BtVS vs. AtS

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This Year's Girl

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Hey guys,
I'm working on a paper comparing and contrasting BtVS and AtS, and I was looking for some other fans' input. Any thoughts? How do you think the shows differ tonally, philosophically, visually, or thematically, for example? Or do they both really have the same message in the end? Which show is stronger, and which is more accessable? It's not a matter of which show you like better per se, but rather their similarities and differences when looked at side by side.
But really, any comments whatsoever that you have are greatly appreciated! 🙂
 
Well from what I have seen, Angel tends to be a lot darker than Buffy is.

Buffy is more about Family. Angel more about finding your way I think.

Both have charecters who have a hard love life.

And to me Buffy is more accessable, its easier to get into and a bit more fun, espically with the highschool years.

When Angel started off, it started off on a serious note and continued to be seriuos.
 
I think that the main difference is the moral compromise we see Angel use. He plays with the greater good, he kills humans if need be. He's fighting the war, Buffy's fighting the battles.
 
I can't dispute that there is definately a different mood and atmosphere to the two series. No matter how dark Buffy got thematically during it's run Angel was still the more adult show in tone and content.

However i think the lines blur massively between the two series. I always say that as far as i'm concerned it's one series in two halves which is the way i view them, usually watching the runs of both series in order, alternating between the two. The only point where that isn't the case is during season 7 of Buffy and season 4 of Angel where the timeframes are thrown out of synch.

Basically though i would say that the two shows have very different styles and mission statements but are both telling two sides of the same story.
 
Angel is definitely much darker in it's tone and in the character development. In Buffy there's usually a more distinct line between the good guys and the bad guys. In Angel, on many occassions, we've seen the supposed good guys do some very bad things.
 
I have seen very little of Angel. I can only agree about it being darker and.. I think more "serious" to people who aren't into the shows. I mean most people tend to think Buffy is silly and with no real meaning, I don't think you get that impression if you watch one Angel episode (compared to just watching one BtVS episode). There's of course also the feministic thing in Buffy, I don't know how you get that in Angel, but it couldn't be as much asin Buffy since... well the female super hero...
 
As Joss said (and I think it was on Angel S4 DVD featurette if you wanna check it out) Buffy is what it is about to be female, the enpowerment, the opression, the difficulties and the boys. While Angel is about what it is to be male, the conflict between old fashioned dominating men and the so-called "new man" and what conflict they face struggling with these two stereotypes.

Maybe it would make it easier if you focused on two particular episodes (could be random, could be two eps that aired the same day, whatever) and thought of several areas, such as "themes covered" "character development" "social issues raised" etc and just watch the eps and note down anything and see if that brings in some interesting points.
 
Xander said:
Maybe it would make it easier if you focused on two particular episodes (could be random, could be two eps that aired the same day, whatever) and thought of several areas, such as "themes covered" "character development" "social issues raised" etc and just watch the eps and note down anything and see if that brings in some interesting points.
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Thats a good suggestion, as if you are going to go general and just do a comparison of the shows you are going to have information overload. If it was me doing the essay I would choose something that is present in both shows, for example the way demons are shown on the different shows, or the role in which the government and the law play. The obvious one also being the characters of Angel and Cordelia and how they were shown on Buffy and on Angel.
 
I think both shows try and portray a deep meaning. In that they are both the same but I think after that the shows differ completely.

Not only is Angel more darker, it looks at a lot more adult issues. The storyline with Connor and Angel deals with the relationship between a father and a son, but looks at the more serious side. No matter what Angel does Connor just doesn't accept him. Buffy touches on the relationship between a parent and a child with Dawn and Buffy, but it shows the happily ever after. Buffy's friends are with her to make the perfect family.

There are a few more examples of Angel looking father into the difficulties within a family unit, such as the storyline with Wesley...compared with the storyline of Willow.
 
