There's been a lot of talk of 2005 as of late, and it's got me thinking about how I survived that fever dream of a year. After I meditate on it, my endurance can be chalked up to four factors: Alpha, Able, Lil' Kim, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As a small-but-scrappy, slightly damaged blonde with violent tendencies who had fancied myself invincible and had it all blow up in my face, I was thrilled at the idea of seeing someone like me (the archetype of the fragile damsel) who was pretty much invincible. Buffy Summers could roam the streets at night alone, crawl through sewers, stop Armageddon, travel to alternate dimensions, drown, get stabbed, and was constantly saving the dudes' asses. But how Buffy really won me over was that she was not, in fact, bulletproof. She was victim to various aches and pains due to an absentee father, lovers who viciously turned on her, the loss of her mother, and her well-meaning but selfish friends who constantly (albeit unconsciously) put their need for her strength and leadership over her own well-being.
I learned a lot of valuable lessons from good ole B, but, in the end, the most important thing she taught me was that sometimes you just need to FUCKING DEAL. You get killed by a thousand year old vampire on prom night? You're boyfriend turns evil? He tries to torture and kill you? You die, finally find a little peace and quiet, and your clueless friends bring you back to life? Wash the blood out of your dress, pick the leaves out of your hair, and claw your way out of your own grave; because the world's sure as hell not going to save itself.
Unfortunately YouTube is awash with fan videos, but no actual clips. So head over to the WB's website to catch a few episodes from the first season.
As a small-but-scrappy, slightly damaged blonde with violent tendencies who had fancied myself invincible and had it all blow up in my face, I was thrilled at the idea of seeing someone like me (the archetype of the fragile damsel) who was pretty much invincible. Buffy Summers could roam the streets at night alone, crawl through sewers, stop Armageddon, travel to alternate dimensions, drown, get stabbed, and was constantly saving the dudes' asses. But how Buffy really won me over was that she was not, in fact, bulletproof. She was victim to various aches and pains due to an absentee father, lovers who viciously turned on her, the loss of her mother, and her well-meaning but selfish friends who constantly (albeit unconsciously) put their need for her strength and leadership over her own well-being.
I learned a lot of valuable lessons from good ole B, but, in the end, the most important thing she taught me was that sometimes you just need to FUCKING DEAL. You get killed by a thousand year old vampire on prom night? You're boyfriend turns evil? He tries to torture and kill you? You die, finally find a little peace and quiet, and your clueless friends bring you back to life? Wash the blood out of your dress, pick the leaves out of your hair, and claw your way out of your own grave; because the world's sure as hell not going to save itself.
Unfortunately YouTube is awash with fan videos, but no actual clips. So head over to the WB's website to catch a few episodes from the first season.
1 comment:
You should make a series of these . . . parsing out your personal attachments to television shows! this was beautiful.
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