Kana
Soulless human
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,305
Ok I'm sure you guys have noticed that Mr Whedon likes to use common plot and character devices and parallels. So inspired by the TV Tropes website, I'm going to try and identity some of these devices and common themes that tend to, how shall we say, repeat themselves! I'll put the common theme/ archtype etc in bold and underline and place examples and explanation below.
Father's Suck
Pretty obvious this one. The examples? Take your pick. Buffy's dad goes from attentive weekend dad to deadbeat dad in a matter of like, a season. Xander's parents both seem pretty bad but the father seems worse. Where is Willow's Dad? Wes' dad is kind of a jerk and the list goes on...
Redemption
Angel, Spike, Faith, Willow, Jonathan made at least an attempt.
This follows....
I like to kill things
Angel and Spike, Andrew, Willow, Faith, Giles, Gunn, Fred more or less attempted to murder Siedel. Justine's attempted murder and Holtz' attempted murder.
Sex is Evil
Bangel sex usually leads to heartbreak of some sort (and sometimes the end of the world, literally). Giles having sex is a sign is at a loose end. Cordy has safe sex and still ends up pregnant, with demon spawn no less. Spuffy sex was linked to Buffy indulging in self-loathing and ended in attempted rape. Like, the whole episode of Lonely Hearts.
Supposed To Be Nerdy But Clearly Hot
Putting Willow in bad clothes doesn't make her unattractive. She's, hot end of story. Buffy criticizing Wes' looks was annoying. He's clearly a hottie. Just an uptight, nerdy hottie. Xander's clearly buff as well.
Where Do I Fit?
Xander on Btvs and Gunn on Ats.
Anya. Cordy Mark 2?
So Xander goes out with a beautiful, albeit materialistic girl, who is extremely blunt and self-centred but ends being incredibly brave, then does it again.
Spike. Angel Mark 2?
Although these two aren't totally the same, they certainly have a lot in common.
1. Both had strong parental figures whose words haunted them well into the future.
2. Both of them have the same given name: Liam and William.
3. Both of them are sired by beautiful vampiresses who saw their potential despite it not being all that obvious.
4. Following on from that, the meek and shy William became violent, loud and changed his upper class accent to a working class accent. Liam who was a drunken layabout became a artistic intelletual and his horrid Irish accent remained.
5. Dru.
6. Both had to adapt after external forces rendered them less of a monster than before (Angelus' soul and Spike's chip)
7. And then the love of a Slayer inspired them to become champions.
8. Long leather jackets
9. Weird hair.
Evil Establishment, I Rebuke Thee
Any establishment that is generally depicted as some form of authority, our heroes generally rebel against. In Btvs, it's the Watcher's Council, Initiative on Ats, it's Wolfram and Hart
Holtz Sounds Like The German Word For "Wood''
Both Wood and Holtz had their family members killed by a vampire who is now no longer evil, yet they go after them anyway (another parallel for Spike and Angel)
"It's The Other One"
Buffy is the original Slayer. Now there is only suppose to be one Slayer, but then along comes another one, Faith. At first Buffy feel threatened by the arrival of the new Slayer and Faith starts to feel jealous of the Buffy. Buffy also sees Faith as outgoing and a little reckless as she is more reserved and careful. Their rivalry culminates in a huge fight with one coming close to killing the other. However in the end, they push through their differences and fight side by side.
If you replace "Buffy" with "Angel", "Faith" with "Spike" and "Slayer" with "Vampire With a Soul" then you get a similar effect.
__________________________________________________________________________
There are others but I'll let you guys post first. So what do you think? Are their any other parallels you've seen, or common devices or patterns that repeat themselves? Granted, some of these aren't exclusive to the Buffyverse but if it repeats itself, it's going in...
Father's Suck
Pretty obvious this one. The examples? Take your pick. Buffy's dad goes from attentive weekend dad to deadbeat dad in a matter of like, a season. Xander's parents both seem pretty bad but the father seems worse. Where is Willow's Dad? Wes' dad is kind of a jerk and the list goes on...
Redemption
Angel, Spike, Faith, Willow, Jonathan made at least an attempt.
This follows....
I like to kill things
Angel and Spike, Andrew, Willow, Faith, Giles, Gunn, Fred more or less attempted to murder Siedel. Justine's attempted murder and Holtz' attempted murder.
Sex is Evil
Bangel sex usually leads to heartbreak of some sort (and sometimes the end of the world, literally). Giles having sex is a sign is at a loose end. Cordy has safe sex and still ends up pregnant, with demon spawn no less. Spuffy sex was linked to Buffy indulging in self-loathing and ended in attempted rape. Like, the whole episode of Lonely Hearts.
Supposed To Be Nerdy But Clearly Hot
Putting Willow in bad clothes doesn't make her unattractive. She's, hot end of story. Buffy criticizing Wes' looks was annoying. He's clearly a hottie. Just an uptight, nerdy hottie. Xander's clearly buff as well.
Where Do I Fit?
Xander on Btvs and Gunn on Ats.
Anya. Cordy Mark 2?
So Xander goes out with a beautiful, albeit materialistic girl, who is extremely blunt and self-centred but ends being incredibly brave, then does it again.
Spike. Angel Mark 2?
Although these two aren't totally the same, they certainly have a lot in common.
1. Both had strong parental figures whose words haunted them well into the future.
2. Both of them have the same given name: Liam and William.
3. Both of them are sired by beautiful vampiresses who saw their potential despite it not being all that obvious.
4. Following on from that, the meek and shy William became violent, loud and changed his upper class accent to a working class accent. Liam who was a drunken layabout became a artistic intelletual and his horrid Irish accent remained.
5. Dru.
6. Both had to adapt after external forces rendered them less of a monster than before (Angelus' soul and Spike's chip)
7. And then the love of a Slayer inspired them to become champions.
8. Long leather jackets
9. Weird hair.
Evil Establishment, I Rebuke Thee
Any establishment that is generally depicted as some form of authority, our heroes generally rebel against. In Btvs, it's the Watcher's Council, Initiative on Ats, it's Wolfram and Hart
Holtz Sounds Like The German Word For "Wood''
Both Wood and Holtz had their family members killed by a vampire who is now no longer evil, yet they go after them anyway (another parallel for Spike and Angel)
"It's The Other One"
Buffy is the original Slayer. Now there is only suppose to be one Slayer, but then along comes another one, Faith. At first Buffy feel threatened by the arrival of the new Slayer and Faith starts to feel jealous of the Buffy. Buffy also sees Faith as outgoing and a little reckless as she is more reserved and careful. Their rivalry culminates in a huge fight with one coming close to killing the other. However in the end, they push through their differences and fight side by side.
If you replace "Buffy" with "Angel", "Faith" with "Spike" and "Slayer" with "Vampire With a Soul" then you get a similar effect.
__________________________________________________________________________
There are others but I'll let you guys post first. So what do you think? Are their any other parallels you've seen, or common devices or patterns that repeat themselves? Granted, some of these aren't exclusive to the Buffyverse but if it repeats itself, it's going in...
