One of the subjects that we touched on today was how Buffy fit into the role of the female hero. From the episodes we've viewed (or more if you've watched the series), discuss whether you think the first season is a journey for Buffy in itself, or just a part of the journey that the entire series encompasses?
Thanks,
Jimmy Peterson
Buffy shows similar characterists to the typical female hero. It is very hard to know Buffy's journey though because we have not seen very much of it at all because we only watched the first and last episodes. From what we have seen, I really liked how she defied stereotypes considering from the outside, she's a girl who wears super girly clothes and a lot of makeup. But she is actually really a vampire slayer and probably stronger than the majority of the guys at her school. This surely fits in with what we have talked about in class and the female hero.
ReplyDeleteI think Buffy’s journey is similar to many other TV show’s. Season one is its own journey for Buffy. Although we have not completed the last episode, I am fairly sure her and her team will defeat the Master. They will do this, but not be able to stop the door to hell from opening. Making way for future controlling powers in each season, until the final battle of good and evil at the end. In this way each season is a hero’s journey, leading up to a much greater one. In this season we see Buffy’s call to adventure, supernatural aid of Angel and the librarian, and many of the other steps of a hero’s journey. Basically each season she will begin a new journey to stop the current villain at large, their defeat only making way for a new one. -Max Schwalbach
ReplyDeleteI've never watched Buffy before and I don't know what happens in the later seasons, but I feel like season one is a journey for Buffy. She starts out trying to avoid her call to duty as the slayer, but by the end she is facing the master of the vampires. She has obviously undergone some massive change throughout the season. Even at the end, Buffy is reluctant before facing the master, so I feel like there is still some room for growth in her character. It's possible that Buffy is just at the beginning of a much bigger journey, but I feel like she definitely completes some type of hero's journey in season one.
ReplyDeleteI think each season for Buffy is an individual hero’s journey. Because each season she is faced with different challenges and she must fight a completely new villain. I like what Max said in class about the final season being the super journey, because I think that is definitely true for Buffy. Though I haven’t seen the last few episodes, I think it is fair to say that the last season is super epic and dramatic for Buffy. I think the writers did this because they wanted to end their show with a bang.
ReplyDeleteI think this first season is both a "finding self" journey for Buffy and also a sequence of the bigger journey she will face in the future. I have seen all of the seasons of Buffy, but being more specific, I do think that the first season shows how much Buffy actually doesn't like being the hero. She doesn't like the fact she is the slayer, she doesn't like the responsibility she is faced with and she just wants to have a 'normal' life like her friends Willow and Xander. In the first episode we've watched it's clear that she wants to quit being the slayer. She attempts to do so, but obviously fails because we see in the last episode of the first season she has started killing vampires once again. Through the first season I think Buffy starts to accept and acknowledge the power and responsibility she has and realizes she potentially has to save the world/sunnydale from the hell mouth. However, even though Buffy seems to continue being the slayer in the last bit of the first season, throughout the whole seven seasons Buffy is trying to find out who she is through being the slayer and is faced with many situations that make her doubt herself as the slayer. Killing the master in the last part of this season is just the beginning of the journey for Buffy that carries out through the rest of the seasons. The journey she must face as a whole is destroys the hell-mouth before it destroys the world first.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what themes are touched on in later seasons, and I don’t know what Buffy’s attitude is like after this season finale. From what I’ve seen I think that her journey in this season was coming to accept her role as slayer. She starts off very reluctant. Even in this final episode she seems ready to give up. In fact this last episode might even work as a mini journey. She has help (Giles, Angel) who help her understand her purpose, her trials consist of killing vampires, and she enters the belly of the beast for a final confrontation with the master. It was tempting to give up and ignore her role, but in the end she resolves to complete her hero’s journey even if it means dying.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what happens for the remaining seasons of the show, but I think that from what we've seen, season 1 is just a part of her entire hero's journey. In the first season it's pretty clear that she finally comes to terms with her identity as the slayer, but it's obviously not the end for her and she's really only just gotten started. I agree with Sohail that the end of season 1 could represent the belly of the beast. So I think that every season could be a mini journey that eventually all adds up and comes together.
