Buffy, what a joke

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goldenboy

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...Just thinkin a little more. People who know nothing of Buffy, even to this day, probably think of a couple of things: "It's called 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'. It's a kiddie show or it's almost like a parody of old action shows, like 'Xena, Warrior Princess'". I personally could never get into that show because it was almost too jokey and absurdist. The fights were like slapstick comedy, Buster Keaton stuff. Not quite as smartly written either.

If I recall correctly, Joss had named her Buffy for effect. He was trying to think of the most innocuous, girly name he could think of. Heather? Tiffany? Buffy! (sorry to offended Heathers, Tiffanys). He was trying to emphasize that this seemingly poor, defenseless girl is secretly the ultimate vampire asskicker. And it worked, if you just watched the show.

Also, people may have bad memories of the movie. I barely remember it. I remember thinking that Buffy girl is really cute. And Pee Wee Herman was in it, always a good thing. Not much else. Too bad whoever was in charge didn't get it or didn't care to. Just wanted to make a teen comedy I guess. If we could just wipe that from people's minds...

Buffy's jokey, post-modern if you like. But it's not a comedy. Filled with humor, but not a comedy. And it's really really good, I say.
 
You have made some really good points there, and I agree 100%. If you had never watched the show, you would definatley think that it was complete and total rubbish, but it is actually alot darker and exciting than people might think. You should never judge a book by it's title....well cover...but you know what I mean, lol.
 
Yeah, I had a female roommate at one point early in the Buffy series and she had zero interest in the show. I remember she saw some list in George magazine? Maybe Esquire. It placed Buffy near the top on this pop cultural feminist list. She seemed really pissed about that. Thinking Buffy was just cheesecake for teenage boys and anti-intellectual. Kept tryin' to tell her....

Beyond the show's title and early perception though, some folks just don't like fantasy as a whole. Or sci-fi, any of that stuff. My dad wouldn't touch anything like that with a 10' pole. Personal taste. I just like fantasy shows that are gounded in a mundane, earthly setting. Creates a weird, compelling contrast. And just all the ethical, philosophical implications of the shows.

I think for fantasy/sci-fi to be a popular success, it has to be exceptionally well written, above all else. More so than your average police procedural for example. Then well acted, then well produced. It's never going to have a very large built-in audience, however rabid and cultish they may be.
 
I remember recomending Buffy to a friend at work, who I knew was a sci-fi and fantasy fan. She didn't give my taste much credit when she accused me of being a dirty ol' pervy but I swung her round and I like to think that I created a whole little nest of fans in the Civil Service 😉 I think I used the "books and covers" argument at the time. I hadn't seen the Buffy film at the time and she had, which obviously didn't help 🙂

...I like to think I also got them into Hercules and Xena as well (again getting tarred with the dirty ol' perve brush - which was possibly true in the case of Xena🙂) That was with the help of the "post-modern" argument...
 
I remember some year when "The X-Files' won best TV drama at the Golden Globes. You could almost hear an audible gasp. Got very quiet. I think America is ambivalent about it's cultural contributions to the world. The "junk" (fantasy, sci-fi, comic-books, etc) often does better abroad than it does here. Perhaps still some residual colonial insecurity or something.

I also think Americans get concerned. Concerned that the world has a very distorted perception about what Americans are, because of our ubiquitous pop culture. It can all be very shallow, messy and vulgar at times. But there's a lot more to it than that.



"...I like to think I also got them into Hercules and Xena as well (again getting tarred with the dirty ol' perve brush - which was possibly true in the case of Xena🙂) That was with the help of the "post-modern" argument.."

"”I did like the way Xena would hop around the globe and encounter all these various gods and mythologies. Didn't limit herself to the Greek isles. And Ted Raimi was funny.
 
goldenboy said:
...Just thinkin a little more. People who know nothing of Buffy, even to this day, probably think of a couple of things: "It's called 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'. It's a kiddie show or it's almost like a parody of old action shows, like 'Xena, Warrior Princess'". I personally could never get into that show because it was almost too jokey and absurdist. The fights were like slapstick comedy, Buster Keaton stuff. Not quite as smartly written either.

If I recall correctly, Joss had named her Buffy for effect. He was trying to think of the most innocuous, girly name he could think of. Heather? Tiffany? Buffy! (sorry to offended Heathers, Tiffanys). He was trying to emphasize that this seemingly poor, defenseless girl is secretly the ultimate vampire asskicker. And it worked, if you just watched the show.

Also, people may have bad memories of the movie. I barely remember it. I remember thinking that Buffy girl is really cute. And Pee Wee Herman was in it, always a good thing. Not much else. Too bad whoever was in charge didn't get it or didn't care to. Just wanted to make a teen comedy I guess. If we could just wipe that from people's minds...

Buffy's jokey, post-modern if you like. But it's not a comedy. Filled with humor, but not a comedy. And it's really really good, I say.
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ahhhh thats why its one of the most popular shows ever, hmmmm
 
True, Buffy's hugely popular now. I'm just sayin it was slow to take off and skeptical people needed to be convinced over time"”or never were convinced. The ratings never were very high, were they? The WB being a new and relatively minor network.

X-files had a similar trajectory. Slow burning, then hugely popular when the quality shone through to everyone.

Then you compare that to something like "Lost" or "Desperate Housewives", sprinting right out of the gate.
 
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