Writerly TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

You may or may not be aware that we just passed the 10th anniversary of the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that, despite its silly name, is often considered by both fans and critics to be one of the greatest shows of all time. I admit, I held out on this show for a while. I saw the original movie, and it was terrible. So although the show premiered while I was still in high school, and although I had friends who watched and loved it, I didn’t think it would be for me. I wasn’t really into teen shows, and I wasn’t into vampires.

Years later, after graduating college, I got a job working the graveyard shift at a hotel. It. Sucked. But one day, as I ate “lunch” at 4:00 p.m. while preparing for work, I turned on the TV. My options were limited. But eventually, my channel surfing paused on a show that looked interesting. The dialogue was snappy and smart. The characters seemed interesting. And holy whoa, suddenly there was kung-fu. While snarking.

After a few minutes, I was hooked. Buffy became my daily get-ready-for-work show, and even though I started watching mid-season 5 (A WEIRD TIME TO START THE SHOW, LEMME TELL YA), I eventually figured out most of the back story and mythology. Using powers of mind control I have still never been able to replicate, I convinced my fiance (now husband) that this show was not too girly for him, and he joined me in my addiction. We watched through the end of season 6, then started from the beginning as the reruns cycled back around. We caught up just in time to catch the final season as it aired. I remember watching the series finale in his parents’ basement, a month before our wedding. We had gone out for the evening on some sort of wedding-related activity, but demanded that we return in time for Buffy. IT WAS QUITE IMPORTANT. (BTW: DVRs are a good invention. I appreciate them quite a lot.)

So what’s the deal with Buffy? Maybe you heard it was awesome, and watched a few episodes of the first season, then gave up. I wouldn’t blame you. (Okay, I would, but not a lot.) The first season was working with a low budget and a big concept. The effects are awful. The season-long Big Bad is campy. And it followed a monster-of-the-week format featuring creatures that were often just plan weird.

I am fully aware that this is not from Season 1. And of who the monster is. But you have to admit, this gif still sums up the problems of Season 1 pretty well.

It. Gets. Better.

Buffy really starts to come into its own in Season 2, when it started to embrace serialization and season arcs a bit more. It also dared to go a bit darker, which helped immensely. And as the show matured, it grew bolder, took bigger risks, told broader stories. Not all the seasons are perfect — every one has a few stinker eps — but even Buffy at its weakest is better TV than many shows at their strongest.

The strength of Buffy is not in its kick-butt action sequences (although the karatepires are indeed awesome). It’s the characters, and how they evolve over whatever length of time we get to spend with them. Characters we meet as villains become heroes, and heroes become villains. Characters with superpowers fail, and characters with no powers triumph. They are constantly growing and changing, making mistakes and learning from them. More than anything, they feel real. While Buffy Summers is indisputably the main character, her friends, family, allies and nemeses all get fully fleshed out. They each have their own struggles and arcs and amazing development. If you want to know how to make an audience invest in side characters, or how to make each and every character the hero of their own story, this is the show to watch.

Additionally, Buffy remains one of the best shows for witty banter, ever. The writing is sharp and tight, somehow managing to perfectly blend humor and darkness, tragedy and levity. It’s a serious show that deals with serious issues, but it’s also hilarious and silly. Its emotions are real and raw, but it balances them with moments of unexpected lightness.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not just a show about a girl slaying vampires, or kids developing superpowers. It’s a show about growing up, finding yourself, making mistakes, facing challenges, and developing the relationships that help define who you are. Yes, there’s monsters and action and magic, but if that’s all it was, it would be no different than the dozens of other shows with that M.O. There’s a reason Buffy is the bar all the others aspire to. There’s a reason it’s considered great, and not just lumped in with all the other “vampire shows” or “teen shows.” It uses a supernatural setting and fantastic conflicts to tell stories we can all relate to. It takes character archetypes we think we know — the cheerleader, the homecoming queen, the book nerd, the bad boy, the comic relief — and turns them on their heads, exploring how these people are the archetypes, but are also so much more.

