Why Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will always reign as the Queen of Vampire shows.

This year has seen Vampire Mania hit new levels...and by new levels I mean a hysteria that could possibly match Beatlemania of the 1960’s. I saw Twilight on the night it came out in 2008 because deep down inside I am still a raging sixteen year old girl (but don’t tell anyone, it’s kind of a secret). I sat in the theatre surrounded by what seemed to be rabbid teenage girls, as they were all foaming at the mouth over one Robert Pattinson as he fluttered around the screen as the tormented yet pasty Edward Cullen. I have never experienced a trip to the cinema like that since nor had I before. The Twilight craze has ushered in an era of Vampirism lovin’ like no other. With shows like the Vampire Diaries and Trueblood, books galore on Vampires and the human’s that love ‘em, an entire subculture of the undead has taken over.

Now I have never seen the Vampire Diaries, nor have I read the books – though I dare say eventually I will because, there’s no point in lying, I am a Vampire junkie. I am in love with True Blood, though I believe I would be regardless of whether or not the show centred on Vampires because the writing is brilliant, it’s risque and intense, and the acting is above and beyond what I often expect on a television program. I have also read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. (For those of you not in the know, they’re the stories that True Blood is based upon.) And I devoured them in a similar fashion that I did with Harry Potter – though with all the sex I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone under, ooh let’s be fair and say sixteen. I read the Twilight series too, and I can understand it’s appeal to young girls in particular, though I do feel that the character of Edward Cullen presents an unattainble ideal that sets young girls up for disappointment. Regardless, the onslaught of Vampire lore has got me thinking, and debating, yes, I love True Blood, I can understand the appeal, and enjoy the melodrama of Twilight, but really, when it comes to Vampires, the best stories have already been told in the form of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in the titular role.

I’ve had this conversation with Micky Blue before, Buffy was a great show. The writing was amazing, the acting was superb, it was brimming with rich characters and even richer story lines – and it was an amazingly beautiful metaphor for teenage life, and the uphill battle that is growing up. Sure Buffy was battling bumpy-headed vampires, and a multitude of demons ranging from sexy to the grotesque, but what made it so fabulous in my estimation, is that it was a story about a young woman who was strong, who had power beyond her understanding and who despite her super human strength, still had human weaknesses and made mistakes. In seven seasons we saw Buffy fight the love of her life, deal with the death of her Mother, protect her friends, and sacrifice her life to save the World all while wearing fashionable, yet affordable clothing. I was particularly in love with season six. I felt it was the most poignant of the series because each character evolved in such human ways. Willow’s addiction to magic was a clear metaphor for drug addiction, Buffy battled depression, an intangible demon that only she could beat by coming to terms with her life and her role in the World, she also demonstrated a masochistic side in her relationship with Spike. Even Xander grew with the destruction of his relationship with Anya. From the first season where the idea of high school as one of Dante’s many layers of hell, to season five where Buffy and the Scoobies literally battle a God...or rather Goddess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer took the idea of vampires, made them even sexier, but more poignant, gave them a purpose beyond blood lust. They were human’s too (as seen most importantly in the characters of Angel, Spike and Harmony.)

I think it’s also important to note that the character voices were unique. The writing was sharp and witty, discussions of hoot-a-nanny’s, the creation of new words, often ending with “y”, and it was groundbreakingly unique. There was the musical episode, “Once More with Feeling” , “Hush” which centred around a fairytale about a town where everyone loses their voices, thus doing away with dialogue through most of the episode. The Bodyin season five where Buffy’s mother dies, not due to any demon or vampire, but rather an aneurysm, thus reminding the audience that the characters are human; the episode had no musical underscore, it was raw, and riveting.

And most importantly it sent a clear modern feminist message, not in the vein of early 1990s man bashing feminism, but rather it was a mixture of 1970s bra burning and late 1990s girl power euphoria. The strongest characters were the women: Buffy, Willow, Drusilla, but the male characters supported this idea. Xander was the best example of a feminist break through, his two best friends, both women with powers he would never know, yet he was there to support them, he was never bitter or resentful of their authority and clout and he never looked down on them. Giles as Buffy’s watcher, mentor and father figure was the same. He was unwavering in his belief and support of Buffy and her power, and he impressed on her how important the slayer being a woman was. Buffy was a good example to men and women of what equality truly means – it sent the message that it wasn’t about money or position but how we treated one another, it was really a humanist message as much as a feminist one. Buffy was a learning tool for the nineties and the early noughties.

The Vampire take over of 2009 is a booming business, Vampires are a hot commodity and a star generating business. Twilight, True Blood, the Vampire Diaries, and no doubt a hundred more are set to come, and though they all add to the luster, the sex appeal of the undead, its mythological lore, and its nourishment of our fantasies about possible immortality (though can Vampires be immortal if they’re already dead? That’s a whole other debate) but the fact remains that with the good (True Blood) and the...ugh not so good (Twilight) it’s all been done before, perhaps not to the same extremes, but just as good, if not slightly better. The Buffyverse that Joss Whedon created set the bar very high for Vampire lore, and in my personal estimation, the only way anything will ever come close to the brilliance of Buffy is to offer as much dedication, reverence and charm to Vampirism as Buffy the Vampire Slayer did.

I say, bring it on...aargh...grrr.

The Kid