10 years after

[moscow_watcher]

Today is 10-th anniversary of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". March, 10, 1997 saw the first two episodes, Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest aired by TheWB - a fledgeling network that ceased to exist by now. What has started as a cute teenage show in search of its own identity, quickly turned into one of most interesting, complex and multilayered TV epics with distinct vision and unique mythology.

Yes - unique.

In 1949 Joseph Campbell wrote a scientific exploration about the origin of myths Hero with Thousand Faces. In 1977 George Lucas made wildly successful Star Wars and confessed later that he used Campbell's template when he was writing the script. Ever since the work of Campbell is perceived as a key to scriptwriter's success and current generation of scribes is only changing names and settings in well-known formula.

Joss Whedon dares to be different.

The crucial element of Campbell's hero's journey is leaving the society and following the road of trials. Another important elements are supernatural aid, marriage with Goddess (for a female hero - God), atonement with his father etc.

Buffy doesn't go anywhere. She is the keeper of hearth, the protector of her home and people she loves. Instead of marrying a God she fights a bitch-Goddess. She doesn't atone with her father - we hardly see him onscreen.

Joss doesn't follow Campbell's formulas and he doesn't defy them. He just doesn't notice them and writes the way people wrote before Campbell's work became the manual of writer's success. Think the writer who has never heard of Hero with Thousand Faces.

Joss tells the story he feels compelled to tell. A story of modern hero who lives today among us. Now, can you imagine a hero "leaving the society" in the era of mobile phones? And isn't "supernatural aid" kinda cheating from modern audience' POV? And why only the hero has "to atone with his father"? Maybe his father/mentor also has to atone with him? Joss creates a new formula of mythology. Buffy's journey is inner. She fights her inner demons as we all do. And these demons take metaphorical forms of vampires and monsters.

There are certain elements of classical myths in Buffy's journey: several attempts to refuse the call, death (twice - if you don't count alternate dimensions) and resurrection. But these events don't feel forced: they're integral to the overall arcs and differ from classical myths interpretations. Mythological tradition doesn't apply heavy consequences to hero's resurrection - but Joss does. And he's right, because messing with the laws of nature is dangerous.

So, Buffy did it her way - and what a way it was! She had her share of trials and adventures, funny as well as sad. Joss introduced another formula - hero's external fights reflect his/her inner struggles and frustrations. Buffy fought Apocalypses, had heartbreaks, lost people she loved and finally found her place in the world - a place of mentor and surrogate mother for the girls like her. And the last shot of the show features her at the beginning of a physical journey. Her hearth is destroyed (you have to destroy the past to save the future), she is free and the world belongs to her.

Buffy is a true hero although she's hardly your typical Campbell's hero. And her amazing journey grants hope that the art of storytelling may survive even in the era of formulas and templates for everything creative. Joss gives us hope that the art of storytelling isn't dead.

Thank you, Joss. For Buffy and, you know, for everything. Today you stand at the crossroads with season 8 of "BtVS" starting on a new medium, comics, with all the advantages and limitations they provide. Welcome, unlimited budget, good-bye, subtlety. Hopefully, you'll invent another winning formula and new "Buffy" will capture our hearts.

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Wonderful overview love.

Whilst I nowadays look upon Joss with more, shall we say, 'jaundiced eye' I can I will always be greatful for the countless hours of entertainment that he brought me, and the fandom that I now see myself part of.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love.
Joss created a shiny new sandbox and gave it to us. Me may be not happy with the shapes of some individual toys, but still Joss' sandbox is a place it's fun to play in.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Bravo! Nicely put and thats an absolutely gorgeous banner.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Thanks, petzi!!

When I decided to renovate my banner I couldn't help but "make" Joss watch naughty Buffy groping Spike's ass. :))

[liisann.livejournal.com]

C праздником, ибо это действительно праздник!!!
Праздник души, праздник сердца, праздник разума!!!
Джосс сумел объединить такое количество такого разного народа, что впору и в книгу рекордов Гиннеса:)))

А баннер у тебя просто замечательный!!! Такой правильный-правильный!!!:))))

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Спасибо, Лидочка! Джосса давно уже пора в книгу рекордов Гиннеса. А пока пусть поживет на моем баннере, полюбуется, как Баффстер прижимается к своему любимому вампиру...