For writers, I think it’s a fabulous study not only in character development and banter and story arcs, but also in the unexpected. Buffy never shies away from going to the places we don’t anticipate. It takes the tropes and forms we’ve come to expect, acknowledges them, and then takes them in a new direction. It also is an excellent example of not letting setting take over story. Lots of times, especially in paranormal stories, it’s easy to make the main conflict “THERE ARE VAMPIRES/ZOMBIES/WEREWOLVES/ETC AND THEY MUST BE STOPPED.” And that’s it. But with Buffy, while there is often a Big Bad that must be dealt with, much of the conflict is internal, as the characters struggle to overcome personal obstacles and relationship struggles and existential crises.

I could go on forever about Buffy and all the reasons it’s amazing, and about why it’s an excellent tool for writers — especially if you’re writing paranormal, but really, it can apply to anything. But I think I’ve made my point. If you’re still over there thinking, “I just don’t like vampire shows,” then you’re about where I was back in 1997. Maybe you need to wait six years, then stumble onto a rerun and watch them out of order. Maybe you need to be bored and in the mood for something action-y on Netflix. Maybe you just need to be told one more time that it’s awesome anyway.

Or maybe you’ll never watch it, and will never really understand what you’re missing, and will always kind of wonder why it keeps showing up on “Best of” lists. And you’ll always think those of us who feel so very passionately about it are a tad wrong in the head. Perhaps we are.

But if you come over to the dark side, we have cookies.

Also, if you have watched the series already — or if you are on the fence, and don’t mind a few spoilers — this tribute to the series is fantastic.

Discussion: Rooting for the Bad Guy

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about villains, and what makes a great one. And although I put a picture of good ol’ Voldy up here, I actually am of the opinion that if the Harry Potter series has a shortcoming (GASP!), it is in the characterization of Voldemort (don’t worry, I will still take Harry Potter’s shortcomings over most other series’ strengths any day). And this is because he spends over half the series as just Super Evil Supervillain Who is Evil for the Sake of Being Evil.

Later on, he got some back story, but it was never really enough to make me feel him as a character. He was simply a foil for Harry (and, you know, the rest of humanity), because having a mega-evil über-wizard as Harry’s nemesis made for some awesome story lines.

So. If Voldemort is not the epitome of all villains, who is?

I’m pretty sure you are not going to be able to predict my answer here. Please bear with me.

Yup, my favorite villain of all time is Inspector Javert from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read the book, seen the movies, or heard the music. Because the reason I love him can translate to something you are familiar with.

Basically, Javert is a police officer who spends the entire story attempting to hunt down an escaped convict and return him to prison. He also tries to serve his country by infiltrating a renegade group of students who are fanning the flames of rebellion among the citizens of France.

And he’s the bad guy.

The reason he’s my favorite is because he’s so well developed, that if Victor Hugo had decided to write a Les Misérables companion novel from Javert’s POV, he could have easily become the protagonist. His motivations are solid, and he honestly believes he is doing the right thing throughout the entirety of the story by thwarting our heroes at every turn. He is the hero in his own story.

Switching from the book to the musical for a minute (which is absolutely not completely accurate to the book, but which I love and have seen live five times, and am immensely excited for the movie), Javert also sings my favorite song in the show. If you didn’t know anything about the story and just heard this song, you could believe that this is a hero’s anthem.

So stepping away from 19th century French literature for a moment, how does this apply to modern villains? To Voldemort and Umbridge, President Snow and Cato, Victoria and the Volturi?

I think there’s a few things that set a great villain apart from a decent villain.

Decent: Has a well-developed origin/back story.

Great: Has a well-developed,  somewhat sympathetic (not necessarily entirely, but at least partially sympathetic) origin/back story.

Decent: Has his/her own reasons for wanting to thwart the hero other than because they are supposed to.

Great: Has his/her own compelling and understandable reasons for wanting to thwart the hero. Note: These do not have to be sane reasons. Some of the best villains are complete loons with no moral center. But even with the craziest villains, we should be able to follow their reasoning, even if we don’t agree with it.

Decent: Is dark and scary and kind of a caricature.

Great: Is dark and scary and real.

Decent: Thinks he/she is the hero of his/her own story.

Great: If the story was told through his/her eyes, we could easily be convinced that he/she is the hero of the story, and that the hero is the villain.