ReplyDeleteI would say that the first season is definitely a journey in its self for one main reason. At the end she faces that final person who she has to fight. This seems to be the most important thing going on in season one. Also she seems to play out the whole hero’s journey in this season. Most of the steps are (as far as I can tell) there. I would have to see the other seasons, but this season could also be looked at as the call to adventure because at the beginning Buffy is resisting being the slayer and by the end she seems to have accepted it. That fact leads me to believe that this season is also one part of a larger story arc that covers the whole show as well as being a complete story in its self.
ReplyDeleteI think she fits into the role because she is a hero. But she is female. When I think of a female hero, I think of a hero that just happens to be female. All of the differences are cosmetic. I don't really feel like there is a heroines journey or anything like that. I definitely feel that the season in and of itself is a hero's journey, not the entire series. Because they don't really know how many seasons there will be so they can't really afford to set it up like that. I do feel like it would make sense if there was a buildup throughout the series of seasons.
ReplyDeleteI think the first season is it's own hero's journey. It has all the aspects (call to adventure, road of trials, mentor etc.) and she defeats the controlling power at the end, becoming the 'master of two worlds', in this case the hell world and "normal" teenage life. I have not seen the show so I do not know about the other seasons but it seems to me all the seasons are mini hero's journeys while the whole show is one large hero's journey. Character development is a big part of a hero's journey in my opinion and a character is not finished developing until all the seasons or books are written. Buffy will continue to development and discover her role in the world as the seasons go on making it one big hero's journey.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what happens in the next six seasons of Buffy (or most of the first), but I think it is possible to view the series as a hero’s journey within the journey of the show in total. The first season has many elements of the hero’s journey, such as the mentor figure (Giles), several thresholds, a road of trials, and the temptation (of quitting the role of the Slayer). In the last episode of the season, Buffy confronts a controlling power (the Master), and seems to undergo an apotheosis – literally dying and being resurrected as a changed person. However, I think that the hero’s journey probably occurs over the course of the seasons of the entire show. I doubt very much that Buffy lives happily ever after as a returned hero, or that the Master is the biggest challenge she faces. Leaving the Master’s skeleton to go to the dance seems to exemplify mastery of two worlds, but she actually has not gained full control over either. In the context of the whole show, rather than witnessing all stages of the Departure we see only references to most of the stages, and the last season probably ends before the Return stage is complete. But a single journey continues through all seven seasons.
ReplyDeleteThe first season of Buffy is a hero's adventure in and of itself. I saw many of the characteristics that the hero's adventure is composed of, and there is a final confrontation of the master, and it feels like the story is over. I haven't seen any other episodes, but based on what I think, when the first season is viewed with the other seasons in mind, I think it would probably just represent the departure stage of the adventure. Buffy definitely enters the realm of the unknown, has a mentor, and can't really turn back. The rest of the journey seems like it is played out in the first season, but when viewed with the bigger picture of the whole series, it diminishes the value of the battle with the master to just being the belly of the beast instead of the confrontation of the controlling power.
ReplyDeleteI think that Buffy's journey is kind of spread out. The first season is a journey by itself, but the next 7 seasons are continuations of that journey. I think that Buffy has multiple journeys throughout the seasons. In the first season, the ending is the fight with the vampire master, but in the following seasons she faces more challenges and goes though more character changes. I think that it is possible that her character in season one goes though only the initiation part, but that she has a little mini heroes journey inside that section of her journey. It's like heroes journeyception.
ReplyDeleteI think the first season of Buffy was in its self a heroe's journey. It went through all of the stages and in the end Buffy learns something about herself. I think this is because they didn't know they would have another season at the time. The first season felt like a mini series and not a long running tv show. I think every season of TV show usually has it's own heroes journey
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