Buffy The Vampire Slayer

There is more to being a champion than being a warrior.

There is more to being a champion than being on the side of right.

There is more to being a champion than being a superhero.

For a long time now, on both Buffy and Angel, we have watched with fascination, with awe, with worship as a group of seemingly - outwardly - normal people grew through decidedly abnormal circumstances to rise above their limitations to defend something so far above them, so beyond their comprehension that it almost defies words.

We have watched them accept a duty - perhaps a sacred duty - and create a new standard for themselves, season after season, week after week, confronting an ever escalating series of catastrophes.

And, time and time again, we have seen them prevail.

But being a champion does not mean answering the call to duty.

There is more to it.

Buffy said it herself, her group has always been reactive. Evil rises, they fight it back.

What she had been was a warrior. A powerful, well-intentioned force of good, but still just a soldier, a weapon for someone else to wield. In the beginning, it was the Watcher’s Council that brandished her. This would have gone on forever, as it had with every slayer before her, but something changed.

This time, something was different.

That something, of course, was Buffy. She wasn’t like her predecessors. Among the chosen, for whatever reason, Buffy was the chosen. She was the promise not of what the slayer was, but of what it could be.

Should be.

The Council always thought of the slayer as a line. As a series. The slayer’s role was to protect and to serve for as long as she possibly could. Then the role would pass to the next. None of the girls were supposed to live. This was tragic, surely, but viewed as part of the bargain. Humanity gets a warrior to protect it from that which it cannot protect itself, but it would be a flawed thing.

Better, but not best.

Giles was the first to see that Buffy did not have to be the same.

And Buffy became more, not because she truly was chosen above all others before her, but because she believes it. They all do, deep down, that this time, this group, this unprecedented assortment of talent and circumstance has come together because there is something even more special about their slayer.

They believe it so much, that nothing will stop them, not even death. Their slayer died - twice - and they refused to accept that as the final answer. They ripped their warrior from paradise in their stubborn refusal to accept anything less than total victory.

Because, in their minds, the Scoobies aren’t going to die, they are going to retire.

And it is this faith, this cockiness, this hope and belief that makes them Champions. Not their strength, not their talents, not their circumstances. They have, in the past, risen so far above the examples of slayers gone by because they believe they have no choice, because they will win outright, someday.

Angel realized this and openly accepted the fact that he would play a crucial role in humanity’s (time’s) final battle, not because if his great reward, because it was who he was.

Buffy, in her own narrow-minded way, knew this for five solid seasons. She knew it when she beat the Master. She knew it when she killed Angel. She knew it when she blew up the mayor. She knew it when she finished Adam. And she knew it in her final sacrifice to undo Glory.

And, at each step, her friends understood more and more the role that they had to play and took on more and more responsibility with each foe. Willow tried to (and did) restore Angel’s soul. The entire high school took up arms against the Mayor. Giles, Willow, and Xander joined with Buffy to destroy Adam. And the final battle against Glory required all of their collective talents working in precise unison to simply prevent the world from ending.

And let’s not forget that it was Giles who extinguished Glory from our world forever, protecting Buffy from compromising her hero’s morality in the process.

As a group, they have moved ever closer to the stuff of myth and legend.

But then Buffy died, again.

Giles ran away, Willow got lost, and Spike became someone else. Buffy came back…wrong, wounded.

Along the way, they forgot that they were special, and, instead, concentrated on simply holding on to the threads of their lives.

Gone was the belief, and, with it, the invincibility. No, not invincibility…inevitability. Of their purpose. Of their place in it all.

It came at the worst time, because this battle is the one they had been building to. This conflict was the confluence of their prior belief and their opportunity to make it true. They were - and are - no longer champions.

Again, they are simply warriors.

And they’re getting their asses kicked because of it.

A few weeks ago, Buffy seemed to understand this. She seemed to have a breakthrough. She declared their gathering an army, and proclaimed her intention to take the fight to the enemy.