So who are some great villains? Well, none of the ones I listed above, sadly. But here are some I do think are great, taken from movies, TV, and books.

Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs.

This would be a great example of the character being completely crazy. I don’t think he could ever convince any of us that his disturbing cannibalistic fashion statements were based on sane brain function. But even though he is certifiably nuts, he has a way of always making twisted, shiver-inducing sense. And that, to me, is the scariest part of his story.

Detective Jimmy ShakerRansom.

This isn’t the greatest movie ever, by any means, but I always thought Gary Sinise’s Detective Shaker was an amazingly nuanced and well-developed villain. If you haven’t seen this 1996 flick, I’d recommend it for Shaker alone.

Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

He was never a pure villain or a pure hero. Even when his mission in life was to kill our favorite sassy slayer, it was hard not to root for him. And even when he was trying to turn it around, you could sense the darkness just beneath the surface. Spike is one of my favorite characters of all time, in any medium, because of all these layers.

BoromirThe Fellowship of the Ring.

I have now officially seen the movie so many times that I can’t view Boromir objectively anymore — I can’t see any part of his slow succumbing to the ring without thinking of everything that follows — but I remember hating Boromir the first time I read Fellowship. But at the same time, it was so believable watching this gradual descent from a celebrated hero into a bitter man under the ring’s control. Speaking of which…

Gollum, The Return of the King

Granted, Gollum spends the entire Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series being villainous, but he reaches his most evil — and most sympathetic — in Return of the King. No matter how many times he deceived and sabotaged Frodo, I couldn’t help but feel my heart break for him just a little.

Severus SnapeHarry Potter.

Yes, I know that Snape’s status as a villain is up for serious debate, but I would argue that anyone who makes our hero that miserable for that long can be considered a villain, at least during the time the misery is occurring. But the fact that whether or not he even is a villain, despite the misery, is a testament to how well-developed his character is. Voldemort and Umbridge may not be on my list, but J.K. more than made up for it with Snape.

Darth VaderStar Wars.

I almost forgot one of my favorite nuanced villains, Anakin Skywalker a.k.a. Darth Vader. Ignoring for a second how terrible the prequels were (I used to think their one saving grace was the fight sequences, then I saw this, and now…), he totally embodies my theory that the best villains could actually be the hero if the story was told from their point of view. Anakin is the protagonist of the (awful) Episodes I-III and the villain of the (awesome) Episodes IV-VI. And that is kind of amazing.

Note: A story does not have to have an awesome villain to be successful. Lots of stories aren’t about a sentient antagonist, but are instead about heroes overcoming some other sort of conflict, and those stories can be just as good, if not better, than stories featuring intelligent, nuanced villains.

But if the foil to the hero is The Bad Guy, then I’d certainly hope the bad guy has a good reason for doing what he’s doing.

What do you think? Who are some of your favorite villains, and why do you love to hate them (or hate to love them)?

Top Ten Tuesday (July 3): TV for Bookish People

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the fabulous people over at The Broke and the Bookish! It’s a day for us to all make lists and read lists and just generally celebrate lists.

Okay, so I know this may be slightly irritating, and I apologize. Especially since I totally cheated last week and next week is a freebie.

Sorry.

Anyway, the assigned topic for this week is:

 Top Ten Books For People Who Like X Author (pick an author and give recommendations)

And I wracked my brain trying to come up with 10 books that are all in the style of a certain author, but I couldn’t do it. I even picked big genre-defining authors like J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins. But just because you liked Harry Potter doesn’t mean you’re going to like all fantasy, just like enjoying Hunger Games doesn’t mean all dystopians will be for you.

Plus, using books like that is more about a genre than an author, and I can’t think of another author who writes like J.K. Rowling or Suzanne Collins or any of the other amazing authors I love. They each have their own unique voice, and that’s part of the reason I love them.

So. Since I wanted to do a Top Ten list anyway, and I was coming up with a total blank on the topic, I tried to think of what I was into at the moment.