[inconsistency9.livejournal.com]

(танцует) С ПРАЗДНИКОМ всех нас!!!!!!

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Ура! Надеюсь завтра увидеться!!

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful and interesting post, thank you!

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I'm flattered that you find it interesting. Actually it started as my scattered thoughts about the overall lack of inspiration of post-Jossian TV... :)))

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

Yay, go Buffy and go Joss! It was a very interesting reading about Campbell - I didn't know about how much it influenced modern myths. And I agree that Buffy is a non-standard hero. But as for Angel and Spike - I see a bit of Arthur and Lancelot in them, can't help it. :)
Oh, and the banners are gorgeous! Both in this post - 7 years of Buffy, and the one in LJ: wicked Joss playing chess with our heroes, but they still manage to grab a feel. :)

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

It was a very interesting reading about Campbell - I didn't know about how much it influenced modern myths.

Campbell is a very influential figure but I think it's hard to apply his formulas to modern settings. So writers should either send characters back in time or look for new ways to develop them. Lucas sent his heroes into space and it worked.

And I agree that Buffy is a non-standard hero. But as for Angel and Spike - I see a bit of Arthur and Lancelot in them, can't help it. :)

Agree, they *are* Arthur and Lancelot (a very outrageous version of them, at least) during AtS season 5, but I think their journeys to that place and time are unique.

Oh, and the banners are gorgeous! Both in this post - 7 years of Buffy, and the one in LJ: wicked Joss playing chess with our heroes, but they still manage to grab a feel. :)

*Blushes* Thank you!

[lorelei-frolick.livejournal.com]

There's a reason the Hero's Journey is also called the "Uni Myth." It's universal. It cannot be defied. Each stage is broad and figurative enough that it can describe any well-written story.

Buffy crosses the threshold into the plane of adventure when she walks into the library for the first time. High school, the Hellmouth, life are the realm where mystical adventures take place. Buffy doesn't stay at home, minding her own business, she goes out to fight the monsters and save the world.

"The Meeting with the Goddess" isn't about meeting a goddess perse, it's about experiencing an all-encompassing, unconditional love. It's Spike telling Buffy she' a hell of a woman.

"Atonement with the Father" is not a literal meeting between the hero and his/her father, it's about facing the entity that has life or death power over the hero's life and being transformed by it. Often by being literally or figuratively killed. The most obvious example of this in BtVS is the Master season 1.

The Hero's Journey has been turned in to a formula by writers, but that's not what it was meant to be. It was meant to be a framework for understanding myths.

Myths are the most important of cultural artifacts. They are how we understand the world. Through the allegory of myth we are able to comprehend the great and incomprehensible questions of life. BtVS is truly a myth for our postmodern world.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Very interesting observations, great food for thought. Thank you.

I still think (although I may be wrong) that classical myths - those that were created in ancient time - had different meaning. In the world without mass communications actual travels were the essence of hero's journey. The the patriarchal world the atonement with the father signified the acceptance of the old traditions. In the religious society the meeting and marriage with the Goddess was another way to guarantee hero's loyalty to traditional moral values.

In his work Campbell used the conventions and the experience of people who lived in a religious, patriarchal society with no mass communications. But the world changed. Can we apply Campbell's explorations to modern storytelling? I think that, while many writers turn Campbell's works into formulas, many scholars shoehorn modern stories into Campbell's formulas by broadening them to the limit and them substituting the original meaning for something that suits their current needs.

I think you interpret myth too broadly, depriving it of its initial essence. With such broad interpretation practically any action movie, pre-Campbell as well as post-Campbell, can be shoehorned into this formula. Something happens to the character - voila "crossing the threshold". The first big fight in the end of the first act may be interpreted as a "facing the entity that has life or death power over the hero's life and being transformed by it". Characters helping somebody (they always help somebody) is "experiencing an all-encompassing, unconditional love".

I think that such broad interpretation of Campbell's works reduces unimyth to the ABC of storytelling. The majority of stories with traditional narrative are told this way. It doesn't turn them into myths. (The litmus test of mythology is active popular participation. Oral tradition in case of classical mythologies, fanfiction in modern society.)

[elisi]

As it happens stormwreath compared Buffy's, Spike's and Willow's stories to The Hero's Journey. You might find it interesting: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

There's even wallpapers. :)

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I'll absolutely check them!