The essence (and the appealing) of BtVS

[doppelgänger2]

Okay, so I'm in the end of this swedish/writing class where I now have to turn in a paper on "something" to get extra credit (as a teachers pet). If I get a MVG (that's like an A) on this I'll probably get an MVG on the whole course. The paper has few restriction, so it can be about basically anything that has to do with movies, television or books. Of course I chose BtVS since that comes kind of naturally for me.

I was thinking about doing a paper about the (pop)cultural phenomenon that is BtVS. That is; why is it such a popular show, to whom it is appealing, if/how it's changed popular culture as we knew it and the "sub culture" that it has created (consisting of fan fiction, fan art and boards such as this).

I was wondering what your take on this is, and if you have any suggestions on what I should write about?

Most importantly, I need you guys to help me out to choose one quote (it can be a dialogue, not just one line) that is kind of "Buffy in a nutshell", a quote that is the essence of the show.

Oh, and also, I wanted to ask some of ya'll some questions. I was thinking maybe two fans from the US, two from Europe and maybe two more from maybe Asia or Africa. I haven't decided on the questions yet, but give me a shout if you're interested 🙂

 

[eponinethen]

Oh Fran, you know I want to be asked questions but maybe you don't want me since I'm Swedish just like you?

Well, first, there are some things about this in that school-project-thread I started like a week ago. And you should get Ash to help you out 'cause he seems to know a lot 😀

The quote thing, I can't help you with at all, sorry, I just think there are SO many quotes that are so Buffy that I could never choose.

When I was preparing that speech two days ago, I was thinking about why BtVS is so popular (like I've never thought about that before, heh), and I know there are a lot of reasons to why you can relate to the show while it also asks a lot of questions and is really "real" and stuff.. and the reason why it's appealing to almost everyone (no matter what age you are and so on) has a lot to do with the fact that you can choose in which way you want to watch the show. If you just want it to be entertainment, or if you want to analyze it and stuff, or if it's just a part of your everyday life, if you care about what happens in the show or who created the show and why/how and so on.. Although there are many many fans who care about and love the show equally, I believe not many love it in the same way. It is different things to different people and it has a different function for everyone. Um, sorry, what I wanted to say was that although there are a lot of reasons to love the show the real reason is that it's really really good. Which sounds lame, but that's what I believe. It's the perfect TV show in my opinion. Obviously it's way more than a TV show to me, but if I'm just looking at it as a TV show.. it's the perfect show. It's got everything. And they have made it just the right way. (And I believe that the reason it's so good is 'cause the creators care so much about the show and the characters..) But that's just if you talk about the TV show part. What I love so much now is of course also the world around it, the "lifestyle" (cause to me it is). Anyway, I felt silly when I tried to explain why BtVS is so special. Because to me it is obvious that it is, and it's obvious that it's extremely good, and if people just don't want to understand that they're just stupid. The thing is that BtVS isn't some Spelling produced show that was created only to make money. Sure, everyone wants to make money, nothing wrong with that, but the creators of BtVS care about their show and characters and blah blah blah I'm really sorry about my ranting Fran I'll shut up and get back to you tomorrow when I'm not half asleep. (Hopefully some nice mod will help me delete this post, which I'll probably ask someone to do tomorrow.. see you then.)

 

[doppelgänger2]

Heh, and you think I haven't already thought about asking you some questions? 🙂

Well, if you have lots of quotes, give me some suggestions! I'm bad at this with quotes, I'd probably choose something from Welcome to the hellmouth/The harvest.

I get what you're saying, that's basically my take on it also. But I'd like to go deep under the "BtVS is just a friggin good show" -thing and try to find interesting answers. Like WHY is it soo good? What about a blonde gal chasing vampires could attract some many people.
Before I became a fan, I thought BtVS seemed like a silly, boring show about a blonde bimbo in a short skirt chasing silly vampires. The story of how I discovered BtVS is rather interesting; but the important is that I realized I was so wrong. I would like to find an answer to why I suddenly realized I was so wrong. Or maybe what made me change my mind.
But you've got some good points there, I'll look into them.

Maybe I'm just complicating everything... I don't know.
But thanks for the tip, I'll look into that thread 😀

 

[eponinethen]

Well, you know I could rant about this for pages, but I'll probably just write it in a Swedish PM or talk to you on MSN or something if that's okay Fran (you know how I get extremely nervous posting here where everyone can read)..

 

[doppelgänger2]

I'd love you to rant here since I'm sure you have loads of interesting stuff to say/write. But okay, we can talk more about it on MSN 😀

But what about the quotes?