstairs to find Faith hitting it off with Spike. A viewer familiar with the deep Buffyverse history has an immediate resonance for the emotional undertones involved. No movie or novel can have such depth.
Inventiveness: Creativity is prized by most super-hero readers, as is the case in the broader science fiction realm. Although the Buffyverse may seem imaginative by the standards of most television, it is not particularly creative super-hero material. Standard tropes, such as the mutability of evil and frequent death and resurrection are common. Faith is the standard “evil twin” version most super-heroes acquire (say Sinestro, to Green Lantern, or Venom to Spider-Man). Characters in the super-hero genre flip-flop between good and evil primarily for two reasons. One is because villains become more popular (early examples include Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, later Rogue or Emma Frost) and thus have to become better behaved to be tolerable. Spike is such an example, with his villainy limited first by a chip, later by love of Buffy, finally by a soul. Super-powered characters also flip so that heroes can fight one another (say Angelus/Buffy). When Whedon uses well known comic book conventions (say demon blood has unique effects in “Earshot” or “I Will Remember You”) he often quotes the comic precedent (Oz points out the analogy to Red Kryptonite). When Whedon does try to invent fairly distinctive villains, such as the First Evil, the results are often vague and unsatisfying.
Realism: In super hero stories realism is nearly always secondary to a sense of wonder. Still, most readers would prefer a plausible seeming world that ideally required only a single initial suspension of disbelief. The Buffyverse is unusually natural seeming, at least if one does not deliberately pick at protruding threads. The rules for creating powered characters are fairly simple (Slayers are Chosen upon a death; vampires in predictable ways), and much to be preferred to bizarre accidents (say bitten by a radioactive spider), with each new character involved in an unpredictable coincidence. It may be worth writing up someday the ways in which the Buffyverse cannot work (there are many), but the surface plausibility is excellent. I would argue that even, say, The Dark Knight is less plausible, in that it requires believing an ordinary human with training can do superhuman feats.
Dialog: A few comic writers have used language as skillfully as in BtVS and AtS, notably James Robinson’s Starman and Brian Michael Bendis (in a variety of works). Few if any have managed to create as many highly distinctive and consistent voices. A recurring problem with writers is that it is hard to keep the characters from sounding the same. It is hard to imagine mistaking the way Willow talks for Anya, or Xander for Spike, or either for Giles. A standard way to differentiate characters is to give verbal tics (Wolverines “Bub”). Although such tics do exist in the Buffyverse (“Five by Five”) they play only a minor role. The characters really just seem to think and thus talk differently.
The Jimmy Olsen Factor: There is a strong tendency for the friends or acquaintances of super-heroes to acquire powers themselves. Thus Jimmy Olsen became Elastic Lad (among much else), Lana Lang The Insect Queen, etc. When the eccentric Steve Ditko was plotting as well as drawing the first few years of Spider-Man, he repeatedly clashed with scripter and editor Stan Lee. Ditko’s position was that to be realistic, all other super-powered beings should be unrelated to the hero. Stan Lee insisted that a story about characters with no emotional connection was dull. Ditko won some of the early fights, but Stan Lee absolutely insisted that when the Green Goblin’s identity was revealed in (ASM 39) that it be Norman Osborne, the father of Peter Parker's best friend. Ditko left instead and John Romita took over. In general, the Buffyverse seems to do a reasonable balancing job between these imperatives (emotional connectedness and realism). Although Willow gains powers, Giles, Dawn, and Xander do not, and Anya only briefly regains hers. Probably the biggest exception to a generally natural feel is Cordy’s various one-time only powers (floats one time, etc.).
Characterization: Which brings us to the main reason the Buffyverse is probably so beloved. Traditionally characterization is a weak point of the super hero realm, with often only a few well defined characters. Sometimes only the hero seems 3-D, and not always even that. (I would say that Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man has less than a handful of well defined characters, and that is unusually good.) Unfortunately, in comics the changing of writers and characters often leads to major changes in personality. The Buffyverse has easily a score of well defined characters, who may evolve but largely maintain personality integrity. It surely helps that each character comes with a real world actor who imbues a reality a comic sketch never can.
(Patrick Newell, June 2009)