Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Discuss Their Favorite Television Show (Smart Pop series) by Gilene Yeffeth Page A
Authors: Gilene Yeffeth
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recruited into the Scooby Gang (“I Robot, You Jane,” 1-8), Giles attempts to break the existence of demonic forces to her gently.
G ILES : “I need your help, but before that I need you to believe something that you may not want to. Uh, there’s, um . . . Something’s got into the um, inside, um . . . There’s a demon in the Internet.”
J ENNY : “I know.”
End of scene.
In the standard Elastic Trespass tale, Jenny would have sputtered in disbelief, requiring hard proof of Giles’s extraordinary claim. But instead it is Giles who winds up sputtering. When in the next scene he asks if Jenny is a witch, she answers, “Technopagan is the term. There are more of us than you think.”
That last line could be the motto for Sunnydale’s Trespass-aware citizens. While guarding supposed non-initiates from the dark truths of the Hellmouth, the Scoobies are repeatedly shocked to discover how pervasive secret knowledge is in Sunnydale. In “Lie to Me” (2-7), Buffy attempts to explain away a vampire attack glimpsed by her old school friend, Ford.
F ORD : “What’s going on?”
B UFFY : “Um . . . uh, there was a, a cat. A cat here, and, um, then there was another cat . . . and they fought. The cats. And . . . then they left.”
F ORD : “Oh, I thought you were just slaying a vampire.”
B UFFY : “What? Whatting a what?”
Again, Ford doesn’t sputter, Buffy does. Ford went to Buffy’s previous high school, and already knows that she’s the Slayer. The mystical forces at work in the Buffyverse are a matter of teenage rumor, dark and knowing humor, an open secret, so even bit players don’t waste time with the usual Passages of Disbelief. Any number of Sunnydale residents, students and adults, turn out to be more or less aware of that ultimate Trespass, the Hellmouth, and all it implies about the reality of their world. Time after time, Buffy’s grateful rescuees blurt out some sort of reversal similar to Ford’s. Perhaps the most underplayed of these inverted Passages of Disbelief comes from the laconic Oz (“Surprise,” 2-25).
W ILLOW : “Are you okay?”
O Z : “Yeah. Hey, did everybody see that guy just turn to dust?”
W ILLOW : “Uh, well, uh, sort of?”
X ANDER : “Yep. Vampires are real. A lot of them live in Sunnydale. Willow will fill you in.”
W ILLOW : “I know it’s hard to accept at first.”
O Z (nodding): “Actually it explains a lot .”
Like the dark secrets at work in any small town, only the most willful Pollyanna is completely unaware of Sunnydale’s special dangers. Even the optimistic Larry, in the long traveling shot that opens Sunnydale High School for season three, isn’t entirely clueless: “This is our year. I’m telling you, best football season ever . . . . If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule .” (“Anne,” 3-1)
The pervasiveness of this open secret is most touchingly demonstrated in “Prom” (3-19), when the students of Sunnydale High elect Buffy as Class Protector, recognizing her years of service as Slayer. As Jonathan explains in his presentation speech, this award is ad hoc (“This was actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write-in ballots.”) and represents a shared knowledge rarely given voice: “We don’t talk about it much, but it’s no secret that Sunnydale High isn’t like other high schools.” But it is precisely on this unofficial level that understanding of the Trespass operates in Sunnydale. The official line may be that monsters don’t exist and that the fantastic and mystical must be repressed. But in the Buffyverse there is a significant space set aside for improvised and heartfelt recognition of realities outside the official narrative, and write-in votes for the people’s hero do not go uncounted.
Of
G ILES : “I need your help, but before that I need you to believe something that you may not want to. Uh, there’s, um . . . Something’s got into the um, inside, um . . . There’s a demon in the Internet.”
J ENNY : “I know.”
End of scene.
In the standard Elastic Trespass tale, Jenny would have sputtered in disbelief, requiring hard proof of Giles’s extraordinary claim. But instead it is Giles who winds up sputtering. When in the next scene he asks if Jenny is a witch, she answers, “Technopagan is the term. There are more of us than you think.”
That last line could be the motto for Sunnydale’s Trespass-aware citizens. While guarding supposed non-initiates from the dark truths of the Hellmouth, the Scoobies are repeatedly shocked to discover how pervasive secret knowledge is in Sunnydale. In “Lie to Me” (2-7), Buffy attempts to explain away a vampire attack glimpsed by her old school friend, Ford.
F ORD : “What’s going on?”
B UFFY : “Um . . . uh, there was a, a cat. A cat here, and, um, then there was another cat . . . and they fought. The cats. And . . . then they left.”
F ORD : “Oh, I thought you were just slaying a vampire.”
B UFFY : “What? Whatting a what?”
Again, Ford doesn’t sputter, Buffy does. Ford went to Buffy’s previous high school, and already knows that she’s the Slayer. The mystical forces at work in the Buffyverse are a matter of teenage rumor, dark and knowing humor, an open secret, so even bit players don’t waste time with the usual Passages of Disbelief. Any number of Sunnydale residents, students and adults, turn out to be more or less aware of that ultimate Trespass, the Hellmouth, and all it implies about the reality of their world. Time after time, Buffy’s grateful rescuees blurt out some sort of reversal similar to Ford’s. Perhaps the most underplayed of these inverted Passages of Disbelief comes from the laconic Oz (“Surprise,” 2-25).
W ILLOW : “Are you okay?”
O Z : “Yeah. Hey, did everybody see that guy just turn to dust?”
W ILLOW : “Uh, well, uh, sort of?”
X ANDER : “Yep. Vampires are real. A lot of them live in Sunnydale. Willow will fill you in.”
W ILLOW : “I know it’s hard to accept at first.”
O Z (nodding): “Actually it explains a lot .”
Like the dark secrets at work in any small town, only the most willful Pollyanna is completely unaware of Sunnydale’s special dangers. Even the optimistic Larry, in the long traveling shot that opens Sunnydale High School for season three, isn’t entirely clueless: “This is our year. I’m telling you, best football season ever . . . . If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule .” (“Anne,” 3-1)
The pervasiveness of this open secret is most touchingly demonstrated in “Prom” (3-19), when the students of Sunnydale High elect Buffy as Class Protector, recognizing her years of service as Slayer. As Jonathan explains in his presentation speech, this award is ad hoc (“This was actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write-in ballots.”) and represents a shared knowledge rarely given voice: “We don’t talk about it much, but it’s no secret that Sunnydale High isn’t like other high schools.” But it is precisely on this unofficial level that understanding of the Trespass operates in Sunnydale. The official line may be that monsters don’t exist and that the fantastic and mystical must be repressed. But in the Buffyverse there is a significant space set aside for improvised and heartfelt recognition of realities outside the official narrative, and write-in votes for the people’s hero do not go uncounted.
Of
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