And guys, I’m going to be honest. I’m in a reading slump. I’ve seriously tapered off in my reading (and it’s reflected in my blog. Again, sorry). I know I’ll jump back in soon with both feet, and I’ve actually got a stack of books checked out from the library and sitting on my shelf and my iPad right now that I’m really anxious to read. I just need some time off to regroup.

And you know how I regroup?

I’d like to say exercise, but the answer is TV.

So without any further ado, I give you:

The Top Ten T.V. Shows for When You’re in a Reading Slump

(a.k.a. Shows Bookish People Like)

[p.s. I feel the need to make a disclaimer here that I’m not currently watching all of these shows, nor are all the shows I’m currently watching on this list. Confused yet?]

Where possible, I linked to the show on Netflix, so you can watch it right now if you have Netflix. Otherwise I linked to the Amazon page. (Or, in the case of one show, you can catch up pretty well on YouTube).

These are in no particular order, because I love them  all. With great giant disgusting heaps of love.

1. Friday Night Lights

I maintain that this show has the best character development I’ve ever seen in any TV show, ever.

But I don’t really like football. Or Texas.

You know what? Neither do I. It doesn’t matter.

2. The West Wing

Do you love fast-paced, intelligent dialogue? Smart characters and complex plots? Then this is the show for you.

But I don’t like politics.

Neither do I. It doesn’t matter.

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It was a high school vampire show before high school vampire stories were all the rage. Again, excellent character development, intricate plots, quippy dialogue, and some pretty awesome action. One of the smartest teen shows on TV, ever.

4. Firefly

This one’s only 14 episodes long, so you can easily tear through it in a week on Netflix (if you can make it last that long). Amazing world-building, an original concept, and of course the fabulous characters and dialogue that are a staple for Joss Whedon shows.

5. Gilmore Girls

Rory is going to be a book blogger when she grows up, she just doesn’t know it yet. She is smart and shy and sassy and sweet, and the cast of characters is quirky and lovable. The best part of this show is the close and loving relationship between Rory and her mother Lorelai. It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the best mother-daughter depictions on TV (or that used to be on TV, anyway).

6. Battlestar Galactica

I’ll be the first to admit, this show went downhill towards the end. It’s like Ronald. D. Moore had a great concept and absolutely no idea what he wanted to do with it (actually, that is what happened. I’ve listened to the commentaries. He pretty much admits it). But the first couple season are out-of-this-world (literally) fantastic. And the acting is absolutely stellar (another space pun! I’m unstoppable!)

7. Veronica Mars

I know I keep harping on dialogue and character development, but really, name one great show that doesn’t have great dialogue and character development.

Exactly.

I’ll admit, I waited a few years on Veronica Mars. I didn’t think I’d be into a show about a teen detective with no superpowers. But the thing that finally made me pull the trigger was when I read it was Joss Whedon’s favorite show (including his own shows). That kind of clinched it for me.

And this show is incredible. The only bad thing is that it got canceled after the 3rd season wrapped, so there’s not a satisfying conclusion. But I promise, the rest of the show is worth the disappointment at the end.

8. So You Think You Can Dance

I know, this is a (gasp!) reality show! But it’s amazing and inspiring, and I happen to know for a fact that there are real books floating out there in the world — books that you’ve probably heard of and maybe even read and enjoyed — that take ideas and characters from this show. For example, the above routine inspired Victoria Schwab to write her upcoming novel The Archived. (No, I don’t know how it inspired her to write it, but she promises a post later on how the dance turned into a book).

[Warning: (and this isn’t a joke) This dance is about addiction and has been known to provoke strong emotional reactions]

9. How I Met Your Mother

Say what you will about this show, but I think the overarching plot device of the mysterious titular “mother” appeals to my bookish side. I like the tiny clues and the “future” narration that ties it all together. Plus, I think this is one of the best comedies currently on TV.

10. Dr. Who

I have a confession to make, and that is that I am nowhere close to having finished this series. But the quirky sci-fi plots, the witty banter, and the smart writing leaves no question in my mind as to why so many writers and readers adore this show.

So I’m sorry for cheating, really I am, but maybe if you’re like me and are totally in a rut right now, I’ve given you something to fill the lonely book-less hours.

I’ll start reading again soon. In the meantime, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go watch some more Dr. Who.