She sounded like a General. She sounded like a champion.

But the promise has gone unfulfilled. On the surface, Buffy has redefined the role of the slayer, but there is no strategy there. There is no leadership.

All around her, the army is waiting to be led. They are waiting to be molded. But all they do is go through the motions because they have no plan. Still, Buffy and crew react. Buffy wants to understand this. She almost does. It is why she lashed out at everyone when Chloe died.

Her speech was meant to be Patton. It was meant to be a kick in the ass that jump-started the troops. But she was all over the place, and, in the end, even after demanding that the girls follow her orders, she didn’t tell them what to do.

Instead, she tested them.

In the end, Buffy failed to realize that the test was as much for her as it was for Spike and Willow. She didn’t step up and do what was necessary, either by taking the gift of power or by becoming a true leader.

And that’s the piece that Buffy is now missing: there is more to being a leader than telling people you are in charge. You still have to lead.

Time is running out, however. If Buffy is going to lead them, now is the time.

The Other Side of Tuesday…The good news is that, while Buffy may not understand this situation, Spike does.

At least now.

I missed the old Spike. I didn’t even realize it until Buffy pointed it out, but we’ve had a great deal more William than Spike for a long time, now. His transformation from ruthless adversary, from literal big bad to neutered puppy, to good soul has been a fascinating and interesting one.

It has been nothing short of great television, and, as a viewer, I have loved the Spike storyline above all others for a very long time. He has become one the most nuanced and evolved characters in, at least, my memory.

But there is something to the original Spike that we have sorely missed. A certain fire. A certain lack of ruthlessness. A failure to close the deal.

Buffy sees this, and she called him on it.

It was, as far as leadership decisions go, one of the few she has gotten right so far.

The old Spike is back now, but with a soul. What this means, and where it leads, will be interesting, and I’m not exactly sure what to expect or what he will be.

But when he brought back that leather, he announced that whatever it is he is to become, it now looks like a champion.

 BtVS 

This past weekend, just in time for the blizzard that wouldn’t stop, I received an advance uncorrected proof of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosphy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, edited by James B. South. According to the back jacket, this book is not a casual compendium of things Buffy, but rather, "using the insights of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Kant, twenty-seven up-and-coming young philosophers provide an entertaining introduction to philosophy and explore the rich universe of a show whose popularity spans generations."

Now, that’s a mouthful.

Obviously, the book isn’t for everyone, and I would submit that - as a stand alone - it definitely is not for everyone, particularly those without any exposure to formal philosophical thought and it’s history. Much of the terminology is specific and undefined, and the vocabulary and style are not for the weak-minded.

That said, it can be an interesting and compelling read. Those with the tools to freely debate Nietzsche and Freud will have no trouble at all negotiating the technical aspects of the essays, but, even those without more formalized training who still maintain an interest in matters such as these will find many - if not all - of the discussions fascinating both from a philosophical bent, but also as a unique entry to the world which Joss Whedon has so carefully constructed.

Personally, I found it to be a fantastic insight into the Buffyverse.

Essays include Faith and Plato: "You’re Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!," Prophecy Girl and the Powers That Be: The Philosophy of Religion in the Buffyverse, and "My God, It’s Like a Greek Tragedy": Willow Rosenberg and Human Irrationality. My personal favorite thus far is an essay (Old Familiar Vampires: Radicalism and Liberalism in the Politics of the Buffyverse) which, to a certain extent, implies that the Slayer Gang is unconsciously waging a pseudo-Marxist revolution against corrupt capitalist ideals signified by "evil" demonic stand-ins for corporate and governmental power (an idea which I would like to explore within this space whenever appropriate.)

I will save a more detailed and thorough review/analysis of the entire work for a later date. For starters, we only have so much space from week to week, and, more importantly, I won’t even pretend to have a comprehensive understanding of everything contained within its pages. I will say that, when it becomes available to the public, I highly recommend you check it out.