Ms. Katrina Blasingame

English

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

MC 4503

Carbondale, IL 62901

USA

kemmie@earthlink.net

 

"I Can't Believe I'm Saying this Twice in the Same Century . . . But Duh . . .": The Evolution of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sub-Culture Language Through the Medium of Fanfiction 

[Click on the link above to see this paper's placement in the SCBtVS Program.]

 

Slayer slang is a continually evolving sub-culture language, in part, due to the copious varieties and amounts of Buffy and Angel fanfiction. As Espenson writes in her preface to Adams' book “with so many fans writing about the shows, and indulging in creative fanfic, together we have extended the language of the Buffyverse” (Adams, ix). This shows that fanfiction is important for a multi-textual understanding to the Buffy mythos. Although articles have been written about both the use of fanfic and on the construction of slang due to the Buffy mythos, fanfic seems to be largely ignored. The reason seems to stem from fanfic not being canonical to the series, yet, Busse writes that “fans use fiction to emotionally respond to the show…interpret and analyze the series, thereby teasing out its subtext” (207). This, again, expresses the necessity of considering fanfiction as part of the entire Buffyverse—even if it does not follow the storylines per se. My paper will show the evolution of slayer slang and how it is in a continual state of change due to the presence and disparity of fanfiction that has been written in the context of the Buffyverse.