No salute to vampires would be complete without a look at the phenomena of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here is Faith Burnham’s (a Dramatic Writing Student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts) look at Buffy.
In general, I don’t know much about vampires. But I do know a whole hell of a lot about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So, if you want to hear about the vampires from that show, you’ve come to the right place.
In the immortal words of My Chemical Romance: “Vampires will never hurt you.” With all due respect to MCR, Vampires are meant to be scary. I mean, they’re super-strong, super-fast and they want to bite people’s necks and suck all the blood out. The “eek” factor is high. Buffy had some pretty badass vampires. The Master and the Ubervamps were two of Buffy’s most formidable opponents. And yet, it’d be pretty difficult to find a fan that listed The Master or the Ubervamps as their favorite vamp. Why? Well, they’re kind of boring.
I apologize for putting The Master in the same category with the generically super-powerful Ubervamps. He was a well-written character with a decent personality, but there was nowhere for him to go. At the end of the day, either he was going to kill Buffy or she was going to kill him. With the most fascinating of Buffy’s villains, there were dozens of possibilities for their character. If this blog post could be ten pages long and not interesting to anyone but me, I would discuss all of the vampires on Buffy and everything that makes them interesting. But, instead I will focus on the idea of the vampire as villain and talk about the two vampires that I found the scariest. I’m choosing to talk about the scariest rather than the sexiest or funniest, because viewers like being scared. Vampires can be many things, but I would argue that they are the most effective as villains.
First, there’s Angelus. As far as real strength and invulnerability go, he was actually one of the weaker season villains on the show. The Master, The Mayor, Adam, Glory and The First Evil were far more powerful in terms of simple muscle. But, Angelus was often more frightening than any of these villains. A large part of this was the creep factor of his intimate knowledge of Buffy. He always did things that would send a chill down anyone’s spine. While any vamp could have killed Jenny Calendar, Angelus left the body in Giles’s apartment and set up a romantic, intimate scene for Giles to walk in on. Giles’s discovery of the body was one of the most shocking moments in the show’s history. Furthermore, Angelus didn’t need invulnerability. When she encountered an Ubervamp for the first time, Buffy couldn’t kill him. Okay, there’s some conflict there. But, when she was dealing with Angelus, she wouldn’t kill him. To Buffy, Angelus was always Angel on the inside. The conflict was much deeper.
For the second scariest vampire, my choice is Darla. There wasn’t nearly enough of her on the show, but her astonishing power is apparent through her back-story. Angelus, Drusilla and Spike, three of the strongest vampires on the show, were all essentially Darla’s pawns. She was badass enough that her vampire playthings had vampire playthings. She constantly used her sexuality to lure men to her. One of the most surprising and defining moments of the show was the very first scene of the first episode when Darla enters Sunnydale High School at night dressed as a Catholic school girl. She enters with a boy. The horror movie cliché had half the audience expecting a monster to jump out and attack her. But, because of the title of the show, many viewers thought, “I get it. She looks like a victim, but she’s actually going to be able to fight whatever attacks her.” When it is revealed that Darla is a vampire and she murders the boy she’d brought with her, it defies both of these expectations beautifully. While Buffy represented female power and virtue, Darla was the perfect counterpoint of female power and evil.
At this point many watchers of the show might be asking- wait, no Spike? In answer, I say, I did promise to talk about the two scariest vampire villains. I love Spike, but let’s face it: Though he was physically strong, he was always just a bit too hung up on girls to be all that terrifying. I will give him an honorable mention for busting in on Season 2 and killing the Annoying One. That was top rate.
In conclusion, perhaps instead of saying “Vampires will never hurt you,” My Chemical Romance could have said, “Vampires who just hurt you are boring. Vampires who are funny, vulnerable, sneaky, snarky and sexy are a lot more interesting.”
Faith Burnham is a Dramatic Writing Student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an extreme Buffy the Vampire Slayer geek.
LOL I totally agree, snarky vampires are sexy :)
Great look back at BUFFY! :D
Ah, I miss Buffy! :/
I really liked Angel from Buffy (I also liked him on his own show too :D ) Great post! :D
I have always loved vampire movies and any of the vampire series. I miss Buffy!! It was great!! :)
I agree, who needs boring when you can have sneaky, snarky and sexy, with a bit of vulnerability.
Great post. Nice look back at Buffy.
I never really watched this show. Maybe I can catch it later.
What a great analysis of the villains of ‘Buffy’ in a quick look at the show. It almost makes me sad that I never watched the show.
Great post, and thank you for not putting spike as the scariest
:cry: i dont get to see buffy, willow, xander, spike and angel :sad:
That was really thought provoking. I agree; the vampires who merely hurt you are nowhere near as interesting as those who defy expectations and mess with your brain.
Thanks for the look back at Buffy. I do miss this show.
LOL, I was thinking to myself, where’s Spike? But, you’re right, he’s not really scary, is he? Just adorable!
The world of vampires has been forever changed because of Buffy. *sigh* I miss it.
Deidre
Thank you for the look back at Buffy!
I loved this! I have to agree that I definitely enjoy the snarky, sneaky, funny, sexy, and a bit vulnerable vampire! I really loved Buffy and my son has recently begun watching my collection of Buffy DVDs and it is definitely fun to revisit.
I enjoyed the Buffy series when I was recovering from an illness & spending a lot of time in hospital as well…it offered a great escape from the pain & bother of being “not well”…
I have to agree–Angelus was one of the most searingly evil villains I’ve ever seen on film. He was ruthlessly predatory, creatively cruel, intelligent and articulate, and he enjoyed causing pain. I thoroughly hated him! “Good” Angel, on the other hand, bored me to tears.
I thought The Master just never had a chance to do much, though–in the “alternate reality” episode, “Doppelgangland” (one of the most brilliant episodes BtVS did), we got a better idea of what he might have been capable of. JMHO–and not at all biased by the fact that a very dear friend gave me a Master action figure that’s sitting on my bookshelves. :wink:
As TV Tropes says, poor Spike suffered from Badass Decay. My favorite moment from the series may be his fight with the Slayer on the New York Subway.