Angered By the Stereotypical View of Buffy

[Blondie Bear]

I agree, TC. Many Christians don't. And most of them have no logical reason for it. Made that part of my thesis research incredibly frustrating, I'll tell you.

 

[LadyLavinia]

Not roommate, try parents. Yeah... *sigh* And I'll try that.

I have to deal with parents when it comes to BUFFY. And I'm an adult.

 

[Kean]

My mother said my love of Buffy was 'freaky' last night, she made me sound like a right weirdo. I went ape ****. There is only so many times that you can take someone giving you that look, ya know the oh-my-god-whats-wrong-with-them look, whe you say you like Buffy.

I'm right there with ya TC...you should have had a kiniption like me!🙂

 

[white avenger]

Let me 'splain. No, is too much. Let me sum up.

Some of this is from my experience growing up as a Southern Baptist. Some of it is from the research I'm doing for my thesis.

Christians believe that the Bible is literally true. Hence, the commandments that tell them not to suffer a witch to live or not to get involved with mediums, etc. indicate that magic is real and evil. Therefore, there are two types of power in the world: that from God, and that from Satan. If your power is not OVERTLY from God, it must, therefore, be from Satan. Guess where Buffy falls.

Also, Christians tend to have a moral disapproval of Fantasy in general, partly due to our Puritain heritage, in which anything that doesn't immediately glorify God is a sin (reading for pleasure, for instance), and partly because the statement that these things "aren't real" calls into question their entire worldview. If magic isn't real, God would have had no reason to caution them against it. If magic isn't real, their miracles (which rather uncannily resemble magic) might not be real, either.

In particular they despise Buffy and Harry Potter because these two texts (yes, I know Buffy is a TV show; it's still referred to as a text in literature studies) incorporate a real religion which practices witchcraft, and therefore are not only portraying magic as okay, they are serving as how-to manuals for impressionable children who may wish to turn to the dark side. There's an inherent contradiction in this; they believe that God is stronger than Satan, and yet they still fear Satan's influence on their children rather than trusting their own teaching and God to keep them safe OR realizing that sometimes kids have to make their own mistakes OR realizing that when their kids start waving sticks at each other and speaking Latin and NOTHING HAPPENS, the kids will get discouraged and either quit or just keep pretending while understanding that magic doesn't ACTUALLY work (or, if you believe in that stuff, it doesn't work the way Buffy and Harry Potter portray it working).

Wow, that was a long sentence. I hope it makes some kind of sense and helps you understand, though.

I am a Christian, raised as a Southern Baptist, and fortunately raised in a family that believed in teaching me the difference between truth and fantasy at a young age. I never had any trouble from them about what I watched or read, and I have given my son the same free choice.

 

[Blondie Bear]

I am a Christian, raised as a Southern Baptist, and fortunately raised in a family that believed in teaching me the difference between truth and fantasy at a young age. I never had any trouble from them about what I watched or read, and I have given my son the same free choice.

Good for you. Seriously. No sarcasm there. My parents, as well as the people that I'm talking about in my above post, are EXTREMELY conservative. Almost insanely right-wing Evangelical Christian types. I also consider myself a Christian (though admitedly I'm going through a bit of an identity crisis as far as that goes right now), but I'm much more moderate and don't believe in censorship in any form. If I ever have kids, I won't stop them from watching/reading (almost) anything they want, though I plan to be available to discuss the morality or any other issue with them.

 

[alexa]

I'm from a liberal Catholic family, so while they don't watch Buffy, they have no problem with my love for Joss shows (at least not because we're Catholic).
I do have slightly conservative Christian friends who disapproved until some friends of theirs admitted to also being fans when I was there.
I don't see the conflict personally.

 

[wiccianslayer]

OK this culd be a long post

My mom and Dad

My dad I CONVERTED IN TO AN ANGEL FAN! but he can't stand buffy but i''ll give him his due when he got intrigured by the charactor faith he did watch the buffy episodes with her in.

My mom

Thinks she's too old to be watching such crap but i've put episodes on in the pat and she's been reading and eventully she satarts to watch not that she'll ever admit it

oh and FYI i love being spoilt because on tiem of year

MY BIRTHDAY

i have a Angel/Buffy marthon in my living room so they have to watch it

i know i'm a genius


My sister thinks it's freaky i love it

but get this

SHE'S THE ONE THAT INTRODUCED ME TO IT!!!! she watched from season 1 to season 4!!!!!

 

[Canon]

I'm quite lucky in the fact that both my parents like Buffy, and I even got my mum to watch the complete series with me. The only complaints I ever get is about the amount of times I watch Buffy. There's only so many times my parents can watch the same episode =P

 

[SpikedBuffy]

When I lived at home, my parents didn't really care that I was watching it. We tried to share tv time. My Dad would come in every one in a while and make a joke about what was currently happening, but he never told me to take it out.

He has this website that he read everyday, (I can't remember what about... he's a strict republican and it was about battling those 'evil' liberals and good things in the world) and one day the top article of the day was about how Buffy is actually a well written show and how it relates to real life every day. He printed it out and gave it to me. He still makes silly jokes (that's how he is), but never forces me to take it out.

When I watch it here at home with my husband, he'll watch it with me (He's seen every episode of Buffy and Angel at least a few times)and he can even add some quotes or actions that the character will do next. It's fun.