Simply put, to me the difference is that BTVS is all about having the strength to make the right choice and ATS is all about facing bad choices already made.
 
i understand it all comes down to personal preferances, but for me, buffy will always prevail. the only reason i got into angel to begin with is to see the jossverse continue and to see the journey of my favorite character continue as well as to have him explored further. after season 2 ended (more like when pylea began) "angel" was lost on me, it wasn't a show that i enjoyed watchingso much anymore, nor was i looking forward to every episode. of course, i loved many things afterwards, but i no longer loved the show as a whole. so basically, when it separated from buffy, it got lost on me as well.
as for buffy... it was and always will be my favorite show ever, the only show into which i was hooked from episode 1 and never stopped loving it until ... now. and like i said, never will. it encompasses everything - darkness, humor, drama, action, you name it. it has done everything (musical, mute episode, score-less episode...) it had so many riddles, metaphores and foreshadowing that there was not a single episode you could or would only watch once or even twice, or you're not a buffy fan. it touched all the subjects and all the issues nobody else dared to even glance at and did it with its usual grace and brought everything down to perfection. amazing hand-picked cast, incredible unique storylines, beautiful loves, tragic losses and the best characters and dialogue tv has ever had to offer. that's buffy for me 🙂
 
I never bought the attitude that just because BUFFY was about teenagers and young adults, and ANGEL was simply about adults that the latter was more serious. Frankly, I have always considered BUFFY to be just as dark or serious as ANGEL.

Mind you, both shows have excellent characters and good writing . . . I have to admit that I prefer BUFFY a little more. Not because I think it was more "optimistic" than ANGEL or anything like that. Frankly, I consider latter Season 2 of BUFFY, and latter Season 5 and all of Season 6 to be just as dark as ANGEL at its darkest. And unlike ANGEL, BUFFY did not require a "noir" setting or "noir-style" characters. In some ways BUFFY seemed darker because these two periods dealt very seriously with love, death, depression, etc.

I prefer BUFFY a little more, because I think it was better written than ANGEL. Not that BUFFY was perfect. Like ANGEL, it had its flaws. But I think the writing was slightly superior. A good example are the two series finales. Both finales were well-written and well-acted. Yet, "Chosen" worked more for me, because it integrated better with Season 7, than "Not Fade Away" did with ANGEL's Season 5 (which had too many plot holes for my comfort).
 
WatcherWes said:
I think that the main difference is the moral compromise we see Angel use. He plays with the greater good, he kills humans if need be. He's fighting the war, Buffy's fighting the battles.
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Buffy's battles were also a lot more personal than Angel's, or at least they seemed so to me. She internalised the conflict, made each battle hers and hers alone ("There's that word again: alone.") whereas Angel externalized them, looking to the "Greater good". Just look at the different kinds of darkness each show followed:
Buffy's dark places involved running away after a bad relationship, the death of her mother, possble suicide attempts (the jury's still out on several threads here) and an abusive relatioship with Spike.
Angel's dark places involved ending world peace and bringing on the end of the world (albeit prematurely).
 
Another huge difference is that Buffy was chosen to fight evil and sometimes feels like she is obligated to, while Angel does good to atone for his actions.

I've always been more of a Buffy fan because the storylines just seem more relatable. Most fans can sympathize with some event that occurred on Buffy.

Though both are great shows about the inner struggle of two heroes, in the end they have completely different meanings to me. Buffy accepted her calling, made a good life and family for herself, while at the end of Angel he continues to struggle. Buffy represents the typical hero forced to give up her life for the greater good and got her reward (a normal life) but Angel represents to me a man just trying to make things better one step at a time.

I honestly think that Angel is more accessible, just because of the title.

But at the end of the day, Buffy the stronger of the two shows in my opinion.
 
Buffy's dark places involved running away after a bad relationship, the death of her mother, possble suicide attempts (the jury's still out on several threads here) and an Buffy's dark places involved running away after a bad relationship, the death of her mother, possble suicide attempts (the jury's still out on several threads here) and an abusive relatioship with Spike.
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I think that you should also include Riley's defection, her relationship with Faith and especially Angel's loss of his soul in S2. If anything, the loss of Angel's soul, her parents' divorce and Joyce's death were the three most traumatic events in Buffy's young life.
 
S
SlayerThe
I agree with the loss of Angel's soul and her mother's death, but I also think her own death was one of her three most traumatic events.
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